This is prompted by the addition of Rangers to the game, giving the British a use for CIR. There are 2 other civs that have a similar situation; Dutch and Ottomans.
Dutch dont have the Socket Bayonet tech - the musketeer for that civ is replaced very well by the Ruyter. That being said, it does seem to hurt their potential with musket based natives and mercenaries. In particular, the Dutch coinage lends itself nicely to a mercenary contractor age up for tavern Fusiliers - then it chafes that they are 20% weaker in melee.
Ottomans are more similar to the British in that they have Infantry Breastplate, but no hand infantry or foot archers in the barracks to make use of it. As far as mercenaries go, the Barbary Corsair can use it but those things are meh, at best. Then natives can use it provided they’re hand inf or foot archer - not really moving as Otto, imo.
Having brought this up, what would be the best way to optimize the arsenal situation? Do we go the British route and allow some relevant techs/units via HC cards?* The Dutch route where the techs are tanked cuz they really dont matter all that much to the civs overall potential? Or the Ottoman route where we let the civs have the tech and sit on it for what ever niche use comes up?
*Ideas for units are always interesting and welcome.
