Okay, as many of you already know there are big changes coming your way in KGCM. Gunpowder units fire more frequently thanks to the removal of fire_by_rank. However there was no differences in the damage before of hand gunners, Arquebusiers, and Musketeers. So the first gunpowder units Hand gunners are now actually a bit weaker. Arquebusiers slightly better than Hand gunners, and Musketeers are the ultimate in gunpowder units now. The earliest gunpowder units become recruitable from the first barracks in large cities as soon as gunpowder has been discovered.
Also there are big changes to pike units which will also mostly start to appear when gunpowder is discovered. Secondary weapons have now been removed so that they will only ever use their pikes. This makes them perform much better. After Pike Militia come the more heavy pikemen. Now that pikemen perform much better I have raised the recruit_priority_offset for these units as well. At the same time as these units appearing spear militia unit pools are reduced. The AI will start to build pike and shot armies and spears will become a thing of the past. As you can see by the file attached below I've had to make some changes so that pikemen appear at the same time. For instance Burgher Pikemen are no longer recruitable at the start. They will only be available at large cities after gunpowder is discovered. The same as similar pikemen for other factions. Sword Brethren for TO are now recruitable from the town guard and not castles. Also I've added some new pikemen units like the Landschneckt Pikemen for HRE. And moved Terico pikemen to the same building level as well. Halberd units will also be introduced at this time. Thanks to these changes and the fact that most settlements start as towns on the map. You should start to see a change in recruitment. And a change in warfare of the late period.
Dave