Every campaign I play, Sturgia gets steamrolled. It's so bad that by the time you get the banner and are ready to pick a side you are lucky if they have more than 2 cities left. They suffer from a lackluster unit lineup and it really shows. In particular they get overrun by the Khuzaits, which, ok yeah everyone tends to get overrun by the Khuzaits, but they seem to suffer especially badly. The fact their culture bonus (increased speed on snow) doesn't seem to work just makes it even worse. In theory their bonus should allow them to more easily defend their territory and make seasonal offensives into the south but as it stands there is no benefit to playing Sturgian. You have to make a serious effort to keep them alive whereas with other cultures they tend to last a bit longer, even the Empire is able to weather the wars for longer than Sturgia.
To remedy this the most obvious suggestion is to first fix their culture bonus so it actually works, maybe add something extra onto it as well. Second, I think their archer line up needs to be examined as they have the worst archer line in the game. Why not make them unique? Sturgians are supposed to be expert frontline fighters and i've noticed that some of the armor their mid to late tier archers wear is pretty damn good so why not swap out one stack of their crap barbed arrows for a northern round shield so they can transition to light infantry? This is something that no other ranged units save Vlandian and I think Mercenary crossbowmen can do. While you're at it, give them slightly better arrows. I'm not saying given them anything crazy but one tier up shouldn't be too bad. Maybe given them Range arrows? I think those are a step up from barbed. While you're at it you can give them a gear loadout that occasionally swaps out the sword for an axe, or just replace the sword with an axe altogether. This I believe would help give the Sturgians some staying power and fits their background.
Another thing I will suggest is perhaps giving Sturgian Shock Troops a basic shield so they can weather arrows a bit better. As it stands I don't see them as offering much that the Ulfednar or veteran warrior can't already do. Yeah they are pikemen but the veteran warriors already have a spear and a nice big shield which makes them far more flexible. Give the Sturgian Shock Troops a mid-grade shield to give them a little bit of extra protection and fill out their weapon slots so they have a polearm, a two handed axe and a solid one handed weapon. This would turn them into proper shock troops but keeps them distinct from veteran warriors as they would lack any kind of throwing weapon and they would be pretty damn heavy so slow moving, which fits with the shock troop part.
I know the noble line is a matter of some contention but I think it's probably best to leave it be for now as they do need another cav unit besides the brigands. Ideally I do think the noble line would work better as some sort of super heavy infantry but the shock troops already kind of fill this role and Sturgia is short on cav so for now leave it be.
To remedy this the most obvious suggestion is to first fix their culture bonus so it actually works, maybe add something extra onto it as well. Second, I think their archer line up needs to be examined as they have the worst archer line in the game. Why not make them unique? Sturgians are supposed to be expert frontline fighters and i've noticed that some of the armor their mid to late tier archers wear is pretty damn good so why not swap out one stack of their crap barbed arrows for a northern round shield so they can transition to light infantry? This is something that no other ranged units save Vlandian and I think Mercenary crossbowmen can do. While you're at it, give them slightly better arrows. I'm not saying given them anything crazy but one tier up shouldn't be too bad. Maybe given them Range arrows? I think those are a step up from barbed. While you're at it you can give them a gear loadout that occasionally swaps out the sword for an axe, or just replace the sword with an axe altogether. This I believe would help give the Sturgians some staying power and fits their background.
Another thing I will suggest is perhaps giving Sturgian Shock Troops a basic shield so they can weather arrows a bit better. As it stands I don't see them as offering much that the Ulfednar or veteran warrior can't already do. Yeah they are pikemen but the veteran warriors already have a spear and a nice big shield which makes them far more flexible. Give the Sturgian Shock Troops a mid-grade shield to give them a little bit of extra protection and fill out their weapon slots so they have a polearm, a two handed axe and a solid one handed weapon. This would turn them into proper shock troops but keeps them distinct from veteran warriors as they would lack any kind of throwing weapon and they would be pretty damn heavy so slow moving, which fits with the shock troop part.
I know the noble line is a matter of some contention but I think it's probably best to leave it be for now as they do need another cav unit besides the brigands. Ideally I do think the noble line would work better as some sort of super heavy infantry but the shock troops already kind of fill this role and Sturgia is short on cav so for now leave it be.