Currently, this unit is underperforming in most of the situation, considering its costs.
It needs extra 10-20hp or +1/1 armour for an upgrade to Elite Steppe Lancer. What do you guys think about this?
1 Like
That sounds a lot closer to heavy cavalry stats on a unit that benefits from a lot of light cavalry bonuses.
I’m waiting to see how the price reduction works out. I think steppe lancers need love but they aren’t heavy cavalry.
Steppe (xD) cavalries are actually not light cavalry. They are mid-range. You can notice that if you see the armour . Light armours are mostly leather armour. Then I think adding 1/1 armour for Elite and a slight reduction of the cost would be nice.
They benefit from light cavalry bonuses.
The tech tree literally calls them light cavalry.
They should be buffed around that. Making them more of a middle ground isn’t rhe answer.
I’d reduce their reload. I’d reduce their cost. I’d greatly reduce the elite upgrade cost. But more then that?
3 Likes
In case you have missed this
Very ilustrative
5 Likes
I’d reduce the training time (which could make them pretty spammable for cumans)
HAhahahaha,
It is sadly true, they are not good at anything xD
Actually at release they didn’t. This could be undone if they received a big enough buff. Also they could make the Mongol bonus not affect them anymore, because I have the feeling the “brilliant” idea to give SL to Mongols in the name of hIst0rICaL aCCuRaCy just made it so much harder to buff the unit without buffing the Mongols at the same time.
2 Likes
The train time is already low.
Tatars, Huns, Cuman had it so it is accurate. I think if they remove the Mongol hp bonus it could work but then still they will have the worst SL out of all other civs that offer this unit xD because of the armour upgrade xD
Problem is exactly this. Steppe Lancer dont do anything better than Scouts, Knights or Camels. They should do something better (from cost perspective) to be usefull.
I still think the best idea would be to give them bonus against Infantry, or maybe even against just Spears. This would fit themticaly (they have lances for charging) and gamyplay-wise - goal is to make them equal to Knights against Spears, and because they cost less, they would be more cost-effective.
Steppe Lancer cannot compet with Scout-line as raiding unit, Hussar always would have advantage because of no-gold cost.
Cannot compet with Knight-line as frontliner, because Knight always would have better armor and more HP.
But there is no anti-infantry cavalry (except Cata, Konnik and maybe Elephantos) and this is spot what can be taken by Steppe Lancer. Also, Civs with SL all have very bad Infantry, so this also fits.
4 Likes
If I would change steppe lancers i would slightly buff their speed, increase their rof a bit for a slightly higher damage and give them bonus against vills, so they can two-shot a vill.
Also possible to give them 2 range but then they should have reduced attack and just 3-shot vills.
They could be buffed in order to replace knight line for nomadic civs. Seeing Cumans, Mongols, Tatars with european-style Knights, Cavaliers and Paladins kills me
1 Like
I want the steppe lancer to be an additional option, not to be a knight resking with a fancy gimmick. Removing knights from SL civ would be just as lame as removing knights from battle ele civs.
I don’t like fundamental changes in general but how about redesign them as anti cavalry unit? All steppe lancer civs have camels so we could use them as a camel replacement with some balance changes in their stats imo.
It would give them a niche and more appearance in game.
Well Cumans don’t have heavy camels, so if elite SL become an anti cav unit this civ would get the equivalent of a unit they aren’t supposed to get.
Yes but they won’t be broken with this change since community is considering them as low tier and asking a buff for them right?
They are lower tier on open maps because of the way their feudal age plays, not because of their late game at all.
Guys… do you stand ground patrol micro? remember the old days, be aware, lets see how it goes after the reduced cost of aprils patch and go little by little.
Maybe mix of stepper lancers (range) and light cavs (“shield” wich cost no gold) could have any potential? The upgrades are the same, only upgrades to elite/hussars (and it is still a bit), but i would like to see how this work.