Poll: should steppe lancer be boosted?

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
1

Hi there. I fell like after their initial absolute power, steppe lancer where overnerfed,and now need a buff, specially for Tartars. I’m leaving a pool here, just to see what the comunity think

I’ve tried to make the poll the most detailed possible. I didn’t add options for Mongols tjough, since I think that we all agree right now, mongols have the best SL, and overall are, by far, the best civ of those 3, so guving the mayor buff to mongols would be plain dumb.

Please, vote!

  • Yes, buff then in general, they’re too weak
  • Yes, buff them, but only for cumans and Tartars(includes UT/Civ bonus)
  • Buff them a lot for Tartars, a little less for Cumans (includes UT/Civ bonus)
  • Buff them a lot for Cumans, a little less for Tartars (includes UT/Civ bonus)
  • Yes, buff them, but only for Tartars(includes UT/Civ bonus)
  • Yes, buff them, but only for cumans (includes UT/Civ bonus)
  • No, Steppe lancer don’t need a buff

0 voters

2

Mongols have the best Lancers in Castle Age, but the worst in Imp.

Arent u the guy who just played his first ranked game? 11

2 Likes
3

Indeed, I am. I’ve been playing DE, though, just not ranked (friends computer/account). Why do you ask?

1 Like
4

because he’s implying your opinion might change quite a lot when you start playing more ranked games… you’re forced into playing more efficiently and might discover how good or bad units are that you might have thought differently of…

@Player965976697 lol by what level of comparison do you think mongol SL are the worst in imp?? a rough thumb suck? check the stats, run tests if you need to… their extra ~23 hp make them situationally the best SL…

5

They take 1 more hit against melee units, that’s all.

1 Like
6

Well I should have worded more precisely.
The HP bonus makes them better vs melee units, while the lacking armor upgrade makes them the worst by far against ranged units.
And in imperial age cavalry have to perform good against ranged units, aswell as defensive structures. Theres a reason you try to avoid cav wihtout last armor upgrade.

I mean they even take 4 Damage from a FU skirmisher. (3+4 -1+2 = 4). Thats the same a FU Hussar takes from a FU Arb. Thats why I said they are the “worst”.

2 Likes
7

I feel like their role should be stick to works better when massed and a better hit and run unit compared to Knights. Increase attack speed a bit like 10% more faster than currently. Otherwise they are good in their position now. No buff needed.
But yeah they need some civ based bonus. Furthermore give access to Huns and Magyars.

  1. Huns. FU Steppe Lancer and nothing more. (Only real bonus is they are having 20% faster creation thanks to Stable)
  2. Magyars. 15% cheap food cost on Steppe Lancer.
1 Like
8

They are ok being weak vs range. That’s what Tech Tree supposed to say and designed in mind.

9

Yeah, of course, but i don’t think it’s a senseless question. They ysed to be the toast fo the town, and noone use them anymore. In ranked, un ranked, or whatever. I feel they were heavily overnerfed, and there’re no reason to chose them over knights

10

The Mongol Elite Steppe Lancers are worst against any Imperial units. Especially, against ranged units bcse they miss the last armour upgrade.

11

Just give them a small bonus against something. Pls give them a niche.

12

When steppe lancers were initially overpowered, there were 5-6 suggestion floating around in the forum on how to nerf them. Maybe doing two of the nerfs would have been enough to bring them down to the power level of other units. But the devs implemented all of them. This is why they feel so underwhelming. Instead of the minor 5 gold cost discount being done in the current PUP beta, they will need a couple of major buffs to be viable again.

2 Likes
13

Steppe Lancers need:

  • Decrease the Elite Upgrade cost because is just too expensive (Something like 700 Food and 400 Gold).
  • Some niche cmon 11 (Like the extra attack vs Villagers and Trade Carts, but something really higher so hey kill those in 1-2 hit faster than Knights).
  • Talking about Steppe Lancers, if they get balanced enough I think Huns could get them at this point (New civs and balance are coming, some civs are getting weaker/Stronger, even I’m just smelling that Indians will get Battle Elephants in the not far future 11), They can be affected by the cav archer discount (In this sense they would cost 63 food 36 gold in Castle, 56 food and 32 gold in Imperial, all this in basis on the upcoming balance changes), you can get some nice Tarkan/Steppe Lancer or even Heavy Cavalry Archer Combo, which could add some variety to the Huns army.
1 Like
14

Even I proposed that Magyars, Turks and Huns get Steppe Lancers, getting the bonuses of the civ’s Scout line (as usual).

For Huns, nothing changes, because their stables work 20% faster and that applies to everything. The only change I see is Tarkans being moved to the slot of Camels.

For Magyars, it can be either -15% food cost or -15% total cost, because either is true for their scouts.

For Turks, the SL receiving +1p Armor now is dicey (I proposed this when this bonus was not there). Elire Steppe Lancer upgrade is free.

In general, I want to see SL getting an additional -10G discount (back to 30G). The higher attack and slower attack rate are balanced. The extra range and lower pierce armor is balanced (just like Kamayuks). Now they do not stack much, we have better pathfinding too. SL shouldn’t be OP now at 30G.

1 Like