Watching the balancing vod, an issue the devs have is they want to balance a faction in all ages

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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So I just watched the vod of the balancing stream. I am concerned because the devs said they want factions to be balanced in every age.

This is an issue.

It’s totally fine if a civ is strong in one age and bad in another. They specifically made the example with Delhi who are just utter trash in dark and feudal age but were really good in imperial. They don’t want that imbalance.
But this is and should be the identity of certain civs: If you are able to overcome your trash early game, you should be expected to have a huge advantage lategame. Or the other way round: If you can’t win early with a strong early game faction, you should have a disadvantage late.

There totally should be factions of all kind: Allrounders who are average in all ages. And specialized civs having advantages / disadvantages in certain ages. Making everyone the same in every age is just bland and boring.

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But the idea is you won’t have a trash early game, so why would you get a great late game?
If a civ has a trash early game, and competitive games tend to end early, then that civ is not competitive.

You can have a weaker early game and stronger late game, or perhaps your civ is stronger in castle etc, but the discrepancies must be within reason.

The Chinese early game was too weak, and their late game was/is too strong.

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