Not necessarily, it’s just that there are already pseudo-hero units in the Daimyo and Mansabdar that don’t really make sense in their current position and would be better represented as actual heroes.
I can see your point if your goal is to keep gameplay changes to the absolute minimum. But I don’t think that’s necessary or desirable. At least for Japan, the issues with the civ run far deeper than just a poorly themed hero. Shrines that double as houses and deny hunts to your allies and enemies are supremely annoying. So are Daimyos that can just dump 10 mortars into the back of your base.
“Armed Caravan Leader” and “Cartographer” are also just poor names and can be described by a more succinct and accurate term; Explorer. Thematically, it doesn’t make sense for a Japanese Explorer to be building Shrines so it’s not like this is the best way to preserve gameplay either.
No one is saying they should be a frontline unit except you, and I never once mentioned Taoist priests so I don’t know why you’re bringing that up. If you’re meaning that as a healer, they would have a frontline role, then that’s not even true of most healers in the game. Only Missionaries, Abuns, and Griots are at all useful in battles. The other healers can only heal units out of battle and don’t provide any other bonuses to make them worth it to send them to the front.
As I stated in my original post, the primary role of a Kannushi would be to scout and build Shrines and then act as a gatherer at those Shrines once they had all been built. The only time they might see combat is if they’re being hunted down by an enemy Explorer. Since they often carry a baton, it would be justified to give them slightly more attack than the pitiful strength of a Priest to make attacking them early on more costly.
There absolutely is a cost to hunting. The travel time of Villagers is time not gathering, and moving out to far away hunts is much riskier than sitting in your base gathering from orchards. Even if your Shrines get burned down, they can be rebuilt more quickly than Villagers can. They also deny hunts while they are still up and never run out. Shrines provide population room, so if you subtract the 100 wood every other civ would need to spend otherwise, their cost is actually non-existent.
If they contribute to your economy then they are not a hindrance. For example, the payback period for an Abun is less than 3 minutes so that’s hardly a waste.
You may not like it, but ideally, I’d like to see a system more like this:
- Japan starts with a Daimyo hero that can’t build Shrines and a Kannushi healer that can
- Shrine build limit reduced to 16, but gatherer limit increased to 5
- Shrines no longer provide population so Japan must construct houses
- Heavenly Kami could be buffed to also discount Houses (which are already discounted by Portuguese allies)
- Shrines can train Kannushi with a build limit of ~10
- Kannushi can gather from Shrines at a much higher rate than animals