Now that Mongols recieved Steppe Lancer, I think it is about time Indians should recieve Battle Elephant. I would like to breakdown some point before I actually talk about Indians Battle Elephant.
- Civ design in AoE2 should always be revolve around historical accuracy vs game balance. Because too much historical accurate will make the game unbalance and bad from game design perspective. Too much game balance will bring bad design decisions.
- Every civs in AoE2 are following one playstyle. Just small tweaks here and there. As a result too much historical accuracy not possible.
- Even with one playstyle manner civs can still get close to accuracy. Civs should be true to historically accurate from core side atleast.
- Steppe Lancer in AoE2 are part of unit choice. It is not something that is supposed to fill some other unit’s role. Like Steppe Lancer should not fill the role of Hussar or Knight. Hussar is no gold very mobile light unit. Knight on the other hand expensive heavy unit with lower mobility than Hussar. Steppe Lancer is more of a massable unit with small extra range. Designed to perform better in large groups.
Now here comes the Battle Elephant. You won’t win the game simply massing Battle Elephant. This unit is designed for slow push. Often time Knights are proven better pick compared to Battle Elephant. Let’s not forget Battle Elephant got nerfed very hard in DE and very expensive. It got more counter options than Knights. - I would like to divide civ bonus in two categories. Military bonus and Economy bonus. Military bonus in AoE2 are effective mostly in Castle Age. Some civs got an edge in Feudal Age. If those bonus feels too strong they gets staggered in general. This is also true for Economy bonus. But the point is those bonus are needed for RM games in general. In Post-Imp DM games they doesn’t have that much of an effect. Overall point is bonuses are designed to give slight edge at that situation. Not to be made something too much edge or dumbed down. Overbuffing and Overnerfing one bonus is something not good as well.
- Lastly there is no more DLC based exclusivity in DE. Now all civs considered as the part of the standalone game. There is no more reason to divide them further.
Now when it comes to Indians Battle Elephants many argues that it’ll make them too op. These questions I find in general.
- Q. Indians vils have cheap vil bonus.
A. Indians cheap vils helps aging and booming in general. In Feudal Age helps you to make one or two extra scouts, add more Militia when drushing or get some upgrades earlier. Barely finds huge effect when it comes to Castle Age. (Although I agree that Indians vils are a bit too cheap) - Q. Indians got better Camels
A. Like I mentioned about unit choice. Camels are anti-Cavalry and doesn’t do well vs other units. Indians Camels got more pierce resistance compared to other civs. So, having a unit-line choice won’t make them any op. - Q. Indians got more ranged Hand Cannoneer. Battle Elephant + Elephant Archer + Hand Cannoneer combination will make them unstoppable.
A. You need to combine unit choices after all. Counter and Anti-Counter unit. Remember Khmer? Now they got far stronger eco bonus. Many other civs got far stronger combinations that are more hard to counter.
At the end, I maybe wrong as well. Because, we can keep arguing about civ balance. But we can judge the civ bonus only after we see them in action and see the changing result. But what I meant to say is it Indians from historical perspective deserves to receive this unitline like Mongols got with Steppe Lancer which was well balanced civ already.