A new mod enters the ring - Introducing "Close to Home"

[superdeath]

In a recent game, someone surprised me with 9 swordsmen in galleys, but they couldn't take my city because I had 1 archer, 3 axes, and walls on a hill.
I had only made axes because they have 5 strength, which is higher than spears or archers (and archers get researched later, too). No real planning, just adding a couple of extra units and a wall in a border city. BRAINLESS - and it countered the supposed "city attacking late classical unit" by default.
I panicked when I saw the galleys - but only because I was pessimistically afraid they might have xbows or chariots.

I've commented before that axemen are too much of a default unit and swordsmen excessively niche as a result, and not really special in that city attack niche anyway.

Directly changing the Axeman is certainly too radical.
But could swordsmen get something more, like +25% versus axeman-maceman, or +2 XP from barracks, or 7 Str, or +50% city attack bonus?

Axeman UU - (Vulture) gets +1 Str and in exchange had to be designed with 25% less melee bonus.
Meanwhile the Praetorian, with +2 Str, only needed what, a +5 hammer nerf in this mod?
Skirmisher is +1, Phalanx is +1, Impi is +1 movement, horse archer UUs don't have any +str, Cataphract has +2 off a 10 baseline and it's considered very strong.

The Praetorian is very strong at 8 Str, but we all know that they would become almost irrelevant if they had only 7 Str.
It's able to be a +2 UU off an early tech because the baseline unit is so weak.

Horse archers compared to swordsmen get to double move. They lose tile defense bonus and city raider promos, but they also get an extra XP building. Imagine if there was an 8 STR horse archer UU.

In conclusion - Swordsmen are so sad from every angle. PLS BUFF.

Personally I think 7 Str and 25% city attack would be nice.

The only thing i could think of to help with the swords vs axes in cities (besides... bringing catapults like ur supposed to) Is do what RTR i believe did, which is jack up the bonus vs city attack. Otherwise, axes are SUPPOSED to counter swords. Swords are supposed to help beat stacked archers in cities. Rock-paper- scissors.

[BING_XI_LAO]

The only thing i could think of to help with the swords vs axes in cities (besides... bringing catapults like ur supposed to) Is do what RTR i believe did, which is jack up the bonus vs city attack. Otherwise, axes are SUPPOSED to counter swords. Swords are supposed to help beat stacked archers in cities. Rock-paper- scissors.

Bringing catapults takes more tech and hammers and if you have enough of those it matters a lot less which units inflict the kills against weakened enemies.

Is the rock-paper-scissors playing out in practice? Because it seems to me that axemen work just fine as defenders compared to archers.

I just did some vodka-ing and if 10 horse archers attack a city with walls on a hill against 25%-fortify defenders, they suffer slightly more casualties against 5 axemen than they do against 7 archers (so equal prod). Increase the horse archer count to 12 and they have a 21% chance of taking the city against Axemen, and a 27% chance of taking it against the archers. If you reduce the fortify bonus and remove the walls, then the Archers start outperforming the Axemen, but is it by enough to justify the lack of offensive capability and the less crucial, later-researched tech?

I wonder how the game would play if Axemen became Dog Soldiers? 4 Str and 100% anti-melee bonus. Then it would be a counter unit instead of a general-purpose unit which coincidentally suppresses Swordsmen (and to some extent archers).

[Mjmd]

The recent classical start game had heavy use of swords. I think part of it is that IW is just not a normal popular early tech. That being said I've built them as an efficient way to Crack longbows and I've built them vs sd to retake a city even though he had a pile of axes. With cats I knew it would be fine and I needed cheap hitters that also could do ok vs elephants.

I've argued extensively for further Rome nerf but was voted down when charriu did last cth update. That being said if we have someone who does update again I'm still in favor.