Yes, but you also need a large group of Monaspas to benefit from their extra damage. They also have low health so you don't want to have them try crossing through enemy Halbs or Pikes to destroy siege and they also are less resistant to arrow fire. They are just another well armored unit.
This is kinda like the release version of the coustillier. Has a unique ability, but in practice just ends up being an OP melee unit that you mass and obliterate everything with.
A very interesting test in my opinion would be to see how the monaspa does against Boyar and Teutonic Knight. I think those results could be quite interesting. Here a few stats that should show why I think the TK actually has a chance: Stat Comparison: (TK/Monaspa) 100 HP / 90 + 20 HP 10+3 Armor / 5+3 Armor 17+4 Damage / 14+4+4 Damage This means: TK needs 9 hits to kill a fully buffed Monaspa Monaspa needs 12 hits to kill a TK (this includes the full buff, so also the +4 from nearby monaspas)
New civs should be op on release and toned down later but I must agree that monaspas are too op like they cost like keshik while being better than Paladins lmaoye either their power or cost need to be changed
In my opinion, Cataphracts are already in a good shape as they have received so many buffs, especially the upgrades. Their biggest buff was that they received anti-cavalry armor where in AoK, they were countered by pikemen and camels. They are not used to fight other heavy cavalry and ranged units as they have cheap halberdiers and skirmisher instead. By using discounted units, players can also save resources to afford Cataphracts as winning move which is very hard to counter, especially for infantry/meso civs. Cataphracts have the fastest reload time among other cavalry, alongside with Stirrups cavalry, which can be good if combined with Logistica. Logictica itself grants them trample damage and +5 damage vs infantry, making them very deadly against infantry civs.
@@theobald_indoaoe I know cataphracts are extremely strong when used correctly. However the power creep has been ridiculous. Cataphracts will need a buff eventually to stay relevant in any way
@ycampbell7672 no. Cataphracts are still very useful in a lot of matchups. Ask any pro player and they will tell you the unit is perfectly balanced. It is insane that people keep asking for cataphract buffs, as if they live in 2002.
10:08 Lithuanian with 2 relics is just FU paladin. With 3 or 4 relics, both should take 10 hits to kill Monaspa so 3 relics losing while 4 relics wins is just random. A unique unit should not be a lot more effective than the most similar generic unit available to the same civ. It should be better in specific situations, and maybe more population-efficient, but it shouldn't be measurably better against almost everything. Some units like the Boyar, Camel Archer, and now Monaspa fail this test (they are too good).
@@Booklat1 But Boyars have more HP. More armor than Monaspa, lower attack. MikeEmpire's Boyar test is two years old, but mostly valid because total cost of Boyar didn't change (food went up, gold went down). Checking other videos like Composite Bowmen vs unique, the only new loss for Boyars is Urumi Swordsmen, so Monaspa (in large groups) and Boyar lose to the exact same unique units: Samurai, War Elephant, Mameluke, Teutonic Knight, Kamayuk, Imperial Camel (even though Boyar test was vs Indians), Genoese Crossbow, and Leitis. Except that Monaspa also die to Flaming Camel, because Monaspas are low HP and high attack and only HP matters vs flaming camels, while Monaspas beat Boyars. The point: it seems that especially with post-AoC civs, some civs seem balanced around having an overpowered unique unit. If they can get to it, they're strong; if they can't, they're weaker. The civ itself might not be overpowered, especially when gold runs out, but it's bad game design if you don't have interesting choices to make. It's like when Mangle was vastly better than base abilities for Feral druids in TBC WoW.
is really insane that you need Lithuanian 4 relics paladins to beat these Monaspa... not to mention how cheap Monaspa is
Yes, but you also need a large group of Monaspas to benefit from their extra damage. They also have low health so you don't want to have them try crossing through enemy Halbs or Pikes to destroy siege and they also are less resistant to arrow fire. They are just another well armored unit.
never thought that a 110 hp unit will do so much damage to a full paladin, nor to a frank or teuton paladin. really amazed by these tests.
This is kinda like the release version of the coustillier. Has a unique ability, but in practice just ends up being an OP melee unit that you mass and obliterate everything with.
13:51 When being legendary isn't enough
A very interesting test in my opinion would be to see how the monaspa does against Boyar and Teutonic Knight. I think those results could be quite interesting.
Here a few stats that should show why I think the TK actually has a chance:
Stat Comparison: (TK/Monaspa)
100 HP / 90 + 20 HP
10+3 Armor / 5+3 Armor
17+4 Damage / 14+4+4 Damage
This means:
TK needs 9 hits to kill a fully buffed Monaspa
Monaspa needs 12 hits to kill a TK (this includes the full buff, so also the +4 from nearby monaspas)
Explain to me again why Cataphracts can't have bloodlines or blast furnace again? Balance you say? Clearly that doesn't matter anymore......
New civs should be op on release and toned down later but I must agree that monaspas are too op like they cost like keshik while being better than Paladins lmaoye either their power or cost need to be changed
In my opinion, Cataphracts are already in a good shape as they have received so many buffs, especially the upgrades. Their biggest buff was that they received anti-cavalry armor where in AoK, they were countered by pikemen and camels. They are not used to fight other heavy cavalry and ranged units as they have cheap halberdiers and skirmisher instead. By using discounted units, players can also save resources to afford Cataphracts as winning move which is very hard to counter, especially for infantry/meso civs.
Cataphracts have the fastest reload time among other cavalry, alongside with Stirrups cavalry, which can be good if combined with Logistica. Logictica itself grants them trample damage and +5 damage vs infantry, making them very deadly against infantry civs.
@@theobald_indoaoe I know cataphracts are extremely strong when used correctly. However the power creep has been ridiculous. Cataphracts will need a buff eventually to stay relevant in any way
@ycampbell7672 no. Cataphracts are still very useful in a lot of matchups. Ask any pro player and they will tell you the unit is perfectly balanced. It is insane that people keep asking for cataphract buffs, as if they live in 2002.
@@Tocaraca i agree although they could getvslight buff 10hp or something
10:08 Lithuanian with 2 relics is just FU paladin. With 3 or 4 relics, both should take 10 hits to kill Monaspa so 3 relics losing while 4 relics wins is just random.
A unique unit should not be a lot more effective than the most similar generic unit available to the same civ. It should be better in specific situations, and maybe more population-efficient, but it shouldn't be measurably better against almost everything. Some units like the Boyar, Camel Archer, and now Monaspa fail this test (they are too good).
boyar is not nearly as cheap as this guy though
@@Booklat1 But Boyars have more HP. More armor than Monaspa, lower attack. MikeEmpire's Boyar test is two years old, but mostly valid because total cost of Boyar didn't change (food went up, gold went down). Checking other videos like Composite Bowmen vs unique, the only new loss for Boyars is Urumi Swordsmen, so Monaspa (in large groups) and Boyar lose to the exact same unique units: Samurai, War Elephant, Mameluke, Teutonic Knight, Kamayuk, Imperial Camel (even though Boyar test was vs Indians), Genoese Crossbow, and Leitis.
Except that Monaspa also die to Flaming Camel, because Monaspas are low HP and high attack and only HP matters vs flaming camels, while Monaspas beat Boyars.
The point: it seems that especially with post-AoC civs, some civs seem balanced around having an overpowered unique unit. If they can get to it, they're strong; if they can't, they're weaker. The civ itself might not be overpowered, especially when gold runs out, but it's bad game design if you don't have interesting choices to make. It's like when Mangle was vastly better than base abilities for Feral druids in TBC WoW.
**Perfectly balanced**