I second this. That crusader is the only thing I want from this update for the HRE. I hope they don’t give them to the english.
1 Like
Yes. There has to be something for HRE in store here. And thus it would also make a bit sense, why HRE was ignored in the last big patch and didn’t get anything new.
If nothing comes for HRE, nothing new, nothing cool, nothing nice, nothing of crusading sorts, but everybody else and their mother is getting something… Again. Then that would be the point for me to give up hope and play AoE2 again, if I want to RTS.
Here I hope again. Please no more disappointments. <3
1 Like
Here in this video we can see some pictures. It’s hard to tell to which civ the crusader knights belong. There is some HRE models, some English models, some French models. So I don’t know. Maybe they are campaign only, maybe they are part of a civ.
But on another picture you can clearly see new designs for HRE units. There are finally correct coats of arms to be seen. But what it all means we can only speculate.
I really hope it’s gonna be big for HRE.
Yes, it seems that they are going to reskin the units of the European civs as in AoE 3… maybe now, since it is a crossover dlc, they will focus on the Teutonic order (ergo, they will introduce new unique units for the HRE)…
For me it is a campaign civ based on the HRE by the castle on the bottom right…
1 Like
Yeah, but the tower is French and on the walls you have longbows. I also guess it’s a campaign civ (Kingdom of Jerusalem, Crusader State) consisting of Germans, English and French (and Italian, Greek, Spanish etc).
But I most definitely hope that we also get some crusading stuff for HRE in general.
Edit: Some Japanese units seem to build upon the Landsknecht model. I hope they are not equal to them, but simply in a better version. That would suuuuuuck. I still hope for a complete Landsknecht redesign and/or more options (with lances, arquebuses and so on).
1 Like
Sure, anything can be…
Imagine if it’s only unit skins for HRE and nothing else. It would be hilarious in a very sad way.
1 Like
Fortunately that’s a French castle, like the French houses and French outpost and French spearmen in the periphery.
What do people even spam for units with the HRE? They just seem kinda plain.
I’m 95% sure that’s the case actually. That’s my expectations anyway, and if turns out it’s skins only. I’m uninstalling and never looking back.
1 Like
Yeah, it’d be the same for me. I would simply be too sick of trying to uphold that little hope I have for this civ.
I burn the game on a DVD and then I smash it with a hammer xd…
But it is the HRE, this photo is the French…
It’s because it lacks more unique units, just spamming Landsknechts is boring…
2 Likes
Not to mention Landsknechts are inefficient.
3 Likes
Right, at least in AoE 3 they are super strong units…
2 Likes
I don’t think HRE needs a huge rework. I think they’re fine. It could be made slightly stronger in feudal because that’s where it struggle the most. But it is extremely strong in imperial with the culverins, and prelate eco boost.
I don’t think it’s badly designed. It’s has so many defensive and economic bonus, and are designed around religious units (relic and prelate eco boost) which feel different from other civs. Their MAA feel quite stronger and different, their knight also have more armor with the unique tech. And culverin give them a huge advantage in imperial. The eco boost from prelate is massive especially when both players at 200 pop. They have the best keeps/outpost in the game in terms of hp/armor, especially with that keep landmark and all unique tech. I enjoy playing HRE just think they are a bit weak in feudal but not a huge issue.
Personally i think the worst designed civ in the game is Rus, really not a fan of hunting mini-game and forcing both players to turn the whole map into a dead animal graveyard. Also how thematically does it make sense to gain a permanent eco boost bonus because you killed animals hundreds of years ago? (In a different age). Also apparently their fishing ship had teleportation technology in the middle ages.
And about the expansion im pretty sure those are only skins since they are just the regular uunits.
That being said i wouldnt mind a new unique unit for HRE, without needing a full rework. But if they add a new unique unit please don’t just copy the wagon villager from age 3 or teuton crusaders from age 2. And those gun calvarly are from a different age that is a bit too modern for the imperial age.
2 Likes
Well, they are just ideas to give the civ more variety and it is not historically incorrect (the HRE fought in the Crusades -where Teutonic Knights were used, in the Hussite Wars -where Hussite Wagons were used and in the Schmalkaldischer Wars -where the Reiters were used) and serves as a link to the other games in the series…it’s just that using only Landsknechts and Prelates gets boring over time…
2 Likes
HRE especially does not have a lategame. Their lategame is getting there early and then… nothing. There is no strong comp, there is no special power aside from massing towers, it’s just spamming trashy and inferior units every civ has with the downside that there is nothing special to them. Thus the lategame is towering and keeping up, gather culverins near your defenses and spam shit units. It’s terrible and there are so many ways to improve that. The balance between landmarks is also not great and close to terrible in age II. The inspiration mechanic is tedious making Aachen a no brainer, the inspiration mechanic for the army is trashy and doesn’t synergize well. And Landsknechte are rarely worth their investment and at best cover a niche. Which is rather poor considering it’s the only real unique unit for this civ.
All in all it’s a very bland and one dimensional civ that honestly doesn’t need a huge rework, but definitely quite some additions in almost every regard. But I wouldn’t mind a full rework. The civ needs more uniqueness and versatility without forcing the player into a certain playstyle to be successful. Also Burgrave is one of the worst landmarks in the game. Not in the sense of performance, but in the sense of gameplay. It’s either a panic button or an all-in button that scales terribly into later stages of the game. I wish this landmark was completely different and would not be needed the way it is right now. But sometimes, since the HRE eco does not stream line that well into castle anymore compared to other civs, it’s a last resort choice to either survive and get back into the game or to end it quickly or deal with the fact that you don’t get many relics. This landmark only exists to offset the HRE shortcomings (that can be summed up as not being very unique outside of landmark effects). It is similar with Swabia, which is the reason why HRE can get to imp rather early to then finally catch up in villagers. But then the civ stops being a unique civ and becomes basic af.
There is a lot that could be done with this civ and that what has been done is not remotely enough to enjoy this civ or have it feel like a unique choice. It’s simply lacking in various areas.
3 Likes
Yes, I agree… the HRE seems to be a strong civ for being a turtle-boom civ, but in reality it falters on many fronts and is quite basic, more than the English ones at the launch of the game…
3 Likes
And in the context of Swabia that’s the reason why nobody in their right mind would ever pick Elzbach.
Like, why the hell would you pick a slightly stronger keep that reduces 1/3 of the damage taken to all buildings around it when you can have faster & cheaper villagers?
The French Red Keep is better because it’s basically an attack building that only gets stronger with units inside, meanwhile, English Berkshire Palace shoots further and stronger.
Hell, even Rus at this point have redone the Spasskaya Tower to allow you to build stone walls instead of it just being a keep with all weapon emplacements.
2 Likes
Though I find HRE lategame absolutly fine (probably among the 5 better ones among the 10 current civs) it is always the infantry + horsemen + siege combo, it lacks this feeling of being able to field more varied troops like other lategame oriented civs. But honestly I would rather see them having an actual feudal age among other things.
The first I would like to see for the civ would be to improve the prelates mechanics.
Prelates should inspire when patroling (just like how they inspire when attack moving), that way you could have like 2/3 prelates buffing your farms and else. This would make aachen less of an auto pick. A castle/imp tech that makes the inspiration last a bit longer would also help in this regard.
Inspired warrior should be easier to distribute in your army in one way or another. It feels really cool once it’s going but it’s just tedious to have your 5/10 prelates to buff a relevant portion of your army, so tedious in fact that even pro players rarely bother with it at all. I see this tech as an “equivalent” to the english network of castles as it can buff anything in your army.
Then about landmarks:
Meinwerk could be buffed again to open the civ to extented feudal plays. An idea I had for it is that it could, on top of what it currently gives, allow the player to give his units permanents buffs on recruitment (kinda like Dehli’s Tower of Victory).
As an exemple you could have the following selection:
+1 range attack
+1 range defense for light melee units (horsemen, spearmen, landsknecht)
+X% (15 ?) attack speed for heavy melee units (man at arms and knights)
etc (?)
The player can only activate one at a time with maybe with a short cooldown between each activation so he will have to choose which part of his army he wants to improve. It also scales decently later on while (hopefully) not being to overwelming for the opponent as HRE’s eco will be weaker without aachen chapel.
2 Likes