AOE3 Forums

Plain and simple, look at the average winning percentage of all civs online and also, you can go to  ELO. Japan's winning percentage is not the highest, it is just the most played civ at the moment, but not by far. And see what are the most played civs by the top 20 players.They're not all japan, actually, most civs are represented. As to ES doesn't listen to the community, I find that strange because pre patch, as I read forums people had these 2 advices for japan, a lot of people, boost their shrines (because before they didn't make up for the -25 villagers) and nerf ashi attack. This is exactly what they did.

If japan is shrine booming, it's kind of like playing the dutch, if you just sit back and let him, his later colonial economy will make him unbeatable. So like against the dutch, you have to hit early and harass, how do you know what he is doing? SCOUT. If Japan rushes with ashi, japan doesn't have the strongest early rush in the game, if you can survive a aztec or iroquois tomahawk rush, you can survive an ashi rush. If they're fish booming, scout and send in battle ships early. They can't FF. My point is that they're definitely not impossible to counter. No civ in this game is. Every civ has strenghts and weaknesses and becoming a skilled player is all about learning to take advantage of both. There are always a few civs that are a bit OP, I think it's unavoidable. Japan is right now, so is India, Russia and Germany, my opinion anyways. But it's not big enough of a difference to make the game unplayable, not even close.

People say Portugal is UP, they're hard to rush in colonial because of 2 TCs, great FF, and then cassadores and dragoons. With a potential 4.95 of speed for the  first and 20 of range for the second, this is the best hit and run combo in the game, an expert can micro most players to death with that. I've seen people try to boom with the sioux, FF with Russia or Japan, early rush with dutch and so on... The other day I was playing a German captain, I was shrine booming slowly to keep up unit production and be aggressive early, I was fish booming as well. He is pike/xbow dual rax. I'm making ashi+nagi. He is not bothering me in the water at all, and sending all his pikeman around the map to destroy my shrines, so I found his xbows and send all my cavalry, since the pikes where all far, they were defenseless,  he lost like 30, I lost one . When his pikes finally got there, I pulled the cavalry back and the ashi got them. So I walked into his town and won. Of course, he said, Japan is so OP. Maybe. But he lost because he wasted 3200 resources on his units and lost them all with a poor strategy.

I'm PR 28 right, I'm no expert but I know a thing or two and here is my ADVICE to all new players, stick with a civ or 2, learn them inside and out, think about why you lost when you lost, what you could have done, learn how to adapt your play to every civ, how to counter every strategy, learn to adapt. Some civs are easier to play, all of them are hard to master. Do this instead of wasting all your time complaining about how this or that civ is OP.

Peace.

Henry Clay a.k.a. jacklope:

Goodspeed I pwned you when I was India and you were ottos. It still counts even though you were IMing and posting on the forums at the same time...

:\

couldn't you think of another thread to post this in? too irrelevant, it shows you're too proud of winning against my nooby ottos.

Master_Exodium:

Plain and simple, look at the average winning percentage of all civs online and also, you can go to  ELO. Japan's winning percentage is not the highest, it is just the most played civ at the moment, but not by far. And see what are the most played civs by the top 20 players.They're not all japan, actually, most civs are represented. As to ES doesn't listen to the community, I find that strange because pre patch, as I read forums people had these 2 advices for japan, a lot of people, boost their shrines (because before they didn't make up for the -25 villagers) and nerf ashi attack. This is exactly what they did.

If japan is shrine booming, it's kind of like playing the dutch, if you just sit back and let him, his later colonial economy will make him unbeatable. So like against the dutch, you have to hit early and harass, how do you know what he is doing? SCOUT. If Japan rushes with ashi, japan doesn't have the strongest early rush in the game, if you can survive a aztec or iroquois tomahawk rush, you can survive an ashi rush. If they're fish booming, scout and send in battle ships early. They can't FF. My point is that they're definitely not impossible to counter. No civ in this game is. Every civ has strenghts and weaknesses and becoming a skilled player is all about learning to take advantage of both. There are always a few civs that are a bit OP, I think it's unavoidable. Japan is right now, so is India, Russia and Germany, my opinion anyways. But it's not big enough of a difference to make the game unplayable, not even close.

People say Portugal is UP, they're hard to rush in colonial because of 2 TCs, great FF, and then cassadores and dragoons. With a potential 4.95 of speed for the  first and 20 of range for the second, this is the best hit and run combo in the game, an expert can micro most players to death with that. I've seen people try to boom with the sioux, FF with Russia or Japan, early rush with dutch and so on... The other day I was playing a German captain, I was shrine booming slowly to keep up unit production and be aggressive early, I was fish booming as well. He is pike/xbow dual rax. I'm making ashi+nagi. He is not bothering me in the water at all, and sending all his pikeman around the map to destroy my shrines, so I found his xbows and send all my cavalry, since the pikes where all far, they were defenseless,  he lost like 30, I lost one . When his pikes finally got there, I pulled the cavalry back and the ashi got them. So I walked into his town and won. Of course, he said, Japan is so OP. Maybe. But he lost because he wasted 3200 resources on his units and lost them all with a poor strategy.

I'm PR 28 right, I'm no expert but I know a thing or two and here is my ADVICE to all new players, stick with a civ or 2, learn them inside and out, think about why you lost when you lost, what you could have done, learn how to adapt your play to every civ, how to counter every strategy, learn to adapt. Some civs are easier to play, all of them are hard to master. Do this instead of wasting all your time complaining about how this or that civ is OP.

Peace.

, very good post. though win pct doesn't tell you anything. 

goodspeed:

-  let me give you a little lesson about balance issues. main point is that below captain/major level players do not know how to (ab)use a civ's OPness because they don't have the skill to perform the OP strategies optimally and lack adaptation/micro skill to use their armies optimally. a luitenant's japs are easily countered by any captain+ player for exactly this reason. hence OP or UPness does not exist below luitenant level. only if both players play a  near perfect game (say 2 iamgrunts face eachother) can be concluded whether or not a civ is OP.

While what you say is correct but the rank curve arc past captain is very steep so you're looking at about 90% of players who are less than a major. The patch suits the 10% of players who are above this level in balance changes but is it as good for the majority of gamers who are not of this skill level? Infact could a patch be made that makes it balanced for all skill levels of gamers - I don't think so. OP and UPness DO exist below leuitenant level - Just in a different way, this maes it hard to balance a patch. All skill level players could be considered.

but the players who are most dedicated to this game and have played it the most should be given priority.

hence base balance patches on experts, not on noobs. 

(the 10% we're looking at probably played more games than the 90%) 

goodspeed:

Main point is that GuitarHeroMatt does not know how to (ab)use a civ's OPness because he don't have the skill to perform the OP strategies optimally and lacks adaptation/micro skill to use his armies optimally.

Lol, spot the edit. Sums me up tho.

GuitarHeroMatt:

goodspeed:

Main point is that GuitarHeroMatt does not know how to (ab)use a civ's OPness because he don't have the skill to perform the OP strategies optimally and lacks adaptation/micro skill to use his armies optimally.

Lol, spot the edit. Sums me up tho.

haha :P 

so it does...

does it matter?
 

why of course.

get on tad, i gots nothing to do.