I have an idea for a regional unit for the Koreans, Chinese and Mongols : a medieval rocket launcher, also called hwacha in Korea, that would be a replacement for the onager and siege onager.
Compared to the mangonel line that it replaces (as an anti-mass-infantry ranged siege unit) :
Wider blast radius
Fires shots by salvo (like the chu-ko-nu) instead of all at once, each shot dealing full damage
Higher reload time
Poor accuracy, slower projectiles
Overall the unit would perform better against large formations as it would output more damage per salvo, but would perform poorer against isolated targets due to its poor accuracy.
I will not state any exact unit stats, except that it should feel like a satisfying upgrade to the mangonel and still offer a similar overall efficiency as the onager and siege onager (as it would have the same price)
It technically was a rocket organ gun so similarities are to be expected (though the ingame organ gun fires all guns at once), but due to the price difference (mangonel line : 160w 135g, organ gun : 80w 56g) it would be individually much more powerful.
Also the organ gun would look like a surgeon compared to the hwacha. It would cause damage over a significant radius.
Interesting suggestion. Presumably it would benefit from Rocketry, Drill, Shinkichon and the Korean team bonus.
Would you upgrade mangonel to hwacha? If so, then it canât really have
because the upgrade would become a downgrade in some ways. In particular, it would make them worse in mangonel vs mangonel battles, which seems unwise to me.
Making it an alternate unit, unlocked after researching chemistry, then ? This would free it from the cost of a mangonel, which would allow balancing it more freely. The hwacha would become the better anti-mass-infantry choice, but countered notably by onagers, a more accurate artillery being a logical anti-artillery choice.
The problem I see is that then you have multiple units that fill a similar role so one ends up being much more situational over the other.
How about instead of replacing the mangonel, it replaces the scorpion? Dunno if is realistic to make the projectiles fall in a line tho
Alright, thinking about it again if the hwacha replaces the onager and siege onager :
make sure the hwacha is at least as good as the mangonel, against mangonels/onagers. No downgrade when upgrading, even if it ends up at a disadvantage against onagers.
give the Chinese the bombard cannon, which they should have as they invented gunpowder, to help counter onagers
(Koreans also have the bombard, while Mongols have the mangudai, to counter siege)
The scorpion is cheaper, overall weaker, and wouldnât fit the mass-fire bombardment style.
I think Sandy Peterson said in a video this was what he and his team were thinking about when they designed the Korean war chariot, except they didnât have time to do their research because they had one week to create the civ. Anyway, the idea sounds really nice and could maybe be included in a future East Asian dlc.
How large of a slice of China did they get and when did this happen ? The Jurchens controlled the northern half when Genghis arrived (Jin dynasty) and the Mongols conquered it whole (Yuan dynasty).
Look up Western Xia for the Tanguts and Liao dynasty and Western Liao for the Khitans. The Khitans were already not at their peak anymore when the Mongols attacked, but they had been quite relevant in the earlier centuries. The Tanguts never had as huge of an empire as their neighbours, but I still think the region would not be complete until they are included. Genghis campaigns had you fighting all of those foes, the third mission especially include the Chines Song, the Jurchen Jin and the Tanguts Western Xia.
Iâd give it as a replacement of (Heavy) Scorpion, unlocking in Imp after Chemistry.
Missing scorps in Castle would hurt but not very much, and itâs pretty easy for the unit to have more utility in Imp then what itâs replacing. The hurt and gain could balance each other out reasonably well, so that it wouldnât massively throw off balance.
Also having more Imp only units is fun.
To address the criticism posted earlier in this thread: The important thing if it replaces scorps is that itâs good vs infantry and archers, weak vs mangonels. Having the projectiles all land in a line is irrelevant. It lacking true AOE and/or lacking anti-siege damage could easily justify a lower cost. Even if it would be a very different unit from Heavy Scorp it wouldnât matter much, because HS see very little play.
Itâs widely known : the only reason why the Koreans were added in The Conquerors is because Ensemble Studios got a phonecall from Microsoft, asking them to add the Koreans to court the korean market (Starcraft had sold 2 millions there). Making the Koreans a last-minute addition to the expansion.
Itâs a much shorter delay than the devs were confortable with, hence the amount of changes the Koreans had over the years as there was not enough time to give this civ a coherent gameplay. A Conquerors patch (that was in 2000) even changed how the turtle ship looked, as they didnât have the time to make an accurate design in time.
The point is, if they can last minute a civ in a week on a tight pressure moment then it should be reasonable to mathematically add a civ every 2 weeks to give a little generosity.
Mathematically a new expansion having less than 5 implies thereâs almost laziness
Just adding a civ like that wouldnât cut it, theyâd make it part of a DLC notably with a campaign for each new civ (campaign is the main course for singleplayer), and new campaigns for the DE have been of a great quality overall. And there also is the issue of making the civ :
have a gameplay that makes sense to what it historically was
have new things to offer gameplay-wise. The hussite chariot was a headache for game designers, notably.
be somewhat balanced (yes yes whether itâs OP or too weak, some fine tuning will be necessary). And that part is important, the most important for multiplayer.
Now yes the Romans donât have an AOE2 campaign but they are intended to be a bonus for the ROR content.