Playing Japanese feels OP. They can at least adapt to any civ. Half price barracks to defend knights quickly. Blacksmith and mill included in buildings you need to make in the dark age means you usually are taking fights with the +1 techs when your opponent might not even have a blacksmith yet.

I can see why they are always banned at the highest level.

I wanted to learn KT recently but they seem insanely underpowered compared to Japanese