I've been thinking about this for a while now. These 2 units don't have extraordinary stats and I don't consider them to be uncounterable at every phase of the game, but there are points in the game, usually early castle age, where these 2 units feel a tad too strong.
And my reasoning for that is that their counters are too damn expensive. No one will have resources to get all the necessary upgrades for elite skirm on an FC vs FC economy. Same goes for longswords (except for bulgarians I guess).
I see this as problematic because for the defending player to tech into counter units is a lose-lose strategy either way. Usually when one player opens with a specific unit, and their opponent opens with a unit that counters it, the invested cost is in the same ballpark, so then it is the first player's responsibility to tech into a unit that counters the opponent's counter. Then this cycle can continue , and the balance is not hurt.
But then we have the case of elite skirm and longsword upgrades which are plain not affordable on an economy where feudal age was short. Getting the upgrades for them is like twice the cost, which means the burden of pressure is on the skirm / longsword player to somehow put pressure, because his opponent will have excess resources to invest into a skirm / longsword counter , or simply boom and invite pressure.
The way I see it, reducing upgrade costs significantly for longswords and elite skirm would bring more variety to games without making them broken, and also give better counter-unit balance on any type of economy.
Thoughts?
And my reasoning for that is that their counters are too damn expensive. No one will have resources to get all the necessary upgrades for elite skirm on an FC vs FC economy. Same goes for longswords (except for bulgarians I guess).
I see this as problematic because for the defending player to tech into counter units is a lose-lose strategy either way. Usually when one player opens with a specific unit, and their opponent opens with a unit that counters it, the invested cost is in the same ballpark, so then it is the first player's responsibility to tech into a unit that counters the opponent's counter. Then this cycle can continue , and the balance is not hurt.
But then we have the case of elite skirm and longsword upgrades which are plain not affordable on an economy where feudal age was short. Getting the upgrades for them is like twice the cost, which means the burden of pressure is on the skirm / longsword player to somehow put pressure, because his opponent will have excess resources to invest into a skirm / longsword counter , or simply boom and invite pressure.
The way I see it, reducing upgrade costs significantly for longswords and elite skirm would bring more variety to games without making them broken, and also give better counter-unit balance on any type of economy.
Thoughts?