Faction Balance

[[116th]NapoleonBlown-apart]

Obviously the beta hasn't been out for long, so it's difficult to judge balance, but I would still be interested to see other people's opinions on how the factions are currently balanced against each other.

In my opinion, Vikings are the strongest faction at the moment due to early cavalry access to help win early game battles, and control the map, and berserkers which are very powerful for a tier 2 unit.

I'm less sure about the other factions, but I think saxons are the weakest, because saxons cannot capture villages very quickly due to their slingers being weak, and this really slows them down early game and often forces them to play defensively early on, which means it is diffcult for them to get to the huscarls that they need to win the infantry engagements. They also lack cavalry, which is another disadvantage.

I think Germans are probably the second best, because their cleaver infantry are good as a starting unit, although they will lose against viking spearmen. They also have crossbowmen, a good spear unit, and good cavalry, although I would say the cavalry comes in a bit too late, and the cleaver infantry won't stand up to viking or anglo-saxon infantry. Their archer unit is quite weak.

Slavs probably have the worst infantry overall, but they have good cavalry that they can use very early on, so this can help them win infantry engagements, as well as their archers which are very good. Horse archers can be useful, but they require a lot of micro-management to stay out of melee combat, because they don't have a total-war-style skirmish mode, and they cannot pull away from melee combat without retreating, which will get them killed if they choose to retreat through the enemy unit.

TLDR faction ranking (best to worst): Vikings, Germans, Slavs, Saxons.

Please post your own opinions on faction balance, and explain your choices.

[[HAN]falcofyc]

I think germans are the strongest, for their huge late game protential

[[116th]NapoleonBlown-apart]

I think early game is more important. If you have the potential to play offensively early game, you are at a huge advantage, as player-captured villages cannot defend themselves until they get an upgrade, so, if you can defeat an opposing players units, you can easily capture his villages and tech up faster. At the moment, most people play too defensively which is why they think Anglo-Saxons are OP. You can defeat saxons with any faction if you attack them early and cut off their resources, but they have the best late game infantry, so you will lose if you don't attack them early.

I think Germans are good, but in my opinion that is because of cleaver infantry as a starting unit rather than their late game potential, although panzer cav and crossbows are good late-game units, and their armour is excellent. The only reason they are second to vikings in my opinion is that vikings can counter everyone, but germans lose early game to viking spearmen, because spears counter two-handed units.

[[HAN]falcofyc]

Originally posted by 116thNapoleonBlown-apart:

I think early game is more important. If you have the potential to play offensively early game, you are at a huge advantage, as player-captured villages cannot defend themselves until they get an upgrade, so, if you can defeat an opposing players units, you can easily capture his villages and tech up faster. At the moment, most people play too defensively which is why they think Anglo-Saxons are OP. You can defeat saxons with any faction if you attack them early and cut off their resources, but they have the best late game infantry, so you will lose if you don't attack them early.

I think Germans are good, but in my opinion that is because of cleaver infantry as a starting unit rather than their late game potential, although panzer cav and crossbows are good late-game units, and their armour is excellent. The only reason they are second to vikings in my opinion is that vikings can counter everyone, but germans lose early game to viking spearmen, because spears counter two-handed units.

winter map is very different than fall map, for base resources become more important. Germans have great technology, they can get lvl 3 very quickly, build a quality army and slowly beat
the Vikings. I just realized mass archer is op, and panzer cav doesnt do as good as it should against archers. Yes, Vikings could win if they mass berserkers and archers, but Viking's shield infantry is horrible, too expensive.

The danger of playing Viking is you can lose your army's veterancy very quickly, because vikings are usually badly armored or have low health. Saxson longbow and german crossbow can snipe valuable berserkers

[[116th]NapoleonBlown-apart]

Shield infantry with upgraded armour can beat archer spam, but I suppose the viking shield infantry are too expensive at the moment. I think cavalry need to be more powerful against ranged units, and less powerful against infantry, because at the moment even viking scout cav can wipe out multiple infantry units with a rear charge, but they just get shot before they can get anywhere near archers.

[EARL GREY XVI]

Shieldman and slingers are a very strong combo ;) saxons are powerfull if you know how to play.

German Cavalry is to strong if you can spawn them in the late game :)

[[HAN]falcofyc]

Originally posted by 116thNapoleonBlown-apart:

Shield infantry with upgraded armour can beat archer spam, but I suppose the viking shield infantry are too expensive at the moment. I think cavalry need to be more powerful against ranged units, and less powerful against infantry, because at the moment even viking scout cav can wipe out multiple infantry units with a rear charge, but they just get shot before they can get anywhere near archers.

I think scout cav is fine, coz its poor equipment, it just need to be cheaper, like at least 40% cheaper. Slavic cavalry should also be cheaper, like 20%. I really believe german knight should get a big buff, even against infantry. The charge of the knights was devastating at that time (though not as devastating as 200 years later).

[[HAN]falcofyc]

Originally posted by ⎝OPERATOR⎠:

Shieldman and slingers are a very strong combo ;)

I prefer longbowmen, since longbow unit is not expensive but have great range and dealing a lot damange

[EARL GREY XVI]

Originally posted by 【HAN】falcofyc:

Originally posted by ⎝OPERATOR⎠:

Shieldman and slingers are a very strong combo ;)

I prefer longbowmen, since longbow unit is not expensive but have great range and dealing a lot damange

The ai dosen't and I can't beat it on domination atm - try a privat game vs ai :)

[[HAN]falcofyc]

Originally posted by ⎝OPERATOR⎠:

Originally posted by 【HAN】falcofyc:

I prefer longbowmen, since longbow unit is not expensive but have great range and dealing a lot damange

The ai dosen't and I can't beat it on domination atm - try a privat game vs ai :)

Medium AI is very good, better than 90% of players, I wonder where can I play campaign?

[DC_vipeout]

There is no single player campaign in this beta. Yeah, the AI turned out pretty strong, even for us :) Still, it's not a cheating AI, at least not in the design - there may be some bugs. Report if you think the AI cheats please.

[Methodius]

Cant win against Medium Ai without catapults. Cant imagine what Hard AI will be doing:)

[[116th]NapoleonBlown-apart]

I beat Medium AI with Vikings when they were Saxons on 500 point domination first try, but I cannot beat them on 5000 point domination. I get to about 3000 points before they overwhelm me by attacking multiple points and, with the AI's ability to control everything at the same time, I cannot do much against them.