The simple fix to Elephant Archers.

Elephant Archers are universally dumped on. Both Hera and Viper gave them their lowest possible ranking in their Unique Unit Tier Lists.

But I think that they're actually not a bad unit, they just have a simple flaw.

First off, to show that they're not actually a bad unit, observe the following scenario.

Firstly, we have a simple setup: 45 Hand Cannoneers vs 30 Mayan Arbalesters and 15 Elite Skirmishers.

Now, the results: The Mayans convincingly win, with very little contest.

Now, we make a modification: add three Elite Elephant Archers, but remove Twelve hand cannons. This is twice the resources as the cost of the elephants!

Results? The numbers switch dramatically. The Indians only lose three hand cannons, and don't lose a single elephant!

The clear purpose for Elephant Archers is to be a front-line tank. Their short range means they automatically take the front line and automatically tank a huge amount of enemy fire, almost like battering rams, except faster and healable by monks.

The problem? It's simple. Their upgrade cost.

As you can see from my above example, even in combo huge numbers of other units, you're not going to want more than a handful of Elephant Archers. But the upgrade from normal to elite elephant archers costs 1000 food and 800 gold! Even worse, this upgrade gives them just 50 health and 1 attack!

For this upgrade to be cost effective at its current cost/benefit, the player would need to plan on producing fifty-six elephant archers! That's ridiculous, and completely contrary to their apparent purpose.

So my proposal is simple. Reduce the Elite Elephant Archer upgrade cost. Take it down to something like 300 food and 250 gold. Sure, it's crazy low, but honestly not insanely low given you're never going to be making more than a handful of them.