Factions in Captains mode seem super imbalanced

[ntdars]

Have about 50 games of Captains mode under my belt now, and I've concluded the factions aren't balanced at all, specifically Vlandians and Empire. Stopping a mass of Sergeants and Lances from Vlandians or a swarm of Shielded Legionarres & Cataphracts is near impossible, especially if you're playing as Aserai or Khuzait.

Has anyone had a similar experience? After all my games I haven't won a single match against these two factions, always win when I'm playing them.

*NOTE* Yes, I'm aware this is beta and is not a "*****ing" thread. Just want to confirm if other people have witnessed the same thing.

 

[MCKOY]

Same. Vlandia or Empire win almost everything.

 

[Mabons]

Sturgia is king, Vlandia is the only faction that can stand up to them. Empire is middling, with Aserai Khuzait and Battania lagging behind.

 

[Bauer Maggott]

My experience with captain mode balance:
1.Sturgia (to good all around, Berserkers and Varyag OP)
2.Empire (good all around, every unit with access to menavlion OP)
3.Vlandia (i rarely see them but they seem to be quite good )
4.Aserai (pretty moderate but ok over all)
5.Khuzait (depends on map, can be quite strong)
6.Battania(Battanian infantry is way to bad even oathsworn get cut down fast by varyags and legionnaries, Cavalry is bad but thats probably intentional, good archers dont make a difference)

 

[Caps]

Sturgia has **** archers and not rly good cav. Their infantry just needs to be kited a bit.

 

[Squirrelfart]

Sturgia has **** archers and not rly good cav. Their infantry just needs to be kited a bit.

Their cavalry, despite being basic, are alright in a vacuum but combined with Sturgian infantry superiority, they are absolutely essential to the winning strategy of Sturgia. You can't kite the Sturgians - if the team plays correctly, all the infantry needs to do is walk forward and win every straight melee engagement while their cavalry either:

a) locks down the enemy trying to kite and bogs them down, allowing the infantry to come into range (at which point the fight is over)
b) occupy other enemies from slowing down the cavalry - distracting archers, screening enemy cav, at least buying time until the infantry can finish the fight

It's just outright frustrating playing against Sturgia. You can't win against them unless they play really badly. All they do is walk into you, and you lose. Try to kite them, and they'll counter with cavalry (which is really dominant in Captain mode right now) - subpar cavalry, but the problem is that the cavalry enables the absolutely, busted, overpowered infantry. You can't win with infantry - the Sturgians beat you in every single way, except for perhaps Varyags vs any mace infantry. But Varyags weren't ever the problem, it's the 19-count 24-armour Berserkers, or the 26-count 2h axe Warriors.

Archers don't work unless you specifically set up a crossfire, as Berserkers can be hidden behind the Varyag shields (and possess a frankly broken amount of armour themselves, letting their margin of error be extremely wide), and in the case of a crossfire, all the Sturgians would conceivably need to do is push hard on one or two units of archers while their cavalry either distract the other unit, or prevent the one unit from kiting away.

 

[Brandis.]

Sturiga is OP.
Battania is garbage.
The other factions are inbetween.

The current level of games is extremely low right now, but you can kind of see these balance problems emerging already.

In case you were wondering, the last balance patch buffed Sturgia and nerfed Battania, making them even less balanced.

 

[helari]

Even khuzaits can beat sturgia. Sturgia's cavalry can be beaten by their lancers and horse archers and all inf make ups get surrounded and sniped by the horse archers over time. (1 v 1 horse archers vs shield wall obviously does no damage, AI archerrs always aim for center mass/the shield so it's actually best to just shoot with your controlled character and aim for actually hittable targets unless you really get behind them or they're distracted into turning by lancers for example). Berserkers just melt to arrows.

More often than not archers are underused in group fights because infantry gets in the way. The lack of coordination makes archers a bit harder to use than just infantry becase they really need to be able to flank enemy shields and fire into melee from behind or the side instead of relying on the enemy to expose their shieldless units for no reason.

Sturgia is definitely the strongest faction next to Vlandia because they're both strong and easy to play, vlandia having the cavalry focus and added benefit of heavy crossbows. I think aserai is not bad against them tbf, despite looking like pyjama dudes tribal warriors are a really good unit (best rabble unit in the game, peasants coming in second and sturgian warriors 3rd) and so are veterans and mameluks.

Battania is definitely weak.

 

[✪Chewy]

Have about 50 games of Captains mode under my belt now, and I've concluded the factions aren't balanced at all, specifically Vlandians and Empire. Stopping a mass of Sergeants and Lances from Vlandians or a swarm of Shielded Legionarres & Cataphracts is near impossible, especially if you're playing as Aserai or Khuzait.

Has anyone had a similar experience? After all my games I haven't won a single match against these two factions, always win when I'm playing them.

*NOTE* Yes, I'm aware this is beta and is not a "*****ing" thread. Just want to confirm if other people have witnessed the same thing.

My only solution for you! Is A fck ton of archers ;D They work wonders against them.

Edit: What i mean by a fck ton. Is the low tier archers. I swear their better than the high tier ones.

 

[Nantafiria]

Varyags don't have maces, berserkers die to any amount of arrows or just cavalry charging through their ranks, and Sturgian archers are absolutely garbage. Agreed that Battania needs some boosting, though.

 

[✪Chewy]

Varyags don't have maces, berserkers die to any amount of arrows or just cavalry charging through their ranks, and Sturgian archers are absolutely garbage. Agreed that Battania needs some boosting, though.

Yeah Sturgian archers are actually trash

 

[Mabons]

Edit: What i mean by a fck ton. Is the low tier archers. I swear their better than the high tier ones.

This depends, do you want more ranged DPS or do you want a unit that can fight in melee too. That's the choice you make really.

 

[Brandis.]

Again the servers are currently 6 new players vs 6 new players in like 90% of games. You can win with any faction against any faction.

I stopped playing because the level of games was so painfully low and I imagine other beta players have done the same. It was possible to solo queue captain in beta because most people got to an average level understanding. Currently, everyone is just running in random directions and camping the back of the map. Give them the slightest bit of advice and you get flamed to hell and back.

I want MMR primarily for Skirmish, but it would be so satisfying in Captain as well.

 

[Kiwibaum]

Again the servers are currently 6 new players vs 6 new players in like 90% of games. You can win with any faction against any faction.

I stopped playing because the level of games was so painfully low and I imagine other beta players have done the same. It was possible to solo queue captain in beta because most people got to an average level understanding. Currently, everyone is just running in random directions and camping the back of the map. Give them the slightest bit of advice and you get flamed to hell and back.

I want MMR primarily for Skirmish, but it would be so satisfying in Captain as well.

I agree that currently the games are just won by random chance because everyone is so bad still. Was playing in the beta aswell and the difference is extreeme.

However I think there is a small problem with sturgia. Their varyags counter everything except things berserkers counter. The combo of these two makes it really hard to set anything up against them. Khuazit horse archers can do something against that with good coordination but those are countered by adding some archers to the mix.

 

[Brandis.]

I agree that currently the games are just won by random chance because everyone is so bad still. Was playing in the beta aswell and the difference is extreeme.

However I think there is a small problem with sturgia. Their varyags counter everything except things berserkers counter. The combo of these two makes it really hard to set anything up against them. Khuazit horse archers can do something against that with good coordination but those are countered by adding some archers to the mix.

Yeah balance is a different concern. Like I said above:

Sturiga is OP.
Battania is garbage.
The other factions are inbetween.

Sturgia is so strong and Battania is so weak that you can see this in games where half your team might be doing nothing most of the round.