I’m on mobile so not currently able to post its current stats and whatnot but the basic whatnot:
Imperial Age requirement
Can only ever have one?
Moderate amount of HP with a vulnerability to anti-artillery
Overall it seems to be a fun and memey unit which wouldn’t be too much of an issue… so long as I could somehow rebuild it? I mean other Imperial Age politicians offer something either permanent or more useful benefit and then there’s this… thing which is kinda crappy?
I just finished a skirmish with Italy and tested out the tank. It’s kinda of a reverse glass cannon, lots of HP, fires fast, but does little damage. It’s not a siege unit, it’s not powerful enough to tear trough mass infantry, it can be torn down pretty easily by enemy cavalry or artillery… But it’s fun.
I think it is just to style on your opponent which I think is the same point of the advanced hot air balloon. One thing to note is it does not take any population. A 0 pop 3500 hp 4 speed artillery piece is not too shabby imo just need to retreat every now and then to heal it. Also kinda strange apparently it can pick up treasures.
It needs to be buffed for damage. It has a card requirement, takes forever to heal with priests, and is a one off unit in Imperial Age that cant be rebuilt. It should be OP AF. It should at least tear through infantry. Being countered by cav and art like every other artillery piece is fine.
If you want something to tear through infantry why not just age up with 3 papal lombards? I personally think it is fine having relatively low damage and being more of a meme age up option. If it is OP it would probably become despised by many.
AoE3 is at the end of it all, just a game, and it is there to be a fun easter egg, period. If it was truly gamechanger I would be the first one to cry foul and demand it nerfed or eliminated. You only use it when the game is already decided and you can afford to close it in style.
It’s just one unit. It doesn’t need to be game breaking but it needs to be viable (actually it needs to be better due to it’s cost) in comparison to other age ups, especially for the reasons I mentioned in my other post. I don’t care about the complainers who don’t like fun or unique things they can’t be pleased anyway and they should be ignored.
Just because a unit is fun doesnt mean it needs to be ineffective. It’s just one and a rare one at that. If it’s going to be so difficult to get I want to be rewarded, especially relative to 3 Papal Bombards…
I like that it’s rather speedy, fast-firing, and benefits from certain cards and/or Arsenal upgrades, but they do not do it enough justice.
The firing modes are also somewhat gimmicky (and risky at that due to its aforementioned vulnerability) to ever be useful and from what I’ve tried they rarely do any meaningful impactful damage because.
I do not like the “it’s okay for it to be bad and not be changed” argument because then, what’s the point of having it in the first place? I’m more disappointed it is a one-time use, coupled with a high micro-intensive unit that offers little in return. You might as well just use Papal Bombards which someone pointed out.
At the very least, allow the option to rebuild it.
The short description reads: “Conical, Comical and Canonical”.
It has no long description.
It uses the same idle SFX as the Monster Trucks cheat units.
When you order it to move, one the possible answers SFX is clearly a man doing a steam engine impression with his mouth.
It’s decorated by 8 different shields around, each depicting what seems to be a different Italian Royal House or Region. (Someone with more patience, check out which one is which, the only ones I recognized at a glance where Rome’s “SPQR” and a crossed that looks like the House of Savoy shield)
The issue is that if they make it game changing then all the other factions are going to demand it be nerfed, eliminated or be made available to everyone. That would be detrimental to the game spirit as ‘tanks’ were not a thing in the era at all. The Leonardo tank was a cool idea, but let’s be realistic if it had ever been built it would have been easily shredded by artillery and would be too immobile to keep pace with the fast paced dynamics of pike and shot combat.
I think the Leonardo tank currently inhabits a good niche, with very high HP, easy repair, and very low damage. Regarding the argument that it is not game changing enough for Italians to deserve to be an Age 5 upgrade let me just refer you to all those civs that have the equally harmless advanced air balloon as an Age 5 upgrade with The Scientist. In fact, come and think of it, the Italians already enjoy the best 'Scientist" Age up to the Imperial Age.
The point of Leonardo tank is make it avaliable as a very easter egg hidden unit 1) without making OP 2) without make it accesible by normal matches because you have to go to 5 with that special card, so if it’s used, it would only on very limited times so historical guys like me won’t be alienated.