Is the Viking “Free Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart” Offer Too Generous?
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The Free Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart bonus is a great way for the Vikings to remain competitive during the mid-game.
It helps them save time and resources, giving them an edge in Villager numbers before their opponents have access to the same techs.
This advantage can be crucial in ensuring the Vikings remain competitive in the later stages of the game.
It’s fine.
Don’t even think Vikings has strongest eco, that goes to burgundians or poles imo.
I think it’s fairly balanced for the reasons you listed.
Same way that you have to knock out Goths before they reach later game because they’ll overwhelm.
It’s just a large power spike at the expense of bottoming out during other times
Ignore trash wars for a moment.
Most 1v1 games never get there and in team games trade can go forever.
Still, they lack bloodlines on cav (matters from late feudal/early castle), they lack thumb ring (matters from early/mid castle) and have the gunpowder weakness in imp.
Also their eco isn’t just “less dominant”..
it’s totally generic if enemies catch up on upgrades/vills which happens latest by 200 pop.
It takes a while, but still happens long before gold runs out (unlike Mayan resources last longer/khmer farm/poles folwark/etc.
that provide an edge in pop capped games).
Finally for an infantry civ not having halb sucks (even with chieftains), you’d still like to mix them in in early imp to deal with enemy cav as gold efficiently as possible.
Even on water maps, which are obviously one of their best map types with their multiple discounts and unique unit, they have a well defined early weakness due to lacking fire ships and practically requiring large investment + micro and significant attention to win water.
They’re great, and I love them, but they’re by no means an auto win on water (at most elos) if you focus on attacking in multiple places simultaneously instead of engaging in a single all-in naval battle like they want.
Even a tiny landing/forward base army can divert their attention enough to land a demo or let fast fires wipe their whole navy in seconds.
IMO they’re a perfectly executed civ.
Well defined strong and weak points that you should aim to maximize and opponents can aim to exploit (respectively), that average out to “balanced overall”.
Playable on most maps against most opponents, excellent on one map type, but even there possible to outplay.
i think they would be one of the best civs if the meta revolved around infantry, but it doesnt so the eco bonus is completly fine.
Additionally the unique techs costs as nearly as much as imperial age, so even if you play as a cav civ you still have a chance until the very lategame to beat them.
Playing vikings is all about the economy and how much you get out of it before your units and your options become a hinderance.
Thats why i suck at playing them, because my eco starts to drag behind once i am in mid to late castle age, because i am not very good at this game.
That eco bonus is basically their entire civ.
They have a top tier eco, but imo not the best.
I personally believe that economy boosting bonuses are better than “Free tech bonuses”
For example the Pole farming bonus will apply from dark age till the end of the game, additional villagers are great, but once you get caught up in eco that’s the end of the bonus, while the Pole bonus will always give an extra advantage even when you are both pop capped.
For this reason I consider Poles to a big contender for “best overall eco”.
Teutons farm discount is also huge, but the value of wood generally degrades as time goes on.
Slavs feel like a slightly worse version of the pole bonus.
Vikings eco is still a big spike, but I believe their tech tree weaknesses evens this out.
Most good late game civs will just win against Vikings, and that’s ok, we want different playstyles among different civs.
Winrate is a pretty good indicator is too strong or weak.
I wish they had a different bonus that was more in line with the Vikings historically.
They weren’t known for their advancements in farming, they were known for raiding.
They should have bonuses that reflect that.
It’s by far the best eco bonus in the game, but their tech tree is trash, so it balances out.
I think the thumb ring nerf really hurt their viability, and I’d like to see more infantry buffs to level them out for late game.
I feel like it’s one of the best eco bonuses in the game but it is still fine because vikings have a 50% win rate
It is too good, that’s why in the past Vikings used to be S tier civ despite terrible tech tree and no power units.
Only with the removal of the thumb ring their tech tree got so bad it can no longer be carried by the amazing eco bonus.
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