axeman are too powerful

[Dis]

Doesn't anyone else think this? They come real early in the game.

Anyone experimented with dropping them down to a 4? Yeah I guess I could build axeman too. But I thought it'd be nice to actually build my uu (I hardly ever seem to use my UU's as opposed to civ3 where I always used them).

[Blake]

Yeah, they seem too strong to me.
I think that maybe they should be reduced to only have an attack bonus vs Swordmen or something. Like the Grenadiers attack bonus vs Riflemen.

[xxFlukexx]

Axemen still get royally thwacked by Horse-Archers. Especially with shock. Yeah I know they cost 15 more hammers, but that's only 1/2 of a pop. And Prats still kill axemen very well, at least in my games. Sometimes I dream that Rome had an aggressive leader, mmmmm.

[Dr Strangelove]

Why should axemen have an attack bonus vs anyone? I'd much rather have a sword or a spear than an axe. Consider the encounters between the early Conquistador's and the native americans. The native's were largely armed with axes while the Spanish were armed with swords and spears (pikes), Their matchlock guns were largely 'fire once and throw away', yet the Spanish whooped the natives easily despite incredibly adverse odds. Let's face it, most cultures probably had axes first, but they threw them away in favor of the length of reach of the spear and the manuverability of the sword.

[bonscott]

Axemen are nice to be sure but come on, a couple fortified archers in a city with city defense promotions eat axemen for breakfast. Better bring a bunch of 'em before cats.

[Urban Ranger]

Re: axeman are too powerful

Originally posted by Dis
But I thought it'd be nice to actually build my uu (I hardly ever seem to use my UU's as opposed to civ3 where I always used them).

It depends on what your special unit is. I build mine all the time.

[Axxaer]

Re: Re: axeman are too powerful

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
It depends on what your special unit is. I build mine all the time.

Same here - hooray for India!

[Urban Ranger]

Initially I thought they would take fewer turns to complete improvements, though later I found out that they only move faster. Still very nice.

[Enigma_Nova]

Axemen's main counter is Horse Archers.
Taking a City with Axes in it generally can't be done before Cats says All your Base are Belong to us, though.

[Willem]

Re: axeman are too powerful

Originally posted by Dis
Doesn't anyone else think this? They come real early in the game.

I don't think so. They're usually no match for my Archers with only one rank in City Defence or Hills, and they certainly don't stand up to my Horse Archers. They're only good against other Axemen, with their melee bonus. I'll take Horse Archers everytime. With their mobility they're a very useful unit in the early game, much more so than Axemen IMO.

[Dominae]

Re: Re: axeman are too powerful

Originally posted by Willem
They're only good against other Axemen, with their melee bonus.

Too bad the opposing Axeman also has a melee bonus! Axemen counter Spearmen and Swordsmen.

Horse Archers counter Axemen. Without Horses at least you can rely on relatively even odds by bringing your own Axemen.

Dis, what UUs do Axemen prevent you from using?

[Enigma_Nova]

Praets, most likely. Either that or Quechas.

[DrSpike]

Axemen are fine.

Though I particularly enjoyed the post that axemen are only good versus other axemen, because of the melee bonus.

[Silver14]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Axemen are fine.

Its the other units that need boosting. Swordsmen should maybe get a 25% bonus vs melee. At the very least the Jaguar UU should as the only other unit that dies faster against an axeman is the warrior.

[DrSpike]

Well there's several points there. Swords could arguably use a boost, but not against melee. That's not their role, and if you have iron you can build axes.

And giving Jaguars a boost is completely inappropriate. They are already very powerful UUs, though their window of opportunity is small. Remember you only need the tech for jaguars, axes need the iron itself, or copper.