About a couple months ago, I shared my Tibetan civilization concept in the AoE2 subreddit and got some backlash from the folks at reddit (not to mention, I believe most people in the AoE2 don't want new civilizations in this game since they feel that there are too many civilizations, and it's pretty obvious that China will ban AoE2 if Tibetans were added as a civilization, so I kinda stopped doing civ concepts in the subreddit). I had powerful civilization bonus where Stable units get +1 pierce armor per age starting at Feudal Age, and the Tibetan tech tree had all cavalry upgrades (Paladin, Hussar, Heavy Camel, all Blacksmith techs, Husbandry, etc. except Battle Elephants) and balanced that out by them not having access to Bloodlines in a similar vein how Malian high pierce armor infantry is balanced with them not getting Blast Furnace and Halberdiers and Goths not getting the last infantry armor upgrade to balance out their Huskarl spam. However, people still complain that Tibetan Paladins with +3 pierce armor in Imperial Age without bloodlines is still broken. In regards to powerful civilization bonuses, how come something like Malian Champions with high pierce armor, Goth Huskarls, and Malay cheaper Battle Elephants are well-balanced with their tech tree while something like Tibetans having access to Paladins, Hussars, Heavy Camels, all the cavalry Blacksmith upgrades with +1 pierce armor per Age starting at Feudal Age in exchange for them not getting Bloodlines isn't from a gameplay and balance perspective. Do you think a civilization bonus of +1 pierce armor per age starting at Feudal Age is a powerful civilization bonus from a gameplay and balance perspective? If you were in Forgotten Empires devs position of gameplay balance, how would balance around this powerful civilization bonus?
Also, I realize that cavalry archers without Bloodlines and the last Archer armor upgrade are pretty weak, so I balance that out with giving the Tibetans a unique tech that gives cavalry archers +3 attack, pushing their cavalry archers in more "glass cannon" area. Do you think Heavy Cavalry archers that have +3 attack and access to all other techs except the last Archer armor upgrade and Bloodlines help balance their cavalry archers without Bloodlines?
I've also listed a couple of different civilization bonuses that were never implemented in AoE2, if you were to create a civilization or a unique tech and balance their tech tree around them, how would balance them out:
Archery Range units +1 attack per age starting at Feudal Age.
Herdables +25 food.
Fish Traps are affected by Farm upgrades.
Unit upgrades do not cost gold.
Free Shipwright.
Galleys +1 attack per age starting at Feudal Age.
Scorpions have no minimum range.
Cavalry Archers fire two projectiles.
Demolition ships have larger blast radius.
Units that are converted by the enemy are given full resource refund.
Villagers do not need to drop off resources.
Ships slowly repair themselves.
Also, I realize that cavalry archers without Bloodlines and the last Archer armor upgrade are pretty weak, so I balance that out with giving the Tibetans a unique tech that gives cavalry archers +3 attack, pushing their cavalry archers in more "glass cannon" area. Do you think Heavy Cavalry archers that have +3 attack and access to all other techs except the last Archer armor upgrade and Bloodlines help balance their cavalry archers without Bloodlines?
I've also listed a couple of different civilization bonuses that were never implemented in AoE2, if you were to create a civilization or a unique tech and balance their tech tree around them, how would balance them out: