There is a very short answer to it and a very detailed one, which shows how I would like to see it, but the values can be adjusted depending on active testing. “Make an ability icon, that is re-active and shows more…”
"How I would like to see it in patch notes? - Example"
“Charge, Brace, Rage, Impacted by Brace” now have icons that show their cooldowns, that show when they are able to charge and brace again (with a special effect of blinking, when the ability is up again) and now have a description.
A Charge icon is added to all horses.
A Brace icon is added to all spearman.
A New Mechanic and Icon for Rage is added to landsknecht.
A New Mechanic and Icon for recently braced horses. Called: Impacted by Brace.
Hopefully you enjoy the read, sorry for any mistakes I might have made, this is my second language.
How would charge work? - Description
Charging upon an enemy gives you 20% increased movement speed, the charge last for 10 seconds, charging longer or when the charge hits goes into a cooldown. Which last for 10 seconds. Charging deals an additional amount of damage depending on tier (Early/Veteran/Elite) Charge can be turned ON and OFF at any time, charging can only be done against units from a certain range. (1.5 barrack away for example)
Tool-tip for charge with knights - Example:
(Charge ACTIVE/ON/OFF)
Charge hits for double the normal hit: 38/48/58 (Early/Veteran/Elite)
French knights have an attack bonus that last for 3/4/5 (Early/Veteran/Elite) seconds after the charge hits.
6 seconds charge duration, 10 seconds Cooldown. Charge blinks once the cooldown is on again.
How would brace work? - Description
Braces automatically, when enemy horse unit charges/normal attacks you. Or when you attack a horse unit.
Charging will Stun/Root the horse for 3 seconds. Normal attacking gets Stun/Root for 1.5 seconds.
Bracing unit will have a guaranteed hit towards normal attacking units, and 2 hits towards the charging unit.
Bracing hits damage scale depending on their tier (Early/Hardened/Veteran/Elite)
Bracing can’t be done on the same unit twice and have a cooldown of 16 seconds (Icon: Impacted by Brace).
Bracing can only be done by 1 unit at a time.
Tool-tip for brace with Spearman - Example:
(Brace ON/ACTIVE)
Stun/Root a horse unit for 3 seconds (2 guaranteed hits) when charging.
Stun/Root a horse unit for 1.5 seconds (1 guaranteed hit) when normal attacking.
Guaranteed hit count as a plain 30/40/45/55 without multiplier (Regular/Hardened/Veteran/Elite)
which will be double that amount when charging. 60/80/90/110 (Regular/Hardened/Veteran/Elite)
Brace will have a cooldown timer as long as the brace takes place. (1.5 /3 seconds)
Doesn’t work against “Impacted by Brace” horse units.
How I would balance Landsknecht - Example
I also had some more thoughts into Landsknecht, making them rage into enemies once they would be in archer attack range, once you have reached Marching Drills. Landsknecht would get this ability and have increased by 30% movement speed once they go into rage, and once they hit the enemy they get a stun/root for like 1.5 seconds on enemies, so they get a guaranteed hit off as well with a cooldown of 10/6 (Regular/Elite) seconds, And increase their hit points.
- Regular Landsknecht health increased from 80 to 110
- Elite Landsknecht health increased from 95 to 150
With these changes, please revert Horsemen health back to previous values, so they can deal a bit better versus the spears. While also able to hold out against archers again.
[Update 8324] Horsemen (all ranks) have reduced HP:
- Early Horseman health reduced from 125 to 100
- Horseman health reduced from 155 to 125
- Veteran Horseman health reduced from 190 to 155
- Elite Horseman health reduced from 225 to 180
Penny for my thought process…
A lot of small counter measures are in place with these mechanics. Against simple cheeses. That’s why.
You can’t brace again until a certain amount of time running away with your spears, or walking around your TC, that’s why it lasts for 16 seconds, which should be enough time for knights to still deal some damage after they got braced upon, but enough time to make spears more valuable if a fight lasts longer.
You can’t charge until you are on a certain distance, which is already the case. If units are too close. But, it’s not indicated by any range indicator that you could visibly see, which is why the icon should show you a circle. And once it reaches out of the circle, you’re able to charge upon that unit. This circle should become bigger if the formation of knights are also bigger in width. I will explain why… Let’s say there are 5 knights in a line formation. And there is an enemy unit on the left side. 2 knights on the right, could charge it, but the other 3 knights can not. In that case, the charge will not take place. And I think it makes sense, because units in AoE4 work in formations, so you can’t go out of that formation, which is why the charge can’t take place, without having the full formation doing it. And thus why the circle should become bigger on the amount of knights that you have.
There are times when you don’t want to charge into units, to simply avoid, accidentally hitting on spears.
That could impact your horses. Also, versus scouts you can sometimes stop charging because you didn’t reach the scout in time, now you’re able to see how long the charge actually takes to get there. You have a lot more clarity and a lot more control with this in place. And something that can be viewed in game, without knowing the full mechanic by yourself, like it was previously.
Now, the landsknecht is a viable pick for the price you pay for it. 60 food and 100 gold.
(Elites cost 300 food / 700 gold)
