Hi,
So I made this topic to share some ideas with people here, and with the devs, for some Civilization reworks.
I am not an expert player, though I like watching videos from expert matches. My ideas focus mainly on Unique Technologies, just like the last patch had some changes regarding (useless) UT’s.
The ideas started with watching some video SOTL made on the worst UT’s (Thanks for all the great videos SOTL!). These made me think about what makes a good Civ bonus and what makes a good UT. I came up with the following conclusion:
Unique technologies add an option to civilizations, and for a UT to be fun or interesting, this technology should have to be a consideration in every game. I would argue that a UT is badly designed if you either research it every game or when you research it never. Therefore, the best designed, or most fun UT’s imo are those that serve a certain strategy. For example, the new Slav UT leads into fortifying the map with castles/towers and into massing Boyars. Badly designed UT are ones that fit every strategy and are therefore never considered, or ones that lead into a strategy that is too underpowered for that civ to be considered.
My ideas do try to take civ balance into account, but are mainly meant to provide more interesting options for the civs, or build into their identity. Some ideas might not be welcomed by everyone. Suggestions and critique are more than welcome, insults less so.
Celts:
The Celts stronghold UT is, according to SOTL, underpowered. I would suggest making this a civ bonus for the Celts from the start, or make the bonus one that adds HP to castles. Also, personally, I would be okay with the sheep stealing bonus being removed.
Chinese:
For the Chinese, I would suggest making the Great Wall UT a civ bonus at start. As a new civ bonus, I would suggest making the +50% HP for Demo ships into a UT and add a speed boost to the ships as well.
Huns:
As this is already the case for multiple UT’s, why not let Atheism give a conversion resistance bonus?
Italians:
Their UT Silk Road is imo one of the worst UT designs that is still left. My suggestion, make it a civ bonus or remove it all together (as they need a buff early game more). An interesting option that I saw on a different topic is giving them access to archers from the barracks. Idea for a new UT for Italians: Cartography: +X LoS for all units
Lithuanians:
Similar to what I suggested to the Chinese. Make the bonus from Hill Forts available as a civ bonus from start. Extra attack on knights and UU for relics can be made into a UT.
Malay:
Imo Malay should be one of the go to civs on water maps, like Vikings, Italians and Portugese. If that was the case, it would matter less that their winrate is kinda low, plus it matches the civ. Maybe make Thalocrassy UT into a civ bonus? Thinking of water bonuses is more difficult than thinking of land bonuses.
Mongols:
The Nomad UT is just not really good. The type of bonus it gives makes it more suitable to be a civ bonus. However, that gives us a free spot for a new UT. My wild suggestion is making Drill into a castle age UT, and adding a new imp UT. Maybe something like a buff for their steppe lancers. I see that this causes balance issues though.
Portugese:
It is difficult making the feitoria interesting on low elo and high elo at the same time. My suggestion is as following: Make the resource trickle scale with distance, like for trade routes. This distance could be towards the original TC or to a market. Somewhere else it was suggested that the feitoria could be some kind of trade with yourself building. This could complement the distance aspect. Basically it means that you can sneak a very effective feitoria on the other side of the map. Would implement a max amount of feitorias to 1 though to prevent Portugese being OP in team games.
Saracens:
Seeing that Saracens are still a bit underpowered in the stats, and seeing that it doesn’t have any Monk bonuses apart from a full monastery, and seeing that imo the civ is supposed to be thematically more monk based, I suggest giving them Atonement and Theocracy for free, while removing the bonus for transport ships.
Those were my suggestions. Of course there are more issues that could be addressed, f.e. Flemish revolution, but I don’t have specific ideas on these issues. Further, I would also like to add that I think the devs are doing good work on the new civs and civ balances, and that most of the civs are beautifully designed.
