Hello!
Greetings fair and fel folks of Azeroth.
Sharpen your blades, polish your armor and draw your bows. This new update brings a large number of iconic units from the world of Azeroth into the game, in the form of powerful and specialized men-at-arms.
New Men At Arms
Casters
The powerful Casters excel at ranged combat, be it against tight formations of armored infantry or against larger creatures, who take the brunt of magic attacks. On their own, these are too frail to survive ongoing battles, but once they are in the relative safety of their allies, they can rain destruction on their enemies or support their friends with a variety of helpful spells. Given the more expensive training of magic-wielding soldiers and the lack of magical properties among the general population, these regiments are somewhat smaller than ranged infantry or skirmishers. They counter Pikemen, Heavy Infantry and Massive Infantry and are countered by Light Cavalry. Casters will be available to all cultures, though some have casters unique to them.
Massive Infantry
The Massive Infantry AKA Giants rule the battlefields with their towering stature and frightening presence. Swiping left and right, these massive creatures deal huge amounts of damage in a melee. That being said, fighting in close quarters like jungles or on marshy ground leaves them vulnerable to counter attacks. And if you’ve ever seen a group of Giants working together, you’ll quickly understand that it’s better to keep them organized in smaller groups. The Giants generally counter large groups of lightly armed Skirmishers and are countered by Casters and Pikemen. Unlike the Casters, which are available to all cultures, Giants will be more restricted in what cultures will have access to them.
Side Note: We decided not to give Giants to actual Giant cultures because that would be strange.
Light Aerial
The Light Aerial men-at-arms are predestined for hit-and-run tactics and chasing fleeing enemies. Flat plains and drylands do very well for them, as they can spot enemies from their lofty heights in advance, while forests and jungles tend to be more dangerous for them, allowing their prey to hide and lay ambushes. Although air units have a significant advantage on anything that can only move on the ground, we decided to make them excel only in aerial fights, so they would overshadow other men-at-arms only on the battlefield, but not in regards to overall value.
Massive Aerial
The base Massive Aerial regiment will be colossal beasts whose shadows cover the battlefield and whose ferocity is matched by none. Terrain has no meaning to these flying beasts because their sheer size and power can destroy anything they deem a nuisance. Any jungle or forest would be easily turned to ash leaving the only cover for anyone who survives, the ashes of their comrades. While making this unit counter almost every unit would be logical, it would not be balanced, so it will be the main counter for heavy cavalry. As stated previously they will be countered by the lighter aerial units, similar to small destroyers testing their luck against a battleship. Much like Giants, this unit will be given to those cultures who would logically have Massive Aerial based on the lore.
Cultural Men-at-Arms
Besides the new general men-at-arms, 63 culture-specific units found their way onto the battlefields of the living and the dead. Ever wondered how Blood-Elven Spellbreakers would fare against Murloc Tidehunters? Are you curious how Mogu Subjugators would deal with Undead Abominations? Well now is your time to find out.
We will showcase a few units like the Spellbreaker and Abomination. The Spellbreakers are strong and reliable Blood-Elven fighters that can take on most other foes. They easily counter casters and serve as a strong backbone in an Elven army.
The Abominations are tanky flesh giants used by undead armies. They have hooks to reel in enemies, giving them a huge pursuit bonus as retreating enemies will be grabbed at long ranges and obliterated by these monstrosities.
If you ever need help, you can always buy some! Iconic Men-At-Arms will be at your service to fight any foe, for the right price of course.
Regional Men-at-Arms
On top of the cultural men-at-arms, there are some new regional units that any character can unlock if 40% of their territory is in the specified regions. These new units include the towering Elekks of The Azuremyst Isles and the reliable Camels from the deserts of Kalimdor.
Also included are the majestic Kodos and the ferocious Wyverns from the Barrens, as well as the proud Gryphons of Aerie Peak.
All of these Men-at-Arms units will be unique and we worked really hard balancing and rebalancing many times. We have already implemented 66 new special Men-at-Arms with more already in the works, and our goal is to have around 80 very soon!
New Cultural/Regional Specific Innovations
Some cultures get very specific innovations like:
Hive Breeding, an innovation for the Aqir culture group, giving them increased levy reinforcement rate since they can pump out soldiers at a much faster pace than usual.
Amphibious, an innovation for cultures that are amphibious (Murlocs, Naga, etc.) which gives benefits while traveling over water (cost, speed), but slightly debuffs while traveling on land (speed, supply) since the culture is much more accustomed and naturally equipped for the seas compared to land.
And there are many more!
Other innovations were added in the form of special regional innovations like:
Kyparite Sap, controlling this vital resource gives those who unlock the innovation several buffs (army/garrison buffs, prestige gain).
Sea Faring, having the majority of your realm be coastal given the option to unlock this innovation. This is meant to act similarly to the Amphibious innovation, but for those cultures that are not actually born amphibious. This innovation will give a trade-off of decreased embarkation cost and decreased garrison size since the culture would be spending more time at sea than normal.
Warfare, when your realm is located mostly in either Arid, Frigid, or Wooded regions, your people adapt to the elements surrounding your homeland. When you decide to unlock the innovation (if it is not already unlocked) these techs will give you benefits in battle when these battles take place on terrain which your soldiers are acclimatized to.
To account for the Variety in Sizes of the different races of Azeroth, we have added three innovations (unlocked at the start) to more realistically depict warfare between a Titan and a Gnome army for example. The larger beings would gain an army advantage at the cost of higher MaA upkeep, whereas the smaller armies would have a smaller MaA upkeep at the cost of decreased army advantage.
Note: Though the main ideas would stay the same for these changes, due to the nature of the upcoming CK3 DLC the way we present these ideas may be different. Meaning not how we have presented these changes here, but through a different system that Paradox announced for the next DLC.
New Era
Finally, we added a new era to the game that we called, Early Modern. We did this to try and bridge the massive tech gap between the various races of Azeroth.
This will hopefully do a better job at depicting the technology level of some cultures compared to the last era of vanilla.
Military
Civic
As you can see one of these techs is the Riflemen. This will be a stronger ranged type unit, playing the same role crossbowmen do in vanilla, but upgraded. Since we changed “Archers” to “Ranged Infantry” we thought it wouldn’t make sense making a new unit type for gun-based units but instead make them a part of the Ranged Infantry group. We have already added special Men At Arms units similar to the Riflemen, but special for their respective culture.
That's all for now. Thank you for your attention! Will be waiting for you in the next teaser or developer diary! Aka'Magosh!
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