Well, in fact, the point here is that the ashi is a more expensive and powerful musketeer than a normal one, just like the sepoy and the jaz, the big difference is the fact that the Japanese economy allows the luxury of generating them, Unlike otos and hidues that do not have a very large echo, this causes that easy, 90% of Japanese players do the same over and over again, spam pure ashis, with their statistics and their speed can be used as a general counter if the players know what they are doing (it has happened to me not being able to stop the mass of ashis whatever I do), I would say that the best option is to only reduce the speed, and perhaps reduce the other statistics to be more precise historically, but buffing it in another way (otherwise the unit would be totally destroyed) and apart from doing something with the shrines, mostly to avoid compensating the loss of quality by quantity (we already know that Japan has several options to generate more quantity with no problems).
If the problem is the economy that affords many Ashigaru’s and not the Ashigaru’s stats, it’s the eco that should be nerfed, not the unit.
Ashigaru is fine, they have reasonable stats for their cost.
0.5 more speed make them able to flee (receive less damage) and more able to approach enemy units (give more damage)
So if they are more expensive its because they do a lot more of damage, and receive less damage, so that extra cost is very happily paid, nobody is gonna cry for what ashi cost. I wish i had ashis on my favorite civ lol at same cost
they can flee away very fast from longbows and to aprroach them to kill them very easy, or to approch very fast to cavalry, so protecting units more effectively and so indirectly save many sources spent on the units they are protecting from horses, to the point that ive not seen the japanese range cavalry in a lot of time
what’s the point of having a unique musketeer for japan if they’re just gonna be worse european musketeer?
idk ask to all units that are unique and are worst than european
Literally EVERY JAPAN PLAYER is like, printing ashigarus like mad in age 2 to 3, and pairing it with Golden Pavillion speed banus, and hunting on vills! Its absolutely ANNOYING!
I think the civ design idea behind Japan is ‘powerful good units but they cost more’. Except with Japans uber easy unraidable shrine boom economy, they don’t cost more. They should just increase the cost of ALL Japan’s units to make the civ balanced.
They literally have a wonder that decreases all unit costs by 5% , that is - Shogunate!
Original design loves Japan, that’s it.
Many techs, Better Strength, vils won’t get raid, shipment can send 2 times, etc.
ha ha yep! in 2005 the very original ashigaru, if upgraded, were able to stand upto skirms and if massed and micro! they were able to beat skirms, it took 3 nerfs , for 2 decades! to make them ALMOST normal, yet unbalanced somehow 
Exactly. That is the problem. (Although I didn’t know that because I will never play an OP civ myself).
I agree that Ashigaru should not walk faster than skirms. It breaks the counter system. Ashigaru can outspeed skirms and fire arrows can beat falconets. I think there should be a way to counter ashigaru without sacrificing your own army very much.
If they don’t change the speed of Ashigaru at least make the herds in the shrines huntable