We need to talk. About mounted unique ranged units.

Warning: this post may involve balance discussion, which is known to the state of California to cause cancer.

First, here are some stats that I copied from http://aoe2stats.net/:

Conquistador / Elite Conquistador:

• HP : 55 / 70
• attack: 16 / 18
• range: 6 / 6
• base armor: 2,2 / 2,2
• reload time: 2.9 s /2.9 s
• create time: 24 s / 24 s
• speed: 1.3 / 1.3
• accuracy: 65 % / 70%
• attack delay: .28 s / .28 s
• bonus dmg: +4 rams / +6 rams
• cost 60 f 70 g
• get bloodlines, husbandry, ring archer armor

Arambai / Elite Arambai:

• HP : 60 / 65
• attack: 18 / 20
• range: 5 / 5
• base armor: 0,1 / 0,2
• reload time: 2 s / 2 s
• create time: 21 s / 21 s
• speed: 1.35 / 1.35
• accuracy: 20% / 30%
• attack delay: 0.7 s / 0.7 s
• cost 50 w 60 g
• bonus dmg: +2 rams / +2 rams
• 0 / 2 cav archer armor
• get bloodlines, husb, no leather archer armor

Camel archer / Elite camel archer:

• HP : 60 / 65
• attack: 7 / 8
• range: 4 / 4
• base armor: 0,1 / 1,1
• reload time: 2 s / 2 s
• create time: 21 s / 21 s
• speed: 1.4 / 1.4
• accuracy: 95% / 95%
• attack delay: 0.35 s / 0.35 s
• cost 50 w 60 g
• bonus dmg: +4 cav arch, +2 rams / +6 cav arch, +2 rams
• 1 camel armor / +2 camel armor, +2 cav arch armor
• get bloodlines, husb, thumb ring, ring archer armor, no parthian tactics

Mangudai / Elite Mangudai:

• HP : 60 / 60
• attack: 6 / 8
• range: 4 / 4
• base armor: 0,0 / 1,0
• reload time: 1.68 s /1.68 s
• create time: 26 s / 26 s
• speed: 1.45 / 1.45
• accuracy: 95% / 95%
• attack delay: 0.35 s / .35 s
• cost 55 w 65 g
• bonus dmg: +1 spear, +3 siege / +1 spears, +5 siege
• get bloodlines, husb, Parthian tactics, thumb ring, bracer, no ring archer armor

Theres rightly been a lot of discussion and comparison of these units recently as the experts are playing a lot of Wololo. The experts themselves certainly seem to think some balance changes are needed, but do not all necessarily agree. From what I've seen, most people seem to think camel archers are OP, and opinions are somewhat divided on Arambai.

Some of my thoughts:

• I've always wondered why people thought that Arambia are OP, but didn't have a problem with Conqs for 16 years. They do certainly fire faster, but that is somewhat compensated by having such horrid accuracy. They are a little cheaper, and cost wood instead of food. Burmese do have a solid eco bonus while Spanish don't. Nonetheless, Conqs have more armor and can be upgraded to have even better armor. I guess I'm still in the camp that is skeptical how Arambai can be OP while Conqs somehow aren't considered OP. I've always thought Conqs were OP so I'd be ok with both getting a nerf.

• I am fully in the camel archers are OP camp, though not sure how best to nerf them. In castle age, they are cheaper than Mangudai, and better in almost every way (on top of this, they directly counter Mangudai and are not as weak to camels). In Imp, camel archers have more HP, possible HP regeneration, more base armor, more bonus armor, but less siege attack bonus and rate of fire. I think all this is rather unfair; camel archers should generally be worse than mangudai, because they are supposed to be used specifically as a counter to cav archers.

• Maybe I'm just a sentimental fool, but I think Mangudai should have the shortest attack delay of these four units. This makes sense historically given that they spent their lives on horses shooting arrows, and I also think Mangudai have generally lost a step with the new units, which is to be lamented. Ok, it doesn't need to go down to zero like it was before, but it should at least be a shorter delay than Conqs. Right now, Conqs are more fun to micro than Mangudai. Thats just wrong.

• overall, I really am annoyed by the fact that all of the above RANGED units that do RANGED damage have bonus damage vs. rams. Of course Mangudai should, that is their specialty. But the others? Part of the problem with Arambia and Camel archers dominating the current meta is that they have no counter, and rams don't work against them. At the very least, I think that Conqs, Arambia, and Camel archers should all lose their attack bonus vs rams.

Whew. Now I know that it is probably best to wait until after KOTD before making any hasty balance changes, but what are your thoughts as of now?