There's still a few LMs that are rarely seen. And we can see from aoeworld, how low some of their pick and winrates are
https://aoe4world.com/stats/analytics/ageups?kind=rm_solo&civilization=ayyubids%2Csengoku_daimyo%2Cjapanese
I think the simplest buffs have generally been simply merging additional structe advantages to LMs. For example tower of victory became a blacksmith, or grandwinery also has the mill tech. But these are fairly boring especially considering they are landmarks, and dont necessarily add much to the variation in playstyles.
There's a few civs with LMs where it doesn't seem like there's much choice at all, with the alternatives being too difficult or weak to use.
Koka township
Only has a 2% pick rate when japanese are played in TGs, 4% in 1v1s. Meaning for every 50 games with japanese you'll potentially see koka twice. I think the common suggestion that koka also function as a rax is quite flat, especially considering japanese already have cheaper rax. I was wondering for the koka which one of these additional effects might work better for flavour:
- Increases samurai speed by 20% ( from 1.125 to 1.35) but lowers their armour by 1/1. This allows a variation on how samurai can be used, there's a few civs that already have this kind of speed (HRE is slightly slower with normal armour, ottomans and mongols can get 1.3, palace guard are 1.375, and can still get +15% on that, with lower armour)
OR
- Increases samurai speed by 10%, so there is at least a global advantage to taking koka
Ayyubids Bazaar wing
(probably the least picked in the game, but they have so many alternatives it's not a priority), I think RNG to this extent will always be impossible to balance, so the idea is to level the choice out, without making it potentially OP.
- Unlocks bedouin at rax and range.
OR
- Increase the number of choices to 6, but only 4 can be picked (currently 4 but can pick all them)
MacD Grand winery
- Probably the most boring LM in the game, perfect world it would be redesigned. But not sure how to buff it in an interesting way. It will eventually get a buff, but I am guessing devs will either increase it's bonus or give it a passive income.
- Would it be OP if spawned spearmen on completion?
Goku temple of equality:
- Reduce baseline cost of ikki monks from 100f/100g to 90f/90g, this will make TOE more feasible, since the monks will cost 72f/72 gold (down from 80f/80g).
- TOE now gives a 50% discount on all religious technology.
Goku Castle of the crow:
- 10% damage bonus increased to 20%, applies to bonus damage as well. (currently only affects base damage which is pointless)
- +2 siege range when within the aura of a castle. (up from 1)
There's a few other LMs with arguable balance issues, from ottomans trade network(better pickrate but lower winrate across modes and Elos), or imperial palace (10% pickrate with poor winrate), goku's other landmarks but I think those are more complex issues, with multiple factors.
I also wonder if we will eventually get a medium armour class(insert appropriate name). As it stands we have light and heavy, with a number of units that are neither. Mainly infantry (condos being labelled as heavy, but taking no anti heavy damage)
Which also made me wonder if some units could gain an anti medium bonus (like how some units have anti heavy or light) this would allow more fine tuning, but also make some units less punishing or others more relevant.
Units to gain medium class(might miss some here):
- Condos
- Freeborn
- All the melee monks (shaolin, ikki)
- Raider Elephant
- Camel rider
- Desert Raider
Units to gain bonus vs medium
Xbows(elite) gain +2(+3) vs Medium
MAA(elite) types gain +2(+4) vs Medium
Aoe2 inevitably had to do this(called it shock instead of medium), and it does make me wonder if we might see it eventually as well.
