The Best Unit In the Game

[DemonArchangel]

Format Responses like this

1. Name of the Unit
2. Class of Unit (i.e: archer, cavalry etc.)
3. Original Campaign or VI
4. Stats of the Unit (if possible)
5. A small description of why the unit's useful
6. How you use the unit.

[Lazul]

Jannisary heavy inf.
Inf.
Original Campaign
Good at everything.
Frontall assoult, and kill stuff yha know http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Yoko Kono]

For me there are 3 best units
you gotta love the Hungarians now http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Szekely
archer/cavalry
MTW 2.0
Good at everything
as fast as a horse archer and with more punch than steppe, szekely make superb skirmishers with their bows and melee skills
use to harass attacking enemy armies and draw units out into the open before swarming en masse

Avar Nobles
cavalry
MTW 2.0
Heavily Armoured
Almost as fearsome as the Kataphtaktoi, but faster
Excellent shock cavalry, use to engage kings, generals heirs or any unit you want rout fast

Heavy Steppe Cavalry
archer/cavalry
MTW 2.0
Armoured good allrounders
Not as fast as horse archers but their superior compound bows and melee abilities make them invaluble
Use to pepper enemy armies with their deadly compund bows before closing to attack with devastating combat skills

[DemonArchangel]

Varangian Guard
Heavy Kill-All Infantry
Original and VI
Same combat rating as JHI (clan Beserk) only costs less $$ and looks just plain cooler
Useful as all around heavy infantry, flankers and as a general man shredding tool.
I use them for flanking, attacking dangerous units and hacking my way out of a tough spot. Also works as main line infantry provided you have the cash.

[Tony]

VG are nice, but lack the cavalry killing bonus that the polearms have. They have Armor Piercing bonus, but no vs Cav bonus on attack or defense (as they are axe armed).

For my money, it is JHI and CFK. Both are killing machines and take a LOT of stopping. Against Foot or Cav, these guys chew it up and KILL, KILL, KILL. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

The extra armor of CFK probably puts them slightly ahead, but they are a 40 man unit while JHI is 60. Take your pick - both send a shudder through the enemy ranks and leave a trail of corpses. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Tony]

Oops - forgot to provide the numbers http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif me bad.

These are for: JHI | CFK | VG | SAP as of MTW 2.0
Cost 725 | 550 | 500 | 750
Size 60 | 40 | 60 | 96
Turns 1 | 1 | 2 | 1
March Speed 6 | 4 | 6 | 6
Charge Bonus 4 | 2 | 4 | 4
Melee Bonus 5 | 4 | 4 | 2
Defence Bonus 3 | 6 | 5 | 5
Armour Level 3 | 5 | 4 | 4
Honour Level 8 | 8 | 6 | 6
AP Bonus YES | YES | YES | NO
Cav Bonus - Att 3 | 3 | 0 | 2
Cav Bonus - Def 1 | 1 | 0 | 6

These guys are all major badasses with few weaknesses.

If you want a defensive shield, particularly vs Cav, then SAP can't be beat.

If you want to melee with CAV and cut them into chunks, then it's the boys with the polearms - JHI and CFK. That +3 CAV attack bonus combined with a high melee rating is just awesome. When faced with a knight heavy attacker (e.g. the French) try and dismount your knights to CFK before the battle and put them in woods. Watch as they turn any mounted unit dumb enough to melee with them into dog food.

For tanks on legs with high defense and melee it's CFK and VG, with JHI coming a very close third.

My favorite is the JHI - most well rounded foot unit in the game IMHO, and it has 20 extra guys compared to CFK. Only downsides are slightly weaker Armour/Defence ratings vs CFK and VG.

JHI rule http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Longasc]

Jomsvikings
Infantry
Viking Invasion, of course. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Stats: too lazy, sorry. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

The unit excels in a simple way: It is simply the strongest unit, no other faction can field something similar, except the Huscarl perhaps.

They are limited to walking speed, so I mostly use them to bash the enemy main force while lighter units do the tactics of encircling and such stuff.


Spanish Lancers
Cavalry
Original Campaign of MTW
Stats: Best Cavalry perhaps

Strong charge, MBC (Main Battle Cavalry hehe), it is fast, too... only drawback the price.

I use it to destroy Infantry and use their mobility to bring them in the best position for that, rear and side attacks.


The only problem with these units: I only played them in arranged battles. In a campaign, they arrive at the time where I already control 66% or more of the world.

So they are not a winning factor for me - Chivalric Sergeants, Halberdiers in High/Late Era, early on Cavalry of all sorts, form the bulk of my Army. Mixed with some Crossbows. Chivalric Knights only add to their effectiviness.

[Jazzman]

encountered JHI against me for the first time last night, they were pretty awesome, they tore up my knights and billmen, before that i thought my billmen were pretty hard to beat. fortunately was able to eak out a win in the battle finishing off the last of any credible resistance, should be able to finish off my first 100% domination campaign tonite. Just in time to get VI and the patch (when it gets here) for a new campaign.

[DemonArchangel]

JHI's are fast too, which makes em' very useful, but SO MUCH INFRASTRUCTURE http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif Still, they are an essential part of every turkish army as are the other two species of janissary.

CFK's are useful, not just because they can pound the living sh*t out of things, but because they can hop onto horses and also pound the living sh*t out of things

I still think VG's are better, especially in close coordination with byzantium's medium and heavy cavalries.

SAPs i made faster, cuz the swiss were known for the speed in which they could attack.

[Knight_Yellow]

militia seargents
inf.
MTW and VI
good versus all but the heaviest infantry, cheap and good vs calvarly.


always have 4 of them upgraded to hell.

[Praylak]

That's about the toughest question I've seen yet.

I got a allot of favorites, and I can think of many "best of the best" units. If I had to choose though, probably would have to agree and go with Chivarlic Knights. The ability to dismount and carve through cavalry, or ride down infantry is quite awesome. Faster than Gothics and Kats, but still has good attack, defence and morale. Build requirements are not too stiff, and quite obtainable before the High age rolls around. So you can start pumping them out and making a difference by the early 1200's.

And, with considerably cheaper support costs (compared to Feudals), we can have that many more of them. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Lord of the Isles]

Elite Woodsmen are the best unit.

Closely followed by Troll Foot Knights.


http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

[DemonArchangel]

Troll foot knights? someone's been reading too many fantasy books. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[Razor1952]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Obviously depends on the situation, but when I'm facing the GH I love Halberdiers , cheap to buy and maintain and make great dog meat of those GH heavy cavalry. The GH seem to think they can charge these guys down hehehehe...drool

Gallowglass upgraded and led properly are close if not the best attackers in the game and very cheap.

[hoom]

Quote[/b] ]militia seargents
Seconded.

Upside:
Absolutely core for Western MTW armies in Early-High.
Even more scary in VI as an advanced unit for that time period http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Cheap, fast, AP & require little infrastructure to build.

Downside:
Vulnerable to missiles, outclassed by heavy infantry towards the end of High.

[Monk]

JomsVikings

heavy infantry

Viking Campaign

heavily armed and armored these things are the VG of the VI period (IMHO)

Frontal assualt, have yet to have a unit rout

[neogerry]

Quote[/b] (arrrse @ Aug. 02 2003,04:35)]
Quote[/b] ]militia seargents
Seconded.

Upside:
Absolutely core for Western MTW armies in Early-High.
Even more scary in VI as an advanced unit for that time period http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Cheap, fast, AP & require little infrastructure to build.

Downside:
Vulnerable to missiles, outclassed by heavy infantry towards the end of High.
they are great and i dont leave home without at least 3 units of them in everyone of my armys http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Kongamato]

The unit I use best is Swiss Halberdiers.

Swiss Halberdiers

Infantry, Anti-Cavalry

Original/VI

They are not a power unit for destroying infantry lines. They destroy cavalry. Once cavalry is tied up, they can move in at normal infantry speed and rip enemy cavalry to pieces. Protect their flanks and it's a done deal. Without cavalry, the enemy loses versatility and has an often elite-class unit routing. The Swiss Halberdiers can then flank if they wish.

*Optional Reading*

Sun Tzu has the concept of the normal and extraordinary forces. He says to "use the normal to engage, and the extraordinary to win". Examples of normal would be units like Militia Sergeants, Chivalric Sergeants, and Pavise Crossbowmen. Their purpose is to engage and fight as long as possible. It's nice if they win, but I dont expect it. Examples of Extraordinary would be Swabian Swordsmen, Swiss Halberdiers, Saharan Cavalry, Naptha Throwers, and the unchecked unit. These units are meant to rout the enemy through missile power, raw melee power, or speedy flanking. If you apply extraodinary forces properly, you've won. I choose my extraordinary forces by how fast they get the job done. The fastest is killing plain archery units with cavalry. The second fastest is killing cavalry of any kind with an anti-cav halberd unit. Since the cavs die fast, the Swiss Halberdiers can now help out in the melee elsewhere. Killing enemy cav means that my entire anti-cav system becomes extraordinary forces, as they are now unchecked. My anti-cav system is the speediest and most versatile part of my army, and can easily help elsewhere.

[DemonArchangel]

exactly, VG/JHI/CFK etc. they're extrodinary power, if you get one of those behind a unit, the unit being held by standard infantry will almost certainly rout.

[Rowan11088]

I think the SAP are best myself. Their stats don't look great here, but that's because the rank bonus is left out. The amazing thing is they they still kick ass even if they're stretched into a single file line But when they're 5 rows deep, they get +4 to attack and defense This makes them stronger than VG, CFK, and JHI, plus they have the anti-cav that VG and CFK don't. Granted, though, they don't have armor piercing, but when i ran a battle simulator on the berserk clan website SAPs still beat VGs despite the massive damage the VGs would do with the armor piercing. They lost if in a single file line, but won if they were 3 rows or more, best if at 5, which left almost half the SAPs alive. Pretty much the same for JHI, though the SAPs fared a bit better. CFKs put up a great fight, killing off the SAPs unless they were 4 or 5 rows deep. But still, SAPs win the day I think, because it's not too hard to keep them in 5 rows when there's 96 of them, and their anti-cav is the best.

[hoom]

Probably the best individual unit I have had was an approximately 5 star mercenary general commanding a 120 person(I play max unit size), 9 valour unit of Urban Militia in VI.

They tore up stuff much more effectively than even my upgraded Joms Vikings did http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif

Surprised that nobody has mentioned them yet (probably due to obviousness): Pavise Arbalesters

MTW
heavy missile infantry

strong defence vs missiles
very strong missile power
long range
almost impossible to run out of ammo

[Tony]

SAP are cool, but to get the best out of them they have to be kept in formation for the rank bonus. Fine on defence, but can be a pain in the attack. Melee is just more "fun" - guys getting in each others face and smashing craniums, rather than hiding behind an array of pointy sticks.

I think I'll start a thread "best value for money unit".

[Red Harvest]

Arbalesters

Yeah, I know you're thinking melee or such. My arbalesters get the most kills. They are the ones that decimate tough units before contact is made. Great anti-cav, anti-missile, anti-melee with armour piercing. Whatever unit I don't want to deal with, the arbs take it out. Can't beat their range and ability to fight in all weather. Movement speed is good and reload speed is good. They aren't too expensive...

[Tony]

Yep - I agree. Pavise Arbalesters are amongst my favorites. I like to use them to take out the enemy "elites" (Royal + Chiv knights). They are a worth every florin, even at 300, and are the best way to counter the mongol hordes.

[jLan]

Rowan, CFK has anti cav bonus..

I love chiv knights, since they can fight both mounted and dismounted... Arbalesters just rock, especially when defending. (4-5 units of arbalesters and a couple of troops of spearmen can hold of almost anything in a bridge battle.)