Cato.
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TL;DR: Almost every single multiplayer balancing change made in the new beta patch is making the balancing on captain mode even worse.
Most posters on the forums are Skirmish players that do not play captain. The new beta patch addresses many of their concerns (kick/pila, etc.), but the balancing changes are highly detrimental to Captain play. Almost every single balancing change I saw was to the benefit of Skrimish and was either netural or negative for Captain balancing. All strong factions were further buffed, and weak factions were further nerfed in the latest change.
The player base of Captains is larger than Skirmish, but our concerns are shouted down in every thread due to the higher hardcore Warband/Skirmish population on the forums. This leads me to believe that Captain players' concerns are taken less seriously by Taleworlds.
Please implement the changes that Ling has been requesting for months.
On the other hand, an enemy cav player can run through your jav-wielding unit and force them to pull out javelins in a melee. The effect here is that if you are attacked by shock after being hit by a horse, your unit will be wiped without a significant negative impact to the enemy impact. Therefore, in a competitive game, there is little incentive to bring javelins instead of an "inferior" perk like sword.
Reducing the damage of throwables (and especially javelins) forces captains further into a metagame of shock heavy units with no infantry.
Aserai
Summary: Aserai was already the 2nd weakest faction before this patch. This patch further nerfs Aserai.
Battania
Summary: These changes aren't enough to buff Battania. Battania will continue to be memed as a bad faction by pubs and competitive players alike.
Empire
Summary: Much needed reduction of Pila count from 2 to 1. Otherwise, we buffed the strongest faction in Captain play.
Khuzait
Summary: Probably balanced appropriate for pub play, but made significantly less viable in competitive play.
Sturgia
Summary: Minor balancing changes that don't matter to captain. The strong shield units got stronger. This is perhaps the only faction balancing change that wasn't questionable, and this only due to the lack of changes made.
Vlandia
Summary: Second strongest faction was needlessly buffed further.
Repeating my TL;DR:
Almost every single multiplayer balancing change made in the new beta patch is making the balancing on captain mode even worse. Almost every single balancing change I saw was to the benefit of Skrimish and was either netural or negative for Captain balancing. All strong factions were further buffed, and weak factions were further nerfed in the latest change.
Most posters on the forums are Skirmish players that do not play captain. The new beta patch addresses many of their concerns (kick/pila, etc.), but the balancing changes are highly detrimental to Captain play. Almost every single balancing change I saw was to the benefit of Skrimish and was either netural or negative for Captain balancing. All strong factions were further buffed, and weak factions were further nerfed in the latest change.
The player base of Captains is larger than Skirmish, but our concerns are shouted down in every thread due to the higher hardcore Warband/Skirmish population on the forums. This leads me to believe that Captain players' concerns are taken less seriously by Taleworlds.
Please implement the changes that Ling has been requesting for months.
Let's start here. While throwable weapons are very strong in skirmish, javelins are generally underpowered in captain because the AI is incapable of throwing axes and javelins quickly and accurately. In a typical infantry rush, one unit will be able to kill 1-3 units of 17 in a throw.Weapon Changes
- Javelin damage reduced.
- Sturgia Harpoon damage reduced.
- Billhook damage reduced.
- Sturgia Throwing Axe stack count is reduced from 4 to 3.
On the other hand, an enemy cav player can run through your jav-wielding unit and force them to pull out javelins in a melee. The effect here is that if you are attacked by shock after being hit by a horse, your unit will be wiped without a significant negative impact to the enemy impact. Therefore, in a competitive game, there is little incentive to bring javelins instead of an "inferior" perk like sword.
Reducing the damage of throwables (and especially javelins) forces captains further into a metagame of shock heavy units with no infantry.
The metagame of competitive captains player is currently 4+ shock troops with 0-2 cav/shield units. In other words, shock units are currently overpowered in captains. Ideally, the counterplay to this meta would be bringing an archer heavy team, but archers are typically not able to counter a full rush by shock troops. Increasing the speed of shock troops further reduces the viability of the potential archer counter, forcing every game to be a faction-dependent infantry rush.Troop Changes
- All Skirmishers and Shock Troop are slightly faster.
- All Heavy Infantry start with a lighter, weaker tall shield.
- All Horses hit points increased by 20.
- All Heavy Cavalry and Barding perks armour reduced by 5. (Only planned for Skirmish for now. We will make adjustments after certain AI issues are fixed.)
Aserai
Summary: Aserai was already the 2nd weakest faction before this patch. This patch further nerfs Aserai.
The AI is unable to throw quickly and accurately in a skirmish situation. The skirmish units also lose to both heavy infantry and shock infantry in melee combat, which mean that skirmishers are not currently a viable unit in Captain play. These balancing changes do not do anything for Captains.Skirmisher
- Range Javelin perk is changed to Axe perk.
- Lighter Shield Weight value is changed from 3 to 2.
- Better Javelin perk stack count is reduced from 6 to 4.
Tribal Warriors are already a bottom tier shield infantry unit compared to other factions' units. This change makes them even worse in Captains play.Tribal Warrior
- Default armour value is reduced from 19 to 14.
- Heavy Mace perk is changed to Mace perk.
These changes do nothing because guards do not use one-handed weapons in melee, and Beduin is not a viable cav unit in Captain play.Guard
Beduin
- Sword perk is changed to Heavy Mace perk.
- Move Speed value is increased from 74 to 77.
Battania
Summary: These changes aren't enough to buff Battania. Battania will continue to be memed as a bad faction by pubs and competitive players alike.
This change does nothing for Captains.Wildling
- Extra Javelin perk stack count is reduced from 7 to 6.
While this is a "buff", the savage is still the weakest shock unit, and is a big reason why Battania is by far the worst faction in Captain. The issue with savage balancing is that they are simply unable to output enough damage to make an impact in a fight compared to other shock units. Savages will need both an armor buff and a weapon/damage buff to put them on par with other factions.Savage
- Hit Points value is increased from 100 to 110.
This is the only unit balancing change I saw that was a clear win for Captain balancing.Oathsworn
- Lighter Shield perk is changed to Improved Armor perk.
- Range Javelins perk is changed to Stronger Shield perk.
- Strong Javelins perk is changed to Javelins perk.
- Spear perk is changed to Long Spear perk.
- Bastard Sword perk is changed to Heavy Mace perk.
Mounted warriors are not viable in captains play because their horses are easily killable and do weak charge damage, while the humans are both weakly armored and have low damage output. This change does nothing to increase the viability of Battanian cav. The clan warrior change is a minor buff that does not impact the overall strength of battania, and will not significantly increase the rate of unit selection.Clan Warrior
Mounted Warrior
- Spear perk is changed to Pike perk.
- Move Speed value is increased from 75 to 78.
Empire
Summary: Much needed reduction of Pila count from 2 to 1. Otherwise, we buffed the strongest faction in Captain play.
Menavlion infantry are by far the strong shock unit in the game due to the long reach of the menavlion, even before pilas are thrown. Empire is the strongest faction in a Captain mode melee in large part due to the DPS of the menav. The HP buff only makes empire shock units stronger in melee combat and makes up for the loss of the extra pila.Menavlion Infantry
- Hit Points value is increased from 100 to 110.
- Pilum perk stack count is reduced from 2 to 1.
Again, why are we buffing the legionary? They are already too strong compared to every factions' shields, except perhaps Vlandia.Legionary
- Lighter Shield perk is changed to Stronger Shield perk.
- Spear perk is changed to Long Spear perk.
- Move Speed value is increased from 76 to 77.
- Pilum perk stack count is reduced from 2 to 1.
Okay, we made some changes. But why did we buff the infantry units?Courser
Cataphract
- Move Speed value is increased from 73 to 76.
- Default Horse Maneuver value is reduced from 64 to 62.
- Agile Horse perk Charge Damage value is reduced from 12 to 10. And the perks additional HP value is decreased from 40 to 25.
Khuzait
Summary: Probably balanced appropriate for pub play, but made significantly less viable in competitive play.
This is a slight buff to spear infantry because they can now bring throwing spears. Spear infantry is still weaker than all other shield infantries, which I suppose is okay if Khuzait is supposed to be a cav and archer faction.Spear Infantry
- Short Spear perk is changed to Spear perk.
- Move Speed value is increased from 76 to 77.
- Throwing Spear perk stack count is reduced from 2 to 1.
- Added default weapon, Shortsword.
This is nice quality of life buff, but probably won't do much because Khan's Guard is a much stronger unit than steppe bow. This will not significantly increase the rate of this unit's selection in Captain mode.Steppe Bow
- Fast Arrows perk is changed to Strong Arrows perk.
Light cav is not viable for most factions, and this doubly so for Khuzait due to the strength of the Lancer. These changes will do nothing in Captain mode.Nomad
- Default Horse Maneuver value is increased from 60 to 64, Speed value is increased from 37 to 39 and HP value is increased from -30 to -20.
- Tougher Horse perk Charge Damage value is reduced from 8 to 6. And the perks additional HP value is increased from 25 to 40.
- Charger Horse perk additional HP value is decreased from 15 to 0.
- Short Spear perk is changed to Spear perk.
- Move Speed value is increased from 74 to 76.
This is a significant nerf to the lancer unit. While this might be okay for pub games, this significantly decreases the strength of the faction in competitive play.Lancer
- Price is changed to 200.
- Default Horse additional HP value is decreased from 25 to 0.
- Tougher Horse perk additional HP value is decreased from 38 to 45.
- Swapped Glaive and Tougher Horse perks. Glaive Perk now replaces Lance.
Mounted archers are already underpowered because the horse archer AI is poor and tend to run into infantry units. While this is a slight buff, the real changes need to come from AI tweaks.Mounted Archer
- Default Arrow count is increased from 25 to 32,
- Extra Arrows perk increased from 40 to 50.
- Default Horse Speed value is increased from 37 to 39, Maneuver is increased from 60 to 64 and additional HP value is increased from -30 to -20.
- Faster Horse perk Speed value is increased from 40 to 41.
- Tougher Horse perk Speed value is increased from 37 to 38, and additional HP value is increased from 0 to 5.
Sturgia
Summary: Minor balancing changes that don't matter to captain. The strong shield units got stronger. This is perhaps the only faction balancing change that wasn't questionable, and this only due to the lack of changes made.
This appears to be a buff to the varyag, which is puzzling because they were already balanced well in Captain.Varyag
- Lighter Shield perk is changed to Mace perk.
- Spear perk is changed to Long Spear perk.
- Javelins perk is changed to Stronger Shield perk.
This other stuff doesn't make a difference in captains play.Hunter
Raider
- Armour value is increased from 6 to 10.
Druzhinnik
- Move Speed value is increased from 73 to 76.
- Default Horse Charge Damage value is reduced from 11 to 8.
- Tougher Horse perk additional HP is increased from 43 to 50.
Vlandia
Summary: Second strongest faction was needlessly buffed further.
Okay, but this is nerfing an already inferior unit.Peasant Levy
- Move Speed value is increased from 79 to 81.
- Removed Bonus Damage to Shields from Sickle and Pickaxe.
This is a terrible change. Voulgiers were already the second strong shock unit. Further buffs were not needed.Voulgier
- Armour value is increased from 10 to 16.
Again, Captains players don't use javelins, so this is a buff for Sergeants. Why are we buffing these units further?Sergeant
- Spear perk is changed to Long Spear perk.
- Javelins perk is changed to Stronger Shield perk.
Okay, sure. Not a big change.Vanguard
Agile Horse perk Maneuver value is increased from 68 to 70, Speed value increased from 45 to 47.
Move Speed value is increased from 73 to 77.
Knight
Default Horse Speed value is increased from 40 to 41, additional HP value is reduced from 35 to 10.
Javelin perk is changed to Heavy Lance perk.
Repeating my TL;DR:
Almost every single multiplayer balancing change made in the new beta patch is making the balancing on captain mode even worse. Almost every single balancing change I saw was to the benefit of Skrimish and was either netural or negative for Captain balancing. All strong factions were further buffed, and weak factions were further nerfed in the latest change.
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