Hello everyone and happy Friday!
Last week, we discussed the Organ Gun, and it was one of the more active/lively of the UU discussion threads we've had to date. Thanks for participated and making these threads dynamic and lively!
Today, we're finishing out the European civilizations' unique unit by looking at the Italians' second unique unit, the Condottiero.
The Condottiero is distinguished from most other unique units by being a "team" unit: everyone who starts the game as an Italian ally can make Condottieri from their own Barracks. The Condo is also the original team unit, as the Genitour and Imperial Skirmisher (which is an upgrade to the Elite Skirmisher rather than its own unit, arguably) came in later expansions. With all the team synergies that that implies, this makes the Condo an interesting unit to study.
Here's the stats:
Cost: 50F, 35G
Hit Points: 80
Base Attack: 9
Base Armor: 1/0
Rate of Fire: 1.93
Creation Time: 13 seconds
Speed: 1.2
Attack Bonuses: +10 vs gunpowder, +2 vs buildings
Important to note is that, because the Condo is only available in the Imperial Age, the stats are meant to be Imperial-age, and there's no elite upgrade.
In addition to the anti-gunpowder attack bonus, the Condo also benefits from a unique "Condottiero" armor class, meaning it takes 10 less damage from gunpowder units, including hand cannoneers, janissaries, Organ Guns, Conqs, Bombard Cannons, and Cannon Galleons (it dies in three hits from a bombard cannon as opposed to two). How does the Condottiero's unique anti-gunpowder abilities affect a civ matchup between Italians and gunpowder-heavy civs like the Turks or Portuguese? Does this synergize well with the Italians' own gunpowder bonuses?
As mentioned above, the Condottiero is a team unit, leading to an interesting question: which civ actually has the best Condos? Italians have the original unaltered Condottiero, but other civs with infantry bonuses might have better ones. Japanese Condos attack faster, Aztecs have +4 attack, Malians have extra pierce armor (but miss Blast Furnace), Celt Condottiere run faster, Goth Condos are created super fast, and Slav Condos benefit from Druzhina.
Despite its high gold cost, 35 gold compared to the champions' 20, the Condo was often considered a champion substitute in early Imperial Age, especially before patch 5.7. How did the Condo nerfs change the flavor of this unit? Does the cost along with the nerfs make the unit much more niche? Or is it still a viable go-to infantry unit or even a preferred strategy of the Italians to go faster Imperial to unlock Condottieri?
Condotierri have a pretty fast creation time, perhaps reflecting the influence of Gothic kings of Italy during the Dark Ages, teaching the Italians how to make spammable infantry. How does this impact their usefulness both as anti-gunpowder and/or generalist units?
Finally, how important are blacksmith techs for this unit? What is the role of the Condottiero in the ideal Italian late-game army, since it is a late game unit? What maps is the Condottiero best on? Worst?
As always, suggestions and volunteers are welcome, and I'll see you next time!
Resources:
ZeroEmpires: Condottiero In Depth
Spirit of the Law's Italians Overview
An old Reddit post: Condottieri OP?
Aoe2 Taunts in Italian - not related to the Condottiero, but golden!
[link] [comments]
from newest submissions : aoe2 https://ift.tt/2LxZRAd
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