Turkana Shieldmaster

[Yallz]

Turkana Shieldmaster are completely unplayable.

Its as simple as that, I was griping on the tlk chat and someone said I should post it here so there you go.

They are overcosted, not in anyway interesting, an inferior choice for ranking and breathtakingly hopeless in PvP. I cant think of a single reason to take shieldmasters other than some obscure roleplay.

To people who have looked at the units reference guide this should be obvious but the simplest comparison to make is with the stats of the Champion (both at standard):

Turkana Shieldmaster 220 HP 32 Str 0 Rgd 120 Auth infantry

Champion 220 HP 28 Str 0 Rgd 100 Auth infantry

As you can see the only advantage it has over the champion is 4 additional strength, this equates to approximately 14% over the champion. And yet it cost 20 more Authority, a one fifth increase in price. Normally stronger units have less efficient stat ratios than cheap units because they are bulkier and less prone to injury and so can also keep swinging for longer, but as we can see here that isnt the case. They have the same HP!!!

And lets not forget that Champions are generic units, any nation can recruit them. the terrain bonuses average to zero anyway and its not like in this game you can completely avoid certain terrain types. By the mid or certainly the late game everyone will have wheeled across some part of the map one time or another.
So why would a south african player ever choose to take Shieldmasters? With worse stats and riskier replacement than champs they achieve very little. As and as far as pricey 'elite' units the bakuba is superior (although only slightly I believe this too needs a smaller buff - buffing everything and nerfing this at the same time was a step too far.)

That is really all i can say on the topic, thank you for your time.

[Nuvelle]

Need someone to make recommendations on stat changes to go with this.

[Fiskerman]

Make em more templar like?

So more hp more auth and maybe even 0.5 leadership like the bakubas.
Can someone else determine some numbers, dont got time atm.

[Yallz]

I dont think Im an expert at balancing by any means - imo 0.5 leadership would make them too similar to bakubas (which are also south african units). Someone said they were a bit Op before the nerfs at 240 HP, so 230 HP sounds reasonable just to see. This is equivalent to 4.5% HP increase which is modest but given the importance for ranking and surviving hits I think this is fair and I dont want to advocate buffing them too far.

Edit: Maybe Bacubas could go to 235HP? - Id like to see both these changes ideally

[Frans]

Shieldmasters were so op it wasn't even funny.
They came from 240 hp, 36 str at 125 auth and at max marq would outperform regular champs by like 3x.

But after the nerf, I agree they don't look appetizing and I would not pick them, even with their terrain adv compared to regular champs.

With the name 'Shieldmaster' I would suggest up their hp and maybe decrease the str a bit.
If they're 235-240 hp 30 str at 120 auth, they'd be more interesting. Next to Masaai Champs (imo the current top rankers) they'd be +15-20 hp for +20 auth wich is I think a fair deal.

[Tiralan]

Changed per age 359 - let me know what you think