Gendarmes..........

Started a french campaign, with a heavy emphasis on militia, so I can make the more specialised troops in their +valour provinces. Seems to work very well, haven't lost a major battle so far.
Gendarmes............ they are quite an investment because you need a master swordsmith to make them, but they don't seem to have any use at all. They are just heavily armored hobilars^^ They can be used to stop a unit of chivies before you bring the halberdiers in, but they suffer very heavy casualties. To be honest, they don't do well against anything more advanced then militia sergeants. They aren't particulary cheap, and while they have better morale then most militia troops, Feudel Knights beat them all the way, let alone the chivies......

Am I missing some hidden feature??? I WANT to use them, cause they look kinda cool ^^ (chivies look like they wear baseballcaps on the picture, just so wrong)

Another question: when you start the campaign it is said that french crosbowmen and chivies are better then average, but I have found no proof of that. Seems to me that it are exactly the same units? (ok ok you can get a valour bonus for your chivies, but is that it?)

In SP, beside their support cost, they are not that great... I don't think there are any hidden feature sorry. biggest problem; their morale is not as good as other heavy cav, so they have trouble fighting head on with heavy cav.

Now, in MP, if you play low fl (5000 or less), you deliver a very nasty surprise with 4 of those guys. At this fl level a defense of 5 is really good giving them a good lasting power...

Louis,

I use them as airborne infantry, just like the gothic knights. Do not expect them to hold up to the regular knights though...(just like you would not expect the FMAA to do it). They are cool if you need to move some units in quickly, but do not want to use the few knights yet...

As to the bonus, they might be getting better valour, and I think all the chiv units are cheaper for France.