Yasama technology

[Zerr der Härte 🌟]

Does anyone of you make use of this tech? I was thinking about making a rush with it, but you have to build a castle before so you aren't efficient with it. So it looks like it is just a worthless technology

[FE_HockeySam18]

It's a huge help to the Japanese come Imperial Age, when they have considerably less firepower than most civs. Yasama turns Keeps from something useless into a potent asset that can be used in a similar manner to a BBT push and somewhat levels the playing field for the Japanese in the late-game, where they were very weak in AoC due to a lack of heavy firepower. The 2nd Briton UT, Warwolf, addresses a similar issue for the Britons, another civ that was pretty much doomed in the late-game in AoC.

[Zerr der Härte 🌟]

Ah, good to know the idea behind it! It would never have occurred to me. But isn't the stone better used for castles?
I really really love tower rushes/pushes, but they come short in aoe.
(With the small buff for the koreans for example, I don't think it would make it viable. What was your intention with that, Hockeysam18?)

[FE_HockeySam18]

Stone is indeed usually better spent on Castles. However, 5 Keeps with Yasama (what you would get for roughly the same cost as a Castle) have more combined firepower than a Castle, and can be spread out or built as your army advances to better achieve map control, much as would be done with a BBT push.

Towers are a mixed bag in AoE2. Watch Towers are an incredibly effective (but costly) option in Feudal, which is the only age in which the Watch Tower-line is truly balanced, and for that reason a tower rush can be quite effective. Look up recorded games of the player Pyc_Hawk for the best example of good tower rushes. However, unless I'm playing as Japanese (or Koreans, who get the tower upgrades for free), or in rare cases Britons, I never even bother taking the Guard Tower or Keep upgrades - they simply don't have enough firepower to make the cost worthwhile. Bombard Towers are another story, and are almost always a great idea.

Which small buff for Koreans - the increased building speed, or the indirect buff of buffing Guard Tower and Keep attack for all civs? AoF certainly didn't resolve the issue of Guard Towers and Keeps being worthless for most civs, though with continued support there's a possibility of that being amended ;)

[Zerr der Härte 🌟]

The building speed one.
What I was thinking for the upcoming update to make towers more important is to make towers first 2x2 instead of 1x1 squares and make them pricier while offering something special compared to tower. If you think as a castle as a research and training building, the tower could something specialised for holding and securing ground.
Maybe you can only build an outpost, but each you can build can be upgraded to a Keep. While upgrading, it has still the low hp, so it's very fragile. Once finished, it has +2 range compared to the current keep and later on fires arrows which partly ignores piercing armor. But upgrading would cost more maybe 350 stone and it doesn't benefit from any other upgrades except the 2 tower upgrades itself.
So, the tower would be very powerful against other buildings, slow moving targets and larges armies. You can't just ignore it if you laying siege to the enemy but it doesn't slow a rush if you don't have any other fortifications or the enemy tries to move through fast.

I can elaborate it further if you want but I think you get the idea. Make it more risky to build it forward without protection but more specialised and stronger.

[FE_HockeySam18]

Interesting idea! I don't think we plan on changing the nature of towers on a fundamental level, but there are statistical changes that we will probably consider to balance them to be more effective in the Castle and Imperial Ages.