Quite some time has passed now and this thread has not seen much activity. And I haven’t been very active either. Recent changes to the game have made a lot of things better and also the HRE is in a rather good spot success wise. However, I am still convinced that the HRE, just like the English, offers a little bit too little, esp. in lategame. Their lategame actually is reaching it earlier than others, build a lot of horsemen and towers and try to win by outmassing and outtowering. I find that unsatisfactory as there is no unit comp you really want to aim for. The prelate gameplay has become way better, but still is underwhelming in lategame as in too weak for having units inspired one by one. That is why I opened a new thread a few days back that focuses on balance changes altogether. English and HRE receive most of the change suggestions, but I covered all the civs and tried to find changes that would balance and improve their gameplay. Some ideas might be too strong or too weak, this would need testing, but all in all I tried to suggest a direction for each of the civs that could be taken and feels reasonable as well as in accordance to the game mechanics.
With the announcement of the two new civs, the old civs need to be looked at as well in order to see, if there is some polishing to be done. To have the game in the best possible spot on October 25. Balance is in a good spot, but there is still quite some fine tuning to be done. Some civs deserve some changes in their gameplay variety, because they are too one dimensional. Some strats and comps need some adjustments. And some civs just might a little change here and there to offer more variety and feel even better. I am looking forward to your opinions. 