Best and Worst Cuman Mercenaries (AoE2)

[@bigbroarivus]

Magyar: perhaps the best Cuman Mercenary is the friend we made along the way

[@radomircita9420]

I guess Hungarian Kipchaks have only one counter. Young Bohemian son of a Blacksmith. Blessed be Jesus Christ

[@Green__Ghost]

I'm feelin' quite hungry

[@giantotter319]

Charles the IV. King of Bohemia had a long and successful reign

[@FireSparq]

Ah....I see you're a man of culture as well

[@renzoloco]

Hey! Henry's come to see us!

[@thomasdwalker9696]

Man of culture

[@datadeleted3245]

Strat for Cuman: - have a Magyar ally - 2tc boom (2nd on stone) - reach castle age - build castle - send some res for Magyar if needed, and all your stone - go to imp and research mercenaries - wait for your ally to do all the job for you.

[@bacononfire]

Cuman Mercenaries is an Imperial Age tech

[@datadeleted3245]

@@bacononfire I know, and what

[@bacononfire]

@datadeleted3245 you've skipped the part where you advance Imperial

[@volcanic_sloth]

in the time it takes for magyars to research all ca techs, getting those extra kipchaks will be too late to stomp the enemy and not worth the stone investment

[@datadeleted3245]

@@bacononfire ok, I edited, thx

[@ViciousSatsuma]

I'd say Mongols are easily top in practice. Not because of the individual unit, but how Mongols play in team games. Cuman mercenaries is not there to give your team s super op individual unit to preserve, but to give the team some free units for a bit of momentum. What matters for that is having a bunch of castles and cavalry archer upgrades researched when the tech is clicked. Mongols are the civ most often in that position. Berbers should be a sneaky addition to the list for the same reason, despite the individual kipchaks not being anything special.

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

Magyars also are most often in that position tho. And actually give the most bonuses to them.

[@Progeusz-]

@@ArawnOfAnnwn no, they are not, at least not as often as Mongols. They can't be both "most often" anyway.

[@ryanforgo3500]

I don't see your point at all, the only argument with mongols would be how the extra arrows loves the attack speed. Which is better vs armoured units like paladins ehere ur main hit can't do more than 2 for most civs anyway. But even then magyars would still have an advantage by doing 3 with main proj.

[@Progeusz-]

@@ryanforgo3500 the point is that Mongols almost always go into Elite Mangudai so it's extremely smooth for them to add Kipchaks as well because they were getting all the necessary upgrades and building multiple castles. Furthermore Kipchaks and Mangudai are both great to micro. Magyars on the other hand don't always go into HCA and cavalry archers are clunkier to micro, they wouldn't mesh as well with Kipchaks. Tatars also won't create many castles when going for HCA, they mostly do that when focusing on Keshiks and it isn't reasonable to have both Keshiks and HCA.

[@ViciousSatsuma]

@Progeusz- thanks for sensibly answering those questions.

[@arthurxavier3515]

0:57 might be fun if after the tech allies could train Kipchaks and the gold costs be given to the Cuman player

[@Limrasson]

Yeah right, we all know those mercenaries immediately spend their pay on booze and women.

[@einbenutzenderbenutzer]

​@@Limrasson which is based tbh

[@einbenutzenderbenutzer]

​@@Limrassonif you may not the tommorows evening, why not go all out today at night, right?

[@olorinistar9903]

Would be fun, but would be way op.

[@林易謙-i9m]

I've been waiting for this one for a long time 😍 Thank you SOTL

[@DaddyMouse]

Opening youtube to a video of SOTL is such a treat. Been zealously watching your content since pre-DE. You're one of the very few youtubers I watched every video of. They just click with me and always seem to fit my mood. Great stuff, keep it up man!

[@TheOhioNews]

I don't even play much aoe2, and rarely ever play team games. But this content is still so engaging. I don't know how you do it man 😊

[@andresespinosa152]

thank dude i was looking forward for this video since cumans came out

[@Zuppigaming]

Been waiting for this video since viper got 10 of them playing team game and he was Mongol… it was insane.

[@lukasvideosify1596]

Ah, finally a new one! Greetings, Spirit! :D

[@cocain666666]

as a hungarian (magyar :D) my first thought was exactly that how cool it will be to see magyar on the number one spot. i was born and raised and live rn in one of the cuman counties in the state. i probably even have cuman ancestors too :D

[@no1ofconsequence936]

Um, I think you mean "born and raised"... I hope.

[@SIGNOR-G]

​@@no1ofconsequence936 one cant be so sure. Those cumans are savages. They may have kidnapped him.

[@proci890]

@@no1ofconsequence936 that's a cuman for you, they start early 🤣

[@КрасимирБузов]

6:00 i feel like viet cipchacks having hp boost is more of a bug and slip by devs than intended feature

[@sanmitranaik]

Hey Law, Guys of the Spirit here!

[@satinflowers3330]

Im feeling rather ungry

[@SuperMewKittyKatGaming]

you didnt see that CUMAN! we are CUMAN to get your castle! CUMAN my friends

[@Fernybun]

I'M CUUUUUUUMAN!

[@Broken_robot1986]

The Queman?

[@Jaddeel]

We are Cuman at the thought.

[@skytstrax]

I also like the idea of incan kipchaks. You don't have husbandry, bloodlines or parthian tactics, but otherwise all relevant techs. You then get cheap castles for more free units, and you can create a unit type you normally can't. Some of this also applies to the maya, but they already have a fast moving ranged unit in the plumed archer, and their castles are normal cost.

[@Madzleefilms]

Hey Spirit, Law of the guys here!

[@thomasbonney8670]

I would love to see a Best/Worst of Imperial Skirmishers! I'm sure it would be the same as a generic skirmisher tier list, but would be fun!

[@miguelangelcosiorangel2617]

Its so unfair that Cumans dont have bracer, like it's not even logical that one of the civs that encourages you the most to create CA with both unique techs and the civ bonuses you recieve benefiting them, ends up being mid at best and honestly you dont have a reason to use cuman mercenaries in 1v1. Something that i think could fix this is that for cumans themselves this kipchak mercenaries use no popspace since its a low HP unit that doesn't snowball so strong AND FOR GOD'S SAKE GIVE THEM BRACER Cumans today are over nerfed due of how strong they initially were when DE came out.

[@daarom3472]

Cumans are still very strong at the mid level, borderline OP as at that level people know a build order to up fast but dont know how to punish greedy booms. They are weakish at lower levels and viable at top level.

[@joshyjosh3772]

I think the main reason Cumans not having bracer is because they are from the same expansion with Tatars. One is focused on cav archers and other is focused on cav so both civs function differently. If you give cumans bracer then you probably should take paladin upgrade from them and switch the identity of the civ entirely.

[@miguelangelcosiorangel2617]

@@daarom3472 check out every proplayer civ tier list they're always c tier wich is not unplayable but also not optimal, in water and hybrid maps they're some of the worst and they have a unique tech that doesn't help them at all because even in TG mercenaries help some lf the other allies but not all of them and only benefits if cuman player has 3 or more castles (wich are weaker since cumans lack a lot lf defensive techs)

[@daarom3472]

@@miguelangelcosiorangel2617 yea I sympathize. However making them a bit stronger might make them unbeatable at mid level right away. Maybe make their feudal TC a bit more expensive making it impossible to do 17 pop up 2 TC feudal.

[@zxylo786]

​@@daarom3472Cumans are only great on Feudal and early castle age. After that. You are dead. There are no way to make comebacks unless you spam Paladins. If there is any gold left to do so.

[@sgtpepper8581]

Kipchaks needs bracer, 60 of them cannot even kill a single paladin at one shot

[@NoMoreCrumbs]

Or at least some kind of damage buff. Kipchaks really feel like they're slinging nerf darts

[@KCzz15]

They're really not meant for killing very high HP + armor units, that's like complaining you can't kill Teutonic Knights very efficiently with Halberdiers. Use them in a large enough group against massed groups of small low HP units and you'll melt half the group in one volley like an ice cube tossed into a volcano.

[@sgtpepper8581]

@@KCzz15 the problem is, they arent population efficienty, damage is so bad, plumed archers ar by far better, unique units are supposed yo be versatile, microing kipchaks dont work

[@KCzz15]

@@sgtpepper8581 Put 60 Kipkaks up vs 60 Plumed and the Plumed will melted before they can do anything unless you have 3000 ELO levels of micro and fully focus on it.

[@sgtpepper8581]

@@KCzz15 seriously not, equal numbers plumed archers wins, equal resources even more, stats are basically the same but plumed archers attack faster, +1 range, +1 attack (because extra arrows from kipchaks are almost useless) and have better accuracy

[@no1ofconsequence936]

Thank you for reminding me of the Magyars. They feel slow economically, but their military is awesome.

[@TorteInYourFace]

I remember a random team game Viper played a few years back with magyars and a cuman ally. He sounded like it‘s christmas already.

[@Aoedam]

I’ve personally never had this civ bonus be useful in any team game. And it’s never been useful against me either.

[@daarom3472]

its useful in 10x civ mod 😂

[@Aoedam]

@@daarom3472 LMAO good point😂

[@datadeleted3245]

@@Aoedam because you need coop. Often your allies wouldn't even know you researched this tech or train in 1 castle and forgot about others

[@obesechicken13]

@@datadeleted3245 That and tell the ones not in voice through chat they're getting 5 free kipchaks. (I guess it's per castle now)

[@datadeleted3245]

@@obesechicken13 yes, it's per castle.

[@mac10raps43]

Cumans are one of my favorite civs, but i almost never grab this tech.

[@miguelangelcosiorangel2617]

In 1v1 is a waste of resources

[@RoulicisThe]

I almost never even use Kipchaks. Apart from killing rams, everything they do Cumans Cav archers do the same but better. There is no real reason to pick them over the cav archer >

[@daarom3472]

​@@RoulicisThethey are very useful when doing a forward castle which the enemy seeks to counter it with rams.

[@datadeleted3245]

@@RoulicisThe 0 delay so best unit in micro, cheap in terms of gold, and creating fast. Extra arrows are good vs group of enemies with decent pierce armor but low hp (upgraded champions, huscarls etc). The main problem for all cuman archers is lack of bracers, so they're only good in castle age

[@SvanTowerMan]

I was hoping that you would mention the Georgians, not only for being one of the historical civs that recruited Kipchaks, but also because they're kind of interesting. They lack several important techs, but have extra healing and cost less pop space, creating a weaker unit that can be easily massed, but requires a lot of rest to keep alive.

[@JohnSmith-tg9wc]

This might be one of the worst unique techs in the game... 5 units per castle is already pretty bad but when those units are Kipchaks, who are only good in a mass, then you've got yourself a pretty garbage tech.

[@exeggcutertimur6091]

Cumans are my favorite and most heavily played civ by far and I think I got this tech all of once? If your teammates could make more kipchaks as part of the bonus it could be good.

[@samwisegamgee8318]

Even in mass, it takes 60 of them to one shot a paladin

[@belisarian6429]

Well Cumans are already strong civ, do they really need strong unique tech? I can see it having decent potential in 4v4, lets say early imp, each of your team mates has like 3 castles and is low on resources (as one usually is when reaching imp, techs are expensive) then suddenly your team gets 60 Kipchaks , especially if you have cav civs like Franks then in early imp enemy will tech to Halb and this will counter it. Not saying its great tech but it has its moments (would be nice it it unlocked production of Kipchaks too, like Flemmish militia )

[@matyasgajda2767]

Top 10 Worst Infantry civ?

[@cannnds]

tatars and gurjaras are sweating in the corner

[@matyasgajda2767]

@@cannnds the only good ín Khmer barracks is that completely skippable

[@orionl7406]

@@cannnds Tatars are uniquely bad in that their halb take 2 damage from villagers.

[@bladactania]

I think an interesting angle that needs explored for this Unique Tech (and any other similar bonus) is what team civs benefit the most from the team bonus, rather than which get the best units. Yes, the Magyar Elite Kipchaks are the best, but if you are on a team with Magyars, do they benefit from having them enough to warrant researching the tech?

[@lincolnvolk7609]

Spirit of the la hire!!

[@FLTG13]

Babe wake up, it’s a new Spirit of the Law video

[@3398-i3f]

In practice it is Mongols. They want to do as many castles as they can and get one of the most op units in the game. Elite Kipchaks have no attack delay and are as fast or faster than any ranged unit. They blend in perfectly with any ranged cav and have anti-siege properties as well, being able to shred rams and do ok vs trebs and even adding some small splash damage. In the end they are used for damage and mongols have the best damage output and it fits their gameplan the most. I also think Berbers, since it blends with camel archers and also the whole team benefits from Kasbah. They thrive on fast units anyway.

[@Binarokaro]

When I first saw #41/#45 I was like. Oh god you're not going to go through all 45 civs' rankings are you

[@imsmeagol911]

I'd love to see a top 10 imp skirm list!

[@sirlight-ljij]

Need a "where is waldo"-themed maps where there is one kipchak randomly spawned in a sea of identical mangudais and a win trigger when you delete the kipchak

[@pierre-mariecaulliez6285]

"Being unreachable is even better" Briton Longbow : "I'm about to end this whole Cuman's career !"

[@nozyspy4967]

"American civs" Picturing a Kipchak with a Stetson that screams 'yeeehaww!' when you move them.

[@tomascostanzo3673]

I wish more civs were as generous as the Cumans to share their unique units.

[@ryanforgo3500]

@sotl i don't know if there is a better place to suggedt this, but non other than you can do it if it can be done. I think we need a video calculating the chances of a treb to hit a bombard cannon wuth micro vs without, considering that hit boxes and aoe in the game or any game would increase or reduces the chances for it to happen. What i am trying to say simply is that uf a unit has 8 directions to move to " assuming treb aoe is 1-2 tiles only" then the chances for a macroed bombard to be bit is actually not that different from standing still, which then would mean it is worth to to consider using one'a brain power and limited micro else where instead. At the same time it would also create a discussion around the possibility of it being better to target the tile behind the bombard cannon aith your treb rather than the bombard cannon it self. Hars to explain it but i havw a certain image in my mind for that reasoning if you know what i mean. Anyway it seems like a tough topic for someone who knoes little like i do.

[@benalds1reinkarnatio]

hey spirit what about a video about the top x unit from basic aoe 2 that received the fewest buffs/nerfs so far? love your videos :)

[@TARDISES]

A unit cap that scales on how much of a specific building the player has, hm? ...Guess we know where the idea for Retold's tweaks to Dryads came from, then.

[@nicklasveva]

I just noticed that the bit rate on this video is complete garbage. I also noticed that youtube now wants to charge me to have a higher bit rate. I looked at one other video released during the last 45 minutes, it also has this, but not older videos. Guys, we are in for a bit rate reckoning. Well, youtube is literally never getting my money now. I was already mad that their ads were so poorly implemented that I pledged to not pay them anything, but now it's beyond forgivable.

[@AmmarFarisA]

Just rework this tech into what god powers is in AoM Retold, The more u use it the cost increases, or add more kipchaks along with that.

[@dojelnotmyrealname4018]

0:52 I feel like you should include the stone cost per unit.

[@Peak_22]

Do you think you could do new civ overviews? seems like alot of them are really old and out of date. Love the content Thanks!

[@harjawaldaz136]

It's kinda fun because obviously the onrs that historically would desire cuman mercenaries wouldn't themselves be cav archer civs because then there would be less reason to hire them :P

[@wtfpwnz0red]

Since kipchaks are made from the castle instead of archery range, they should benefit from teuton civ bonus and get 2 extra armor!

[@sisqobmx]

Hey spirit, will you do any of those longer vids where you review some games or even play yourself?

[@duongngole4785]

0:07 why is there a bear on the left side?

[@descent1234567890]

hey Spirit, can you make a video about the Arambai? i find it a rather confusing unit, but very strong in some situations.

[@kelp5557]

When did the Magyars team bonus change from +2 LOS for foot archers to this, I need to try them out

[@mubashirulmoula1798]

1:52 - I have a feeling that you didn't consider Mongols Mangudai with 25% faster firing bonus. You used a generic mangudai instead.

[@SamSGLM]

Math doesn't care for your feelings. You can see it shooting faster. It's dps shown as well. You can make that

[@mubashirulmoula1798]

​@@SamSGLMYeah. Now I noticed mangudai was firing faster.

[@erikdw8379]

I think Romans should replace Slavs as having the 5th worst Kipchaks, or at least be somewhere in the bottom 5, since they are statistically identical but the former doesn't have the Castle discount bonus like the latter has.

[@finaldarkfire]

Imagine if the resources paid by the ally players went directly to the Cuman player? XD

[@smileyzz2523]

what resources? allies get them free

[@finaldarkfire]

@@smileyzz2523 Ahh, I KNEW I was forgetting something when I wrote that lol Maybe the the Kipchaks are still free for the ally, but the Cuman player gets resources back when they get hired?

[@Self-replicating_whatnot]

Hey Spirit have you considered covering Project Celeste(Age of Empires: Online)? They are getting another nation introduced right now, surely with your youtube cred getting onto a test server will be no problem.

[@colormetwisted]

i cant for the life of me remember but do you usually have quiet music playing in the background and didnt add it this time? the silence in the beginning of the video was so prominent to me for some reason.

[@ChrisSeltzer]

Wait when did this happen? How did I miss this?

[@MrParadux]

Does bonus damage like the Japanese one work on every projectile or only the main one?

[@thire7432]

Did you see that (IIRC) the Georgian healing bonus doesn’t effect them?

[@PahadiSher]

Thank you. I was trying to find this exact fact.

[@perrypougins379]

Cuman man, don't diss my favorite light cavalry like that :(

[@spookynya3066]

Do you guys think bracers would make cumans op? I think they don't have it to encourage players to go with the different cavalry options instead of full kipchak. After all the civ is classified as a cavalry civ and not a cavalry archer civ 🤔

[@chromosomelord1909]

I would give Elite Kipchaks 1 more range wayyy before i would give Cumans bracer. They already have an epic eco and strong cav. giving them bracer would buff their cav archers, skirmishers and castles, something that's just not needed.

[@RMOB]

What baffles me about the kips are they destroy so easy rams but can't kill a vilager.

[@connorhopkins2709]

Hypothetical: what if everyone could share unique units? Who would be the best combos?

[@Thescott16]

The Kipchak's just keep on Cumin...

[@bristleback3614]

i surprised that Korean isn't on the list. Normally when we talked about horse related unit, Korean always present

[@datadeleted3245]

@@bristleback3614 they have free archer armor at least

[@danielalejandrobarramartin5193]

If we put every unique unit in only 1 civ wich would be the best 😮 or the most medium of all 😅

[@adwans1491]

They need to rework this unique tech...

[@miguelangelcosiorangel2617]

I think a solution could be for cumans themselves kipchak mercenaries dont use popspace

[@Alias_Anybody]

@@miguelangelcosiorangel2617 Rather, not make them take up pop space for the other civs and give them the techs the Cumans have PLUS the techs the host civ has (doubles only count once).

[@miguelangelcosiorangel2617]

@@Alias_Anybody is also good but in that case the problem remains wich is Cumans still have no reason to research it for themselves

[@exeggcutertimur6091]

If your teammates could train more after the free ones it would work better imo.

[@dragonboytsubasa]

@@exeggcutertimur6091 this, and any extra Kipchaks they train cost Gold, which goes to the Cuman player.

[@connormako1987]

Garrison Celt cipchaks in the stronghold castles

[@pauliesoprano1787]

I'll see video at how to good is samurai??? Spirit?

[@geoffrey1955]

Un popular opinion, cumans do not need a bracer buff. They are so cheap to mass, and they are also the only UU that doesn't need food to upgrade to elite. IMO being able to mass quickly behind a fast imp having been 2tc is normally their big game strategy, with bracer this Fi strat would basically be impossible to stop

[@gergelyhangodi9008]

It's only fitting that Hungarians should take the top spot. To this day, we have regions of Hungary called Lesser and Greater Cumania due to our deep ties with them.

[@philippeporto5893]

But SotL and fellow friends, don't Slav cheap castles kind of compensate a bit the bad tech tree? I think it should be taken into consideration that you may end up with 6 or more castles with Slavs in a TG.. I mean, at least the argument was brought up while describing the Franks.

[@spectrummike]

No mention to Georgian regenerating kipchaks with good upgrades?

[@matiasmandirola]

What about Gurjara's kipchak?

[@Kriegerdammerung]

I think everyone knew who would be number 1 😎

[@FuelDropforthewin]

Of course, American civs and Elephant Archer civs find the mercenaries most useful as a curveball for enemies who think they know their game plan.

[@DirkusTurkess]

Did a double take, thought they added Cubans to the game.

[@sneakybeak4032]

Oh thats cool

[@eva-238]

I'm surprised Huns is not on the list😮

[@MadnessTW]

It's a really silly tech. Your allies don't pay for their mercs and they have their upgrades instead of yours. The free units are best in the hands of those civs which don't need them in the first place. The Cuman player still gets some free units as "mercs" of his own people without paying for them individually. It also doesn't do much of anything in a 1v1, so it's a pretty wasted slot for a civ that doesn't have a great late game. I know that's not supposed to be their strength, but there's gotta be a better tech to give to them (for example, Kipchaks could be recruited in Ranges).

[@sammao2011]

Kipchak is Chu Ko Lu on a horse

[@WhateverNameIsStillAvailable]

Wait how is Mongols not #1 or atleast #2?

[@Minaramenkemi7443]

Funny how the best kipchak isn’t the cuman one. Bracer is needed here dear devs…

[@joelcarrizales2435]

I'd swap Turks and Tatars. Tatars have so many random bonuses for these guys, its great

[@newtonpritchett9887]

Cumanji

[@weaselhatgaming1010]

Cuman Pog

[@evanjacob8463]

Ngl, I expected Turks at number 1.

[@TheDunestyler]

but wait. Slavs get cheaper castles. so they could get more of them.

[@farsnaaser1889]

dosent matter Dave still think they are the worst unit in the game

[@mzil]

Aztecs hafe faster produced Kipchaks though

[@bsn_cs]

Well the cuman ones are the fastest 🤓

[@MammothSaltyGachaponOfficial]

Cuman​ need​ rework​

[@MauricioOsuna-et8et]

Given allied players get 5 Mercenaries per castle, and each castle costs 650 stone... Their technical price is 130 stone, which is a valid math you can do in case you have one of the civs that gets the best Mercs. [edit] corrected something

[@theschwabmob8363]

Did AoE2 Def change castle price? Isn't it 650 unless Franks?

[@MauricioOsuna-et8et]

@@theschwabmob8363 Oh, I forgot to correct that. I list it as 550 because that's the price in SWGBG, I don't play AoE2 at all (imagine not having shields to double your HP and cheap Medics).

[@theschwabmob8363]

@@MauricioOsuna-et8et Wait is it really 550 ore for Galactic Battlegrounds? I never noticed it, lmao. Also fair, I really enjoy that game myself, though I haven't played in forever.

[@jaikumar848]

Hi SOTL ! Could please analyze red phosphoru strategy? T90 following him a lot now days

[@HugeGoldfish596]

Like if you like aoe2

[@zxylo786]

This tech has always been useless to me.

[@nickpanov1080]

Fun fact. Saracen Kipchaks IRL are the Mamelukes.

[@SuperD863]

Cuman Mercs would be a lot more useful if they switched it with Step Husbandry which honestly seems much more useful in imp anyways. So: Castle Age Cuman Mercs Imperial Age Step Husbandry