It's 2014 and you are watching the new SOTL overview of the Japanese in AoE2 It's 2016 and you are watching the new SOTL overview of the Japanese in AoE2 It's 2025 and you are watching the new SOTL overview of the Japanese in AoE2
Real! When he mentioned the website I rushed to open the description to try and find a link, but didn't see anything. This was the first time I really wanted to check out, and got disappointed it doesn't exist.
I'm reminded of that opening sequence in MGS 5... Snake: "I haven't been out for that long, right? I mean it happened in 2016, how many months is that?" Doc: "It's been... *9 years."* Snake: _starts shaking profusely_ Oh wait, that game is about the same age now, isn't it... _starts shaking profusely_
I wish the Samurai would also have special armor against Unique Units. Since most of those that see play are Archer Units, which the Samurai is useless against.
I'll agree there. Longsword and Samurai have the odd quirk of being a frontline unit to protect your backline, but also a gold unit you don't really want to lose. Making Samurai a bit tankier versus elites would be great, a humble -2 against Elites doesn't suddenly make them decimate anti-infantry Elites like Jaguars or Janissaries, but buys a lot of time versus Mangudai or War Wagons, helping to maximize the value of an Xbow, CA, Scorpion, or Mango backline. A straight +20 health or 2 pierce armor would be too universal, just a -2 against specifically Elites would be nice.
@@BlueShellshock You really nailed it here. This is why Halbs are the best Infantry unit in the game: they dont cost gold (+ the massive damage vs cav). Spending gold on range units or cavarly is waaay better cuz those are more impactful units that can survive for longer time.
One thing about Japanese that may surprise most players is that you actually can and shoulod go Onagers way more often than you think. Japanese struggle a bit to overcome bigger Skirmisher(and sometimes Arbalest) masses in Imperial Age and Monks + halbs covers the weaknesses of the Onagers and your push is fairly slow anyway. secure the won territory with towers and move forward.
more like catapult transliterated into japanese kana. kataparuto _does_ exist as a loanword, but it seems more commonly used for modern inventions with catapult in the name, like airship catapults. as far as more standard ways of saying catapult in japanese, there's 発射 read as hassha, 投石機 read as tousekiki, and ... pachinko. which is one of those etymologies that makes a lot of sense, but sure is funny to discover in the moment
And then there is the Yasama meaning Arrow Slits, while japanese also have the normal arrowslits tech... so tehy get a LOT of arrowslits in those towers xD
@@GummieI Recently I was chatting with a Japanese co-worker and I was asking things like how do you say ice cream/burger/Christmas...etc in Japanese, and he said for almost all of those things you just say it in English with a very exaggerated Japanese accent and that's it. 🫡
@@Markynaz While there will always be inaccuracies when translating between languages, no matter how well it is, something like an arrowslit is something where there will be the least amount of inaccuracy, as it is a concept of defensive castles. Specifically the concept of having a small slit or similar in the wall, where it is easy to fire out of with arrows and the like, but near impossible to fire into, giving the defenders manning it, basically immunity to the enemy attackers, while still being able to hurt them. It is one of the words that are placed on such a specific concept, that it really will be either right or wrong, you can't really exaggerate it in anyway.
One thing about Japanese Infantry that I think doesn't get much credit is that they don't need any Unique Techs be top tier. Every other Infantry civ like Armenians, Dravidians, Slavs, or even Goths to an extent, need an Imperial Age Unique Tech to reach their final form, or the early Swordsman upgrades for Armenians before Imperial. But Japanese just needs to pick up all Barracks and Blacksmith techs to be among the best
Hi Spirit! Guy of the Law here! So good to see you still giving Japanese the love you have had for them for so long, now with more experience, both as an youtuber, presenter ang AoE2 player!
Ideas: 1) Make the Samurai like a Konnik, with a cav-archer first form and the current Samurai as the second / 2) Kataparuto is silly from a history perspective so how about "Sunomata Construction" lets towers to be packed and moved like trebs [25-30 sec unpack time]
You know, maybe the inf+siege push is the right way to go. If Celts can do it with a siege bonus and a weaker inf bonus, Japanese could do it with no siege bonus and a strong inf bonus. Not to mention inf sort of cover the anti-building damage on their own. A back line of Mangos or ballistic Scorps sounds natural to a frontline of Longswords. Takes about 20 Longswords with Arson to comfortably take out a TC, right? That's doable if you can use Mangos to tell archers to scram.
Celts can do that because of the wood chopping bonus though and technically stronger siege is better than stronger infantries since the siege do 80% of the job there. I'm quite sure Hoang tried to do a hoang with Japanese but couldn't get it to work.
@@CrnaStrelawell you obviously can't Hoang something with not Celts, the strat is purpose-built to use Celts' bonuses Might as well try to Hoang with Dravidians or Slavs As for Japs...I don't think that faster attacking infantry really replaces faster shooting siege It just does not have the same utility Also isn't Siege a bigger part of Hoang Eat TC than infantry?
The "new" civ overview are so high quality that I'd mistake them for official material. I hope the next one is Malian with their new buffed Gbeto. Also hoping for a new "best" trash video. I'd love to see things like "best" generalist halb and skirm, like using them against the "wrong" units.
A musketeer might be too advanced as far as tech goes. The mounted option is effecticely what the cav archer attack bonus is supposed to represent. Making them able to switch to a ranged mode like the Immortals from Conquest would be pretty swell, though.
@EvilDoresh The Portuguese and Dutch started trading firearms in what would be Imperial Age. Samurai and ashigaru primarily used pikes and rifles by that point, so it wouldn't be far-fetched to unlock musket samurai after researching Chemistry.
4:45 I generally think there are two kinds of conditional damage bonus: 1. This unit is supposed to be a counter and this bonus makes sure it counters, without having to change the stats against everything else (which is liable to cause issues). 2. This unit slightly underperforms against these targets. It needs some extra damage to catch up to "expected performance". I think the Cavalry archer is the latter. Due to all the drawbacks and Japanese middling incentive to go cavalry, the unit wasn't performing as well as it should have. This bonus helps it catch up to "expected performance".
9:40 Next to Saracens, Japanese are the ONLY civ in the game taht has full options in the archery range. On top of that they even have a very strong bonus for the cav archers. But Spirit gives it an "A-". What an earth do you please have to accomplish in the range to get an "A" or an "A+" when even full tech tree + a bonus is not even a "straight A"?
@@inconemay1441 That is a regional unit and those civs with elephant archers are ALL missing upgrades and don't have cav archers which cover other tasks. You could argie that Dravidians are better than Japanese but ten again you could also argue that Japanese are better because cav archers are more mobile and more affordable... 🤔
Mayan or Ethiopian ranges pulled it off I think? Britons had an A at least A strong bonus + an above average tech tree + preferably a discount + preferably a unique unit that covers some role which usual Archers, CA, HCs can not Weird that neither civs have CA or HC that just proves that Feudal/early Castle Archers are the most important
@@lukasvideosify1596Ele Archers are absolutely busted in team games, kinda pointless in 1v1s though However, Cavalry Archers are not a good option either, unless you have some strong bonus for them Mongols, Huns, Magyars, Turks, Tatars barely hang in there, Cumans technically count as do Berbers and Bengalis...and that's it folks! Everything else is generic and probably can not catch up with normal Archers or is more expensive to build and upgrade while not being exactly better Mamlukes don't have CA armor, right?
@@The-jy3yq Japanese also have a bonus. Apart from that CA are so strong that you should always go for them when you have full upgrades. Also: WHat is the link between what we diuscussed and the Mameluke? 11
I don't think Defenses can be A if you have no early game bonus...As is with all categories really. Yasama is good, but that's it for the Japanese, they don't have anything else in terms of Defensive bonuses AND they lack Architecture.
I think that the B- for Siege is a bit harsh. I personally include (Elite) Cannon Galleons as part of Siege. Also remember that Ballistics now affect Scorpions. Those could be useful with Halberdiers.
Something you missed when talking about Katapo trebs is that it's possible to pack to early. Pack up as soon as you fire and your shots turn into fluff balls
Takes me back to "Japanese: the most underrated civilization (and why)" from what I guess must have been a decade ago. I don't comment much anymore Spirit but I just wanted to say thanks for making such bloody superb videos and keeping people's interest in such a precious nostalgic-packed gem of a game 😎
Alright, idea for samurai: what if every kill they make gives them a small buff? Maybe +1 hp per kill, +1 attack per 5 kills, +1/+1 armour per 10 kills. This is a nod to historical samurai taking heads to their lord to prove how many foes they have killed, and rewards players for keeping a small core of elite samurai alive through multiple battles. It also makes them a spectacular anti trash unit since trying to drown these samurai in raw numbers will just make them stronger. It also encourages the use of monks to keep samurai alive for as long as possible, and having to stop and heal up between fights prevents the snowball having too much momentum.
Whenever I play the Japanese for a custom game, I like to train a huge army of elite samurai, a few priests, and a couple trebuchet. I feel satisfaction when my samurai army slashes through all opposition like a fine nodachi blade. My other favorite army is a whole lot of longbowmen whenever I play the Britons.
Starting the new year off with a favorite. (Your favorite that is but still a favorite.) Funny thing about the end is that I was thinking about a website where it’s literally just you talking about AoE2. The only thing missing was that it wasn’t your channel name, but who can argue against La Hire?
Where has the intro song gone? It's been gone a few videos now, and I miss it. I've been watching almost ten years, and that song has become quite special. If you are convinced that removing it is the right choice for your channel, I understand, but please know that it is loved. Questions aside, thank you for what you do here. This game is clearly dear to many people, and you make the highest quality analysis of it anywhere. Best wishes for you and your channel
This "Japanese" written with Soulfly's font is too nice 🤩 (Soulfly are a Brazilian-American heavy metal band featuring Max Cavalera, former Sepultura frontman)
Seeing the Winrate by Time, I'm curious: How about a Video covering the best Civs by Game Time? Like checking each Minute _(or whatever Interval)_ and seeing which Civ seems to perform best for what Time Slot.
Looking for a civ with an open tech tree, great navy, good early archers and cavalry archers, a very strong but also indirect eco bonus, and an interesting unique unit? Look no further than Saracens
I'd love to see Samurai be able to swap to an Archer mode, but only if they don't take anti archer bonus damage when they aren't using their bow. Otherwise they could just make Samurai Archers a separate unit.
That's after Sengoku Jidai so like 1600ish, before that Samurai use bow much more than firearms (yes they had one even before Portuguese) and even during Sengoku Jidai, the troops that use Tanegashima weren't Samurai, due to their skill, their warbow outrange the guns while being more accurate as well as having more mobility with their horse riding archery. It's just Tanegashima is so much easier to use that they could have had 8000 soldiers armed with guns in less than a month. Also cheap gunpowder already Italians thing, if I have to give them gunpowder related bonus it would have been Hand Cannoners shoot 25% faster referencing Nobunaga's consecutive rapid firing volley strategy.
An idea for a video: which units do more damage to constructions? I recently played with tarkan and got lil disappointed with their damage, I was thinking that maybe Japanese champions were better. Maybe a compare pop efficiency and pure damage. Maybe ranged, infantry, cavalry and siege
The problem with Japanese Calvary is their light cav line late game. It’s why their CA play isn’t scary to other top tier CA civs. Tatars, Turks, etc…. Just have to avoid taking bad fights until their own light cav are on the field then they’ll dominate with a much more tanky meat sheild, having their CA attack the Japanese CA while he’s still shooting the light cav/hussar.
12:05 Again: Why would skirmishers be a "B" when they have full upgrades and you already have teh incentive to get the upgrades for the towers? When 100% of upgrades is not an "A" for Spirit, I am very glad he wasn't my teacher at school...
Hey Spirit! :D I was watching some of your earlier videos, and there is one video topic I feel deserve an updated version: Namely, "is paladin upgrade worth it?". I felt like your theoretical evaluation was a bit weird, and you only harvested data for performance against cavalier, and did not compare performances against other relevant units like halbs, siege, arbalests, villagers, monks or eagles. I think the attack difference would in many cases either require 30 to 20% fewer hits, or not matter at all, diverging far from the average 15% you proposed as a theoretical value. I think the biggest improvement for paladin would be against arbalests or cav archers, and researching it against an army of Aztec monks would probably be a very bad idea, as your opponent is stealing a more powerful unit that's a bigger percentage of your army(assuming not pop capped). So if you're up against an army of arbalests and monks, at what point does the monk to archer ratio swing the results for whether or not the upgrade is a good investment? What about raiding beneath castles and town centers? I also think it is enough of a late-game upgrade that it should be considered how gold efficient it is compared to cavalier. The paladin upgrade has a lot lower gold to food ratio than making more cavaliers. When not comparing solely by gold, I think comparing it to 10 more cavaliers plus 8 light cav is a more fair standard of comparison. But those reinforcements are not gonna come immediately, and the number of stables will affect production time while also being an extra wood cost. So you should probably collect sample data on what is a representative number of stables for measuring how much of the extra horse is on the field when paladin comes in. Another question is if palading is more of a long term value investment or a power spike to close out the game. If you have the resources to both research paladin and continually produce, I suspect it is a faster power spike than using the research funds on extra stables and cavaliers, which I guess would be a bit stronger mid-term. I also think input from a pro player who excels at late game could be valuable for the more complicated qwuestions. Anyway, these are the sorts of analyses from you I enjoy the most, and even though I don't play the game, I would really like a more in-depth answer to whether or not paladin is worth it.
Ive been playing Japanese the last like 3 days and i gotta say the CA bonus damage against archer isn't as OP as i thought. If they already have a few crossbows out its hard to catch up enough in numbers to win a fight. I overjudged it a lot in the beginning
Small correction: At 4:32 you say that going Head to head with japanese infantry is the 4th most common of the classic blunders. But its really #1 - Never get involved in a land war in Asia! Infantry are land army, Japanese are in Asia. Therefore, Japanese infantry = Land war
-Despite the large presence in Historical Battles, all daimyo lord factions in Victors and Vanguished. Just like Vikings (technically, do we still consider them to be a Civilization?), to this very day, still no standard campaign of their own. Here goes the phrase: "Personally, I think, in my very unhumble opinion" : -As I said in previous Samurai video, very long history of fairly weak and expensive unit, grew into quite a slaughter, real deal unique killer of uniques. -Katapuruto is immensely powerful.(Initially costs as much as 750 wood, 400 gold) Trebuchet working that fast is fascinating, deadly like fart in the wind throwing katana at you from the shadows ˇˇ Yeah, I expected Japanese to lack Siege Engineers. -Again, imagine them without Yasama, Gold Shaft Mining, Bloodlines, Treadmill Crane, Hoarding and staggered Feudal/Castle/Empire infantry attack speed bonus +11%/+18%/+33%. Imagine them with Samurai having almost twice as long train time, 100% lesser bonus anti-unique damage, no base pierce armor, less 10 hp and 2 attack and Elite Samurai costing 950 food, 875 gold and Samurai itself costing 60 food, without Cavalry Archers having +2 attack vs Archers (which goes nicely with Parthian Tactics). You will still have image of Civ with nice fast and cheap Dark Age eco build, very good Fishing ships(LOL, I just found out that Malay 3x amount of Fish were initially unlimited fish food and them 33% cheaper removed and identical Italian bonus nerfed to 15% Fishing Ship discount), good attack speed bonus for infantry and impressive scouting with War Galley line, I guess. Well, theres no glaring weakness, except (B-) Cavalry without Hussars, Paladins and Plate Barding Armor. (B-) Siege without Siege Ram, Siege Onager and Bombard. Lacking in (B) defense and utility without Architecture, Sappers, Bombard Tower, Heated Shot, not having only Heresy for Monks and traditionaly for most civs Economy is lacking Guilds, Crop Rotation and Stone Shaft Mining. Decent Civ with nice take for Heavy Cavalry Archers(even when compared to Turks Sipahi, Cumans, Mongols, Hungarian Composite Bow,etc), most efficient Trebuchets I ever seen and obviously devastating infantry which can come out on top from Teuton Templars, Norman Serjeants, Viking Berserks, Polish Obuchs, Armenian Fereter Warrior Priest. -I'd kinda like comparison with Shotels, Karambits, Jaguar Warriors with Garland Wars and natural weakness to Roman Comitatenses Legionary/Elite Centurion. -I must say Urumi Swordsmen suprised me. So thats where I want to see Throwing Axeman, Gbeto, Chakram Throwers and duality of mounted Stirrupt Konnik pulling their weight. -Having Shipwright, practically second, third if not best infantry out there, 99% of Monk upgrades, gaining Treadmill Crane, Yasama even at the cost of Architecture and Bombard Towers, damn cool Cavalry Archers, nice take on ships, with comfortably fast set up eco structures. Yup, overall B (B+ to B-) Civ here. The trade off for one of the most excellent fast katana swinging infantry out there, would be that Paladin, Camel and Hussar charge of other civs can make you pop out your eyes still. -You should compare Japanese Fishing Ships with Dravidian, Bengali, Italian(upgrades) and Persian ones. -Wait, those all count as archer unit type? LOL. Congratulations on beating Bohemian, Aztec, Mayan and Inca Cavalry Archers .... : D .... (yes, they dont exist without conversion, d'u'h) It actually makes sense historically, since initally Samurai were all..yeah, Cavalry Archers and (Naginata) Lancers. Of course, the idea of Japanese ever seeing/using a crossbow(unlike Chinese; for that particular part of Asia) never crossed my mind. Given the hsitorical tradition of Kyūdō Yumi archery. Jack-of-all-trades indeed, but (melee) cavalry is still kinda rigid. Remember, no Bloodlines until 2013 (Forgotten Empires), without Hussar and no Plate Barding Armor. That sucks , eh? - Age of Conquerors 2000. Samurai base pierce armor increased from 0 to > 1. 2023 Dynasties of India, Gambesons to Milita line added. Yeah, thats just 23 years of waiting, no big deal ˇˇ - How would you compare Yasama towers against Korean Eupseong? Especially given that Korean Guard>Keep Tower upgrades are free. Let alone Persian Citadels or those fast moving Bohemian Bombard Towers ˇˇ I'd kinda leave unique Norman Donjons, Inca stone discount and Korean fast stone mining bonuses out of this. -Endless possibilites, all-over-the-place, jack-of-all-trades. Either japanese gained camels or saracens/byzantines learned how to speak japanese here xD
It's 2014 and you are watching the new SOTL overview of the Japanese in AoE2
It's 2016 and you are watching the new SOTL overview of the Japanese in AoE2
It's 2025 and you are watching the new SOTL overview of the Japanese in AoE2
Consistency in our changing times is everything!
ya, I couldn't help thinking, "Man, I've been watching SOTL for THAT long? Wow."
***Dr Manhatten Theme Intensifies***
Hey guys, Spirit of the Law here
so excited to talk about his favorite civ he forgot to put the intro
NotimeforintrowegottareviewtheJAPANESE!
Oh lol, didn’t even notice until you pointed it out.
The faster attack bonus makes hum skip the intro
For the first time I am truly, deeply disappointed that the squarespace ad website doesn't exist.
yeah, I even checked the description, maybe there is a link
honestly same
La Hire wishes to read something.
Hahahaha, this is actually the first one I wanted to check out, didn't find anything, now I know why
Real! When he mentioned the website I rushed to open the description to try and find a link, but didn't see anything. This was the first time I really wanted to check out, and got disappointed it doesn't exist.
You forgot to mention one benefit the samurai has over the champion line: It looks 20% cooler, 25% if you account for my bias.
2016....thats not so old.....oh 9 years.
NOOOOOOO
I'm reminded of that opening sequence in MGS 5...
Snake: "I haven't been out for that long, right? I mean it happened in 2016, how many months is that?"
Doc: "It's been... *9 years."*
Snake: _starts shaking profusely_
Oh wait, that game is about the same age now, isn't it...
_starts shaking profusely_
@@danieltoth9742 Hate to break it to you, but Phantom Pain came out in 2015
@@HazmanFTW big sad emoji. I was thinking about venom snake today
2025, new year, new Japanese overview
It's The Law.
That's the Spirit.
I wish the Samurai would also have special armor against Unique Units. Since most of those that see play are Archer Units, which the Samurai is useless against.
That would be a good and healthy buff to them
I'll agree there. Longsword and Samurai have the odd quirk of being a frontline unit to protect your backline, but also a gold unit you don't really want to lose. Making Samurai a bit tankier versus elites would be great, a humble -2 against Elites doesn't suddenly make them decimate anti-infantry Elites like Jaguars or Janissaries, but buys a lot of time versus Mangudai or War Wagons, helping to maximize the value of an Xbow, CA, Scorpion, or Mango backline.
A straight +20 health or 2 pierce armor would be too universal, just a -2 against specifically Elites would be nice.
@@BlueShellshock You really nailed it here. This is why Halbs are the best Infantry unit in the game: they dont cost gold (+ the massive damage vs cav). Spending gold on range units or cavarly is waaay better cuz those are more impactful units that can survive for longer time.
I can't believe I've never thought of this.
use the hurcarles against archer units.
"the last time we looked at the Japanese was 2016"
*Ages instantly*
*Feeling old?*
Age of Empires 2 first released in 1999, I was born is 2000 X'D
Fact: My afternoon coffee tastes better while watching a Spirit Of The Law review.
One thing about Japanese that may surprise most players is that you actually can and shoulod go Onagers way more often than you think. Japanese struggle a bit to overcome bigger Skirmisher(and sometimes Arbalest) masses in Imperial Age and Monks + halbs covers the weaknesses of the Onagers and your push is fairly slow anyway. secure the won territory with towers and move forward.
Spirit of the La Hire was really sitting on the table for a decade and we didnt even realize 😂😂😂
The feeling of coming home after a long day's work to a Spirit of the Law video is hard to beat!
Kataparuto apparently is the Japanese way to write "Catapult", hehe.
more like catapult transliterated into japanese kana. kataparuto _does_ exist as a loanword, but it seems more commonly used for modern inventions with catapult in the name, like airship catapults. as far as more standard ways of saying catapult in japanese, there's 発射 read as hassha, 投石機 read as tousekiki, and ... pachinko. which is one of those etymologies that makes a lot of sense, but sure is funny to discover in the moment
@@hi-i-am-atan Ah the wonders of Katakana.
And then there is the Yasama meaning Arrow Slits, while japanese also have the normal arrowslits tech... so tehy get a LOT of arrowslits in those towers xD
@@GummieI Recently I was chatting with a Japanese co-worker and I was asking things like how do you say ice cream/burger/Christmas...etc in Japanese, and he said for almost all of those things you just say it in English with a very exaggerated Japanese accent and that's it. 🫡
@@Markynaz While there will always be inaccuracies when translating between languages, no matter how well it is, something like an arrowslit is something where there will be the least amount of inaccuracy, as it is a concept of defensive castles. Specifically the concept of having a small slit or similar in the wall, where it is easy to fire out of with arrows and the like, but near impossible to fire into, giving the defenders manning it, basically immunity to the enemy attackers, while still being able to hurt them. It is one of the words that are placed on such a specific concept, that it really will be either right or wrong, you can't really exaggerate it in anyway.
I like how for the Japanese, SOTL busts out that classic font for the thumbnail instead of using the regular font he uses for his other thumbnails ;P
One thing about Japanese Infantry that I think doesn't get much credit is that they don't need any Unique Techs be top tier. Every other Infantry civ like Armenians, Dravidians, Slavs, or even Goths to an extent, need an Imperial Age Unique Tech to reach their final form, or the early Swordsman upgrades for Armenians before Imperial. But Japanese just needs to pick up all Barracks and Blacksmith techs to be among the best
Hi Spirit! Guy of the Law here!
So good to see you still giving Japanese the love you have had for them for so long, now with more experience, both as an youtuber, presenter ang AoE2 player!
After about 6 months campaigning, we have it. HNY Spirit! 🎉
YESSSSSS! Thanks man - my favorite civ when it comes to just having fun, even if I usually get better results from a few others!
Same, I love it on a nomad map!
Ideas: 1) Make the Samurai like a Konnik, with a cav-archer first form and the current Samurai as the second / 2) Kataparuto is silly from a history perspective so how about "Sunomata Construction" lets towers to be packed and moved like trebs [25-30 sec unpack time]
I'd say it would help if they got some leg up on unique ranged units, be it more pierce armor or some form of unique-exclusive damage mitigation.
Nooooo the iconic sotl intro is missing
New Japanese overview is awesome tho
You know, maybe the inf+siege push is the right way to go. If Celts can do it with a siege bonus and a weaker inf bonus, Japanese could do it with no siege bonus and a strong inf bonus.
Not to mention inf sort of cover the anti-building damage on their own. A back line of Mangos or ballistic Scorps sounds natural to a frontline of Longswords. Takes about 20 Longswords with Arson to comfortably take out a TC, right? That's doable if you can use Mangos to tell archers to scram.
Celts can do that because of the wood chopping bonus though and technically stronger siege is better than stronger infantries since the siege do 80% of the job there.
I'm quite sure Hoang tried to do a hoang with Japanese but couldn't get it to work.
@@CrnaStrelawell you obviously can't Hoang something with not Celts, the strat is purpose-built to use Celts' bonuses
Might as well try to Hoang with Dravidians or Slavs
As for Japs...I don't think that faster attacking infantry really replaces faster shooting siege
It just does not have the same utility
Also isn't Siege a bigger part of Hoang Eat TC than infantry?
6:39 the Samurai standing there facing all the others alone, reminds me of those pics of Goku waiting for the attack of all Marvel characters.
Hahaha hell yeah! Samurai always melt at low elos too its so fun
4:38 Japan is in Asia, and infantry are on land, so I think Vizzini - one of the smartest men in history - had this covered from the very beginning!
The "new" civ overview are so high quality that I'd mistake them for official material.
I hope the next one is Malian with their new buffed Gbeto.
Also hoping for a new "best" trash video. I'd love to see things like "best" generalist halb and skirm, like using them against the "wrong" units.
SotL's fav civ! Expected after the samurai video😅. Happy New Year Spirit!
"They have the most fun trebuchet in the game"
-Britons: "Am I a joke to you?"
Depends on what you want out of your trebs. Britons give them a new anti-unit role, whereas the Japanese make it better at what it already does.
I watched this overview and decided to give Japanese a shot on nomad and it was a pretty good outcome! thanks!
There's no way this isn't in reaction to Hera saying the Japanese are weak...
Hera doesnt know what we know though
Such a brave villager at 9:14
I just watched the old one yesterday! Oh well, here we go again
make them truly versatile by having their castle have 3 choices of samurai: normal, mounted, or archer/musketeer
(different prices of course)
A musketeer might be too advanced as far as tech goes. The mounted option is effecticely what the cav archer attack bonus is supposed to represent.
Making them able to switch to a ranged mode like the Immortals from Conquest would be pretty swell, though.
@EvilDoresh The Portuguese and Dutch started trading firearms in what would be Imperial Age. Samurai and ashigaru primarily used pikes and rifles by that point, so it wouldn't be far-fetched to unlock musket samurai after researching Chemistry.
You can hear his love of playing Japanese in every word of this. Such a great game 😊
4:45 I generally think there are two kinds of conditional damage bonus:
1. This unit is supposed to be a counter and this bonus makes sure it counters, without having to change the stats against everything else (which is liable to cause issues).
2. This unit slightly underperforms against these targets. It needs some extra damage to catch up to "expected performance".
I think the Cavalry archer is the latter. Due to all the drawbacks and Japanese middling incentive to go cavalry, the unit wasn't performing as well as it should have. This bonus helps it catch up to "expected performance".
9:40
Next to Saracens, Japanese are the ONLY civ in the game taht has full options in the archery range.
On top of that they even have a very strong bonus for the cav archers.
But Spirit gives it an "A-".
What an earth do you please have to accomplish in the range to get an "A" or an "A+" when even
full tech tree + a bonus is not even a "straight A"?
"Elephant Archers."
@@inconemay1441 That is a regional unit and those civs with elephant archers are ALL missing upgrades and don't have cav archers which cover other tasks.
You could argie that Dravidians are better than Japanese but ten again you could also argue that Japanese are better because cav archers are more mobile and more affordable... 🤔
Mayan or Ethiopian ranges pulled it off I think?
Britons had an A at least
A strong bonus + an above average tech tree + preferably a discount + preferably a unique unit that covers some role which usual Archers, CA, HCs can not
Weird that neither civs have CA or HC
that just proves that Feudal/early Castle Archers are the most important
@@lukasvideosify1596Ele Archers are absolutely busted in team games, kinda pointless in 1v1s though
However, Cavalry Archers are not a good option either, unless you have some strong bonus for them
Mongols, Huns, Magyars, Turks, Tatars barely hang in there, Cumans technically count as do Berbers and Bengalis...and that's it folks! Everything else is generic and probably can not catch up with normal Archers or is more expensive to build and upgrade while not being exactly better
Mamlukes don't have CA armor, right?
@@The-jy3yq Japanese also have a bonus.
Apart from that CA are so strong that you should always go for them when you have full upgrades.
Also:
WHat is the link between what we diuscussed and the Mameluke? 11
I don't think Defenses can be A if you have no early game bonus...As is with all categories really. Yasama is good, but that's it for the Japanese, they don't have anything else in terms of Defensive bonuses AND they lack Architecture.
Highlight of the day 🗣‼️
I think that the B- for Siege is a bit harsh. I personally include (Elite) Cannon Galleons as part of Siege. Also remember that Ballistics now affect Scorpions. Those could be useful with Halberdiers.
No overview intro 😿
Heartbroken 😢
You are the best Age of empires 2 youtuber ❤ i love watch your videos and i learn a lot with them
Haven’t watched it yet but I fully expect this to be a half assed overview as to not give away your favorite civs weaknesses
I wonder what Hera will say about this review! Time to watch!
This Civ overview has been 10 years in the making 💯
8:35 In case it wasn’t obvious, Kataparuto is literally the word “catapult” being phonologically adapted to Japanese.
Something you missed when talking about Katapo trebs is that it's possible to pack to early.
Pack up as soon as you fire and your shots turn into fluff balls
this was fixed in DE
That shouldnt be the case in recent DE versions anymore. It really was tricky to avoid those fluff balls though ^^'
I was expecting 2 days ago to see if such a video was uploaded. It was a strange coincidence.
Takes me back to "Japanese: the most underrated civilization (and why)" from what I guess must have been a decade ago.
I don't comment much anymore Spirit but I just wanted to say thanks for making such bloody superb videos and keeping people's interest in such a precious nostalgic-packed gem of a game 😎
Sotl’s fav video😂
The outro was amazing 😂😂😂
You improved your mic, this is like the first time I listen to your voice in ages lol
A third review for the japanese? Let's goooo
You need to do a tier list for all civs for categories likes , trash, UU, each age, water etc
Samurai should get a buff where they take a certain percent less damage from unique united. Could help a ton vs ranged unique united
Finally, after 9 years
14:13 Favorite unique unit #4 was crazy!
This is awesome, just as I was maining japanese!
I live about 10 minutes away from the Japanese wonder building (Toudai-ji). It's pretty impressive in real life.
Alright, idea for samurai: what if every kill they make gives them a small buff? Maybe +1 hp per kill, +1 attack per 5 kills, +1/+1 armour per 10 kills.
This is a nod to historical samurai taking heads to their lord to prove how many foes they have killed, and rewards players for keeping a small core of elite samurai alive through multiple battles. It also makes them a spectacular anti trash unit since trying to drown these samurai in raw numbers will just make them stronger.
It also encourages the use of monks to keep samurai alive for as long as possible, and having to stop and heal up between fights prevents the snowball having too much momentum.
Whenever I play the Japanese for a custom game, I like to train a huge army of elite samurai, a few priests, and a couple trebuchet. I feel satisfaction when my samurai army slashes through all opposition like a fine nodachi blade. My other favorite army is a whole lot of longbowmen whenever I play the Britons.
Here we go! SOTL Favorite civ!
Starting the new year off with a favorite. (Your favorite that is but still a favorite.)
Funny thing about the end is that I was thinking about a website where it’s literally just you talking about AoE2. The only thing missing was that it wasn’t your channel name, but who can argue against La Hire?
In team water maps i like them with vikings or the old indians for the fishing bonus, in land maps preffer the super agressive Kelts to early arrass.
No direct comment on Hera's video... disappointed. :(
But this is a great video on your fav. civilization. :). Thank you.
Where has the intro song gone? It's been gone a few videos now, and I miss it. I've been watching almost ten years, and that song has become quite special. If you are convinced that removing it is the right choice for your channel, I understand, but please know that it is loved. Questions aside, thank you for what you do here. This game is clearly dear to many people, and you make the highest quality analysis of it anywhere. Best wishes for you and your channel
This "Japanese" written with Soulfly's font is too nice 🤩
(Soulfly are a Brazilian-American heavy metal band featuring Max Cavalera, former Sepultura frontman)
Seeing the Winrate by Time, I'm curious:
How about a Video covering the best Civs by Game Time?
Like checking each Minute _(or whatever Interval)_ and seeing which Civ seems to perform best for what Time Slot.
I keep hearing "fish and chips" when you say "fishing ships". 😂😂😂😂
Looking for a civ with an open tech tree, great navy, good early archers and cavalry archers, a very strong but also indirect eco bonus, and an interesting unique unit? Look no further than Saracens
Or Mongols.
I'd love to see Samurai be able to swap to an Archer mode, but only if they don't take anti archer bonus damage when they aren't using their bow. Otherwise they could just make Samurai Archers a separate unit.
arigatou gozaimasu!
What is the name of the soundtrack at 6.30
I would add cheap Gunpowder units to Japan
Given they used gunpowder during late 1500s more than bow (no crossbow)
That's after Sengoku Jidai so like 1600ish, before that Samurai use bow much more than firearms (yes they had one even before Portuguese) and even during Sengoku Jidai, the troops that use Tanegashima weren't Samurai, due to their skill, their warbow outrange the guns while being more accurate as well as having more mobility with their horse riding archery. It's just Tanegashima is so much easier to use that they could have had 8000 soldiers armed with guns in less than a month.
Also cheap gunpowder already Italians thing, if I have to give them gunpowder related bonus it would have been Hand Cannoners shoot 25% faster referencing Nobunaga's consecutive rapid firing volley strategy.
@CrnaStrela I would reduce the cost and range as damage it happens
Given the fact that their homemade firearms were small bullets and size
An idea for a video: which units do more damage to constructions? I recently played with tarkan and got lil disappointed with their damage, I was thinking that maybe Japanese champions were better. Maybe a compare pop efficiency and pure damage. Maybe ranged, infantry, cavalry and siege
Next: How good is the Arambai/Karambit Warrior/Rattan archer
Damn... Someone loves his favorite civ.
#4 did surprise me 😂😂😂
The problem with Japanese Calvary is their light cav line late game. It’s why their CA play isn’t scary to other top tier CA civs. Tatars, Turks, etc…. Just have to avoid taking bad fights until their own light cav are on the field then they’ll dominate with a much more tanky meat sheild, having their CA attack the Japanese CA while he’s still shooting the light cav/hussar.
They should really mimic the Konnik in that a Samurai is a Cav Archer, and when it dies, it becomes the foot soldier we all know.
Arguably, would going head to head against japanese infantry count as a land war in asia?
Hey Spirit of the law, Guys here.
With so many transitions thanks to the flexible techtree was hoping for a Spirit of the Trans... No? Okay
Honor to you!🐉
Honor to your Town center!🐉
Honor to your sheep!🐉
12:05
Again:
Why would skirmishers be a "B" when they have full upgrades and you already have teh incentive to get the upgrades for the towers?
When 100% of upgrades is not an "A" for Spirit, I am very glad he wasn't my teacher at school...
Hey Spirit! :D I was watching some of your earlier videos, and there is one video topic I feel deserve an updated version: Namely, "is paladin upgrade worth it?". I felt like your theoretical evaluation was a bit weird, and you only harvested data for performance against cavalier, and did not compare performances against other relevant units like halbs, siege, arbalests, villagers, monks or eagles. I think the attack difference would in many cases either require 30 to 20% fewer hits, or not matter at all, diverging far from the average 15% you proposed as a theoretical value. I think the biggest improvement for paladin would be against arbalests or cav archers, and researching it against an army of Aztec monks would probably be a very bad idea, as your opponent is stealing a more powerful unit that's a bigger percentage of your army(assuming not pop capped). So if you're up against an army of arbalests and monks, at what point does the monk to archer ratio swing the results for whether or not the upgrade is a good investment? What about raiding beneath castles and town centers?
I also think it is enough of a late-game upgrade that it should be considered how gold efficient it is compared to cavalier. The paladin upgrade has a lot lower gold to food ratio than making more cavaliers. When not comparing solely by gold, I think comparing it to 10 more cavaliers plus 8 light cav is a more fair standard of comparison. But those reinforcements are not gonna come immediately, and the number of stables will affect production time while also being an extra wood cost. So you should probably collect sample data on what is a representative number of stables for measuring how much of the extra horse is on the field when paladin comes in.
Another question is if palading is more of a long term value investment or a power spike to close out the game. If you have the resources to both research paladin and continually produce, I suspect it is a faster power spike than using the research funds on extra stables and cavaliers, which I guess would be a bit stronger mid-term.
I also think input from a pro player who excels at late game could be valuable for the more complicated qwuestions.
Anyway, these are the sorts of analyses from you I enjoy the most, and even though I don't play the game, I would really like a more in-depth answer to whether or not paladin is worth it.
Please cover AOM retold
Ive been playing Japanese the last like 3 days and i gotta say the CA bonus damage against archer isn't as OP as i thought. If they already have a few crossbows out its hard to catch up enough in numbers to win a fight. I overjudged it a lot in the beginning
Small correction: At 4:32 you say that going Head to head with japanese infantry is the 4th most common of the classic blunders.
But its really #1 - Never get involved in a land war in Asia! Infantry are land army, Japanese are in Asia. Therefore, Japanese infantry = Land war
-Despite the large presence in Historical Battles, all daimyo lord factions in Victors and Vanguished. Just like Vikings (technically, do we still consider them to be a Civilization?), to this very day, still no standard campaign of their own.
Here goes the phrase: "Personally, I think, in my very unhumble opinion" :
-As I said in previous Samurai video, very long history of fairly weak and expensive unit, grew into quite a slaughter, real deal unique killer of uniques.
-Katapuruto is immensely powerful.(Initially costs as much as 750 wood, 400 gold)
Trebuchet working that fast is fascinating, deadly like fart in the wind throwing katana at you from the shadows ˇˇ Yeah, I expected Japanese to lack Siege Engineers.
-Again, imagine them without Yasama, Gold Shaft Mining, Bloodlines, Treadmill Crane, Hoarding and staggered Feudal/Castle/Empire infantry attack speed bonus +11%/+18%/+33%.
Imagine them with Samurai having almost twice as long train time, 100% lesser bonus anti-unique damage, no base pierce armor, less 10 hp and 2 attack and Elite Samurai costing
950 food, 875 gold and Samurai itself costing 60 food, without Cavalry Archers having +2 attack vs Archers (which goes nicely with Parthian Tactics).
You will still have image of Civ with nice fast and cheap Dark Age eco build, very good Fishing ships(LOL, I just found out that Malay 3x amount of Fish were initially unlimited fish food and them 33% cheaper removed and identical Italian bonus nerfed to 15% Fishing Ship discount), good attack speed bonus for infantry and impressive scouting with War Galley line, I guess.
Well, theres no glaring weakness, except (B-) Cavalry without Hussars, Paladins and Plate Barding Armor. (B-) Siege without Siege Ram, Siege Onager and Bombard.
Lacking in (B) defense and utility without Architecture, Sappers, Bombard Tower, Heated Shot, not having only Heresy for Monks and traditionaly for most civs Economy is lacking
Guilds, Crop Rotation and Stone Shaft Mining.
Decent Civ with nice take for Heavy Cavalry Archers(even when compared to Turks Sipahi, Cumans, Mongols, Hungarian Composite Bow,etc), most efficient Trebuchets I ever seen and obviously devastating infantry which can come out on top from Teuton Templars, Norman Serjeants, Viking Berserks, Polish Obuchs, Armenian Fereter Warrior Priest.
-I'd kinda like comparison with Shotels, Karambits, Jaguar Warriors with Garland Wars and natural weakness to Roman Comitatenses Legionary/Elite Centurion.
-I must say Urumi Swordsmen suprised me. So thats where I want to see Throwing Axeman, Gbeto, Chakram Throwers and duality of mounted Stirrupt Konnik pulling their weight.
-Having Shipwright, practically second, third if not best infantry out there, 99% of Monk upgrades, gaining Treadmill Crane, Yasama even at the cost of Architecture and Bombard Towers, damn cool Cavalry Archers, nice take on ships, with comfortably fast set up eco structures. Yup, overall B (B+ to B-) Civ here.
The trade off for one of the most excellent fast katana swinging infantry out there, would be that Paladin, Camel and Hussar charge of other civs can make you pop out your eyes still.
-You should compare Japanese Fishing Ships with Dravidian, Bengali, Italian(upgrades) and Persian ones.
-Wait, those all count as archer unit type? LOL. Congratulations on beating Bohemian, Aztec, Mayan and Inca Cavalry Archers .... : D .... (yes, they dont exist without conversion, d'u'h)
It actually makes sense historically, since initally Samurai were all..yeah, Cavalry Archers and (Naginata) Lancers.
Of course, the idea of Japanese ever seeing/using a crossbow(unlike Chinese; for that particular part of Asia) never crossed my mind. Given the hsitorical tradition of Kyūdō Yumi archery.
Jack-of-all-trades indeed, but (melee) cavalry is still kinda rigid. Remember, no Bloodlines until 2013 (Forgotten Empires), without Hussar and no Plate Barding Armor. That sucks , eh?
- Age of Conquerors 2000. Samurai base pierce armor increased from 0 to > 1. 2023 Dynasties of India, Gambesons to Milita line added. Yeah, thats just 23 years of waiting, no big deal ˇˇ
- How would you compare Yasama towers against Korean Eupseong?
Especially given that Korean Guard>Keep Tower upgrades are free. Let alone Persian Citadels or those fast moving Bohemian Bombard Towers ˇˇ
I'd kinda leave unique Norman Donjons, Inca stone discount and Korean fast stone mining bonuses out of this.
-Endless possibilites, all-over-the-place, jack-of-all-trades. Either japanese gained camels or saracens/byzantines learned how to speak japanese here xD
Spirit of the Japanese Sponsorship?!
Let's come back again in 10 years.
Spirit of the Blood on La Hire's Sword is Almost Dry
Bro do a teutons overview its been almost 7 years
Oh no Hera what have you done
Why japanese cavalry archer don't do bonus damage skirmisher?
It made them soft counter skirms which was not intended.
Japanese cav archer beat Turks cav archer?
Even though the bonus is free? Isn't that too op?
Where intro?
1 question though. How the heck am I supposed to beat Franks on Arabia as Japanese??!!
I wonder how many of these advertisement websites he has made at this point
Its a good day 🎉
where is the intro I need those meme
I feel like i watched 7 of these Japanese civ overviewa by spirit 😅😂