Are these spearmen so good that one playing a Roman faction should seriously consider delaying the Marian reforms in order to maximize and utilize in the extreme their abilities?
~:grouphug:
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Are these spearmen so good that one playing a Roman faction should seriously consider delaying the Marian reforms in order to maximize and utilize in the extreme their abilities?
~:grouphug:
Triarii are very good fighters against cavalry; they are the only spearmen the romans get. However, the equivalent am unit (legionarly cohort) are much better. Also, if you delay the reforms, the population will grow too fast to countermend the squalor.
The bonus vs. cav is +4 for triarii and others except phalanx/pikes. That's not much in RTW. (I've modded it to +8 for all non-phalanx spear units that have anti-cav bonuses.) They are a bit better than the auxilia spear unit that is available after the reforms. The most effective deterrent to cav in RTW is more cav.
No.
Because while Triarii are good, Legionnaires are better than Princepes and much better than Hastati, and against just about any faction, its the infantry you have to beat, not the cav. Even horse-heavy nations like Scythia or Parthia will have a hard time dealing with a full stack of properly supported cohorts. I've found that a braced unit of Legionaires can take a frontal cav charge on vh/vh and win against all but the heaviest cav (or elephants, natch), especially with the upgrades they should have by that point in the tech tree. You might take more losses than preferable, but a dead enemy can hardly fight live soldiers, right? Auxilia aren't bad spearmen, but I prefer to save the recruiting slots and use merc spearmen, like barb or eastern spears.