Favourite Unit Type

[Rhyfelwyr]

What is your single favourite type of unit? While I try to be diverse and roleplay for whatever faction I am, I do have some favourite fighting styles. As the Turks, I got my first taste of all cavalry armies and loved spamming Turkomans with a few Sipahis. As Sicily, my Norman Knights rolled over anything in front of them. As Venice, I would shoot enemies down with my Xbows, safe just in front of my Spear Militia shiltrons.

But my favourite type of unit has to be mounted crossbows. Most Christian teams get these guys at a top level stable, but as Poland they poured out of my Motte and Baileys. Strzelcy make General's Bodyguards look as useful as peasants, there is no stopping them! Save with Camel Gunners I suppose...

EDIT: No mounted gunners in the poll since they would win too easily.

[_Tristan_]

I'm partial to heavy cav myself, though it will get pwned in some situations...

Can't help it...

Add some light cav and a weebit mix of melee and missile inf and I'm in heaven...

[PBI]

I'm partial to a good, solid line of pikemen personally. The epitome of teamwork overcoming adversity. It breaks my heart that they are so feeble in this game, they should make cavalry all but obsolete. Ah well, I suppose they had their day in RTW.

I do also like a good explosion though, so for me gunners would be second. And there seems to be no option for artillery.

[Ramses II CP]

I voted mounted crossbowmen as well. High utility troops, multipurpose, and long lasting in the field, they're also usually pretty cheap on upkeep.

[MerlinusCDXX]

I'm partial to heavy inf, they end up being my main workhorse.

more specifically, my favorite troop type is AP infantry (axe/macemen). combined with good line inf and cavalry support they shall pwn all.

[Eikon the Magistrate]

It would differ faction to faction, though some units like spearmen are cross-faction in construction and use. A favorite unit for me would be one that gives and receives punishment well. To that end heavy cavalry seems to work well and cav in general is that only thing that I fear as a gunpowder elitest. Therefore,the nemesis heavy cavalry is my vote.

2nd melee infantry

3rd archers

Obviously gunpowder troops are my ultimate favorite...but its not even fair to put them in the list with the rest of em since the only thing that kills em is more gunpowder or cav

Should be Early/Late period lists... the early with all the above selections and the late with only gunpowder heavy cav and artillery

[Mek Simmur al Ragaski]

For me it has to melee infantry, it fills you with satisfaction to know that 400 dismounted feudal knights just slaughtered 800 spearmen.....

[Monsieur Alphonse]

1. Longbows. Just a row of stakes with some longbows and killing the enemy from a distance.
2. Horse archers. Light or medium cavalry moving around the battlefield.
3. heavy cavalry or infantry. Heavy charge and crunching the enemy during mêlée.

[Quintus.JC]

I voted for melee infantry because they're generally well-rounded. Dismounted Knights carrying sword can slash enemies apart. Dismounted Knights with PoleAxe have AP ability and will make it a hard time for even cavalry. Mace carry knights have advantages against other heavily armoured troops. Also Specialist such as Zweihanders and Forlon Hope and be used to break up pikemen formation. Other effective units include heavy Billmen and

[CynicalP]

For some reason I cannot vote in the poll, but I am fan of ranged attacks so definately it is fires a missle I'm adding tons of them in my army. Since the Longbowmen, Yoemen have stakes to counter cavalry they are my favorites ranged units in the game followed by mounted archers/crossbowmen.

[ataribaby]

Yeah, archers all the way for me. I love longbows and I suppose Yeomen Archers are the best value/availability even if they do look a bit noncey when they're given light mail (your bog standard longbowmen unit looks better when armoured).

I love the fact they carry those mauls/mallets for banging in their stakes and which double up as a fine AP melee weapon. Retinues have swords unfortunately.

I used to love Genoese Crossbow Militia until I found out standard Longbowmen could anihilate them in a shootout because of their rapid fire rate.

Honourable mentions for Venetian Heavy Infantry and Armoured Sergeants.

[Lamprey]

I voted archers as well. It's cheesy, but I just love to watch an enemy unit get nailed by a volley from 10 units of yoman archers. I'll have the yomans hold fire until the enemy is in range of all of them, then fire.

You have this mighty unit of armoured spearmen charging you, then a volley. The next thing you see if a mass of bodies and the survivors standing there, no longer charging, looking around. You just *know* what they're thinking... "&*@^#!!!! We'll never make it if we keep charging and they'll still hit us if we try to run. Mommy!!!"

[Pater Familias]

The poll omitted artillery. I like things that go BANG in the night. Or day. Cannons, ballistas, catapults: all good. But the cow-tossin' trebuchet ... now that will take the starch out of an acre or so of nasty little people with spears in a hurry. Get them milling around and puking, then drop burning rocks and arrows on their heads.

That's what I think of when I hear "I'm gonna get medieval on yo' a**."

Failing artillery, archers. I see no sense letting the other guy get close enough to hit you if you can avoid it.

[phonicsmonkey]

I'm a sucker for horse archers.....there's nothing better than surrounding a bunch of stupid infantry with your horde of fast moving missile cavalry and pinning them to the floor with showers of pointy death

[PrestigeX]

i chose pikemen, because despite what everyone on this site seems to think.. I feel they're wicked for a variety of reasons.
Firstly, they're CHEAP
secondly, they can KILL horses
thirdly, they are an essential component of a Combined Arms approach..

Pikemen
Archers/Gunmen
possibly Artillery
and
Cavalry

I don't understand why everyone keeps saying pikemen are not good in this game.

[Eikon the Magistrate]

Its not really that pikemen are "bad" just a 'lil overshadowed by the passage of time. A pike unit wont win a 1 on 1 with most other equivalent units,(except cav) and for the most part requires an attack on itself to show its true value which is and has always been defensive.

I used to field mass spear/pike armies until I lost some battles where they were slaughtered nearly to a man.Now I too use them in a combined arms approach but they are now the specialists not the front line, whereas it used to be the other way around. The spearman/pikeman is still my most commonly trained unit however, due to their larger unit size and defensive nature they are superb garrison troops. (I thoroughly dislike all town militias) so 90% of the time they are the caretakers of the empire.

The pike and the spear are still part of my answer to the Timurids tho..a wall has its uses.

[Monk]

Horse Archers! Give me a stack of HA and i'll give you an empire.

[WhiskeyGhost]

melee infantry. Can't win a war without em (or at least not one with some bad-ass epic battles). I also like it when they actually perform a charge too (instead of sending poor charles out by himself first).

[Henry707]

Mine is heavy infantry.

Sure I love archers, horsies are amazing, heavy cav look great - but at the end of the day war has not changed that much.

You still need some poor S*&$$"* to clear out buildings, towns, castles, forts etc

That's way I vote for infantry - it's naff job but you always need 'em.

Henri

[Rhyfelwyr]

I'm surprised at the support for pikemen, from my experience they are abysmal. All they can do is kill cavalry that charge them head on, against infantry they can barely beat peasants. And they drop like flies under ranged attacks. And they are slow moving.

I want to like pikemen, I really do. I want to have them forming the backbone of my late period armies with artillery, gunmen, and heavy cavalry in support. But they could lose to an army created in the first 10 turns.

They may be cheap, but so are peasants, doesn't make them worthwhile.

[PBI]

I'm surprised at the support for pikemen, from my experience they are abysmal. All they can do is kill cavalry that charge them head on, against infantry they can barely beat peasants. And they drop like flies under ranged attacks. And they are slow moving.

I want to like pikemen, I really do. I want to have them forming the backbone of my late period armies with artillery, gunmen, and heavy cavalry in support. But they could lose to an army created in the first 10 turns.

They may be cheap, but so are peasants, doesn't make them worthwhile.

All good points, but I like them nonetheless. There's just something so satisfying about watching some idiotic nobleman with more money than sense commit suicide against a line of pikes. Watching a pack of knights crushing a line of town militia just doesn't give me the same buzz. Maybe it's the repressed lefty in me.

I have of course modded my game so that pikemen and guns make medieval weapons utterly obsolete, but I agree that in vanilla they are all but worthless. If I was trying to answer which unit type I find most effective, I wouldn't want to tie myself down to one type; combined arms is generally better than spam and every type is weak in some situation.

[Quillan]

Anything with a horse and a missile weapon, regardless of type!

Horse archers are incredibly versatile. Mounted crossbows aren't quite as good, but more effective against heavily armored troops. Mounted javelins are better than anything at killing elephants or generals.

[Old Geezer]

If'n you don't find pikemen entertaining I'll wager you ain't played LTC as the Scots. Hoo, Noble Pikemen will even stick it to the Varangian Guard. And defending a city entrance with 3 pike militia or highland pikemen (even with no armor at all) is better than 9 out of 10 superbowls even if you are drunk when you watch (the superbowl not M2TW - you want to be sober so you can enjoy). I love it when the AI crams every unit it can into the gate and the gatekeepers repeatedly flush the hot oil toilets on them - ugh, what a smell. What can surpass the pleasure of watching the stupid AI general bypass your dismounted knights to plunge into a unit of pikes (with secondary weapon removed). It is even twice the fun if it is a 10 star Mongol/Timurid general. (I get excited just talking about it. I can't wait to finish my boring HRE campaign so I can play one as the Scots again.)

Nobody voted for jinetes or light cavalry? They are so powerful and fun, if used correctly - in field battles - not much help in assaults on walls and fighting in narrow streets.

Musketeers and the like are for the ignoble. How unchivalrous to take a nose picking villain, give him a gun with 10 minutes of training, and allow him to kill a nobleman who has spent a lifetime training to protect the widow and orphan and bring justice and equity to the land. Bah! There should have been a law in Europe like there was in Japan. No handguns allowed.

[Rhyfelwyr]

I can't believe how much I hear about Turkomans, Jinetes etc, but nobody ever mentions Strzelcy. Does no-one here play as Poland?

But don't get me wrong, I still like Turkomans and Jinetes are even better.

[Duke Bart]

Missile cavalry kick ass, stzelcy are the relle underrated here.

i also cannot vote on the poll tho :( wonder why

[Ethelred Unread]

i also cannot vote on the poll tho :( wonder why

'cos you're a junior member, it'll be sorted soon I'm sure.

I voted for melee infantry cos the sight of DFK or Armoured swordsmen walking towards the enemy, pausing then charging into spearmen and killing the front rank on contact is one of the highlights in the game for me. Even better than getting a good heavy cav charge into infantry.

[IvarrWolfsong]

All time

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

favorite unit

is the guard. How can you not love big brawny mercs with big brawny axes that can send enemies fly on the charge just like cavalry =)?

My

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

favorite type

is medium cav

[Privateerkev]

Longbowman rock. Get 8 upgraded Retinue with a Sherwood Forest on each flank and you "almost" don't need any infantry at all. Just have a couple swordsmen as backup if you need it. Stakes kill the horseys and at least slowdown the infantry.

But my pick is only because of the "mounted gunner" exception. My real favorite unit is the Panzerphaunt. Get one unit of those on the enemy's flank for some enfillade fire and you have an instant rout.

[Gaius Terentius Varro]

ME Halberd Militia bit like JHI only cheaper and very effective

[Fulliautomatix]

For me, for the most fun and satisfaction during a battle, it's the horse archer. It's like a ballet: spreading out your cavalry archers, using your horsies to encircle the AI's units; then getting close enough to fire, taunting the enemy cavalry, then retreating, goading the enemy formations to chase you, forcing their formation to break apart and scatter .... then slowly circling the separated units and using your remaining arrows on whittling down the better of the AI's units, sparing their weaker units until your final, inevitable charge.... all the while you are doing your best to avoid the arrows of any of the AI's foot archers...

Ah, it brings a tear to my eye, it's just so beautiful a dance...