Assyria (Iron Chariot)

[crdvis16]

I've been playing some Assyria games lately so I wanted to give a little feedback.

I overall love Assyria's design. Science from city capture is excellent and fills in a nice gap that Authority starts sometimes suffer from (lack of early science). I like the little mini game of getting +exp from GWAW which gives some cool incentives (trying to grab wonders that give works of writing, trying to steal works of writing via city capture and spies, etc). The unique walls seem fine too- Assyria doesn't usually play like a particularly strong religion civ but some extra faith is always good regardless.

The part of their kit that felt lacking is the Iron Chariot, though. It's a unique unit and requires 2 different strategic resources so my expectations are kinda high. Its CS is nice for that era compared to horsemen I suppose but it just didn't feel all that fun or unique. Its Shock Cavalry (increased CS in open terrain) is pretty underwhelming. Compared to a lot of other UU it just didn't seem like it had a ton of impact, especially when its resource costs really dictated where my first settlers went and/or which cities I tried to take to access those resources. I probably would have been better off ignoring it for the most part and just playing more normally.

I'm the worst kind of feedback, though- all complaining without any suggestions. I don't really have the historical chops to suggest something more interesting or fun for this unit that would be on-brand for Assyria. I just wish it had a promotion or unique ability that really made it worthwhile and impactful.

 

[andersw]

Iron chariot is heavy on resources but its a str 17 "horse" with +20% on plains at bronze working.
You also keep the shock cav promo so possibly worth to keep a few for later.
Note that swordsmen have str 16 at ironworking.
Its a very strong strong unit out of the gate if you have the resources hooked up.
However, no nearby targets, lack one of the resources or no open terrain is a bummer.

 

[paul_soryu]

I played Assyria recently and I had a similar experience. I think the problem is that Iron is unlocked together with the Iron Chariot, and you need a whole bunch of steps to build one:
1) You need to know locations of Iron and Horses to settle them, so need to research Bronze Working before settling
2) You need to research Pottery and build a Settler
3) You need to have enough Workers to improve enough Iron and Horses, and you need to move them there, which takes time
4) You can build your first Iron Chariot
5)...Meanwhile you also need to build some basic infrastracture and improve your luxuries to have at least some yields going on, and god forbid if you have a Plantation Monopoly.
6)...In this time your enemy could've already researched Iron Working and started building Swordsmen.

I made a mistake in going Bronze Working first and ignoring Pottery for Settler. Ideally, I think, you should go Pottery, build a Settler and research Bronze Working at the same time, and then immediately settle Horses/Iron if you don't have enough in your Capital. Iron Chariot sounds like a very powerful unit, but by the time you get it online it might be a little too late to really crush your enemy. It requires a very precise line of inputs, and probably a Mine Monopoly.

I think the experience varies wildy depending on whether or not you have Horses and Iron in your Capital. I wonder if going Tradition to have a quick one-city or two-city development is better than going Authority with Assyria. It felt incredibly slow, the lack of yields makes building everything you need take forever.

 

[redrum68]

I definitely preferred the old Iron Chariot that just got stronger if you had the extra resources. Made it so you could still use it even if you didn't have the extra resources or didn't have them quite yet. The new one is very strong if you have the resources but its very feast/famine.

 

[crdvis16]

I think you all make good points on why the unit can fall flat at times- the timing and sequence of events to get them out can be tough. I also just find units that are simply strong to be kinda boring, though. I'd much prefer a unit that is strong when it's used in a certain way. I think Rome's Legion is a great unit- their Pilum is really fun to try to use effectively. You can build a whole strategy around getting them into defensive locations where they can fortify, having archers with medic behind them so that their per turn heal is even stronger, etc. Or Samurai- their unique promotions can be used to reward certain tactics. A unit that just has higher CS doesn't make for interesting gameplay IMO. Shock cavalry isn't really strong enough to really change what decisions you make all that much.

 

[Lystrin]

I never understood why they made it require both and not just require horse, buffed by iron. Sadly I wasn't around last congress, maybe I should propose.

 

[azum4roll]

Then every time AI considers producing something that requires a resource or selling a resource, they have to loop through all of their units and assess how much that would affect their combat strength.