Having just few of a special vill that build is a huge risk. If that for some reason is busy or killed, and you need an emergency building (like an outpost, a TC, or simply a house) you are in big trouble because you can’t use vills.
French have vills that gather 20%. Now that isn’t just unoriginal, but more importantly it’s OP. You get vills that collect just 5% slower that CdB, but are also cheaper (CdB cost 20% more food and are trained slower).
Now, I get that overall, these 2 seems balance themselves out, but they really don’t. The mechanic goes from UP to OP. UP is when you are rushed, and the enemy will target you architect, OP, when you can safely boom, knowing that your vills doesn’t just gather faster, but they’ll also won’t have idle time from building.
The mechanic can be used, don’t get me wrong, but it needs adjustments. Like, the merchants can build, but doesn’t gather faster. Instead they can work at markets, TPs, and docks to boost their efficiencies. While the architect can be a special vill that build faster, but can be sended only from HC.
Bersaglieri should be available only from age IV, since they were a late unit, so they can be a unique guard upgrade.
And be careful with muskets with ranged resistance, you don’t want a carolean 2.0 even more broken.
I’m intrigued in this design, elaborate more.
I’m trying too to design a special commercial building for the Italians, so I would like to exchange ideas.
The faster XP is nice, but the gold generation already belongs to the US.
Instead, I would suggest that taking inspiration from the swedes’ arsenal, the Italians church don’t need a HC shipment for unique upgrades.
Maybe pavise crossbowmen could be better, more generic, and that includes more Italians states.
GC could be a HC card, or a new mercenary.
Either one or the other. You can’t give them too many options for age up to just one civs.
The second would fit better the pikes, not the halbs. The first instead would be better to be substitute with the bersaglieri.
You given them a lot of anti-ranged units (condos, muskets, xbows with more range resistance) while you don’t have much anti-cav. Yeah, you have halbs and pikes, but the more common counter lack, since I suppose that a musket with ranged resistance lack its anti cav bonuses.
Anyway, apart from something, it can work as a civ.
I too designed something for the Italians, here are the links, I would appreciate your feedback too.