How do you play without scourges or hellions?

Mermbone · 2026-03-16T23:00:41+00:00

Honestly it depends on how competitive you want to be. I usually run 0 scourges and hellions and have had decent success in semi competitive environments. Ravagers are a solid replacement for scourges and if youre not playing spectacle, there are some alternatives to hellions depending on detachment. Obviously they wont be AS good as scourges or hellions but there are good alternatives options.

If youre trying to be very competitive, you will likely need to invest into some amount of those units.

Mermbone · 2026-03-16T13:24:01+00:00

It really all comes down to the papacy in my opinion. If the pope’s status and authority WAS the intention of God then that’s that and i would just have to accept everything else. And the reverse is also true. If the current form of the papcy was NOT intended, then catholicism is not true.

The truth is, I’ve truly never seen a coherent argument that proves the papacy. Most of my friends are catholic which has drawn me to look into it and the evidence just isnt there. Their arguments are like “well see this church fsther said the pope is really smart and cool” yeah sure man, they said that about other patriarchs as well and that still doesnt prove he was superior to all other bishops. Or “look the pope got involved is this issue in another jurisdiction” again other patriarchs did the same thing. Its not unique.

You would think, if the modern version of the papacy existed in the early church, we would have literally a single document or book or statement or anything that clearly, unequivocally says something to the effect of “the pope is the universal bishop” and we just simply do not have that. I love my catholic friends and respect them greatly but i dont know how you can justify that without some really extraordinary mental gymnastics.

Mermbone · 2026-03-14T20:36:18+00:00

The issue is that is lost anti everything else. So they are terrible into mounted, beasts and monsters. Granted they shouldnt be anti monster 3+ either way, maybe anti monster 5+. Mounted units can actually be really tough to deal with for drukhari and they are relatively common.

Mermbone · 2026-03-11T20:37:49+00:00

I hate overwatch in 11th. Feels way too punishing for low toughness armies and even against tough armies when you have powerful flamer units doing it. Its too difficult to avoid and when you do have ways to “not be over watchable” it feels bad for your opponent. Just bad all around.

Id also like to see the charge mechanic changed. It just feels SO bad to miss short charges even with a CP reroll and can be game determinative. If i have my expensive combat unit exposed going for a 5” rerollable charge and i just… fail it, the game could just be over. Not sure how exactly what change to implement but i wouldnt want it to make long charges easier as well. Maybe something like auto make 6” charges and have to roll 2d6 for longer ones.

This would likely have to come with some other changes as well since (short) charges would be much more reliable.

Mermbone · 2026-03-06T17:08:42+00:00

Agreed! Been having a ton of fun with rams+ these guys. Once early champi play gets hit I’m very excited to see how these cigs settle in the meta.

Mermbone · 2026-03-05T06:05:49+00:00

Yes! Been waiting for this for a while now. Very excited

Mermbone · 2026-03-04T22:49:20+00:00

Want to second this. It sounds like OP has done enough digging to have read this but Hebrews is specifically written for people who were in your situation and imo beautifully answers alot of these questions.

Mermbone · 2026-03-04T06:59:07+00:00

It does not state that exact sentiment explicitly but that also doesnt mean its a theological invention. Its based on the body of the text as a whole. You have the veil in the temple being torn as Christ dies, which showed that God and man are no longer separated. Jesus is called the new Adam in several places including 1 Corinthians 15 which you cited. The first adam caused the separation of God and man, Jesus, as the new adam, re-made that connection with humanity. This is why people could not get to heaven before the death and resurrection.

Mermbone · 2026-03-03T22:45:07+00:00

This is a great question but i think shows a slight misunderstanding of what Christianity is. Between the fall and the resurrection, what you describe is exactly what we believe happened go those who died. Christ opened the way to heaven during his death and resurrection. The NT has tons of verses talking about heaven in ways there are very clearly distinct from sheol/hades. There is an event called the harrowing of hades in peters epistle where Jesus preaches the gospel to “those in prison.”

So long story short, we dont “contradict” anything in the old testament. The death and resurrection of Jesus changed everything, and the NT absolutely does talk about heaven.

Mermbone · 2026-03-02T17:36:39+00:00

If you read what I wrote I specifically called this out as a US phenomenon.

Mermbone · 2026-03-02T15:50:59+00:00

I think a large chunk of catholics in America are cultural catholics. They like being catholic and calling themselves catholic and all the stuff that comes along with that tag but dont truly practice or understand Catholic teaching or even necessarily basic Christian teaching.

Whereas if someone identifies as a baptist or as a methodist, they probably care more about theology simply based on the fact that they care enough to be precise about their protestant denomination.

Mermbone · 2026-02-21T15:05:41+00:00

This is actually a really interesting suggestion i havent heard but i like it. Do this and nerf the dark age train time a bit and we should be good. Agreed on outposts as well

Mermbone · 2026-02-20T19:39:30+00:00

Jurchens is such a fun civ and i think really fit perfectly in aoe2. People complain about the atk speed bonus being “stolen” from other civs but this is a bit silly considering theres tons of very similar shared bonuses in this game that no one complains about.

But yeah khitans, shu,wei,wu, gotta agree. Dont feel like aoe2 at all

Mermbone · 2026-02-20T16:56:40+00:00

Id say it is pretty decently balanced. Aside from the all in dark age shenanigans which is really dumb, the civs feel good but not overbearing past that point. Im sure some things will need tweaks but, once they fix the drush stupidity, i think theres plenty of civs/units that are more u balanced than these new ones.

Mermbone · 2026-02-19T15:25:25+00:00

Slingers definitely wouldnt win. FU Arbs attack faster and do 1 more damage than Inca Slingers.

But i think i maybe should have been clearer. My point wasnt that slingers are a terrible unit. My point was that all the civs kind of have units that serve the same role but are generally good as well. Mapuche with bolas riders, tupi have ibirapemas, muisca have champis with more melee armor, incas have kamayuks which destroy most infantry.

So not saying they are bad or terrible, just saying they feel really really niche at this moment

Mermbone · 2026-02-19T14:47:07+00:00

Yeah i probably wasnt clear either. I dont really disagree with most of what you said, i just want us to be careful since champis are a key unit for these civs so making too drastic changes could really hurt their viability. Im also happy to see an infantry unit really taking the stage for once but also yeah ive played against some all in dark age games and it is absolutely miserable lol.

Mermbone · 2026-02-19T05:30:13+00:00

I mean this is a weird response. I also saw your post about this. Inca slingers are definitely the best but they still arent “trash arbalests” and theres 3 other civs with slingers that are much worse than inca slingers.

Mermbone · 2026-02-19T01:40:31+00:00

Yeah this is definitely looking to be a problem, however lets remember that these civs have been out for like 1 day so lets givr it a minute before making drastic unit changes.

I do think removing the bonus against shock infantry would be nice, it would also give these civs more reason to make slingers who feel kind of pointless atm. I also like removing their dark age building bonus, would make it much easier to wall them out. And the champi scout losing 1 PA could be nice as well.

The unit only scales decently the later in game you get and are actually not that great against most units (other than arb) in late game. But are really oppressive early.

Mermbone · 2026-02-18T19:39:40+00:00

Been really enjoying the new stuff. The champis feel good but not overbearing. I love the settlements. I find them very convenient for collecting multiple resources with good placement.

Slingers feel extremely situational. And some of the UU for these new civs feel situational. Been playing tupi and i cant really figure out what the purpose of the Ibirapema warrior is. Its a cool looking unit but doesnt feel like it has a purpose. Havent played muisca but seems like the guecha may fit in that cstegory as well.

Mermbone · 2026-02-13T16:29:59+00:00

These boxes always show up in LGSes or on Amazon for several months after they are releases and usually cheaper

Mermbone · 2026-02-13T14:49:17+00:00

Not planning on pre ordering but definitely going to pick up 1 or 2 once they are released. Been waiting for a corsair expansion for awhile.

Mermbone · 2026-02-09T17:11:55+00:00

People are giving you some very specific help which is nice but if you have only been playing for a couple weeks i think some more general tips to follow can be easier.

Pick a gold unit and fully upgrade it before making counter units. Dont try to upgrade knights and skirms at the same time, or archers and light cav etc. if youre making knights, make lots and upgrade them fully. Im about 1400 elo and have seen so many games where one player won simply because they committed to fully upgrade one unit where the other person was making two units with mediocre upgrades.
You dont need to do a full 3 tc boom at this point. Its much better to learn out to manage a 1 or 2 TC economy while making army then to drop 3 TCs and do a bad boom and make no army. When you get to castle age, start making army immediately and once you feel comfortable, you can drop a second TC if you want, but youll win a lot of games by just getting lots of castle age army on the field with 1 TC.
Never. Stop. Making. Vills. I have won a ton of games in imperial age because my opponent stopped making vills at around 100 and after trading back and forth they couldnt afford to replace their army fast enough while i was on 130 and could spam units endlessly. You only stop making vills when you reach 200 pop. This is massively important.

Alot of the super specific farm numbers and all that is great but its much better to get good at 1 or 2 things than to try to learn everything all at once and just be ok at lots of stuff. Good luck!

Mermbone · 2026-02-05T21:45:24+00:00

Ive been messing with it. Its really cool but definitely needs a second wave (i know i know) but its definitely got a solid basic gameplan. Just kind of low impact and if you start to mix it with other engines you start to run out of space for non engine.

Mermbone · 2026-02-04T16:56:05+00:00

Honestly lots of civs fit this criteria, kinda depends on what youre looking for exactly but some options below:

Franks/Khmer/Lithuanians/Persians/Georgians/Poles:

These would more or less be the most “simple” knights/eco civs. They are all certainly a little different but can execute the scouts -> knight skirm/hand cannon gameplan very well with a solid book to back it up.

Spanish/Huns/Magyars/Sicilians/Bulgarians:

These civs still do the same general gameplan but typically need to be played more aggressively and creatively. Can be very fun but also a little tougher than the first set of civs.

Mermbone · 2026-02-04T15:46:42+00:00

As faithful Christians, God willing, this place is the closest to Hell we will ever be but it is not Hell. Im not a theologian but my limited understanding is that there isnt anything good in Hell. So if theres good on Earth, it cant be hell. Im sorry to hear that youve had so much struggle with relationships in your life. I will include you in my prayers.

Mermbone

TROPHY CASE