sherwood forresters

[Yaropolk]

Whats the deal with these? No shield and no armor upgrades and no spikes anf half size unit. 2 hp is not very useful for archers and retinues get more kills for ne every test. Am i using these wrong? I plop them down bwhind stakes with the retinues.

[Ramses II CP]

Don't forget they have the 'hide anywhere' attribute. They're specialist units, not main line. Park them so the enemy will march past them with fire at will off until the enemy engages at your main line, then turn them loose with fire arrows on the enemy general. Double morale hit from being flanked and fire arrows, then if they can kill the general it's quickly going to be a rout.

They are not a replacement for retinue longbowmen, just an additional flexibility to your army.

:egypt:

[Yaropolk]

Are you sure they can hide anywhere? How can I tell if they're hidden. The first thing I did with my first unit of forresters is drop them on an open hill off to the side to test if htey were "hide anywhere". I didn't see the little forest icon to indicate they were hidden.

[FactionHeir]

They certainly do not have the hide anywhere attribute. They are expert at hiding in woods however, meaning the enemy has to be closer to them to detect them compared to other units.
The AI doesn't care either way though, as (especially) when all your units are hidden (and your general off the field), it can "see" your hidden units and charge them directly - something you as a player cannot do.

[WhiskeyGhost]

They certainly do not have the hide anywhere attribute. They are expert at hiding in woods however, meaning the enemy has to be closer to them to detect them compared to other units.
The AI doesn't care either way though, as (especially) when all your units are hidden (and your general off the field), it can "see" your hidden units and charge them directly - something you as a player cannot do.

I think that only applies after a unit gets spotted (i.e. moves, enemy gets too close) after you start the battle. I've had units stay hidden for a good 10 minutes, as long as they didn't move/get spotted from their initial placement. Works well with Light cavalry, especially if you wanna run down routers, and don't want enemy cav to constantly harass your light cav.

edit: Also, i recall one battle where i used my general to actually bait an enemy army into an ambush, and it worked fine. Some light cav/infantry i had placed off to the flanks, while a small holding unit of hvy infantry spotted right on the edge of the woods drew in the enemy. Once their army engaged, i sent in the cav to kill the archers, and the light infantry to engage the enemy lines from the sides/back, resulting in an immediate mass rout.

[FactionHeir]

I did say especially when your general is off the field, i.e. all your units are hidden, in which case the AI will slowly crawl towards your hidden position and before spotting the first units start charging. Try it out if you want.

The other case where hidden units are ignored are during AI sallies. You can hide your units anywhere but the AI will know where they are and charge them (contrary to you moving units into hiding after battle on regular battle types)

[WhiskeyGhost]

Ah, i did not know that at all. I'll just assume the AI is 'searching' for the hidden units from now on :sweatdrop:

[Cheetah]

BTW, sherwood forresters are snipers, with long range, high accuracy and AP they are very useful taking out generals and high armour units. So bring your LBs and stakes as usual and use one or two SFs to take out key enemy units.

[Ramses II CP]

I'm sure FH is right about their (lack of) hiding, but in the role I used them in was as I described. Never needed more than one per army, and they do seem unusually deadly to enemy generals.

:egypt:

[Galain_Ironhide]

When can you recruit Sherwood Forresters? Are they only a Merc unit?

During my last English GC I didnt seem to be able to recruit them from any castles or cities...... I probably missed something though.

[Alpedar]

Woodsman guild. Spam archers from one castle (if you don't need them, disband them, or better send them die in battle) and soon forester guild will be there.
You can do that in city too (archer militia), but city is much better with merchant guild or hospitallers, and exp. bonus for archers is much better for retinue longbowmen from castle than militia from city anyway.

[InsaneApache]

As in the thread I started a month or so back.

I built an army of them, with a couple of demi-lancers for pursuit.

Talk about a steamroller! :chucks: :skull: :laugh4:

No, they don't hide anywhere. They do however pwn those pesky Hussites. They certainly do, Stanley. :yes:

[Yaropolk]

You can't get a woodsmen guild in cities, only castles. Additionally, since you cannot upgrade their armor, it seems that hiring the mercs available in the region are just as good for other factions as the ones trained from England's guild, albeit you would get them later and without the +3 starting experience.

[locked_thread]

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[Old Geezer]

Sherwood Foresters are just a cute unit which was included for fun. Ejoy them.

[Empirate]

I especially like their jaunty hats. The Retinues don't have those, which is a huge shortcoming, all things considered. I mean, we're talking serious archer units here, and jaunty hats are about as cool as it gets where serious archery is concerned! Also, they seem to be mustachio lovers, and if anything, mustaches only add to your overall army manliness. So Sherwood Foresters are a must have for any English army that wants to look as if every individual soldier in it could split an arrow that already hit the bullseye, and that wants to give a good account of their macho factor!

[Barbarian]

Compare their melee skills with those of other archers and infantry. They have one of the largest attack values in the game. Surely, they won't withstand the charge of heavy cavalry, but this makes them more valuable.

About those hidden units, I don't think I get it. Ai never sees, where I hide my units, and I am using ambushes quite often. My favorite tactic is to place my units on different sides of the forest, making a "corridor of death" between them. Then just place my general in spot , where he lures the enemy's army in this trap.

[alpaca]

I especially like their jaunty hats. The Retinues don't have those, which is a huge shortcoming, all things considered. I mean, we're talking serious archer units here, and jaunty hats are about as cool as it gets where serious archery is concerned! Also, they seem to be mustachio lovers, and if anything, mustaches only add to your overall army manliness. So Sherwood Foresters are a must have for any English army that wants to look as if every individual soldier in it could split an arrow that already hit the bullseye, and that wants to give a good account of their macho factor!
Finally somebody sees the truth :yes:

Besides, in archer vs crossbow duels their small unit size is actually an advantage because even spread out they barely take any space and are therefore harder to hit (extra bad for the inaccurate crossbows).