What I said is, at that time there were people don’t think the game should give a brand new unit for steppe civs, as they seemed to think that the lancers were not a unique thing to nomadic peoples.
It’s the difference between a UU and a generic/regional unit in a tech tree.
A UU can refer to a unique thing of the civ, even it’s rare. The coolness plays a fairly big role here.
Generic/Regional units in a tech tree are based on to typical warfare or war styles of the civ/region.
Put aside the balance issue, I am not really against having mounted crossbowmen in the existing European civs, but I do think there are more interesting and more needed candidates for the potential European regional units.
Because the word “infantry” in general speaking also refer to soldiers or warriors fighting on foot, no matter they use melee weapons or missile weapons. It’s just in the context of the AoE franchise that they’ve separated archers from the meaning of “infantry” since they’ve defined this term to exclusively refer the melee footmen from the beginning.
Theoretically, there are at least a dozen civs who can have access to mounted crossbowmen. While some civs may gain them without upsetting the balance, others may not. Being available to too many civs would make a huge balance problem.
I would prefer units available to smaller groups of civs, just like the Winged Hussar to only Poles and Lithuanians.
Throwing Axeman
Feudal melee infantry with a slow speed and a range in Barracks. A symbol of the barbarians of early medieval Europe.
Available for the Britons, Burgundians, Celts, Franks, Goths, Teutons and Vikings.
Perhaps only the Franks can have a Elite upgrade and the UT to improve it in the Castle Age, and then they will need a new UU in Castles.
Missionary
Becomes a regional unit that is shared with the Portuguese, after the Portuguese lose their discount on the Monastery units.
If needed, the Spanish could have a new second UU, like the speedy Rodelero replacing the Two-handed Swordsman.
Hobelar
Unique upgrade that replaces the Light cavalry upgrade, bringing less stats improvements to the Scout Cavalry but making the train cost cheaper.
Available for the Britons and Celts. Probably no upgrade in the Imperial Age.
Genitour
Strong and gold-consuming Christian mounted skirmisher, trainable in Archery Ranges in the Castle Age.
Available for the Portuguese and Spanish.
The training button could be placed at where the Heavy Cavalry Archer upgrade is, and the Heavy/Elite upgrade button could be placed at where the Parthian Tactics is.
Meanwhile, the current Genitour from the Berbers would be renamed specifically to Zenata Rider or generically to Javelin Rider.
Boyar
Replaces the Knight with additional armors and costs, and have a Heavy/Elite upgrade in the Imperial Age.
Available for the Bulgarians and Slavs.
Meanwhile, the Slavs would need a new UU in Castles.
I prefer to make Paladin regional unit instead of ranged melee unit.
Berber should have no longer had Genitour as team bonus. Likewise, Italians and Viet should not. Instead imperial skirmisher should be regional and Condo remain unique.
The Paladin is already a regional unit. The barbarian Axeman here is just going to be the another one.
Personally speaking I’m not really against sharing units as a team bonus. But also, I’m not against having the Zenata Rider (current trash Genitour) trainable only to Berbers (and maybe Turks), and having the Imperial Skirmisher trainable only to Vietnamese (and potential Bai and Chams). I can see infantry civs like Aztec spamming Condo really breaks the immersion.
From the beginning, my propose is not pursuing new visuals but new regional units in the simplest way.
On the other hand, strickly speaking, the new gold-consuming Genitour is a brand new unit with a Iberian Christian look, different from the Zenata Rider (current trash Genitour). Once the Axeman and Boyar become regional, the new UUs for Franks and Slavs may also bring new visuals.
While I agree imp skirmishers can be a generic unit, arbalest seems to fall off a bit after imp timing. I think both arbalest and the proposed Cranequinier should get compensation if imp skirm becomes a generic unit.