Hidden/undocumented Attack Speed changes - Horseman (& unique versions), Crossbow, Sofa, and Janissary

Age of Empires IV IV - Report a Bug
1

  • Build Number: 15.1.6970

  • Platform: Steam

  • Operating System: Windows 10

Issue: Undocumented Attack Speed changes affect the Horseman (and unique versions), Crossbowman, Sofa, and Janissary

Based on casted game footage, I believe this happened with “Update 13.0.4178”. The same update that introduced the bugged Gilded Crossbowmen super-fast attack speed change.

That update changed the animations for Horsemen, Crossbowmen, and Handcannoneers, so it makes sense that this happened.

Maybe these changes are even intentional with that update, but I don’t know that.

The following table show which units are affected and their old/new attack speed values.

Note: The values are from in-game measurements of attack speed, and represent the actual attack speed of the units. The tooltip is not always accurate.

Before “Update 13.0.4178”:

  • Horseman
  • (and) Sipahi
  • (and) Gilded Horseman
  • (and) Jeanne’s Rider
    • Tooltip: 1.75
    • Measured Attack Speed: 1.875
  • Ghazi Raider
    • Tooltip: 2.00
    • Measured Attack Speed: 2.125
  • Hobelar
    • (Did not exist prior to update)
  • Crossbowman
  • (and) Arbaletrier
    • Tooltip: 2.125
    • Measured Attack Speed: 2.125
  • Gilded Crossbowman
    • Tooltip: 1.75
    • Measured Attack Speed: 1.75
  • Sofa
    • Tooltip: 1.625
    • Measured Attack Speed: 1.75
  • Janissary
    • without Mehter
      • Tooltip: 1.5
      • Measured Attack Speed: 1.5
    • with Mehter
      • Tooltip: 1.29
      • Measured Attack Speed: 1.25

After “Update 13.0.4178”:

  • Horseman
  • (and) Sipahi
  • (and) Gilded Horseman
  • (and) Jeanne’s Rider
    • Tooltip: 1.75
    • Measured Attack Speed: 1.75 <<< (7.14% faster)
  • Ghazi Raider
    • Tooltip: 2.00
    • Measured Attack Speed: 2.00 <<< (6.25% faster)
  • Hobelar
    • Tooltip: 1.50
    • Measured Attack Speed: 1.50 <<< (8.33% faster)
  • Crossbowman
  • (and) Arbaletrier
    • Tooltip: 2.125
    • Measured Attack Speed: 2.25 <<< (5.55% slower)
  • Gilded Crossbowman
    • Tooltip: 1.75
    • Measured Attack Speed: 1.875 <<< (6.66% slower)
  • Sofa
    • Tooltip: 1.625
    • Measured Attack Speed: 1.625 <<< (7.69% faster)
  • Janissary
    • without Mehter
      • Tooltip: 1.5
      • Measured Attack Speed: 1.625 <<< (7.69% slower)
    • with Mehter
      • Tooltip: 1.35 <<< (no longer 1.29)
      • Measured Attack Speed: 1.5 <<< (16.66% slower)

Whatever changes were made, the tooltip stayed the same (except Janissary w/ Mehter), but the actual attack speed changed for these units.

With Horsemen getting stronger and Crossbowmen getting weaker, maybe that has contributed to the dominance of Knights and Cavalry in general for the meta.

Notice the Sofa is now at 1.625 attack speed. That is actually the same as the Knight attack speed. The Knight tooltip says 1.50, but its actual attack speed is 1.625 (a reminder that the tooltip is not always accurate).

The Sofa inherits from the Horseman blueprint in the editor, so that is probably why this changed. And maybe the Janissary inherits from the Crossbowman, but I don’t remember.

Trigger Event: Update 13.0.4178

NOTE: These attack speed changes may be intentional by the dev team, even if it was undocumented. There have been other undocumented attack speed changes long ago that affected several core units as well.

In which case, nothing would need to be fixed.