Ways to nerf Cumans while keeping their unique aspects strong.

So I actually thought they would do this with Cumans originally and kind of surprised the devs didn't at all.

Cumans tech tree is actually really good. At least with their eco upgrades. You allow them to get a free TC and boom like mad men, while also allowing them to have a strong late game. That seems bizarre. I was thinking allow them to boom sure, but their late game is just bad because of missing techs. So it's an actually trade off. Currently the only bad thing they are missing is like stone walls and Bracer.

They should definitely not have all eco upgrades. Lots they could lose to balance it out like Hand Cart, two man saw, crop rotation, and maybe even castle age ones like bow-saw if they truly are still OP, or even remove late game upgrades like blast furnace could be good. Their tech tree is just way too good for the boom they get.

And for Steppe lancers... Yeah they just need a nerf across the board. They shouldn't be straight up removed from them though, like others have suggested. I would start off with -2 attack and -.10 movement speed. If still too strong could remove pierce armor so archers feel like more of a counter.

I think changes like this would preserve what feels good about them. They should have very fast cavalry and an extra TC, that's what makes them unique. So don't think for example taking away husbandry would be good. I see a lot of talks about balance changes that just want to take away what makes civs unique because its OP. And that's the exact opposite of what you should do. We need to keep civs unique feeling.