Not sure if it’s a good idea to rename such an old and beloved unit.
They didn’t remove the silly horns from the Berserk either.
A ranged Infantry unit would work well for Infantry civilisations and would also fit well into an Early Medieval themed DLC.
The Franks could still have the strongest Throwing Axeman because of their unique technology and their complete Infantry techtree.
The new regional Throwing Axeman could also be weakened and the unique technology improved so they only get back to full strength after a Castle is build.
The new unique Unit for the Franks would be a very different challenge. Maybe the Frankish Paladin that was originally planned as their unique unit. A lot of people would be happy about that change but many others would hate it.
Alternatively they could be named Gendarme. That was the historical French late medieval super heavy cavalry.
That’s also the name of the Napoleonic heavy cavalry (that’s why they appear in AoE3 too) and modern French military police.
The other civilisations that could get the Throwing Axeman could be the Vikings, Goths and new civilisations like the Saxons (Pre HRE Germans and pre Norman English)
Especially for the Vikings that could be a cool unit. The Norse in AoM also have Axe throwers.
But I think there are better candidates for Unique Units that could become Regional Units.
Unique Units that could become Regional Units
Huskarl
- Available to Goths, Vikings and the new Saxons
- Available in the Barracks starting in Castle Age next to the Militia and Spearman line
- Countered by Cavalry and other Infantry
- Weaker then the Unique Unit (maybe -2 piercing armour like in AoK)
- New Goth Castle Age Unique Technology returns them to their old strength (Anarchy is no longer needed)
The Viking version would potentially be a little too strong since it would also have an attack bonus against Cavalry. But the Viking unique technology could also be reworked to only effect the Berserk again or maybe the Berserk and the Militia line.
But then again they wouldn’t be that cheap (80 Food, 40 Gold) for them anyway, since they don’t have the Goth bonus.
The new Goth unique unit could be something very different like a cavalry unit. The Goths used a lot of cavalry in real life so why not give them at last one of them. Not sure what role it would play and how to generally rebalance the Goths.
It would be similar to the Hindustani that got a unique unit that is very different from their usual techtree.
For the new Saxons they could be a more all around armoured unit by getting additional Melee instead of Pierce Armour, similar to the real Saxon Huskarls Making them something like 2/4 → 2/6. Kinda like an expensive Serjeant (+20 Food and +5 Gold cost) that is better against Archers specifically.
This idea would obviously be incompatible with the idea of making the Throwing Axeman a regional unit or the Vikings would end up with two new Infantry units. That would require a big rework of this civilisation and I don’t think old fans would like that.
Cataphract
- Available to the Byzantines, Persians and Chinese.
- Replaces Knight in the Stable.
- Would lose some of it’s Cavalry Armour and some of it’s bonus damage against Infantry.
- Byzantines would get it back as a civilisation bonus.
- Persians would get a new civilisation bonus that makes them stronger against Archers (replaces their Team Bonus)
- Chinese wouldn’t get any bonus (since they don’t have the Paladin right now)
New Unique Unit for the Byzantines could be a Flame Thrower. Basically the Land version for the Fire Ship. Their Unique Technology would apply to them too.
Missionary
Just why not. They are already a secondary unique unit that is available outside the Castle by default.
No idea what new civilisation they could work well for though.
This idea is simply based on the fact that nothing would change for the Spanish if they were a regional unit.
Slinger
- Available to Inca and potential new civilisations like Chimu
- Nothing would change about them
- The Chimu could have a Unique Elite version instead of the two Unique Technologies the Inca have to improve them
Similar to then Missionary they are already outside the Castle but in contrast to them they would actually make sense as a Regional Unit for South America in general.
Boyar
- Available to the Slaves (if Split they would be available to Ruthenians, Muscovites or something like that), Bulgaria, Lithuania or new civilisations like the Wallachias/Romanians (the unit is Romanian in AoE3)
- Replace the Knight line (Alternatively a unique Upgrade to the Knight)
- Would get their Melee armour reduced
- Lithuanian Boyars would benefit from the Relic bonus, and they would ironically be countered by their unique unit
- Bulgarians already have a unique cavalry unit so maybe not the best match
Lithuanians would become quit interesting with having 2 Regional Units in their Stable.
If the Slaves get split giving them new unique units wouldn’t be that hard, I guess.
Summery
Some unique units could be turned into a regional unit in an upcoming DLC like they did with the Indian unique unit.
Huskarl could be part of a early Medieval DLC.
Cataphract of a Chinese DLC (a lot of people want that to happen).
Slinger would be part of a South American DLC that would finally give Inca the correct architecture set (a lot of people want that one too).
Boyar an Easter European DLC but I feel like that area already has a lot of civilisations already.