IRL Jaguar Warriors wore suits of cotton armor (similar to gambesons, but covering more of the body) that were quite protective - good enough that even some of the Spanish conquerors wore it instead of their own steel armor. So it’s appropriate for a unit like the Jag to have a respectable base of armor (2/2), yet still be far from the top of the range.
But I agree that they should have made Samurai stronger/more useful instead of just cheaper, which is lame and counter-thematic.
Thats actually really interesting…
Imagine if Samurais took 20(25)% less damage from UUs specifically? That would be a really UNIQUE feature of an UNIQUE UNIT (which is the point of UUs in my opinion).
I could see that working really well, lets hope the devs go for it.
But you are talking about the IRL Jaguar Warriors.
The Age of Empires 2 jaguar warriors are primitive shitless warriors. Both in their icon and their model.
And even then their 2/2 armor don’t make sense, as as fully equiped champion full of plate armor have 1/1 armor.