Scout report

Off the top I am pleased with the intricate variant design and the high modality of play styles, at least theoretically… What is clear is cavalry is CORE to gameplay hence the synergy with the Grasslands mechanic which exclusively benefits cavalry. Yet the tuning and functions of the unit roster are far from intuitive (at least not intuitive to my smooth brain ). Let’s start with the worst unit first: Mohe Tribesman This unit cost more than standard archers and takes longer to train. While the unit is faster than archers and technically kill spearman in one less volley than archers, their kiting is inferior, gimpy, AND spearmen can easily kill this unit especially in extremely high masses where micro is near impossible. Also they trade verses archers 1 to 1 but b/c they are more expensive means archers are a soft cost-effective counter. This means all 3 base units counter this unit. The singular benefit to this unit is it presents Jin Dynasty a Rus like Knight/Horse Archer comp! Right?! … Iron Pagoda If you do not include the cost and training discount of the Grassland, this unit takes too long to train and its splash damage only hits spears archers and villagers as those are the only units that clump up close enough together to even see the splash dmg. Either the training time and cost needs to be reduced or the splash dmg needs a significant buff by extending the radius!! If instead the devs want these units to function like the mongol variant special lancers then the unit needs a lot more HP. Bed Crossbows These unit are better than springlads in cost, train time and availability compared to the springald! However, it’s inferior in killing heavy melee ? I still have some ideas to try out with this unit, so I think it’s still promising. Before I get on to the next point I do like most all the Jin units can’t be single massed in the same french knights or desert raider can be at times. Economy This is technically by far the most lackluster aspect about this civ in

Maybe Town Centers and Towers could have slightly increased damage against cavalry, for example a small +1 or +2 damage bonus vs cavalry . The reason is that cavalry, especially heavy cavalry, can dive even TC-protected woodlines or nearby economy, kill villagers, and escape while taking very little damage. This is not only because of their stats, but also because their movement speed lets them spend much less time under TC or tower fire compared to infantry. Cavalry can also chase down villagers because of their speed, while infantry usually cannot do that effectively. Because of this, it feels more logical from a game design perspective that infantry should have a stronger role in pushes and siege situations, while cavalry remains better for mobility, raids, and map control. A small anti-cavalry damage bonus could help compensate for cavalry’s speed advantage without removing cavalry’s identity. The goal is not to make defensive structures hard-counter cavalry, but to make repeated dives under TC and tower fire slightly more punishable. This would probably not remove the current cavalry meta by itself, but it could be a small step toward making infantry-based armies and foot-based pushes more viable. For context, I usually play around Solo Ranked Diamond 3 / Conqueror 1 , so this is not really about struggling to defend cavalry raids personally. It is more about the overall balance and how cavalry mobility currently interacts with defensive structures.