This new ship is nothing but a straight-up better version of Cannon Galleons in every aspect. Unless you are Spanish.
A fully upgraded Lou Chuan reaches 14 range, outranging even Teuton castles, Korean towers, and Turkish bombard towers—which is very impressive, because even Dromons only reach 13 range.
So, Cannon Galleons’ couple of extra range doesn’t give them any significant advantage over Lou Chuans, because both already exceed the critical 13 range. But the problem is, Lou Chuans deal much more damage, doesn’t require elite upgrade, reload twice as fast, and defend themselves against enemy ships far better than Cannon Galleons.
Also, you know what? They don’t cause friendly fire either.
Either this unit is too overpowered, or it’s the level where Cannon Galleons were supposed to be.
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Paladins are better units then pretty much anything else (besides Unique Units) and only a few civilisations have them.
That’s how the game works. Some civilisations have access to units that are better then the units of other civilisations. Units are not supposed to be equally good.
All civilisations with Lou Chuan basically have a civilisations bonus on water maps.
Though only the Wu and the Chinese really have a good navy in general. All the other civs have so many other techs and units missing that they aren’t that good over all.
2 Likes
I tried it and I also felt that it’s too OP.
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This is a person who probably has most of us on ignore for not feedijg his ego about turks vs elephant. Save your energy for important things
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Lou chuans are also very expensive even compared to bombard galleons. Facing galleons will mean getting swarmed.
But worst case scenario they’ll be nerfed, we’ll see how civs with that unit do in water and hybrid maps
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Fire acher more OP :v try it and will see
Fast Fire ships. 20 characters.
I have only used Lou Chuan with Chinese yet, but yeah, it feels too good.
For 50 more Wood and 75 Gold you basically get Cannon Galleon and a Galleon (90 Wood, 30 Gold). I do not like that all-purpose design of it. Start with “normal” war ships first and slowly replace destroyed ships with Lou Chuans. There does not seem to drawback to them.
A little extra range can be pretty valuable, especially for the naval siege units. It can be the difference between a castle being in range (and thus a relatively easy takedown) or a castle being impossible to hit.
The extra price is also a significant drawback. Especially if you build it in a small body of water (something I’ve done with cannon galleons so that they can take down a castle)
I haven’t actually played with it. It may well be OP. But it does have drawbacks, including the drawback of being one of the most expensive units in the game (beating bombard cannons, trebs, and cannon galleons, but losing to the new hero units).
Price comparison: (base → shipwright)
cannon galleon: 200w/150g → 160w/150g → 128w/120g (Italian cannon galleons)
Lou chuan: 250w/225g → 200w/225g (still more expensive than a treb, but at least cheaper than generic BBCs)
Note that shipwright is an expensive tech and that not every civ has access to it. Same is true for siege engineers.
Only the Teuton castle reaches 13 range, and a fully upgraded Lou Chuan already outranges it. Even non-elite Cannon Galleons can outrange it with Siege Engineers. So I don’t think the extra range of Elite Cannon Galleons outweighs the huge benefits Lou Chuans have over regular Cannon Galleons.
Also, Siege Engineers affecting Cannon Galleons was a questionable decision. What’s the point of Teuton, Korean, or Turk range bonuses if Cannon Galleons can outrange them even before upgrading? These bonuses weren’t designed to be countered by non-elite Cannon Galleons.
I think only Elite Cannon Galleons should outrange those castles. I would reduce the range of Lou Chuan, Cannon Galleon, and Elite Cannon Galleon by 1. To compensate, I’d slightly increase the projectile speed and/or blast radius of Cannon Galleons.
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Lou Chuans are better against buildings and ships but they are abysmal against Fire Ships.
Fire Ships take basically no damage from them and just eat them alive.
Generally not cost efficient as an anti ship unit but definitely a good 2nd line support unit.
Lou Chuan’s arrows look like they travel fast. I’m wondering what their projectile speed is.
I think he should’ve mentioned that it’s not a big deal for Lou Chuans to have shorter range, since they already outrange all defensive buildings— even the Teuton castle when fully upgraded.
The real issue is that they outclass Cannon Galleons so badly. I just wish Cannon Galleons weren’t so niche, only being useful against buildings. Bombard Cannons, for example, are more interesting units because they aren’t just anti-building.
That said, I still produce Cannon Galleons for naval warfare if the civilization has bonuses. As Turks, I place them slightly behind the fire ship line to increase hit chances. I’m not afraid of putting them in the range of galleys, because Turk Cannon Galleons have more HP and train faster. Since they deal melee damage, Elite Cannon Galleons actually do more damage to ships than regular Galleons— if they manage to hit. Maybe not the most ideal use, but it works for me.
Still, Lou Chuans are obviously better.
I’m hoping for a general naval rework like Chronicles that could introduce new gunpowder ship classes.
