u/EldritchElvis

Hey all, I ran some tests following what multiple Discord users' impressions, and it seems the Mounted Villagers are not gathering at 120% faster, but rather 100% faster than regular Villagers.

For this tests I had a group of 10 Villagers and a group of 10 Mounted Villagers gather a full Stone node each. I stopped the second group as soon as the first node got depleted and checked the remaining values. A little more over 600 remained, on account of me needing half a second to assign both groups to their nodes consecutively, while there should be more, since it means they gathered almost exactly 100% faster.

The Flower Pagoda seems to give a lower bonus as well, more 15% than 25%.

For this test I had two groups of 10 Mounted Villagers each, as well as Wheelbarrow researched, to minimize the travel time. One group was under the Pagoda's influence. I stopped as soon as the first node got depleted and checked the remaining values. Around 180 remained, while it should have around 300 remaining.

So maybe my methodology is not correct, and travel time impacts the values much more than I'd think, but the results are the same compared to a real game: the economic boost is not exactly the same as the numbers you'd expect. Mounted Villagers are still superior to Villagers because they produce faster than 2 Villagers while gathering the same, but movement speed is a very important stat to consider, and build time as well.

Let me know if you find a way to check the actual values with more accuracy, maybe in the game editor ?

Hello all, like many of you I was eager to have Akinji finally usable earlier than with a tier 2 Vizier Point, where their tempo used to be irrelevant compared to most options. I saw similar enthusiasm on Discord where people tried to find a fast way to unlock them, and apparently 5:15 is the earliest. However I watched a game where a small mass of Feudal age Akinji were dealing with Castle age Knights without much difficulties, and with Horsemen as well. Their damage output is really high especially against non-armoured units.

I compared to Castle age Rus Horse Archers, which were slightly nerfed recently, less damage for a faster attack speed. Against a unit without armour, the Akinji has 6,87 DPS, while the Horse Archer has 5,71. The Akinji cost 80f and 80w (160 total) and the Horse Archer 80f 40w (120 total). But the Akinji are now available early and so can mass faster, and are really oppressive to villagers since they deal full damage to them. Their counters, archers, can be answered back with Sipahis, which as we all know are top tier units.

Does anyone else have experience with the new usage of Akinji that they'd want to share ? I'm curious to see more opinions about them, whether you played with them or against them. As of now with the limited use I've seen of them, they seem far more oppressive than Horse Archers used to be, and they're a Feudal age unit in a civ that is already very strong. I don't want to sound pessimistic and I'm not screaming for nerfs or anything just yet, hence why I ask the community what they think of it ?

(Pictured are Rus Horse Archers in orange, and Ottoman Akinji in dark green, both Castle age no upgrades)