Good point. How about give +15 HP from Imperial UT to scout line too, to reflect Japan importing continental horses for breeding after their first invasion of Korea? That, and the discount, will help make up for lack of final armor and attack upgrades in late-game.
Absolutely ranged primary in Castle Age (only draw Naginata with no enemy heavy cav near), and should absolutely be rare in Castle Age, because that’s how they were historically.
Unfortunately the horses available were so small they couldn’t really be barded, so if anything I’m being overly generous with how fast they can gallop carrying an armored samurai, or how well a longbow could be fired from horseback compared to a nomad’s short recurve bow.
Isn’t slower ROF with higher alpha better for shoot-and-scoot due to fewer pauses to shoot?
Oh I think I see how to balance them. If I make the food discount in consideration of lower nutrition and gold discount in consideration of lower metal use in armor, then base price should NOT be higher than a Knight!
If we set base price 60/70 then suddenly, considering a buffed Imperial UT…
Imperial Age UT: Lessons of the Imjin War. All Cavalry +15 HP, Samurai Cavalry mode switch 100% faster (takes half the time, does not reset attack reload), and gain 1/1 base armor in both modes.
CASTLE AGE:
Samurai Cavalry (melee, uses naginata): 48F/63G/30 seconds (with Castle Age discounts), 85 HP, 9 melee, reload 1.8, 1/1 armor, range 0.5 (possible hit priority, and can fight from behind an infantry unit, but not across another cavalry unit, fits historical role of cavalry in Japan before the Takeda massed cavalry tactics), 1.35 base speed (Remember, you have Husbandry, albeit no Bloodlines).
Samurai Cavalry (ranged):48F/63G/30 seconds (after Castle UT), 85 HP, 7 pierce, reload 2.5, range 5, accuracy 75% (before Thumb Ring), 1/1 armor (still wearing significant armor, unlike Steppes herdsmen draftees), 1.35 speed.
Realistically, the melee mode is only good in Castle Age for charging undefended flanks when no enemy heavy cavalry is around.
ELITE: upgrade costs about 1300F/750G, same as Paladin.
Elite Samurai Cavalry (melee, uses Yari): 48F/56G/25 seconds (after discounts), 95 HP, 11 melee, reload 1.8, 1/1 armor, range 0.5, 1.35 speed.
Elite Samurai Cavalry (ranged): 48F/56G/25 seconds (after discounts), 95 HP, 8 pierce, reload 2.5, range 5.5, accuracy 90%, 1/1 armor, 1.35 speed.
Japanese without Parthian Tactics but +1/+1 UT (Magyars get 1 extra range and faster training, but are otherwise the same as generic fully upgraded):
Magyar Heavy Cav Archer: 40W/60G/24 seconds (including their team bonus) 80 HP, 11 pierce +4 spearman, 2 reload, 8 range, 4/6 armor, 1.4 speed.
Elite Samurai Cavalry (ranged): 48F/56G/25 seconds, 110 HP (due to Imperial UT), 12 pierce, 2.4 reload, 8.5 range, 4/4 armor, 1.35 speed.
HCA needs 16 hits or 30 seconds to kill, Samurai needs 14 hits or 31.2 seconds (13 reloads) to kill. Good, actual Steppes Heavy Cav Archers will still win a straight fight (though non-Magyars could be kited for the win).
This makes Elite Samurai Cavalry the best non-nomad cav archers, which shouldn’t be too OP considering the expense of massing them, and they have a usable melee mode now.
I heard from other threads that the Japanese didn’t really do firing backwards like real nomad cav archers did, so I think I should remove Parthian Tactics.
Well, I made melee mode much more usable via lower price tag (and base price from which these prices were calculated). How does it look now?