Is Thoroughbreds still worth it?

With DE, the French thoroughbreds card got nerfed to remove the possibility of “insta-cav.”. However, there is nothing to make up for it, making the card really underwhelming in my opinion.

The thoroughbreds card originally reduced the pop cost of cuirassiers from 3 to 2. The card got soon significantly nerfed to the version that has existed until DE came out. However, to sweeten the change, an « insta-cav. » possibility was introduced. Price reduction was nice as well, but probably never the decisive reason why this card was so strong.

And that’s the problem. An Age IV card (only) giving 15 % price reduction for one single unit is comparatively really weak. The economic theory card arguably gives better value, and it’s an Age I card. Increased gather rate offers much more flexibility than a cost reduction for one unit, as one will always benefit from those extra resources. With a cost reduction, one will only benefit if one indeed produces the cost-reduced unit, which depends on the circumstances. Furthermore, 15 % is nice, but not a big deal. The classic economic duo refrigeration/royal mint is probably twice as good than the unique French thoroughbreds, and the said duo is again available sooner.

I further believe the cuirassier got nerfed a tad too much. Not yet nerfed into obscurity, but definitely hit harder than necessary. The church cav. training time upgrade got reduced, the thoroughbreds training time reduction was removed, and last, the imperial upgrade of the cuirassier is weaker than any other non-industrial mercenary unit.
Notwithstanding the fact that the full upgraded French gendarme still has counters, he also needs several cards to get to his impressively beefy stats. The Ottomans, for instance, have access to a 2100+ HP mameluke in literally every game without having to use a single card. (They get with one single card a 2320 HP mameluke).

As the thoroughbreds card now stands, it might as well get removed entirely. Seldomly worth a slot in the deck in my opinion. What I suggest, is that the now lackluster thoroughbreds card gets entirely removed and that the imperial gendarme upgrade gets its old benefits back.

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Maybe solution would be -15% all cavalry cost except mercs.

Cuirrasiers are now well balanced, thats what a nerf is for.

Instant tank cav with splash damage was too op.

The mamluke doesnt have splash damage and costs 100 resources more then Gendarme so its justified