This have been discussed in various other threads, but I will summarize a few of my opinions, observations, suggestions here. You're welcome to do so too since my post alone will in no way be all-encompassing.
The fire phase must become not only activated but important from the beginning of the game. As it is right now, it's not even present at the start and doesn't become noticeable until the mid or (if you're playing an ordinary non-European country) late part of the game. Rename it to "range phase" if "fire" doesn't feel accurate enough. Naturally, with the use of gunpowder, the fire/range base multiplier for infantry increases much more rapidly than for cavarly, but the fire/range phase should be important for cavalry too. 1000 horsemen with bows aren't very different from 1000 non-mounted archers. If anything, horsemen should get increased defensive fire/range values thanks to their mobility.
There are examples of this during Babur's invasion of India (and with that, the creation of the Mughal Empire, one of the most important events during the EU3 time period) when horse archers played a crucial role (probably more so than the cannons and muskets he brought with him). In EU3 1.2.1, will we ever see an vastly outnumbered Timurid cavalry dominated army decimating Indian foes during the fire phase? No. Another example is a player controlled Ottoman Empire. They are better off expanding east- and northwards on the plains. The provinces are Sunni and Mongolian-Turkic and the military opposition is far weaker than in Eastern Europe (just not right). A similar example is AI China. It always sends its huge infantry armies west out on the plains, and instead of getting severely "pincushioned" by horse archer armies, is victorious and gets enormous. (As we know, China was actually itself repeatedly invaded - constantly plauged by nomadic incursions.)
Land tech needs to be adjusted so that (from what I can tell) non-European countries (that aren't basing their entire economy on trade) can actually develop historically. Japan typically never gets muskets and I myself playing as Mysore in control of 90 percent of India just invented longbows (had been in use since BC) in the 1660's (!). I can't see how West African nations will ever get hold of muskets, when in reality huge numbers of muskets were imported from Europe (that's one of the reasons to why European conquest of that region didn't occur until the invention and mass manufacturing of repeating rifles and machine guns in the late 19th century).
Tech groups are too undetailed and limits countries such as Ethiopia and Songhai, renowned for their cavarly, to recruit cavarly and seafaring East Africans to build ships (sure, they are too poor to build a big enough navy to defend themselves from anything but pirates, but still - they knew how to construct and navigate ships). Mad King James suggested having several African tech groups to solve this problem, and why not?
The fire phase must become not only activated but important from the beginning of the game. As it is right now, it's not even present at the start and doesn't become noticeable until the mid or (if you're playing an ordinary non-European country) late part of the game. Rename it to "range phase" if "fire" doesn't feel accurate enough. Naturally, with the use of gunpowder, the fire/range base multiplier for infantry increases much more rapidly than for cavarly, but the fire/range phase should be important for cavalry too. 1000 horsemen with bows aren't very different from 1000 non-mounted archers. If anything, horsemen should get increased defensive fire/range values thanks to their mobility.
There are examples of this during Babur's invasion of India (and with that, the creation of the Mughal Empire, one of the most important events during the EU3 time period) when horse archers played a crucial role (probably more so than the cannons and muskets he brought with him). In EU3 1.2.1, will we ever see an vastly outnumbered Timurid cavalry dominated army decimating Indian foes during the fire phase? No. Another example is a player controlled Ottoman Empire. They are better off expanding east- and northwards on the plains. The provinces are Sunni and Mongolian-Turkic and the military opposition is far weaker than in Eastern Europe (just not right). A similar example is AI China. It always sends its huge infantry armies west out on the plains, and instead of getting severely "pincushioned" by horse archer armies, is victorious and gets enormous. (As we know, China was actually itself repeatedly invaded - constantly plauged by nomadic incursions.)
Land tech needs to be adjusted so that (from what I can tell) non-European countries (that aren't basing their entire economy on trade) can actually develop historically. Japan typically never gets muskets and I myself playing as Mysore in control of 90 percent of India just invented longbows (had been in use since BC) in the 1660's (!). I can't see how West African nations will ever get hold of muskets, when in reality huge numbers of muskets were imported from Europe (that's one of the reasons to why European conquest of that region didn't occur until the invention and mass manufacturing of repeating rifles and machine guns in the late 19th century).
Tech groups are too undetailed and limits countries such as Ethiopia and Songhai, renowned for their cavarly, to recruit cavarly and seafaring East Africans to build ships (sure, they are too poor to build a big enough navy to defend themselves from anything but pirates, but still - they knew how to construct and navigate ships). Mad King James suggested having several African tech groups to solve this problem, and why not?
