+2 Attack/No Ring Armor Arbs vs Ethiopian Arbs - Balance Testing

Hey everyone! I've begun doing balance testing in the editor for prospective civ bonuses- starting with the Arbalest.

The closest comparison I had to compare was the Ethiopian faster firing bonus- I don't want a Mod civ to be better than one of my fav archer civs (Yodit campaign kicks so much ass), so I looked to find a balance that fared worse, but still in the same ball-park. Here's what I got:

BALANCE TESTING

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Arbalest Attack Bonus - Mathematical Calculation of Damage over Time

Note that these numbers are cut off at the decimal rather than rounded- Thumb Ring has not been taken into account (I hear that it reduces the Ethiopian bonus to 14%)

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+2 Damage with Ring Armor was far too high to be balanced, so I removed it. This is calculated with +1 Damage instead.

Generic Arbalest deals ~295 damage in 1 minute

Ethiopian Arbalest deals ~339 damage in 1 minute (~15% Higher Damage)

Moorish Arbalest deals ~325 damage in 1 minute (~10% Higher Damage)

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Theories based on outcome:

-Ethiopians better against unarmored targets

-Moors better against armored targets

-Ethiopians easier to Micro

-Moors affect Cav Archer as well

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With the calculations working out on paper, I went into the Editor to do balance testing:

(Each number marks a victory for that Civ, and how many Arbs they had left in the end)

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Scenario Editor Test: +1 Damage

Ethiopians:

No victories

Moors:

7-6-5-3-6-4-4

Conclusion: Extremely Overpowered - test ended prematurely (FAIL)Issue: The math is correct, but Moors seem to always win in an Arb vs Arb fight…Cause: The Ethiopian Arb is doing more damage over time, but the Moorish Arb’s extra damage is killing them BEFORE the Ethiopians have shot enough times to get their ‘free shot’ in. A different balance of Damage Bonus/Banned Techs must be found.

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Option 1: +2 Damage, No Ring Armor

Ethiopians

2-3-2-1-3-6-3-4-4-4-4-3-1-2-3-4-2-5-3-4-3-2-4-4-3-2 (26 victories, average 3 left)

Moors

2-1-1-1-2-2-2-2-2-1-3-2-5-4-3-3-3-4-2-3-3-6-1-1 (24 Victories, average 2.5 left)

Conclusion: Slightly weaker than Ethiopian Bonus, but balanced

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Option 2: +2 Damage, No Arbalest

Ethiopians

1-8-3-3-2-2-5-3-1-1-2-3-2-3-3-1-2 (17 Victories, average 2.6 left)

Moors

2-5-4-3-3-5-5-2-3-5-2-3-2-4-1-3-4-6-5-3-3-2-1-3-3-4-3-4-1-3-4-3-4 (33, 3.3 left)

Conclusion: Overpowered

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**Overall Conclusion:**The +2 Damage in Imperial with Ring Armor removed is by FAR the most balanced choice. It won’t make their Arbs as good as Ethiopians, but it it was never my intent to move them from their #3 spot for Archer Civs.Not to mention that FU Crossbowman with +1 Attack in Castle is BEASTLYNOTE- will have to thoroughly Test Elite Skirmisher to make sure it’s still viable in the Trash War. If not, look into how the Turks get away with it (They don’t have an ES)

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So what do you guys think? This test hasn't taken into account how either Arbalest fares against other units, or part of a mixed force, but that's because I'm just trying to get a handle on the bonus in terms of raw power (compared to official civs)- I make no assumptions on how they'll fare against other units, and that will have to wait until I test it.