It’s just sad. It’s bothering me so much. Why, upon the fact we already don’t have a single civ with FU EA, we have to lose a 90% FU EA?
EA is the only regional unit that not a single civ has it FU.
Bengalis already lacks power units. This change simply pushes us to use Rathas instead of EA, which is so unnecessary.
Have you ever faced that stupid Deathball of FU Elite Ele archers, like is the only one thing that a Bengali player will ever do on almost any match up, and being the only ones that can’t be killed by Elite Skirms (40 shots…and you even have light cav with +2 vs skirms), open maps sure isn’t an issue but on closed maps? such deathball was same as annoying and OP as old Bohemians Halbs + Houfnice.
I like that there’s now more motivation to go Rathas now that the Ele archer OP power goes down, they still are fine vs archers.
Yes I have used and faced it many times myself. Cavs + monks or halbs + monks could counter it just fine.
Also it’s not like the arena meta nowadays allows you to boom into EA. 9 out of 10 games you will get punished for the greed.
Cav is counterd by Halbs, Monks die to light cav, and watch any previous tournament on closed maps where Bengalis were used, try to remember last time you saw Rathas as their main ranged option…
I would have preferred a different direction for the Bengali changes. Lack of Parthian Tactics makes me sad 
I mean… if you allow the Bengalis player to get to this combo you are doomed ofc. Early imp Bengalis is super weak because EA alone takes so much investment. Literally any other power unit would get into shape quicker.
Another good counter I just thought of, rams filled with halbs.
Same can be said about Bohemians no, if you allow them into Halb/Houfnice you are doomed no? and it takes very similar investment to get into no?
Bengalis have really good 1 TC play with armored Monks and strong eco behind it, maybe instead of simply making ele archers as their only option we will see more of their strats, maybe we finally will see them using their fantastic Battle eles.
This single update has transformed Bengalis from ranged oriented to melee oriented.
Literally no. Houfnice needs what, chemistry which you already get before imp, and one houfnice upgrade, and SE. How many techs do EA require?
i agree… its really bad nurf patch.
And still you forget Wagenburg Tactics…
also the other line of upgrades you need for their halbs.
Yeah Bengalis is one trick Ratha civ now. Their overall W/R will be lowered though W/R in Arabia might go up.
I think it’s fine that they don’t have Parthian tactic anymore because they did buff the melee aspect of the civs…BUT Battle elephants, even with the newest buffs won’t change the fact that they still suck because of monk and slow speed. Ratha is basically the one trick that Bangelis can use, which are expensive investment due to castles. IF the entire civ is now one trick pony…it’s just bad design.
Removing an option to push another is bad design. I believe in options. If one option is to be pushed, then buff that option, but leave the other one alone. So I really dislike the parthian tactics loss.
A simple buff I support would be to have two ratha buttons, like Hera suggested (see https://youtu.be/oxAAIXWuBYc?t=246): one for melee, one for ranged mode. So you’re always sure what you’re getting.
A “real” buff I also support would be to give the ratha +1 pierce damage, ie 7+4 in imp… That’s the normal damage of a HCA, and less than a UU HCA (the camel archer and mangudaï have both 8+4 and the war wagon even 9+4), not to mention the lack of thumb ring.
Bengalis are good on closed maps and bad on open maps, so this change makes sense, doesn’t it?
It also buffs them in Castle Age since they now have better Ratha for free and only worse Elite Elephant Archers in Imperial Age.
Their early game is still pretty bad. Maybe their Villager bonus should be improved from 2 to 3.
The problem is it does not address the Ratha’s issues, and instead makes it more similar to the Elephant Archer.
They can fix the Ratha’s problems, without taking away part of the civ’s identity.
If you let the Bengali player boom 30 minutes for Elephant Archers its your fault lol
If only we could petard in dark age, then the blame would stop, no?