Hmm... page 7. This is sad and boring, because this thought of "1 new unit to make game perfect" is
a lie.
Krom and Dark Lord's comments about infinite whinning about units are actually true, will never end.
Rock Paper Scissors: It's achieved. Every "food chain" has a top, which in this game would be swordman/knight.
Let's stop right here before thinking in the Barbarian... and let's open new doors to solve problems through minimal efforts.
The clue to bring real balance, is in the
Production cycles.
What would we do without our KaM Calculator, our dear member Bo!
Guys, it's all about Time. Do you remember that Iron Bar Smithy produces 1 each 25 seconds? (with 5 secs to rest).
He actually is producing Iron bars at extremely high speed... just compare him with Vineyard -> 50 seconds for 1 wine.
My recommendation is adjusting working times for
Iron production only.
Wow... I don't want a super nerf making Iron smelter as slow as Fisherman, but at least like Bakery -> 1 Bar each 38 seconds.
I don't know if "Working Animation Time" can be changed making the same sequences take longer... However I DO know that resting time can be modified, for instance default is 5 seconds in most productions... with exceptions like Fisherman taking 1 minute of lazyness.
Designers of the game thought about abusable Fishermans... making their resting times as long as 1 minute, so if someone wanted to abuse this building, he would have to build multiple Fisherhuts (things we see nowadays a lot).
If we change the timing for Iron bar smithy, we will have to test new interesting stuff... for instance we know that nowadays most notable iron production is -> 3 iron mines, 3 iron bars, 2 armoury, 2 workshop (the classic formula).
I'd like to see what would happen with new production cycles.
Less iron units for sure, in which case leather has valuable participation.
Imagine this scenario where with the Iron bars you choose to train Knights, and the opponent goes Lances + Xbows + archers... something more variated due to the less Iron bars available after the 60 PT.
My idea is actually pretty good for all persons involved in this discussion. Simple and with a guaranteed effectiveness.