I already commented on the Luojuzi and Tibetan Serf, so here are the others.
Cham.
Mangpung: An amphibious raiding infantry that transitions automatically between two modes (melee infantry on land and one-man raft launching fire bombs in water)
It’s a cool idea, really interesting on a water map. I like that its attack gets weaker on water, so it’s really for raiding and not too multipurpose. On land maps it will be quite underwhelming – I think that’s ok, though, it doesn’t have to be useful on every map type.
Elephant Crossbowman (unique upgrade to the Elephant Archer)
I like the idea and it fits Chams well (not that I know that much about them). Before the unique tech it feels maybe too similar to a regular Elite Elephant Archer, but I’m not sure how to avoid that. Definitely feels more unique with the unique tech.
Bo/Baipu.
Raeuz Tribesman, the 2nd UU of this civ and it can only be trained at the Mbanj… This unit is a 2-mode unit, it has an infantry mode and a gatherer mode. The default mode is infantry, but you can manually change it to gatherer. The change involves stats changes (see the stats below) so it’s not automatic. In the infantry mode, it fights just like any other infantry in game; in the gatherer mode, it can gather all resources similar to Villagers, but with two major differences: 1. it cannot build anything, not even the Mbanj, so to construct a Mbanj you’d still need Villagers. 2. it won’t drop resources to TC, Mining camp, Lumberjack, or Mill like the Villagers do, the only resource dropping point for this unit is at the Mbanj, and it drops all types of resources there. This unit does not have any elite upgrade and its gatherer mode does not benefit from the Mill, TC, Lumberjack, and Mining Camp upgrades.
I think it’s an interesting idea and it could be quite powerful switching from a booming economy in gatherer mode to suddenly having a large army in infantry mode. Really hard to judge how the balance would go with this one. The Mbanj reminds me of suggestions I’ve heard for Cumans – i.e. rather than a second Feudal TC they could have a unique mini-TC.
Chimu.
Alaec… deals bonus damage against Walls and Gate, Stone Defense, and Castles, a bit like an infantry version of Tarkan. Its special ability is that it can enter the defensive mode when tasked. Once in this mode it’s unable to move, but receives -30% anti-infantry damage
I like the idea, and it definitely feels different enough from the closest comparable units (Huskarls, rams, siege elephants). I’m not sure about the defensive mode, since being completely stationary could actually be quite annoying. An alternative would be that it normally moves at a similar speed to other infantry, and defensive mode slows it down to about the speed of a battering ram, but boosts its pierce armour a lot. That way, you would move it around the map in normal mode, then switch to defensive mode when approaching TCs, castles and towers. I think it’s hard to tell what exact mechanics would be best without actually testing it though.
Bolas Warrior, available at the Barracks, range 3 (4 elite), deals melee damage, throws 3 projectiles at the same time. The middle projectile has the special ability of slowing down the enemy unit’s speed by 5% and by 10% when upgraded to elite (effect isn’t stackable, meaning that doesn’t matter how many Bolas Warriors attack an unit the slowing down effect on the said unit will always be 5% and 10% when upgraded to elite Bolas Warrior). The slowing down effect will last for 5 seconds after the middle projectile hits the target. This unit deals bonus damage to Cavalry, Camel, and War Elephants.
This could be very powerful – it seems like a better version of the throwing axeman for a slightly cheaper price – so it might need some stat tweaks or a common counter (e.g. have it take bonus damage from skirmishers). The slowing effect could make it annoying to play against, but I understand that it makes sense for the weapon.
Balsa Raft, available at the Dock in Imperial Age. Its attack is similar to the Dromon launching stones at the enemy, though weaker and shorter ranged. Its special ability is that it could not only attack but also fish, however unlike Fishing Ships it generates gold instead of food when fishing.
The fishing ability is interesting – could be very powerful in late game if it works with fish traps (although for such an expensive unit that might not be a problem). I think it will have problems against castles and towers because of its shortish range (10 – same as a castle or tower with bodkin arrow).
Tangut/Minyak.
Camel Arcuballista, a camel rider wielding a light arcuballista (a type of siege crossbow) which can launch stones at the enemy. Contrary to Camel Riders it doesn’t have a bonus against cavalry, but instead has a bonus against infantry similar to the Inca Slinger. In some sense you can think of it as a Slinger mounted on a camel. And just like the Tangut Camel Rider, it also has the ability to double as a trade unit thanks to the civ bonus.
Nice, distinctive idea. Very strong against spearman-line but comfortably countered by skirmishers and other camels. Does it benefit from Parthian Tactics, since it’s sort of a cavalry archer? I’m not sure how useful the trade bonus will be – it will probably be more useful for regular camel riders (mix some in with your trade carts to fight off hussar raids).
Bubazi, available at the Barracks in Castle Age and can be upgraded to elite in Imperial, and can be trained from a Siege Tower after researching the Castle Age UT… it has a special ability that is it can build or lay the Taojili, which is the earliest recorded landmine
It’s an interesting idea for an ability, but I’ve always found landmine gameplay fiddly and/or awkward in other games. Nothing wrong with it, just not really my cup of tea. As I mentioned before, I think training at the siege tower is really situational.
Hitatsinom.
Owl Prowler, an infantry unit… its special ability is that it is stealthy when not attacking… It isn’t visible on the mini-map, and can only be detected or revealed by enemy scouts, villagers, and monks within their LOS. When it starts to attack it would lose all coverage and becomes visible to all enemy units as well as on the mini-map. When it stops attacking it takes 10 secs to recover itself and to become invisible again (decrease to 8 secs when elite).
Again, not really my cup of tea, based on experience from other games, but nothing wrong with the idea. The fact that it reveals itself for 10 seconds after attacking would make it less annoying to fight than, e.g. Dark Templar in StarCraft (invisible even when attacking).
Desert Tracker and Elite Desert Tracker, unique upgrades of the Archer. Largely sharing the same stats as the Crossbowman and Arbalester of the other civs, except having slightly shorter range but slightly higher HP and attack, and also having an additional bonus damage against Cavalry.
Seems good to me – similar to Genoese crossbowman, but probably not too much since it’s an alternative archer line rather than a castle unit.
Tibetans.
Zimchongpa, the elite lance guards of Tibet… Their unique ability is that although they’re melee units they have a pierced charge attack, when the white bar on top of them is fully charged they would throw a javelin at the enemy (they would start the attack on an enemy unit with a javelin throw since at the start of an attack they would be fully charged).
I’d initially assumed this was cavalry (because of the lance) but it’s actually infantry. The charge attack is thematically a nice idea, but I find it hard to judge how useful it is. It’s similar to the Roman Legionaries in the Rome at War mod, I think, so someone who’s played more of that might have more insight.
Lama, identical to the Monk in almost all aspects except having 5 more base HP and can build and repair the Gompa
Gompa can actively heal surrounding friendly units and convert surrounding enemy units within a 6x6 circle extending from the edge of the building
Again, really hard to judge how useful this is, but thematically it’s nice. I’m not keen on aura effects in AoE2, but that’s just a personal thing. I suppose if you manage to build a Gompa near your enemy’s base, the conversion effect could be quite powerful.
Imperial Steppe Lancer, the upgrade of the Elite Steppe Lancer that is unique to Tibetans. Since they don’t have access to the Knight line, the steppe lancers would fill the niche of Knights.
Seems fine, but if you want Steppe Lancers to fill the role of knights, I think they would need a Castle Age bonus for them rather than a late-game upgrade. I thought Tibetans used heavy cavalry historically, so the lack of knights seems odd.
Songhai/Ayneya.
Gu Raider… It has a speed of 1.5, faster than the camel rider. And it has bonus damage against Monks, Buildings, and Economy Units (Villagers, Trade Carts, Trade Cogs, and Fishing Ships)… it can boost the attack speed of allied camel units by 10%, and its aura range would be similar to an un-upgraded Roman Centurion (10 range circle)… this unit has a 20% chance (1 in 5) of converting an enemy Economy Unit when its attacks drop the said unit’s HP to below 40% of its original HP.
Not sure what to make of this. I’d originally interpreted it as a very fast raiding unit that is good against eco units and monks but should avoid engaging enemy military units. However, looking at its stats, it seems generally very good. It could be difficult to counter for civs with bad cavalry. I think I would just pick one of the two abilities – I’m not keen of the level of RNG involved in the second one. I copied and pasted what I thought was the most important info about the units for other people reading the thread.
Gokturks.
Chuy / Shatuo Cavalier… It has 2 special abilities. The first is a deflection ability; it can absorb 25% of the damage inflicted to nearby allies (except Siege Units) within a 5-tile radius, even if it’s not the intended target; the effect isn’t stackable. The second ability is an aura type ability, which would boost the attack speed of allied spearman by +10% within an 8-tile radius; this effect isn’t stackable either.
Again, two abilities for one unit feels like a bit much. I think the damage absorption is the most unique and on-theme, so I would go with that.