​

Greeks:


-
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Egyptians:

Caravan:

• Now has the same Trade Rate as all other civilizations' Caravans.

> Balance Team's Comment: Since the beginning, Egyptian Economy units have had slightly different statistics than other civilizations' equivalent units. This includes their villagers (higher training time), Fishing Boats (worse gathering rate) and Caravans (worse trade rate, meaning that an Egyptian Caravan will deliver less gold travelling the same distance as other civilizations' Caravans would.) In the Summer Update of 2012, the original developers made the gathering rate for the Egyptian Fishing Boat the same as other civilizations, but the same treatment wasn't done to Caravans, so we are doing that now.
​

[Tech] Camel Rider Champion:

• Now grants +15% Health, from +10%. Still grants +25% Pierce Armor and +100% Bonus damage vs Ranged

> Balance Team's Comment: One of Egypt's biggest strengths in Age II is having a fast Cavalry unit that counters all other Cavalry in Age II, allowing them to establish map control easily. However, we feel that Camels fall off a little too hard in the later stages of the game, so we are increasing the Health buff that they get with their Champion upgrade so that their power level in Age II remains intact, while they get a little sturdier in Age III onward.
​

Elephant Archer:

• Now costs Wood and Gold, instead of Food and Gold. (Wood cost up to 225, from 0. Food cost down to 0, from 225.)

> Balance Team's Comment: While this may seem a little odd, it isn't something that hasn't been done before. The original Balance team changed the cost of Celtic Rams from 150 Wood and 20 Gold to 50 Food and 120 Wood. We are changing the cost of Elephant Archers to be in line with other Ranged units so that their cost doesn't overlap with War Elephants too much, allowing Egyptian players to train them a little easier.
​

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Persians:

Sparabara:

• Now has 0.59 base Snare, from 0.69. Champion upgrade updated.

> Balance Team's Comment: Persians are the only civilization that get Spearmen in Age II, whereas every other civilization has access to them in Age I. Spearmen all have 0.59 Snare, meaning that units hit by them get their Movement Speed reduced by 41%, allowing Spearmen to reach them and kill them. Sparabara used to have a base Snare of 0.69. While this is not really problematic in most matchups, in Persia vs Celt matchup in particular, this causes an interaction where the combination of Celtic Spearmen being faster than all other Age I units (At 7 speed, instead of 6) and Sparabara having lower Snare than all other Age I units allowed them to run away from Sparabara that hit them far easier than other Age I units, making for a very annoying situation for Persian players and making defense against the Celts in Age I very, very difficult. In order for Sparabara not to have too much snare, we are removing the Snare increase they get with their Champion upgrade.
​

[Tech] Sparabara Champion:

• No longer grants +15% Snare. Cost reduced to 200 gold, from 250 gold.

> Balance Team's Comment: See "Sparabara".
​

Immortal:

• Gold cost increased to 45, from 50.

> Balance Team's Comment: We are very happy with how viable Immortals are currently, now that they cost 1 population baseline. But we feel like they are a little too cheap for the power they bring to the battlefield, so we are increasing their gold cost a little bit.
​

[Tech] Stronghold Tower:

• Now available to the Persian civilization.

> Balance Team's Comment: Much like Net Weights (the Age III Fishing Boat upgrade), Persia's access to this Technology has been disabled (Since the Summer 2012 Update by the original developers). We believe that Persia could use a little better Static Defense in the lategame, so we are bringing them this Tech back.
​

Cataphract:

• Melee-Infantry Armor increased to 0.40, from 0.30. Bonus Damage vs Siege increased to 2.5x, from 2.0x

> Balance Team's Comment: This change should help Cataphracts perform better against their intended targets, Infantry and Siege units, while keeping their power level towards all other unit types intact.​

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Celts:

Ram:

• Hitpoints increased to 350, from 330.

> Balance Team's Comment: More Celtic Ram buffs, yay!
​

[Tech] Carpentom Champion:

• No longer grants +10% Movement Speed. Still grants Area Damage

> Balance Team's Comment: Carpentom Champion is one of the Celts' most important upgrades in the lategame, providing them with a quick and agile unit that also deals Area Damage. We feel like this unit is a little too oppressive in the lategame, so we are taking away the extra Movement Speed that they get with the upgrade. They still benefit from Stable Factory techs, so you can still make your Carpentoms move faster!​

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Babylonians:

Siege Tower:

• Hitpoints reduced to 500, from 600.

> Balance Team's Comment: Babylonian Siege Towers are a little too tanky, so we are decreasing their Hitpoints by 100. Killing them should be a little easier now.

​

Sapper:

• Training Time increased to 15 seconds, from 10.

> Balance Team's Comment: Sappers are one of the most underused units in PvP right now. But a quick glance at them shows that they train way too fast for an Age III unit, especially when combined with the lategame power of Gardens, so we are increasing their training time a little bit.
​

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Norse:

​

Harjar:

• Training Time increased to 15 seconds, from 11. Pierce Armor reduced to 0.20, from 0.30.

> Balance Team's Comment: As the Norse Army's main frontline units, Harjars are able to withstand surprising amounts of damage while costing very little gold (only 20 gold). We believe that they are a little too good for how much they cost, and also how quickly they train. A Training Time of 11 seconds combined with their super tanky stats means that not only do they take very long to die, but they also reinforce much quicker than the enemy can, allowing the Norse to overwhelm their opponent way too quickly while not spending too many resources themselves. This should help address this problem quite noticeably.

​

[Tech] Dog Training:

• Research Time reduced to 20 seconds, from 40.

> Balance Team's Comment: More doggies, more fun.
​

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Global:


Storehouse:

• Build Time reduced to 20 seconds, from 30.

> Balance Team's Comment: As perhaps one of the most drastic changes in the early game Balance, we have decided to significantly reduce the Build Time of all Storehouses. One of the main purposes of this change is to reduce the amount of damage players take when they lose their Hunting Storehouse as a result of the enemy rush in Age I. Storehouses cost 50 Wood and (used to) take 30 Seconds of Villager Build Time, effectively costing (at the very least) 80 resources (since every second spent on building the Storehouse is another second spent not gathering resources). We feel like this is too much economic damage compared to the effort required to deal such damage. We do realize that this change impacts the early game substantially, so we are going to keep a close eye on how this change turns out.
​

PF2K's Personal Note: Also a really nice quality of life improvement as a side effect of this change is that if you send your Villagers to nearby trees when you start making your first Wood storehouse, they won't run back to your TC before the Storehouse is built. Yay!

​

Religious/Tech Buildings:

• Build Time reduced to 30 seconds, from 50. Affected Buildings: Greek Academy/Greek Temple/Persian War Academy/Celtic Bard Hall/Celtic Sacred Grove/Norse Great Hall

> Balance Team's Comment: This change should encourage players to use these buildings more frequently. The reason that Babylonians and Egyptians don't benefit from this change is that their Religious/Tech Buildings tie directly to their Aging Up mechanic, so they have access to those buildings anyway. (Ziggurat, Temple of Ra, Temple of Set, Temple of Ptah)
​

Merchant Transport

• Maximum Gold Carry Capacity reduced to 200 gold per trip, from 300. Trade Rate reduced by roughly 12%.

> Balance Team's Comment: Merchant Transports' population count was reduced to 1, from 2 in Balance Patch #11. However, while we are very happy that they are getting used much more frequently than before, we feel like they can be a little too good and oppressive, being able to transport so much gold while costing only 1 population, so we are dialing down their power level quite a bit to make them more balanced.​

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Remember, as always, these changes affect Champion PvP (And Champion Skirmish) mode ONLY and do not affect Quests, Regular Skirmish Mode, Crete or Geared PvP!

You can also see the entire Champion Mode Tech Tree (for all civilizations) here!

Feel free to discuss the changes below!