Barbarossa89
Squire
posted 11-24-18 06:13 PM
CT (US)
2 / 13
Even before the new expansions came out, the game meta had developed to the point that extended feudal age warfare was not the main strategy, and Huns took a back seat to Aztecs for 1v1 Arabia dominance.
With the new expansions, there are 13 new civilizations total, along with tweaks here and there to make various strategies viable. For example:
Walls now take longer to build, and are weaker before castle age. On the other hand, the addition of palisade gates has made quick walling to block incoming troops easier than ever, even in the dark age.
Infantry, as a whole, have been buffed slightly. Longswordsmen in particular have increase HP, and the new castle age tech arson increases the attack bonus of all infantry vs. buildings. This does not make bad infantry civilizations good with infantry, but it does make infantry a borderline viable strategy for a few civilizations, such as Vikings, Celts, and the new Malian civilization.
In the water meta, one of the biggest changes is the addition of fire galley and demolition raft in the feudal age. Upon researching war galley, all three ship types upgrade to their castle age equivalents. This means that Vikings are actually at a disadvantage on water, initially, as they usually cannot mass galleys quickly enough to fend of fire galleys in the early stages of feudal. Good planning, strategic use of demolition rafts to weaken multiple fire galleys at once, and hit and run tactics will allow them to gain the dominance from late feudal onward, but they are not the be-all-end-all water civilization they once were.
One of the new civilizations, the Portuguese, is very strong on water. Their ships have more HP, and all their units get a gold discount.
Another meta change is that castles are no longer required to produce turtle ships or longboats. A Korean who can rush to the castle age can make turtle ships right away, and destroy any fledgling feudal navy in short order.
The latest expansion, Rise of the Rajas, has a new unit for the four new civilizations: the battle elephant. Like the eagle warrior, it is a unit for a small number of civilizations, each with a different flavor. Significantly weaker than the war elephant, it still packs a decent punch, and is cheaper and easier to mass, being made at the stable.
And one of the biggest changes, for certain maps: Onagers can cut trees now. Only Turks and Huns now lack the ability to cut, and the supremely expensive siege onager upgrade is no longer necessary to bypass enemy walls in imperial age.
Overall, the game is probably a little more balanced, but it plays faster too. Turtling is much harder than it once was, extreme combos were tuned down some, and weaker civilizations were given minor tweaks to help them where needed. For example, Franks now have a berry-gathering bonus.
murdilator
Squire
posted 11-26-18 04:47 AM
CT (US)
4 / 13
Why wouldn't any game go for infantry? It seems that competition is just knights and archers. Which isn't a game.
What I suggest is taking more maps where you can actually start playing the game, not competing. Say games where there are 50 Champions and 50 Halberdiers.
I also feel sad that nobody plays Turbo Random or Death-match, or even those that do only play maps with guaranteed win factor involved.
Barbarossa89
Squire
posted 11-26-18 08:25 PM
CT (US)
7 / 13
Infantry does have its uses:
As most civilizations, pikemen and halberdiers will be your mainstay against cavalry attacks. Halberdiers are probably the most common infantry unit produced in late imperial age due to the massive attack bonus against mounted units.
Eagle warriors are great, for the three civilizations that get them. They are fast, have high pierce armor, are relatively cheap, and are extremely annoying to counter.
Condotierri can be extremely good, depending on the circumstances.
Goths, Japanese, and Celts see frequent use of their UUs, often in combination with halberdiers.
Teutons, Ethiopians, Malay, Vikings, Aztecs, Franks, Malians, and Incas may use their unique units, depending on the situation.
Malian champions, having 8 pierce armor, are excellent for a large number of tasks.
Some civilizations, when facing massed eagle warriors, huskarls, or trash, may opt to use champions as a relatively effective counter, if they have nothing better to use.
Malay 2-handed swordsmen, costing no gold, are often seen in masses when the gold runs low.
Later on, the swordsmen line has many downsides and few upsides. They are relatively slow, not ranged, and not particularly powerful. They are easily countered by hand cannons, paladins, arbalests, heavy scorpions, onagers, many unique units, and more. They are generally effective only vs trash, eagles, and certain unique units. It is often a waste of resources to mass them.
Barbarossa89
Squire
posted 11-29-18 09:02 PM
CT (US)
10 / 13
Jaguars are superior ONLY when facing infantry. In every other situation, champions are better.
Amin
Squire
posted 12-21-18 11:01 PM
CT (US)
11 / 13
Thanks for the meta updates guys, it is interesting to see how the game developed over time at high level play.
Glad to see that champions are still appreciated, they were always one of my favourite imperial age units.
Amin
Squire
posted 12-22-18 06:16 PM
CT (US)
13 / 13
Hey Simfish, long time no see. And yes it is fascinating to see the game still played nearly 20 years later, meta still developing, youtubers like Spirit of the law getting over 100,000 subscribers focused on the game and casting of the expert games popular on twitch and youtube.