How do nomad factions stay relevant as time passes?

[PuttBlug]

As I understand the early game unit types are very strong but later on they lag behind compared to most other groups. So how can one keep up apart from having larger armies, ideas, generals etc? Is there something you can do that's not so apparent?

[Omniconda]

hordes, can Raze provinces to make extra Ducats and Monarch points. making for faster growth then later reform into more stable gov types or just keep fighting so as to never have neighbours strong enough to take you on

[PuttBlug]

Originally posted by Omniconda:

hordes, can Raze provinces to make extra Ducats and Monarch points. making for faster growth then later reform into more stable gov types or just keep fighting so as to never have neighbours strong enough to take you on

What about their unit types? Are you stuck with weak late game units?

[Omniconda]

ideas and forcelimit make up for most of their weaknesses but you also get that much higher cav ratio and usually cossak estate

[Razor Feather]

I believe if you reform off of steppe nomad you change unit types at the same time, into ones that are likely better late.

However, while steppe nomads do suffer from poorer unit models late game, that is not a huge disadvantage. The difference is only ever going to be relatively small. Compared to western, the best late game tech group, nomads are down 2 pips on infantry, and 3 pips on cav. This amounts to something like a 10-20% disadvantage in quality on those units. However, by that stage of the game, artillery is a huge part of the damage output of an army, and everyone has the same arty models. You also still have the potential +25% shock damage bonus on flat ground, which likely mitigates most of the disadvantage from the poor unit models.

They also have +20% move speed, which is not to be underestimated, as it lets you consistently pick your battles and run down retreats, as well as bonuses to manpower, force limit, and reinforcement cost, which make building and maintaining large armies easier.

In summary, while you definitely get relatively weaker as the game progresses, its more a case of going from way stronger than everyone to a bit behind them, rather than falling off completely.

Also, I would like to note that in much older versions of the game steppe nomads did get absolutely no new unit models, and thus did in fact fall off very hard, but it has been a long time since that has been the case.