I think its time the Vikings get an upgrade in Age Of Empires. I would suggest the option to garrison infantry and Archers in the their Longboats
A - Letting them be used as transport ships for military units like Infantry and archers
B - Garrisoned Longboats should have the option to more more arrows like Castles and Towers
It would be more accurate and a much needed balance for one of the most long standing unique Naval unit, and to keep it relevant compared to other new unique Warships.
its still a really strong unit. Its not “needed” at all
I dont like making changes to beloved units just for the sake of historical accuracy. The historical compenent of how its been like for 26 years is more important imo now than it is how it was hundreds of years ago.
Nah. I would prefer a transport warship be reserved for a Polynesian UU instead. It fits them a lot. Longboats are a classic unit and shouldn’t be changed.
As cool as the idea sounds, it would requieres a total redesign of the unit.
I’ve tested how the longboat garrison behave with units inside on chronicle game version and it reacted…Really, really weirdly. The way the game actually handles garrisoning is abit tricky, but it’s improving with the recently added garrison fire power attribute.
For example, siege unit gaining movement speed is not by unit, it’s hardcoded feature for the siege class type. It means you’ll gain extra speed if you garrison infantry inside organ guns, mangonels, bombard cannon, ram, traction treb, siege tower. Scorpions are not the same, they are ballista, as the hussite wagon too so they’re not affected.
The point is, if the ship should gain oar speed and projectiles, you’d have to split infantry for speed on oars, and ranged for arrows. This is interesting, and I’m using that logic on my naval mod project, but this also mean EXTREME balance requierment. The unit would turn from just a unique ship to something that can fill multiple roles, raiding, harassing, chasing, bombardment etc. It would impact way too much the actual civ design for it to be possible.
What could be done is adding sub-viking style civ to the game someday, with one having a unique ship type with such mechanic, but then the entire civ design should be built arround that ship. You’d have to prevent rams to load inside, prevent scorpions, maybe also prevent horses units to avoid overriding the regular transport ship role too. It’s definitly a cool idea but can’t be added “just like that” to the actual vikings. Or for custom scenarios. (it would also requieres addition of the garrison task to many, many, many unit JUST for the civ using the ship)
Maybe they can just transport 5 units without adding arrow to the ship, just like AoM who have archer arrow who can transport 5 units without any improvement to the damage of the ship.
I’d like that too. However, only as an option via triggers in the editor. I can understand that it would be problematic for the regular game in terms of balance.
But it would be cool for custom scenarios.
Although, let’s be honest, would they really be improved with an overhaul?
The genius of the longships didn’t lie in their naval combat power. The genius lay in their relatively simple construction. They were fast, offered little surface area for attack, and were suitable for both the high seas and shallow waters. They offered space and accommodation for a limited number of warriors who were also sailors, and, depending on the size of the crew, could also carry the necessary supplies and, subsequently, the loot.
They were essentially a jack of all trades, considering the needs of the Vikings and their purposes.
They were primarily transport ships, rather than warships. You could certainly fire an arrow or board a ship, but the Vikings weren’t interested in naval warfare.
They wanted to be able to land quickly and almost anywhere (without having to carry dinghies) and leave just as quickly.
So if the longships were reworked so that they only had a certain ranged attack capability with a crew, and perhaps also the “ramming damage” of the Monoremes (to simulate boarding, of course, in a weakened form), then they would be unique as hell.
Longships shouldn’t be able to accommodate as many crew as transport ships, nor siege weapons. Only infantry and archers.
I would take away galleys and/or demolition ships for them. Gunships as well. Under certain circumstances, they could then also be given dromons. Less from the perspective of historical accuracy, more from the perspective of having a siege ship at all.
I think these changes would actually be something unique, which would take this unit and the civilization to another level.
Well i like the idea that you can add more arrows to a ship while transporting. But why limit to viking longboats. All boats were used to transport crew and/or cargo. Even transport boats should get arrow attack animation when full with archers like town centers.
Both Xbow and longboats occupy 1 pop space. It will be unlikely that 2 longboats with each 4 xbow garrisoned more powerful than 10 longboats. When the ship sinks, all the xbow garrisoned die.
But uhm why no cavalry? historically they also took horses with them on their voyages!
Um, TMI, but you’re gonna love the Polynesian concept I came up with. Their Catamaran unique unit has that functionality, where they can transport units, and ranged ones contribute extra arrows, basically acting like a Galley-Transport Ship-tower hybrid, with extra range compared to the Galley so they’re always in the back when fighting together. If the Polynesians are ever added, this is the only way I see a Catamaran unit working, because it makes sense from both a historical and gameplay perspective.