Viking tweak - mid game nerf, late game buff

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
1

Wheelbarrow normally costs 175W 50W 75 seconds and Hand Cart costs 300F 200W 55 seconds.

Instead of giving Vikings both for free, we can adjust that the minimum value of the resources in either are reduced from both.

So basically, Wheelbarrow costs 20 seconds to research but is free and Hand Cart costs 125F 150W to research but is instantaneously researched.

For whatever it is worth it, it is a nerf. May not be huge, as this is the only thing going for them on land.

For the late game buff, I thought about many things. Their foot archers are complete. Infantry is great. Siege is usable and good (?). Economy is great. Defences solid.

So the possible holes in the civ are:

  1. Hand Cannoneers - usually Berserkers (say Huskarls) or Arbalesters (say Teutonic Knights) will deal with Infantry, but not a useless option too

  2. Bombard Cannon - can be a good anti-siege option since they have poor cavalry

  3. Eagle Warrior (only the 2nd unit in the line) (unlocked by Berserkergang): a fast, anti-siege, anti-monk and raiding unit, which gets helped out by their 2 infantry bonuses. Historically the Vikings did settle in the Americas, so a good thing to include for the Imperial Age.

Rejected list:

  1. Cavalry - too many things missing, so a single buff won’t make them good.

  2. Monastery - not useful in lategame

2

why do they need a late game buff? they already are a great civ straight out of the gate right up until late game as is.

3 Likes
3

Viking Arbalesters are nothing special (when compared to other Arbalesters) And as you said infantry isn’t common till late Imperial Age.

4

I would be fine with nerfing hand cart slightly, but wheelbarrow has to be kept as it is. Otherwise the civ becomes pretty bad

5

arbs are absolutely fine - they are completely capable of closing out games. If arbs were bad archer civs would be bad but that isn’t the case.
and there Infantry is so good their UU can literally beat Cavaliers fully upgraded.

6

I edited that. <20 char>

7

What, you want to give Vikings Eagles?!

8

Only the Eagle Warrior (no Elite) in Imperial Age after Berserkergang. It will be fun and balanced.

9

okay but its fine that there arbs are just generic - yeah they aren’t going to out range britons arbs or shoot faster then ethiopian arbs but on the other hand neither of those civs infantry is as strong as vikings, and that matters in the late game a lot.

yeah. a meso unit being given to a civ based in the norse regions. makes total sense.

1 Like
10

They did settle in America though.

11

Still really dumb lol. At least Spanish used those troops since some natives followed them but that excuse for Vikings its total nosense

1 Like
12

Not before Battle elephants to Malians… :upside_down_face:

1 Like
13

Sure, if the Malians lived in India or South East Asia for atleast a decade.

It would be better to focus on balance first! Is the Viking Eagle Warrior - 66 HP, 7+4 attack, +9 vs cavalry, +7 vs camel, 0+3/3+4 armor, 1.27 tiles/s speed - balanced?

14

Nobody wants it. If you prefer to give them the Norse warrior with the same stats it would be fine, but just dont give them eagles.

16

Oh yeah, a rename and a reskin. That can be done.

17
2 Likes
18

It’s okay, I can handle criticism.

1 Like
19

What about just giving free wheelbarrow, but from dark age? Hand cart then need to be researched.
For the lategame they could get halbs, as they should for an infantry civ.

20

How about this buff:

Berserks can board Longboats (just like transport ships).

That would be fun, historically correct and a buff.

2 Likes
21

Not sure how strong that actually will be, but it definitely sounds like FUN :slight_smile:

Next we get a campaign about the Aztec invasion of Europe :smiley: :smiley: (joke suggestion)