Just to state this. I think the obuch is a great example how to implement a viable infantry unit.
The armor tearing down makes them a great frontline for xbows and arbs.
The key is to find the right balance between obuchs and archers. For me it looks like the right balance is about a ratio of 2:1 obuchs:archers. Maybe even a bit more obuchs. The key is, that because of the armor tearing down you just don’t need to have that many archers for a high damage output. Better have more obuchs, so your frontline can hold much better.
I thought they wanted to make serjeants that kind of “heavy frontline infantry” but actually the obuch is way better to do that job.
They do, but it’s still an expensive combination to actually get to. It is very strong if you manage to pull it off, but it’s really expensive to tech into.
Exactly. They do have the gold trickle but it forces you to mine stone which is counter-intuitive if you’d rather mine gold instead of stone going for such expensive army compositions.
You have to mine stone anyway in order to even get to the Obuch. It would be counter intuitive if they were not castle-only UUs. It might be a little hidden, but the bonus is definitely there, and definitely encourages an early castle with the ability to still slam out gold units.
They are guys who can tank: 4th infantry with the most HP in the game with + 5 / + 6 armor and 14 attack
Cheap and 9 seconds of creation time
Obuchs flood on the way
You need to add the reduce-armor ability to all this
I honestly think they are waaay too good for their cost. 55 Food and 20 Gold for such unit is ridiculously cheap, specially for a civ with such a decent eco!!
I would like their gold cost to go up a little bit, but it is too early to tell.