Hey guys spirit of the law here.
I want to update the Magyar Civ overview in light of some changes that are happening.
I don't know if the developers are being blackmailed by the Hungarian Mafia, blink twice if you are.
I can't tell, you're wearing sunglasses
but basically
They're being dramatically improved in four different ways getting a general buff to pretty much every possible strategy all at once.
The first change is they no longer need to build a Blacksmith to receive their free upgrades.
The free upgrades they're talking about are for the attack of infantry and cavalry
Previously you got the free attack upgrades immediately after building the blacksmith,
so you still needed one at about the usual time.
To me a scout rush of at least four scouts is an implied strategy based on the bonuses,
and the whole point of the strategy is to be extremely fast up to Feudal.
The major focus in Dark Age is on food, and having gone up with generally a lower number of Villagers,
there's a bit of a crunch at the start of feudal age to get your stables out, farms down, eco upgrades, houses, and
also fit a Blacksmith in there.
At least now if you can't put aside 150 wood for a blacksmith right away, you're still getting the bonus in that situation.
Just to get a sense of the impact of +1 attack in a scout rush,
with forging they generally take down feudal units one hit sooner. Villagers are even two hits sooner.
Which is nice because they're usually the main target.
At some point if you're sticking with Scouts, or men-at-arms for a while, you're going to want the blacksmith for the defense upgrades,
but at least in the meantime. You're still benefiting from their bonus.
Their survivability against most feudal units goes up by several attacks.
Though notably Spearmen will still take them out in three hits.
The second big change is they now receive Siege Engineers.
I've always considered this an important technology and without it I gave them a C for siege in their overview.
There's always room for argument, but in my mind they were definitely a bottom five at least.
With Siege Engineers, that means +1 range for Onagers, Scorpions, and Trebuchets,
With the 20% bonus against buildings being notable as well.
It's at least enough for a C+ and a thumbs up for making this siege a lot more fun to use.
Anything that increases the number of big Onager shots is good for the excitement of the game.
In fact, I probably shouldn't leak this, but I've already submitted my pitch for the next Age of Empires intallment.
We'll see what Microsoft does with it.
The third change is the Scout Cavalry, Light Cavalry, and Hussar discount is increased from 10% to 15%.
Having just come off the Berber Civ overview, it's an interesting comparison.
And up to this point the Magyars have had a weaker scout line bonus than the Berbers, and theirs included Light Cavalry, Knights, and Camels.
At least now they're better in feudal age and comparable in Castle age for light cavalry.
I agree with the change and even think it could have been 20 percent
Against Magyars, everyone expects the scouts are coming and it needs to be pretty good in order to offset that fact.
savings 12 food per Scout isn't that big on paper, especially if you're only making a few.
But with two stables working constantly it would be like having an extra two and a half Villagers,
Which is a lot in Feudal Age.
The last big change is that Recurve Bow now adds +1 attack, in addition to its original +1 range
Superficially it's a 9% increase, though sometimes the numbers line up to make a notable difference,
especially against units with high pierce armor.
One attack isn't anything to get too excited about in isolation,
But they were already the farthest firing cavalry archers in the game.
Keep in mind: this doesn't help in castle age since this is coming in the Imperial Age after you build a castle.
So they're still primarily just a late-game option.
Don't forget cavalry archers are also 10 gold cheaper, so they're already easier to justify than in the original game.
So, overall: I think they're interesting changes for the better.
The siege and cavalry archers are more fun to use, and it's a bit more streamlined to pull off an extended scout rush
I wouldn't say any of the changes are a radical departure,
And they just seem to help reinforce their identity as a cavalry and archer civilization
So what do you guys think? Did the Magyar need the boost? Is it too much? not enough? Let me know.
Thanks for watching guys. I'll see you next time.