I wouldn't even call America lower tier to be honest. They're good in my mind.
The bonus to tile purchasing is incredible if you have a wide Liberty empire and extremely underwhelming if you have a four city Tradition empire.
Additional sight is insanely good, yields you more ruins than any other civ will get, alerts you of barbarian camps, makes worker stealing easier, helps with war, makes horses or scouts even better spotters for Bombers.
Though the single biggest thing are the unique units. The Minuteman is so strong, it is actually worth beelining for. The B17 is just incredible. Nowadays when I war I tend to go for certain key technologies: Crossbows, Artillery. Bombers or XCom, Great War Bombers just don't cut it anymore. The enemy will already have Fighters by the time you get to GWB so they're essentially useless.
If you insist on buffing America I think a thematic change of + 1 Movement to Settlers would be fitting. It would work really well with "Manifest Destiny" in my opinion.
As for the Ottomans - I really hate the NQ Mod change. It is not only boring, it also turns a Civilization that was cut for war into a middle-of-the-road Civ with barely any specialization.
Janitschar might be the best Warrior-line unique unit there is in the game, their bonusses even stay with upgrading, making them even more ridiculous.
If you ask me just give them a bonus towards naval and land units, not just navy. The bonus in the unmodded game isn't thematic anyway, Ottomans had great land armies, too.
Also please, please change the Sipahi. It's such a waste of a unit, for multiple reasons:
-You can get the +1 Sight from a promotion anyway if you really needed a spotter (which you don't, at least in that stage of the game)
-You can get the ability to pillage without movement cost by buying Landsknecht and upgrading it to Lancers (in my opinion the best way to make use of the unfortunate unit called the Lancer)
-It is a unique, yet has absolutely no discernable trait. Any Civ can build "Sipahi" if they go Commerce
So, what does the Sipahi offer?
Timarli Sipahis of the classical Ottoman period usually comprised the bulk of the army and did the majority of the fighting on the battlefield. While infantry troops at the army's center maintained a static battle line, the cavalry flanks constituted its mobile striking arm. During battle, Timarli Sipahi tactics were used, opening the conflict with skirmishes and localized skirmishes with enemy cavalry. Regiments of Timarli Sipahis made charges against weaker or isolated units and retreated back to the main body of troops whenever confronted with heavy cavalry. During one regiment's retreat, other regiments of sipahis may have charged the chasing enemy's flanks. Such tactics served to draw enemy cavalry away from infantry support, break their cohesion, and isolate and overwhelm them with numerical superiority. Anatolian Sipahis had the ability to harass and provoke opposing troops with arrow shots. More heavily equipped Balkan Sipahis carried javelins for protection against enemy horsemen during their tactical retreats. All cavalry flanks of the Ottoman army fought a fluid, mounted type of warfare around the center of the army, which served as a stable pivot.
*They were much lighter than most of the Heavy Cavalry used at the time
-> Give them a little less Combat Strength than a normal Lancer, but make them cost less Hammers and Gold to upgrade so they're spammable
*They abused numerical superiority and retreated whenever they were in a pinch
-> Give them a Promotion akin to Discipline in the Honor tree
*They carried around many different weapons, allowing them to attack with Lances, Bows and Arrows, Javelins and Swords
-> Give them either the equivalent of Spear Throw or Blitz
As for the Ottomans in general - You will be fielding a lot of units, especially melee units, so I think something like this would not only be thematic but fit in well both unique units:
"Ottoman Caliphates"
- Pay half maintenance on wounded units
- Conquered cities only spend half the time in resistance
"Ottoman Caliphates"
- Puppeting a city will no longer drop your happiness
- As long as a city is puppeted it will produce an additional 3 gold for your empire
Ottoman Classical Army was the military structure established by Mehmed II, during his reorganization of the state and the military efforts. This is the major reorganization following Orhan I which organized a standing army paid by salary rather than booty or fiefs. This army was the force during rise of the Ottoman Empire. The organization was twofold, central (Kapu Kulu) and peripheral (Eyalet). Following a century long reform efforts, this Army was forced to disbandment by Sultan Mahmud II on 15 June 1826 by what is known as Auspicious Incident.
"Ottoman Army"
- As long as your gold per turn and happiness is positive your units receive the "Morale" promotion which increases combat strength when attacking by 10%
That's all I can think of right now.
I feel that America is lower tier but quite decent at the moment. i would rather see nerf to the strongest civs to bring them more in line with America than buffing America.
A lot of the strong civilizations have been nerfed already. Even if it wasn't so, what is the point of nerfing every single Civ considered "strong", let's say Korea, Babylon, Poland, Inca, Maya, Persia, maybe even England and Rome instead of just buffing the two or three Civs that feel underwhelming?
And if you accidentally nerf those too much you will have to adjust all of them yet again. However, if you buff America and the Ottomans instead the worst thing that'll happen is that the changes get reversed. It's way less work and I would believe Acken has enough work on his hands as of now.
