They are way too reliant on a FF strategy which makes them too predictable. If Spanish Gold were an age 2 shipment, they would be able to stick to age 2 a bit more and it would pay off sooner. It isn’t overused because it takes a while to pay off. And that sucks because it’s Spain’s only economic advantage.
I explained on an earlier post that if they lower it to age 2, they should scale the gold depending on the age of the card you send (sort of how the Germans get more Uhlans if the card is from a higher age). So for example, if you send an age 1 card you get 200 gold, if you send an age 2 card you get 300 gold, if you send an age 3 card you get 400 gold, and so on. This lets Spain not rely on a fast fortress strategy all the time and lets them stay in age 2 a bit longer without being at a disadvantage, for example, if they want to rush.
The gold amount can be discussed. I also think 300g in age 2 is too strong indeed, 300g for the first shipment and 200g for the rest is better.
Thought id add my thoughts being a spain player. Spain are good, have options to go iv, sea and stay age 2 for a bit now so now more versatile still being strong. Poisson who is top 5 in rankings played spain only.
Germany has a really strong age 2 presence with the early Uhlans and the settler wagon shipments (which are the best villager shipments in the game since each settler wagon equals 2 villagers). And having to go FF every time you play Spain is a very big weak point. Every civ should have a decent strategy in every age.
Im afraid youre just wrong max. Happy to play spain games vs you to prove it.
I agree. They should test it to see what works best. I just gave those amounts as an example.
I could be wrong but I don’t see how playing against me is going to prove anything. I recommend you watch the tournaments and see how many times players decide to stay in age 2 rather than go FF. The fact is that Spain doesn’t have an economic advantage like other civs. The devs decided to fix that with the new Spanish Gold card. And it just forces players to go FF 99% of the time or else you are at a disadvantage.
FF is the play with spain, why is that bad? The devs didnt decide to make spanish gold, its been on the esoc patch for a long time and its a great card. It works out to be about 10 vills w/ placer mines if you have a tp when you send it
You’re asking me why is it bad that Spain only has one viable strategy? I think you can answer that by yourself. Okay then, in ESOC patch they decided to give Spain an economic advantage with the addition of the Spanish Gold card. Again, it restricts Spain’s ability to be more versatile. This card just makes them even more predictable. Why not bump it down to age 2 and change the amount of gold you get? It gives an incentive to stay in age 2 and you can compete with other civ’s economies early in the game.
They dont have one viable strategy, there are lots of different ff builds plus FIs and revolts. I get the feeling you havent got the point of aoe3. The civs are DIFFERENT. They are very unique, do different things and have to be played differently. If you ff with russia, brit etc youll lose. If you fi with iro youll lose. If you stay age 2 with spain, youll lose. If you want every civ to compete with each other in every age and every fight to be fair, go play aoe2! The point is that if you want to play in age 2 pick an age 2 civ.
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Jesus, are you even reading? The only thing I’m arguing in favor of is that Spanish Gold should be lowered to age 2 because that’s Spain’s ONLY economic advantage right now. For other civs like brits and russians, it’s not advantageous to go FF because they don’t have good age 3 exclusive units, but they can sure as hell go semi FF and still have a good economy. In Spain’s case you pretty much HAVE to go FF. Get the picture? Other civs have economic options while Spain doesn’t. Age 2 Spanish Gold could change that.
It is possible because I am not as good a player as you, but it is probably my main civ and as a team I think that the changes are not enough you need to pass later in age, take advantage of first-age shipments or reach the third age and force to use Spanish gold has become a slower civilization to be able to maximize the new mechanics you need to spend 900 food for second age and lose 25 seconds and play in colonial sending shipments of first age or reach fortress and force yourself to save a shipment for the Spanish gold and send shipments of first age as infinite shipments. it is still not at the level of the rest of European civilizations that have specific economic advantages much easier to exploit. of course in 1vs1 the strategy and the politicians that are used to raise the age is the same strategy as always, because a strategy with the new mechanics so slow for the colonial age I do not see it better than the usual FF or a semi FF against civilizations much more powerful. sorry my bad english
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In my opinion, Spanish gold should be a rule of civilization itself or a charter of the first age, obviously adjusting the amount of gold you receive in each age, but it should be an economic advantage of its own as all civilizations have (France - coureur des Bois, British - each house a villager, Japan - each house gives you resources, Ottomans - the villagers are free etc etc etc) so it is evident that the advantage of Spain to receive 1 free shipment every 3 shipments of any civilization that equated with a simple trading post is not enough. The 900 food policy is simply unfeasible because you lose 25 seconds to finally receive practically the same thing but spending two shipping points (500 food from going up in age and 700 from wood from second age for example) against (going up later without any sending of resources but that the few letters that you send yourself from first age give you 400 of resources) these “patches” are not enough to fix a civilization broken in the bad sense, it needs a more profound change, even to renew it completely
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I don’t know about that but everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I think Spain would be pretty strong with just the age 2 Spanish Gold card. Apart from this, I would just buff rods and pikes and change a few cards, but changing it completely would be to create a completely new civ.
Yeah, more so than other civs, I guess. But their eco is still better than Spain’s. Germany just lacks unit variety in age 2. I just see Spanish Gold as Spain’s economic bonus and it sucks you have to go FF to get it. And even if you do go FF, it’s risky to send it if they rush you because it takes a bit of time to pay off.
If Spanish Gold is moved to age2, the most similar card is the new silk road card from ottomans. I played several ottos in team games, it has even been moved to age1 but I don’t see anything op for this card but a new strategy choice. It is similar to this case, providing Spain a new strategy choice is a good idea imo. As I said before, the amount of gold can be discussed to not making it op.
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Yeah, I agree. Giving Spain a new choice in strategy would be nice. Especially since they have good unit choices in age 2, unlike the Germans. I think Spanish Gold should work something like this:
Starting gold: 500
- Age 1 and 2 Cards = 200 gold
- Age 3 Cards = 400 gold
- Age 4 Cards = 500 gold
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I think moving Spanish Gold to the Colonial Age would be problematic. It seems like it would essentially become a must-send card every single game, whereas at the moment it is a solid but somewhat situational shipment.
If Spanish Gold were available in Colonial (even with the amount of coin reduced), I anticipate that people would send it every game in place of 700 coin or 700 wood, with little to no risk. That’s a pretty massive buff and also doesn’t really allow for a diverse spread of strategies.
Personally, I think Spain is in a fine spot at the moment.
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But don’t most civs have an indispensable economic shipment?
And the risk of the card would be that you would still need to send another shipment after Spanish Gold in order to compensate for not sending 700 coin instead. For an FF, this card can’t really replace 700 coin because it would delay you a good 20-30 seconds (depending on the map).
I think this card could help Spain keep up an age 2 rush against other civs that have a better eco (which is actually all of them).
But then again, you are the pro. So I don’t know. Is there anyway it could be balanced in age 2?
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