Royal Guard possible new mechanics

Age of Empires III: DE III - Discussion
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Hello everyone! I think I’ve seen posts about making RGs more interesting and I also really wished the same, so I thought maybe give it a try as well…what I was thinking was, except for some passive stat boosts, perhaps they can also unlock unique charged action or unique big buttons(seeing those new civs and new units have so many unique mechanics going for them) , I know this sounds very dramatic and might change a lot of things, but they are only some ideas (hope you guys don’t find them too crazy XD)

all actions below need to be unlocked by an age IV home city card(maybe called Advanced Royal Guards):

British: Redcoat musketeer(+0.1 ranged armor, + 0.05 melee armor), Life Guard hussar(big button: +1 damage area for 8 sec)

French: Voltiguer skirmisher(+1 range and 0.05 ranged armor), Gendarme cuirassier(+0.2 speed)

Germans: Prussian Needle gun skirmisher(charged action: shot that deals damage with +1 multiplier to heavy infantry and light cavalry), Czapka Uhlan(+0.3 multiplier vs light infantry)

Spanish: Tercio pikeman(charged action: 5 range melee attack), Espadachin rodelero(attack delay 1.25), Garrochista lancer(big button: +0.2 melee armor for 8 sec)

Portuguese: Ordinance crossbowman(+0.2 speed), Legionario musketeer(attack delay 2.7), Legion dragoon(charged action: shot that deals high siege damage, no multiplier)

Dutch: Stadswacht halberdier(+0.15 siege armor), Carabineer ruyter(big button: locked in melee for 8 sec, speed increase, hand attack X3 damage vs light infantry)

Russians: Tartar Loyalist cavalry archer(big button: shoots much faster for 8 sec), Pavlov grenadier (+0.1 ranged armor and +0.2 melee armor)

Ottomans: Bostanci hussar(charged action: 8 range firearm shot), Humbaraci Corp grenadier(charged action: special attack that deals X3 damage vs all infantry)

Swedes: Darkarl pikeman(+1.5 bonus vs cavalry), Drabant hakkapelit(charged action: 14 range shot that has X1.5 damage vs light infantry)

Italians: Springard culverin(+0.8 speed), mortar(+0.3 bonus vs building)

Maltese: Arbalester crossbowman(charged action: shot that has no negative multiplier and ignores armor), Balistik culverin(+0.5 dmg area)

Thanks for reading!

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I like!

Not sure if balanced. But nice suggestions.

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Yo sugerí algo similar hace meses xd, son bastante buenas tu sugerencias colega, eso haría más únicas a unidades compartidas entre civs.
además mira! esa skin de granadero húngaro esta bonita! además le mejoraron la armadura de rango en 10% y su rango hasta 18 xd (post algo chistoso que descubrí con la skin de bailarina de flamenco de los españoles es que el explorador después de un rato se pone a bailar xd)

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Right. It’s time to rework the Royal Guard System.
This system used to be one of the central features of European civs back in 2005. But today, with the introduction of so many native European royal house units in 2022, The RG units seem ‘boring’ and ‘uncreative’. More special abilities need to be introduced to make European RG units more asymmetrical.

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But personally, I would prefer that the RG system not be added to the card system, which is already really complex.
The RG system needs to remain in the regular tech tree, and I suggest RG can be placed as a unique tech thet can be reseached in TC or Fortress. The function of this tech is to give these units access to the special abilities you mentioned - regardless of whether these units have been upgraded to Guard level

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agreed, balance (number wise) needs to be carefully considered

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That sounds good too! Like unique church techs

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My thoughts:

Another post on this:

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The idea of adding big button charge actions to royal guard units seems awesome. The truth is that the vanilla civs look more outdated everyday when compared to all the flashy gimmicks enjoyed by the new civs.

By the way, since I mostly play Spanish, I would dare two big button suggestion changes to your offer considering the niche of Spain’s RG units:

RODELEROS: fast charge action enabled against any unit within three tiles of distance, similar to the Swedish Caroleans. (Rods are anti-cav specialists, but are slower than horses, this would enable them to momentarily bridge that weakness of theirs). The cooldown would have to be very long though to avoid it from feeling broken.

LANCERS: A charge action against units within three tiles that enables AOE trample damage to three tiles ahead of them in a straight line (also long cooldown).

PIKEMEN: None, you nailed it with them.

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Thanks man! My rod suggestion did feel a little flat lol

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Some other ability thoughts:
RG musketeer: boost ROF for a short time (big button)
RG skirmisher: prioritize countered targets, like bersaglieri (passive)

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musk: That sounds good!
skirm: Now that the bersaglieri card was tested, it seems sometimes they would charge too far if the enemy uses musk/goons to bait them lol, so I guess it wouldn’t be busted

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I thinks that’s more of an AI problem. They should just do the prioritization on whatever is in attack range like any other unit, like if there is a heavy infantry and a skirmisher in range, they first attack the former, not chasing them down the road. They should still chase the closet unit in their sight despite what it is.

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It’s very easy to overpower a unit. When I read a lot of the suggestions being put forward, I think people aren’t necessarily appreciating how these changes might shake out. Adding a whole list of new charged abilities to the royal guard units, for example, would probably be too strong. The same with giving them promotions. Imagine French cuirassiers for example with gold promotions and +45% attack/hp. Then imagine the poor Italians with unique culvs and mortars feeling left out!

Keep in mind we’re talking about 400w, 400c upgrades on top of the 600w, 600c +30% bonuses. At most, we could justify another 20% for the 400 extra resources.

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I think this is fine for natives, as it encourages their use, or for unique units, but difficult to access and expensive.

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Thanks for the input! I just thought it might be more interesting to add new mechanics to old units lol, I agree it’s quite easy to make something OP, so I think the enhanced unit stats must be seriously balanced to prevent them from being too strong.
Also about the cost, apart from the 400w and 400c, supposedly you also need to research an expensive tech to unlock these perks at some building(TC/church), or send an age IV card(maybe with a price too), but I get what you mean, in super late game these cost just dwindle away, so I guess we have to make sure those new abilities aren’t too busted, which would need lots of balancing.
I think I totally get your feeling of this might change too much of the status quo…

18

I don’t mind that royal guard units get a little bit of extra treatment I mean you have to pay 400 coin/wood extra which is a downside

But don’t lock them behind cards.

USA and Mexico also have Royal guard units except they’re called national guard units, but USA only has one NG unit (Volunteers).

Some RG units have good cards already while some like prussian needle gunners get practically nothing.

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Yes, as some other posters mentioned, it’s probably better to just research a tech in some building(TC/church/Capitol) to get it.