I have created a monster

[Innocentius]

It all began as a very innocent project, really. I wanted to make the Gothic units (knights and sergeants) available to all Catholics. This hasn't worked very well anyway since no Catholics except the HRE, Venetians and Genoans can build the Royal_court4 (Baronial Estate?) that is needed to train the Gothic units. I am now thinking about lowering the requirement to a Royal_court3, so that everyone can have them. What do you think of this? Will this make it too easy for the player or will the AI ever build up to a Master Armourer, Mater Horse Breeder and Royal_court3?

Anyway, that's besides the point. While playtesting for balance, I realized how bad the GKs really are considering what it takes to recruit them, so I upped them a bit, and that worked just fine (much better charge and so on). But then I thought I might as well up the GSs a bit while I'm at it. I was thinking in the lines of "just like JHI, just more powerful but in return a lot slower", so I converted them into a polearm-unit (bonus attacking cavalry) and removed their rank bonus. Then I improved their stats "a little". As it turned out, they were pretty damn powerful, and can easily plow their way to armies ten times their own size (I tried two units vs. twelve Chivalric Sergeants; the GSs lost, but the casualty rate wasn't pretty). Now then, what's the problem? you might think. I could just change them back - it's just that I don't want to. I want to keep them just they way they are; an elite unit which, when brought to a battlefield, can manage the hole stuff on their own and that is so powerful you'd rather retreat than facing an army containing just one. This brings me down to the actual problem: how the hell do I balance these guys?

While we're at it, I might as well mention I've been figuring about how to balance the JHI as well, since they're pretty much the same thing. The building requirements for such super units just doesn't work. I can't ever get as far as to build a Military Academy (at first I considered removing Royal_court4 in the building requirements for GS, and replacing it with Military Academy, and the Master A few things) unless I start in Early, and I've never even seen the AI build one, let alone train JHI (perhaps due to the fact that the Sejuks/Ottomans are useless and get destroyed by either the Byz or the Horde). So, do you have any suggestions for how to deal with this? I want to see the AI field both JHI and my new, updated, GS, but I don't want to set the requirements neither too high nor too low. Too low would mean a spamming of a unite that I want to be exclusive, and too high would make it a Player-only unit. Can I even fix this, or should I just scrap the idea?

[Ironside]

IMO your best choieses is bulding time (that they take something like 4 turn to build) and I guess that fortress level should be enough, the comp does usually reach that point in atleast some provinces.

The French did an massive spawn of CFK once for example (added in with the same requirements as CK, but with a swordsmith guild instead of a horse breeder guild). Facing armies with a core of 10 of those was quite a challenge.

[Heidrek]

Chiv. Footknights are pretty damn tough to beat. Likewise the Gothics above look pretty tough. You wouldn't want to go too heavy on them though, as an army of mobile troops and armour piercers would give them big trouble. I'd hate to see your leigons of slow moving tank troops slowly whittled away by Mounted Crossbows, Spannish Jinnettes and Arbalesters. Artillery would probably work well against them as well.

A cavalry heavy army packed full of mounted crossbows along with a few Horse Archers and some heavy cavalry to take out enemy cavalry would be hard for those tanks army to deal with. They'd simply never close with them, meanwhile the Mounted Crossbows will run them into exhaustion while picking them off with armour piercing arrows.