Are Mayans still too powerful? There's a thread at the Rise of Nations Heaven forum which says they are. If you rely on raiding, early attacks, or wonder wins, then you probably think they are. If you primarily win with better micromanagement, then you might think they are, particularly if you find your troops getting killed by tower and city fire. If you're like me where you prefer the macro game, then it's a toss up. Maya can boom effectively, but they aren't the best at it. They're my next civ to master, since I like to incorporate a few wonders into my gameplan, even in 1on1 games. So we'll be able to add some more wisdom to this discussion later on.

UPDATE: In the comments section, I said this in response to Tann's comments:

I think the biggest deal still remains the difficulty in reducing the Mayan buildings. Both Korea and Mayan cities are hard to reduce and THAT is what makes them really tough IMO. If you can't reduce them, you can't capture, and you can't advance.

HalfLotus says basically the same thing as I do:

The Mayan building HP bonus is huge in the late game. A maya major city has like 15k hp. Because it takes so long to destroy Mayan towers, forts, cities, barracks, stable, etc....they have lots more time to arrange defenses in the form of units/upgrades/techs. Taking a mayan city (the only way to make significant gains on them) is a chore. You can get more siege, but siege is very expensive and ramps quickly. I say nerf the building hp bonus a little.

This is also why Korea is a monster in the late game. The free repair means they hold onto cities MUCH longer than other nations. It's takes a much greater miltary or economic advantage to take a city from Korea and Maya in late game. nerf, nerf, nerf!

posted by Tim at 8:58 AM