Which is the strongest faction thus far?

[Mythos_Ruler]

Kind of an informal poll on the relative strengths of different factions. May lead to some minor balancing.

[quantumstate]

I can't really comment on inter-civ balancing very much but I have noticed some pretty big problems with some units. This is a pretty uncomprehensive list though.

Spartan hoplites are heavily overpowered, 5 spartans can take on 15 standard spearmen.

Athenian Ekdromos were barely better than the thracian peltast in my test, this is possibly because of the tendency of ranged units to all target one unit at once which tends to lead to over-saturation of spears per target so the advantages disappear.

Siege is rubbish against units, even the ballista which are meant to be good vs units. Splash damage would probably go a log way to helping this. In my tests you needed something like 3 times the resources spent on siege vs peltasts.

Celtic war dogs seem to be too strong for their cost, only needing food gives a major advantage with he current farming system which gets lots of food with little management, also they are cheap even counting wood as equal weight to food.

[Tutle]

I think the carthage are balanced. The super elephant can take down 2-3 towers by itself, but the other elephant cannot even take down 1 tower by itself. Also, they lack spear throwers and non-calvary heroes unit if I recall. I think Greece units are more powerful, although I can quite remember for which reasons (several different units, cheap prices, or survivability).

[WhiteTreePaladin]

Hellenes - citizen soldier javelinists and archers are a bit too strong. The super javelinists are not worth it.

Iberians - stone requirements for basic units makes them a bit weak, especially when you need that stone for other things. Perhaps lower the amount of stone needed.

Celts - not enough siege power.

Carthaginians - not familiar enough with them yet.

[Wijitmaker]

Celts - not enough siege power.

Celts are supposed to be weak in siege (though have a sufficiently strong turf wall - Julius liked them so much he started using them)

[Mythos_Ruler]

Hellenes - citizen soldier javelinists and archers are a bit too strong. The super javelinists are not worth it.

Hmmm, not sure about that. I've managed to personally pwned 3 Jubot AIs with nothing but Ekdromoi and a handful of Lithoboloi.

Iberians - stone requirements for basic units makes them a bit weak, especially when you need that stone for other things. Perhaps lower the amount of stone needed.

The Iberians have a stone requirement for 1 unit, the slinger.

Celts - not enough siege power.

You need to make more rams.

[WhiteTreePaladin]

I guess I'm just not any good with the other civs.

[Pureon]

Celts - not enough siege power.

Won't this be partially fixed when capturing is introduced?

[feneur]

I wouldn't say the Celts are at such an advantage. Not too long ago I managed to hold out pretty well against someone playing Carthaginians, quite a lot thanks to the Celt rams actually

[kephra]

Moin,

Hmmm, not sure about that. I've managed to personally pwned 3 Jubot AIs with nothing but Ekdromoi and a handful of Lithoboloi.

But Ekdromoi had not been super Peltast, but counter Peltast, historically. They had a ligher Apsis, no leg guards, and no body armour, to leave phalanx formation and to outrun Peltast.

My vote for the strongest faction currently is Carthago. They have a wide range of siege engines, a good combi of house troops, elephants, sacred band, mercenaries, ...

ciao,Kephra

[Mythos_Ruler]

But Ekdromoi had not been super Peltast, but counter Peltast, historically. They had a ligher Apsis, no leg guards, and no body armour, to leave phalanx formation and to outrun Peltast.

Yeah, pretty much why I made them run everywhere. We still don't have a countering system (paper-rock-scissors, etc.) in place, but when we do, I think Ekdromoi will be bonused vs. Support Units (Female Citizens, Traders, Healers) and Skirmishers.

[Linux_Eki]

Carthaginians. Because of cheap elephant and long range siege equipment.

[hhyloc]

I think the mercenaries (especially Celtic mercenaries) cost too much metal, the mercenaries is supposed to form the bulk of the Carthaginian army but due to their high metal cost I actually prefer to use regular soldiers instead, the high metal cost of these mercenaries also lead to an unbalanced resource stockpile, when playing Carthaginian my food, wood and stone to some degree are always abundant while Metal is badly needed even when there are already many citizens mining.

Other than that, Carthaginian is a powerful faction indeed.

[SMST]

Carthage gets a huge trading boost once trading is implemented. That should balance the high Metal requirements I guess.

[Mythos_Ruler]

I think the mercenaries (especially Celtic mercenaries) cost too much metal, the mercenaries is supposed to form the bulk of the Carthaginian army but due to their high metal cost I actually prefer to use regular soldiers instead, the high metal cost of these mercenaries also lead to an unbalanced resource stockpile, when playing Carthaginian my food, wood and stone to some degree are always abundant while Metal is badly needed even when there are already many citizens mining.

Other than that, Carthaginian is a powerful faction indeed.

I actually find that the Metal cost of the Carth mercs gives me flexibility when it comes to paying for my soldiers. Have a lot of food and wood? Train North African units. Have lots of Metal? Train mercs.

[hhyloc]

Carthage gets a huge trading boost once trading is implemented. That should balance the high Metal requirements I guess.

I actually find that the Metal cost of the Carth mercs gives me flexibility when it comes to paying for my soldiers. Have a lot of food and wood? Train North African units. Have lots of Metal? Train mercs.

I guess that makes sense, we'll see how this turns out once all the features are implemented

[Thorfinn the Shallow Minded]

I actually think that the Celts are seriously underestimated. Practically every building they have gives an extra two population.

[Random_Freak]

Celts war dog harass is pretty strong.

[tribalbeat]

I just was messing around and finally realized just how powerful the Iberian Skirmishers were against buildings. Is this an oversight or intentional?

[Mythos_Ruler]

I just was messing around and finally realized just how powerful the Iberian Skirmishers were against buildings. Is this an oversight or intentional?

The Elites, right? Yeah, intentional.

[shimizu]

So far I have only played as the Celts. (As my computer is slow enough that it really chokes up on the ai after the city centre falls, so I have not done as much testing as I like). The other factions seem to have much harder to take town and the celts are more roomy and easier to pick through.