Arsenal Revival with 7 New Technologies!
Reopen the Arsenal (of the Beta and Campaigns) as a new building of the Castle Age for all civs. It would have technologies to improve the combat abilities of the “Base Units” of all civs, although in the case that certain units role are occupied with unique units or were already buffed, otherwise they would lack the bonus (Similar to AoE2 technologies in that aspect)
- 1.- Pike transition (Spearman) (III).- Improves the Spearman’s range to 1.0, but reduces their Attack Speed by 10%, change their spears to pikes.
- 2.- Side Sword/Kilij (Man-at-arms) (IV).- Improves the attack speed of the MaA by 20%, attack +2.
- 3.- Serving a Bowstring (Archers) (III).- Improved the range of Archers by +1.25 & horse archers by +0.5
- 4.- Pavise (Crossbowman) (IV).- Improves Crossbowmen with “Pavise” ability: +5 ranged armor and +1.0 range for 30 seconds while immobile.
- 5.- Horseman Cuirass (Horseman) (III).- Improves the Horseman’s with a 20% range damage reduction, but 0.125 less movement speed.
- 6.- Lance Rest(Knigts) (IV).- Improves the damage of the Heavy cavalry’s charge attack by +6 and +10% of movement speed while charging.
- 7.-Arquebus transition (Handcannoneer).- Improves the Handcannoneer with a arquebus, with +2 of attack and +0.5 of range.
Some rules:
- 1.- Historicity is the most important thing, that’s why I chose technologies that almost most civs could obtain.
- 2.- Balance: Not all civilizations will have all the technologies, only some, both for reasons of historicity, or for reasons of balance: Ex: Civilizations that did not develop pikes will not have pikemen, Ex2: Long throw archer already has enough range, he doesn’t need more for balance.
- 3.- Unique Units, Techs: Some Civ with unique technologies or units that already affect or replace specific basic units would lack their respective arsenal technology for that unit, although only if the synergy is too strong: Ex. Abbasid Spearman with Phalanx already have extra range , they don’t need more
- 4a.- Swords: European Civs will have Side Sword (“Espada da lato”), while Islamic Civs with Turkic troops will have “Kilij” for their heavy infantry, unless they already have a respective upgrade for your heavy infantry that changes the weapon. Ex: Delhi Sultanate already develops Kilij with Honed Blades.
- 4b.- Asian Civs generally did not have the concept of Men-at-arm, so it is expected that in the future all Asian Civs will have their own version of a single heavy infantry unit with their own improvements: Ex: Samurais, Palace Guard, etc.
- 5.- Regarding cost, I leave it to the devs, but I would put 100f or 100w and 300g for the age III ones, and #### or 300w and 700g for the imperial one.
| Civ | Pike | Side Sword/ Kilij | Bowstring | Pavise | Horseman Cuirass | Lance Rest | Arquebus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | – | – | – /UU | + | + | + | + |
| French | – | + | + | – /UU | + | + | + |
| HRE | + | – /UT | + | + | + | + | + |
| Rus | + | + | + | + | + | + | – |
| Abbasid | –/UT | –/UT | + | + | + | + | + |
| Delhi Sultanate | – | –/UT | + | + | + | + | + |
| Mongols | – | + | + | – | + | + | - |
| Chinese | + | –/UU | + | + | + | + | + |
| Ottoman | - | + | - | + | + | + | - |
| Mali | - /UU | - | + | -/NT | –/NT | – /UT | - |
| Byzantine | + | - | + | + | + | - | + |
| Japanese | - /UT | - /UT | + | – | –/NT | – /UT | + |
| Zhu Xi | - /UT | - /UU | – | + | + | + | – |
| JoanDArc | + | + | + | – /UU | + | + | + |
| O.o.t.D. | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ayyubid | - /UT | - /UT | + | + | + | - | + |
- “+” Gets
- “-” Does not get
- “UU”.- civ has a unique unit that does not need the unique technology
- “UT”.- civ has unique technologies for the base unit, any more would be an imbalance.
- “NT”.- civ could have a new technology to replace this.
Historicity and Balance of technologies:
1.Pike | 2. Side Sword/ Kilij | 3.Bowstring | 4.Pavise | 5.Horseman Cuirass | 6.Lance Rest | 7.Arquebus
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English.- 2.(-) They already have the “Castle Net” bonus to increase the attack speed of units, more attack speed would be too much, therefore they will lack Side sword. 3.(-) Long-shot archers already have enough range, unless of course it is believed that more would not hurt, it requires verification.
-
French.- 4. (-) Because the Arbaletrier already has pavise, developing it 2 times would not make sense. Also the advantage of the Unique Unit of their counterpart will be that they have it 1 age before the rest of the civs and for free, also their other bonus (more melee armour, others unique techs).
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HRE.- 1.(+) The pikes are “Necessary” to represent the Pikeman Landsknecht using the Spearman model (unless they release the Pikeman Landsknecht in the future), and that it is in the III age so that reflect that they appeared after the Swiss pikemen (which I suppose, if there were Swiss, the Swiss pikeman would be their base light infantry unit since the dark ages). 2.(-) They do not have Side Sword because the Men-at-arm already presents other improvements and weapon changes typical of the civ: Heavy mases, Two-hand-weapon. 7.(+) The arquebus is also necessary, unless the devs release the Landsknecht Arquebusier.
-
Rus.- 7.(-) Since the Streltsy already possesses a musket or arquebus, arquebus technology is not necessary.
-
Abbasid.- 1.(UT) They already have “Phalanx” technology, historically since the Abbasid era. 2.(UU) Since the Ghulams already have a type of scimitar, they will not develop Kilij (another type of scimitar).
-
Delhi Sultanate.- 1.2 (–) On balance, Tower of Victory already gives attack speed to its infantry, therefore they would not get Pica or Kilij. There are other compelling reasons: 1.- Historically, armies of the Delhi Sultanate did not develop pikes. 2.- Since Honed Blades already gives you Kilij, another Kilij technology would be redundant. 8.(?).- As at the moment they are the only civ with elephants, the extra technology for elephants is unique, but when more civs come out with these (Rajastan, Chola, Vijayanagara, etc.) perhaps technologies like “Armored beast” will be added. become common and go to this building.
-
Mongols.- 1.2 (-) They already have enough bonus for infantry with “(Improved) Elite Army Tactics” in post-imperial, plus they never developed pikes or side swords. 4.(–) Mongols did not use shields because they had the use of “Kharash” or “Human Shield” which consists of using prisoners or slaves from other wars as cannon fodder . Technically they would be the summoned units of the Khaganate Palace, so for balance and historicity, they did not have paves. 7(–) They also did not develop muskets, and for balance: they already have enough power with the Khan’s ability to increase the attack speed of ranged units by 50%
-
Chinese.- 2).(UU).- The Palace Guard does not use a sword, but could obtain one with the technology: Zhanmadao, which improved its damage by +3. 7.(UT) They already have an improvement for Handcannoners, “Pyrotechnicians”. What could be done is that this improvement “gives them Chinese muskets.”
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Ottoman.- 1.(-) They did not develop pikemen so they would not have this improvement, plus I would suggest that it would be better if they gave them the Azap as a single unit to replace the “Spearman”. 7 (UU).- As the Janizaro already uses a musket, he does not need the musket upgrade, on top of that he already has Unique Technology.
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Mali.- 1.(–/UU) Donso already has more stats than his basic counterpart and a special javelin attack, on top of that Mali did not develop pikes 7.(–) Musofadi gunner already has a musket or arquebus. 1-2.4-6 (-/NT). As they historically did not develop pikes, special swords, brigandine or plate cuirasses, crossbows, etc., they lack many of the normal arsenal upgrades. Instead they would have OTHER improvements for special weapons for this civ and for each unit:
– “Poisoned Javelins”.- upgrades the javelin thrower and sofa with poison damage on their javelins.
– “Imported arab horses”.- improves the HP of the War Scouts by +10 and that of the Sofa by +15 -
Byzantines.- They would have all the technologies, except for heavy infantry and heavy cavalry. 2.(UT).- Varangian Guard already has an ax as its 2nd weapon, and they did not reach the age of rebirth to acquire a rapier sword, in addition to it not being their style. 6.(UT).- Cataphracts do not have a charge attack because they were wearing too much armor and the horse could not withstand a weapon lance, they would not have a rest lance. On top of that, both technologies would be unnecessary.
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Japanese.- 1.2 (UT).- As they already have the Jumanji Yari technologies for Spearmans and Odachi for Samurai, they do not require arsenal technologies for infantry. 6.(UT) As historically they did not develop Spear in Riste, and the Mounted Samurai already has a unique technology (Do-maru armor), they do not obtain this technology. Also, for balance, Umi Bannerman’s attack bonus is already enough extra-attack. 4.(-) Lacking crossbowmen they would lack pavés. 5.(-) Instead of Courass, horseman would get “Horo”:
– “Horo”.- Explorer and Horseman get a 10% range damage reduction buff, and an aesthetic horo. -
Order of the Dragon.- 1-7 (–) All your unique units already have their own upgrades, unless of course all of them (War horses, Dragon torches, Dragon mail, etc) go to the Arsenal.
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Zhu Xi.- 1.(UT) Spearman can receive a fire lance with Roar of the Dragon in Imperial Age, so for balance they no longer receive Spades. 2. (UT) Palace Guard uses Guandao, although it could also have unique Zambato technology. 3. (-) Lacking archers, Serving a Bowstring is superfluous. 7 (-) Lacking a handcannoneer, Arquebus Transition is more than enough.
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JoanDArc.- Since it does not differ much in the French technology or Landmarks tree, it receives normal technologies from the arsenal, 4.(–) minus this one for obvious reasons.
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Ayyubid.- 1.(UT) They already have Phalanx technology, without attack speed debuff, it is enough. 2: (UT) Ghulams are powerful enough with Mamluk Sultans, plus changing their weapon would ruin the joke of the unit’s double attack when using Scimitar. 4).- (UU) Lancer camels, for balance, already have an attack bonus to their charging attack, they do not need Lance Rest.
Miscelany
I came up with the suggestion of reopening the arsenal as a way to increase the diversity of troops from various civilizations, without needing to increase the number of Unique Units, or increase the base units.
The idea came to me after seeing the example of the Byzantine civilization, which to represent various bodies of cavalry, they used technologies (Expilatores, Numeri, ############ Greek Fire Projectiles, etc), and the ** Japanese civilization**, which has several unique technologies to represent the equipment transition (Spearman: Hoko → Yari / Samurai: Naginata → Odachi / Mounted Samurai: Ō-yoroi → Do-maru)
Taking advantage of the fact that several civilizations developed Pikemen, the Pavise for crossbowmans, and arquebusiers or musketers, but without creating a special body of those troops (not unique unit), it could well give them extra technologies so that they could have them, it would help a lot to historical representation.
Additionally, in the balance part, it would increase the possibility of giving more power to the units in the Imperial Age, and shorten the game times of this Age, making it more dynamic.
The model is not definitive and can change, this is just an idea, the balance may be better without any extra attack for the Men at arm or only more attack, or even more charge attack bonus for the Lancer/Knight, but I will leave that to the Devs and seasonal changes.
