saracens camels aree not the best malian die while saracen 1 is alive with like 1 hp do the test on post imp yourself and you will see. Imperial still win against saracens camel.
Saracens are not bad off. I agree with the removal of the +3 bonus attack on enemy buildings by archers. Saracens still get good Arbalesters with all techs. So I am not complaining. But I also think that they have been tweaked better with the +10 additional HP inherent on all their Camel units, with Zealotry now being cheaper, but also still providing the extra +20 HP, to make the Saracens still get the total +30 HP points on their Camels, but now much cheaper. The +10 HP bonus now improves Saracens for mid-game battles (using Camels in Castle Age, before going to Imperial Age for Zealotry).
They are quite the underappreciated civ. They have access to nearly all military techs, like the Byzantines, and like the Byzantines can be the “jack-of-all-trades” kind of civ. Only, the Saracens do get powerful Galleys…pretty much the “Mongol Cavalry Archer on water”…and their Camels are nothing to scoff at. The Mameluke while being expensive, are very deadly if massed up and fighting against enemy cavalry.
In most situations, +30 HP >> +3 attack. Heavy Camels going from 140 to 170 is almost always a 21.4% buff, but camels going from 11 to 14 base attack isn’t 27% always. The effect is diluted against cavalry because then it goes from 29 to 32, armor ignored and is completely useless against archers when not in combat.
In Castle Age, you can hit and run with Mamelukes, though UU aren’t common in today’s meta. You can even hit and run Samurai and Berserks or basically any infantry unit except Woad Raiders, Gbetos and Throwing Axemen.
In Imperial Age, unit compositions are important and Mamelukes have a lot going for them. You have:
- Hussars - as a meatshield and for raiding
- Siege Onagers - to counter archers and buildings
- Arbalesters/HCA - to counter many units
- Bombard Cannons - to counter siege
- Siege Rams - to destroy towns