African civ hype (and just talking in general about my thoughts)

I am SO excited to get my hands on these civs. i really dug my heels into united states and i wanna give them a try. I'm most excited about the housa, although the Ethiopians INCREDIBLY weird unique units is something ill also want to try.

their heroes are really cool! they are obviously going to be integral to how the military fights as a whole, and i love their 2 unique abilities where guardians fight each other instead of you, and the REVERSE aura where other units in the aura area increase the stats of your hero!!! super cool!

etheopian units are WEIRD. by the looks of it they dont have an age 2 huss equivilent, and except for their rapujit equivalent unit and their skirmisher (and the super mortar), EVERY single unit has a ranged attack that gets faster in closer proximity, and devastating melee. EVEN THE DRAGOON UNIT!!! while they dont have age 2 huss equivilent, they DO have an age 2 dragoon, which shoots faster at closer ranges and is especially deadly against huss in melee. weirdest unit ever. and when they do get to age 3, they get a cav unit that by reading sounds like a currasier with a ranged attack AND a melee attack instead of an aoe melee one. super scary
overall, by appearances it looks like marching speed will be one of etheopias most important stats in order to close the distance, so look out for cards that increase movement speed.

lets talk about hausa! they have fast firing archers instead of skirms, available in age 2 along with the same weird dragoon unit the etheopians have. i noticed a few stand out military units in their roster:
first lets talk about the raider: AN AGE 2 OPRI EQUIVILENT?!?!?!??!?! you know they gonna be popular for rushes. multipliers against villigers and high seige, mounted on a horse, IN THE SECOND AGE!!!!!
they have an age 3 heavy cav as well, that appears to be the antithesis of the ulhan. whereas the ulhan is a cav unit with low HP and high attack making them good for raiding and catching splinter forces, the housa heavy cav has high HP and low attack, making them more like the state militia equivalent for hussars and VERY well suited to large battels when in mass, and not so much raiding. can't wait to get my hands on them

something about the hausa that does worry me though is that their musketeer equivilent is locked to the third age. there is no civ except inca (loosely) with the musketeer equivilent unit locked to the third age and it means by the time you get access to your musketeer, every other civ will be training their skirmisher equivalent unit. i am VERY concerned about the viability of these units. they better be some MONSTER musketeers

I did notice that neither civs unique units mentioned the gattling camels. what do you guys think? new mercenary unit? only available as a special unit from certain age-ups?

lastly is the palace! SUPER cool building. if i were to describe it to someone, i would only be able to describe it as a cross between a fort, saloon, consulate, and capital, likely available in the first age, definitely available in the second age. one thing is for sure, with the palace's being integril to the African playstyle, since the whole age up mechanic revolves around it, these civs will likely prove very difficult to push into early game.

what are your thoughts on the information revealed so far?