Hi. I write this only for fun and theorycrafting. I tends to like fast-imp civs. Some of them receive either a eco bonus to get into imperial age, or a free tech upon reaching imperial who increases the power spike there.
Thus, I wanted to see what imperial spikes are still available in order to think possible buffs for civs that need help in that moment.
I noticed that in the game there are not civ that receives a free-tech in later game stages without receiving the earlier version for free. For example, there are not civs that received one castle eco/military upgrade without receiving the feudal one. Thus, I wont consider techs with a previous upgrade in castle or feudal age.
I won’t consider elite UUs upgrades either, nor Spies/Treason.
Possible free techs available are:
Archery range:
Heavy cavalry archer
Stable:
Heavy camel
Cavalier
Elite Steppe lancer
Elite Battle elephant
Siege workshop:
Onager
Capped ram
Heavy scorpion
Dock:
Elite cannon galleon
Shipwright
Market:
Banking
Guilds
University:
Siege engineers
Arrowslits
Monastery
Illumination
Block printing
Theocracy
Faith
Castle:
Hoardings
Sappers
All of these techs could get obtained for free on imperial age by one civ. Or even they could be researched one age earlier if they are not op (like burgundian cavalier or cuman capped ram)
I find pretty interesting free siege engineers or block printing for civs with a siege or monk focus. I wanted malay to receive elite battle elephant for free, but I am not sure any more after the recent patch.
I think Cavalier is kind of already covered by Burgundians, although they don’t need to get to Imp for it.
Could maybe be a viable way to resurrect the Burmese from their <1% pick rate? What do you think?
Could be a good option for the next “Indian” civ (by Indian I mean something from the subcontinent). Would be interesting to see if it can work out.
I think neither of these techs are valuable enough to be power-spike worthy.
I think Hoardings combined with Architecture could be a power-spike worthy bonus for a more defensive approach and/or getting an edge in treb wars earlier.
The truth is that all this thread comes from thinking about this, but with vietnamese… Vietnamese have free conscription but their elephants are meh. Having the elite upgrade for free together free conscription would allow them to do interesting fast imperial games.
Of course, burmese would benefit from this as well, because their elephants would have less problems against archers with this. And elite battle elephant is nice power spike. But they may need something in castle age, in my opinion…
Free sappers is worse than free conscription (although it is useful for chopping trees in one hit! I would give it to magiars for their sneaky villagers). But free hoeardings could be very good for fast imperial into castle drop in arena.
hah indeed. Free hoardings is definitely not a bad bonus, the extra HP on castles is definitely useful, just feels like it’s not something you can easily build any strategy around. Definitely a bonus I would appreciate during a treb war indeed
That is a nice idea, as well, Vietnamese are also not doing too well in the stats.
Yeah, I think lacking archer armor is a ridiculous identity and you really need something accessible that can soak arrow damage (and deal damage). That is why I thought about the elephants. I guess that maybe some cost reduction to Elephants instead of the infantry bonus might do the trick. (plus the Free Elite Ele maybe still? or would that be overkill?)
Reasoning for swapping it with the infantry bonus is that infantry dmg on a civ that basically can’t make skirms to deal with archers seems like a wasted bonus
I dont think so… Their eco is not geared to food units. In fact, the other idea i had for elephamts (either viet or burmese) is a civ bonus that buffs their training speed… But this would make their production harder to sustain…
Maybe free onager or heavy scorp (much coster than onager)? Those units cost wood so they combo with their wood eco bonus. Although I would prefer the elephant upgrade because of style preferences…
Speaking about elephants:
I think some people would kill devs if we get another camel indian civ… Better give them elephant bonuses.
Both interesting ideas! Ultimately I don’t know what exactly would be the best. But I think these ideas you’ve made could probably be tweaked into something by pro players that would be balanced and help the civs out I suppose that both Viet and Burmese are bottom tier civs, so this is some hard task to solve…
Ok how do you read “free battle elephant upgrade” without flinching or even raising an eyebrow. That’s 1200f 900g for free, that result into +50 HP +2 attack and +1 pierce armour. That’s just dumb.
Personally, I want more things to research, not less. And nothing for free.
Imperial already has a power spike with the exemplary techs you can research to set you apart from players stuck in pre-Imp. (Faster military unit creation, stronger units, etc.)
not all power spikes are free techs The power spike should be a discount in cost and research speed like turks gunpowder techs. Or allowing it to be researched in castle age (not in this case) like cuman rams.
Indeed, that is why I mentioned that pro players would come up with more balanced ideas We just brainstorm But as @JokerPenguin593 said, a tech cost reduction instead of free Elite Battle Ele should be workable.
True, bur giving some facilities to getting some techs would give some motives to reach imperial age faster instead of committing in all-in castle age. This adds some variety to matches.
And how about the feeling of ageing up and noticing you have unlocked one upgrade at the same time? Free chemistry in turks feel awesome. Even free conscription in vietnamese does, because the moment you hear the notification of imperial age you can notice also how your units train faster.
You would think imperial age is the time Burmese need less help against archers because it’s when they get access to imperial age siege, and that the mobility of their hussar raids that are harder to wall out really starts to hit archer civs where it hurts.
Yes, but I excluded imperial upgrades that required a cadtle upgrade because their related power spikes (i.e., free tech) dont exist in the game.
Arbalester required crossbow first.
Malay already have cheaper elephants. The only cost reduction available is the upgrade one.
all university tech ara availble in castle age (except Bombard Tower and Keep). Still you must spend resources, so there is no options for OP early cadtle mangonels witch SE and chemistry.
blacksmith (and upgrades) availble one age earlier. So, a lot of dipend of the other bonuses. U can invest to have a better army than your oponent, but for the cost of your eco. Feudal trush witch +2 watch tower might by OP, castle cav +3/+4, the same, but remember, everything has price.
Chemistry in castle age is not that good, provided HC, BBC and Cannong galleon remain as an imp unit. Researching one age before would be a buff to your damage input, and also it would allow you to go instant BBC after ageing up.
Another thing would be if bombard tower could also be researched in castle age. Bombard towers are very expensive, and can be taken down easily by rams, so there is room for a counterplay.
In would give this bonus to a civ with a lot of weaknesses, like lacking thumbring and bloodlines. It would be a similar case than burgundians with advanced eco and stable but lacking bloodlines.
Maybe for sicilians?
Not a fan of free upgrades, especially on imp units. These usually are quite expensive and take quite some to research. Imo too much of a power spike. Might be okay as a last resort if a civ would be too weak otherwise but generally I find these bonuses to be rather unbalanced.
What do you think?
We just brainstorm 
But as