So I’ve been playing aoe2 for a little while now (as in I’m not a new player but not high elo or an OG player either) and I’ve been enjoying the incas a lot but there’s some changes I’d like to see.
For starters the slingers kind of suck. They are really good against infantry but there’s almost no reason to go for them over archers, which are more versatile but still good against infantry. I’ve seen some people comparing them to hand canoneers but, the HC is still better, especially as from I’ve seen, slingers have a pretty big fall off in the imperial age. It’s a shame too because slingers cost less gold and use the inca food discount. I would like to see some kind of a buff to them ideally letting thumb ring improve their attack speed and maybe even giving them an elite upgrade or something.
Next, andean sling is dog water. I would like to just remove the min range of slingers and give them +1 base damage (not make it something that needs an upgrade) and change it to the old HD upgrade of couriers (+10% movement speed to unique units - Kamayuk, slinger, and maybe the eagles too?)
Fabric shields, I would just increase it form +1/+2 → +2/+2, not a major difference but a lot of inca units a fairly squishy so some extra melee Armour would go a long way.
Kamayuk (more specifically their elite upgrade), this unit is really good but the elite upgrade is expensive and doesn’t change much. I’d love to see something along the lines of +5hp, +1attack.
I believe that the cheaper eagles is good enough to improve incas.
And devs don’t want slingers to replace xbow completely for Incas. Slingers have much faster firing rate than HC and slingers is the strongest anti-infantry unit in game.
Genoese crossbowman melt paladin and elephant and their damage against cavalry is less than slingers against infantry.
I also believe that you underestimate kamayuk. Due to its one extra range, +1 dmg can have a good accumulative effect. And its upgrade cost isn’t specially expensive compared to other unique units.
I don’t have much experience with incas, but I don’t think their units are particularly squishy. Full armor upgrades and an additional armor upgrade for their main units can be quite significant (Inca eagles take 1 dmg/shot from arbs, making them quite a hard counter to them - more so than El Dorado eagles).
That said, Incas are getting changes with the new DLC, which may increase their power level significantly. The champi warriors are probably replacing eagles, but it’s too early to tell if that would be a nerf or a buff (or a somewhat neutral trade-off). I’d bet on champi warriors being affected by fabric armor though (and holding a similar role to eagle warriors). Truthfully, I wouldn’t be surprised if champi warriors end up as something like a trash eagle warrior (similar strengths/weaknesses, but requires different resources)
Don’t suggest any buff or nerf when you are noob, you just don’t know how to play. If you are experienced and tried any possible way, you can say it. Respect.
They have solid tournament pick-rates and win-rates. They have a clear identity, they are fun to play.
The only thing I could agree with or something similar
slingers are an amazing and powerful unit. they are so much better against infantry than archers, they basically win american civ matchups by themselves (if the incan player can get to them). They also have one huge advantage over HCs: they are affected by ballistics.
Btw, Incas is noob-friendly imo. Incas is like Byzantines that have tools against every type of units while allowing more room for mistakes(getting housed)
Got to love when people read a few sentences before they “stop right there” and comment. Please come back when you can provide any kind of evidence.
Other people in this discussion have disagreed with me which is okay, but at least they explained why.