wowgetoffyourcellphone

Errrr, gonna have to disagree with you on this point. Ranged units in Empires Ascendant shoot ridiculously fast, firing a projectile every 1.25 seconds. That's what the "Repeating Crossbows" tech would be for. Taking the crossbow firing rate from 3 seconds, to 2 seconds ("Crossbow Training"), and then down to 1 second with the "Repeating Crossbow" tech you see a a progression of faster firing rates as the game goes on.

I would love to just make the Range a standard building for all civs. If we can agree in principle to try to implement Ranges for A27, I am amenable to removing it for the Han for this (A26) alpha. I am not partial to the idea of making a common citizen-soldier trainable from 3 different buildings. I am partial to differentiation, which is why I advocate for the Range's (eventual) inclusion. And the reason I was pro-Stables as well. But as I said, that can wait. So, after reading this thread, I propose these changes: 1. Range Remove for this Alpha. Investigate adding it back for the next alpha. 2. Barracks Add the archer and crossbowman back. 3. Civic Center/Starting Units: A unique mix. Spearman Crossbowman Sword Cavalry 4. Infantry/Cavalry Crossbowmen Stats a mix of Javelineer, Slinger, and Archer. Attack Damage: 24 pierce Repeat Time: 3 seconds Range: 45 meters Projectile Speed: 80 m/s Spread (accuracy): 3 meters Since it is "trash", it takes +50% more XP to promote to next rank and has 40 health instead of 50, but read on: "Crossbow Training" Village Phase 200 wood, 200 metal (subject to change) Researchable from either the Barracks or Stable (it affects both Infantry and Cavalry versions) Reduces RepeatTime to 2 seconds Reduces TrainTime by -20% Unlocks Ranking Techs. These Techs make the Crossbowman less "trashy" over time: Advanced Crossbowmen Town Phase Elite Crossbowmen City Phase A new City Phase tech in the Forge "Repeating Crossbows" Reduces Repeat Time to 1 second Reduces accuracy by 25% 5. Farms 60 Wood, 30 seconds 3 gatherers Do not forget that the Han Farming techs are more powerful than the standard Farming techs! The first one is available in Village Phase! 6. I want to get rid of the Champion Cavalry Crossbowman. They're supposed to be "trash", at least initially. They still have the 3 other champions (Archer, Swordsman, Cataphract) to choose from. Can keep the templates and actors in Atlas for scenarios. 7. We need to discuss the Imperial Ministry and Ministers. But please discuss points 1-6 first. We can add these changes very quickly if we can at least agree on these points.

Well, balancing a civ isn't just about ensuring your personal build order remains successful. If others can successfully use a p1 practice range, then that's a plus for the civ.

Which units are Phase 1 is not set in stone. If there is a better combo, then we can go with that. Crossbows we should make trash/rapid response defense force or something similar with stats to match. The game's first official trash unit. Suggest stats to make this happen. Practice Range, I'm pretty sure me and a certain someone on the team wants to keep them, so we have to make them work. I propose inverting their cost from the Barracks, so they are only 100 wood and 200 stone (as opposed to the barracks at 200 stone and 100 wood). That way it is affordable with the first 300 stone on standard resource settings. Making crossbows trash and massable in Phase 1 could make the Practice Range worth it.

Explain.

No, not random maps yet. I'm focused on a lot of other things.

Proposed Changes: A. Practice Range Old Phase: Town (II) New Phase: Village (I) B. Rice Paddies Old Cost: 50 sec, 100 wood New Cost: 40 sec, 80 wood Females food.rice gather rate reduced from 0.6 to 0.5 (like other females) Main benefit is that you can cram more rice paddies into a smaller space C. Crossbowmen Old RepeatTime: 3000 ms New RepeatTime: 2000 ms Brings their DPS closer to Slingers and Javelineers Anything else? EDIT: Added Crossbowmen

I can see moving the Practice Range to Village phase just in case the player wants to go heavy ranged infantry early (we like more choice)? In most replays I've seen though, it seems like players don't build a barracks or stable until Phase 2, but allowing them to build the range in village might allow for some unorthodox strategy we can't think of yet.

A weapon, in an historically themed strategy game. Do you really confuse the default cursor with an attack cursor?

Not bad. Which one does @Freagarach want?

Default cursor is an arrowhead/spearhead, just like the old one (which was a flint arrowhead).

See: Delenda Est. lol

Pretty much what I gave to the Han champion swordsman.

I think there can be ways to keep all of the basics, but then add differentiation on top of it. So, for instance, there would be all of the same basic Forge techs for every civ, but each civ gets 1 additional unique Forge tech. The Han's could be "Differential Quenching" (not implemented). The Macedonians/Ptolemies/Seleucids could get the "Sarissa." Iberians get "Toledo Steel." Mauryas get "Iron Elephant Armor" (this one visually upgrades their war elephants to the armored variety). Persians get "Recurved Bows." Each Fortress functions pretty much the same, but each civ can have up to 2 unique military techs, usually researched at the Fortress. (I would count the Han "poison" techs as 1 since what they do is simply split the "Will to Fight" tech in half). For Spartans, they research them at the Syssition. 1 "minor" special building and 1 "major" special building for each civ. Persians: Ice House (minor), Tachara (major) Han: Laozigate (minor), Academy (major) Athenians: blah blah, and on down the line Each civ can have up to 2 unique eco techs. Each civ must take away 1 standard eco tech if they have 2 unique eco techs. Each civ can have 1 unique "upgrade" feature. Spartans: upgrade individual Spartiates to Olympic Champions, which are stronger and faster than regular Spartiates Macedonians: upgrade individual Barracks to "Royal Barracks" which trains soldiers at the elite rank Persians: upgrade the Tachara to trickle a desired resource, unlocked with the "Satrapy Tribute" tech Han: upgrade 1 defense tower to the "Great Tower" Romans: upgrade 1 ballista into a "Great Ballista" So, make the civs unique, within a standardized framework.

I am sorry to say, but Kung Fu is vastly overrated. Saw videos of a Chinese MMA fighter kicking the asses of Kung Fu "masters." The MMA fighter was then given a low social credit score by the government for his efforts to supposedly "undermine" Chinese culture.

I want his eyebrows.

Liu Bang did Han Xin dirty, man. Shame. Discard his best general to intrigue when he was no use to him.

This "Saka" helmet would work well for the Scythian/Dahae/Parthian units (Persians) already in the game (and potential Scythians civ as well).

I wonder how to differentiate: Scythians Xiongnu Xianbei Huns

Could be a Hun, could be a Sarmatian under Hunnish dominion. Either way, cool reference. I like this guy's polearm (accurate?), his red coat, and the fact that the coat's collar shields his neck.

Indeed. I think Gauls should get a cheap/trash archer that does not promote beyond Basic rank. These are the "hunters" that Vercingetorix called to arms during the Gallic War against Caesar. For Britons, I think their Champion Chariot should be available 1 phase earlier and have this feature from DE:

I think the Gauls should get a citizen-soldier Swordsman and make that their starting melee infantry. Would differentiate them more from the Britons, whose starting melee infantry would be the spearman.

They don't look bad. And as you said, the capes help them blend better. Used sparingly, I see no reason to not keep them.

Already has a subtle emboss effect. I'll see what embed looks like.