I often see the devs putting a lot of effort into balancing civilizations for 1v1 matches, which is great. However, there seems to be much less attention given to team games. Right now, the balance in team play feels very uneven — some civs are clearly overpowered, while others struggle to stay relevant.
Here are just a few examples that highlight the issue:
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Koreans: +2 line of sight bonus for the whole team, which make them extremely overpowered on nomad maps — on top of being a solid civ already.
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Chinese: +10% food bonus for the team, giving a huge eco edge early on, for a civilization that has no counter.
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Saracens (Mamelukes): No clear counter unit. They can effectively kill skirmishers, hussars, and halberdiers, and still perform well versus archers (even arbalest) and cav archers — in a civ that’s already strong. Try to play against 60 elite mamelukes + siege onager, its a one civ that counters everything.
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Goths: Can’t deal with Mangudai or Berber units in post-Imperial, since those units deal 2 damage per arrow. Maybe increasing the Goth base pierce armor to +9 could help.
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Berbers: Their Camel Archers have 7 attack in Castle Age, making them extremely efficient against mangonels and scorpions — maybe too much.
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Japanese: Their Cav Archers get a bonus vs other archers, making them strong against infantry, archers, and cavalry — plus they’re already good on water maps.
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Hindustanis: With their unique unit, archers and cav archers with Thumb Ring — plus access to Heavy Cav Archers and Hand Cannoneers with +2 range — they have tools for every type of game, virtually no weaknesses, and countless strategic options.
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Aztecs and Celts: Extremely weak in most open team game maps, struggling to find a viable role.
There are many other examples, but these clearly show how the current balance heavily favors 1v1 play. It would be great if the devs could also look at team game data when making balance decisions.
Also, it’s becoming increasingly common for players to organize unranked team games on Discord, with groups of 4 to 8 players. This trend is only growing.
Team games are a huge part of the community and we deserve balanced gameplay too!