Compendium: (under construction)

[Askthepizzaguy]

This is a sample of what I have so far on the general unit types guide. It only covers part of the table of contents, and peasant/militia infantry.


Unit Guide

Infantry

Peasant grade- Peasants, Highland Rabble, etc. Light, unarmoured, poorly equipped infantry.
Spear Militia grade- Town/Spear Militia grade. Lightly armed spearmen, militia grade.
Italian/Castle Spear Grade- Medium armoured spearmen, with better combat ability. (Italian)
Light Pike Grade- Lightly armed pikemen, with very long spears and phalanx ability. Poor stats.
Heavy Pike Grade- Heavily armed pikemen, with phalanx ability and better stats.
Light Bill Grade- Billmen (and similar units) with almost no defensive ability.
Heavy Bill Grade- Billmen (and similar units) with heavy armor and better stats.
Light Melee Grade- Swordsmen, axemen, and clubmen with mediocre defense, good offense. See: Norse Axemen.
Heavy Melee Grade- Swordsmen, axemen, and clubmen with better defense, good offense. See: Two Handed Swordsmen.
Light Defender Grade- Sword and Shield men with mediocre offense, supreme defense.
Heavy Defender Grade- Sword and Shield men with better offense, supreme defense. See: Chivarlic Knights.
Heavy Assault Grade- Heavy Infantry with supreme offense. See: Dismounted English Knights.

Missile

Light javelin- Lightly armed skirmishers armed with javelins
Melee javelin- Melee infantry with better stats, armed with javelins and secondary weapons.
Peasant Bows- Militia and peasant bowmen with terrible stats.
Peasant Xbows- Militia and peasant crossbowmen with terrible stats.
Melee Bows- Militia and Professional Bowmen with better secondary weapons and defense.
Melee Xbows- Militia and Professional Crossbows with better stats and defense.
Longbows- Lightly armed Longbowmen. See: Longbowmen
Melee Longbows- Better armed Longbowmen with melee status. See: Yeomen, Retinue.
Gun Units- Musketmen with poor defense.
Melee Gun Units- Gunpowder units with secondary weapons and better stats.
Naffatun- Naffatun and similar units.

Cavalry

Light Lancer- Poorly armoured, but better charge bonus than most. Fast moving, usually. Mounted Sergeants.
Heavy Lancer- Better stats and defense, but still great charge bonus. Mailed Knights.
Light Melee- Hobilars, etc; Poor stats, decent melee, light and fast. Bad charge bonus.
Heavy Melee- Armoured Knights and supreme melee cavalry. Excellent stats and armour.
Light Javelin- Fast moving, lightly armed javelin cavalry. Jinettes.
Heavy Javelin- Heavily armoured melee cavalry, with javelins. Cataphracts, etc.
Light Archer- Horse Archers with poor melee and high speed.
Heavy Archer- Professional Horse Archers with armour and secondary weapons.
Light Gun- Gunpowder cavalry with poor melee.
Heavy Gun- Gunpowder cavalry with excellent melee.

Artillery-

Ballista- Anti-infantry impaling weapon.
Catapult- Area attack anti-wall weapon.
Trebuchet- Area attack anti-wall weapon. Superior to Trebuchets.
Mangonel- Gunpowder based Catapult.
Bombard- Area attack, very long range missiles.
Serpentine- Anti-infantry impaling weapon. Better than Ballista.
Grand Bombard- Area attack, very long range missiles, better than Bombard.
Culverin- Area attack, very long range missiles, superior to Grand Bombard.
Basilisk- Ultimate Area attack weapon, superior to Culverin.

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Situations:

Main Tactical Scenarios:

Garrison Defense (Garrison)- Free, competent militia defenders. Are they cost effective, good defenders?
Garrison Offense (Strike)- Useful in attacking militia defenders. Are they cost and battle effective versus smaller garrisons?
Professional Defense (Defender)- Professional Defensive Force. Can they hold back a serious army?
Professional Offense (Siege)- Professional Offensive Force. Can they take a well defended fortress?
Field Offense (Open O)- Professional Field Army. How do they handle open battlefield combat, as an offensive force?
Field Defense (Open D)- Professional Field Army. Can they defend themselves on the battlefield, en route to an engagement, holding back an attacking force with no walls around them?
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Specialized Tactical Scenarios:

Hill Offense (Hill O)- Good for assaulting hills?
Hill Defense (Hill D)- Good for defending hills?
Forest Offense (For O)- Good at assaulting forests?
Forest Defense (For D)- Good at defending forests?
Bridge Offense (Bridge O)- Good at taking fortified bridges?
Bridge Defense (Bridge D)- Good at fortifying bridges?

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Infantry

Peasant grade- Peasants, Highland Rabble, etc. Light, unarmoured, poorly equipped infantry.

Garrison-........6 ******
Strike-...........2 **
Defender-.......1 *
Siege-............1 *
Open O-.........1 *
Open D-.........1 *


Garrison Defense (Garrison)- 6 Stars ******

Peasants: Cheapest castle defenders, good wall unit. These units can be spammed, easily replaced, upgraded, can gain experience, and are good for public order. All in all, not bad for a bottom of the barrel unit which exists solely for public order concerns. In a pinch, they can be used as a fighting unit.

Town Militia: Free town defenders, better wall unit. Any kind of militia unit serves better as a garrison than other units, merely for the fact that militias are free army units whenever they are used as garrison. They can fight well, be replaced easily, and are usually upgrade-able. Why not spam an entire army and use it as a garrison? You'd be foolish not to. Town militia are basically the same as spear militia, except they dont have the anti-cavalry bonus. Their stats are poor, but enough of them can defend a city for free, which frees your entire professional force to go smash some heads, or assist in their defense.

Garrison Offense (Strike)- 2 Stars **

Useful in moving siege equipment and taking casualties cheaply.
Stats pretty terrible, but easy to replace.
Town militia and peasants are basically a poor man's army filler. They take casualties and do menial tasks while your better troops fight heroically. Don't send them to take walls or the city center, you're just hurting your own morale and losing money. Still, cheap cannon fodder has its uses even in the most professional force. If youre going to take casualties, why waste money on good troops?

Professional Defense (Defender)- 1 Star *

Stats completely terrible. Only good for manning walls, and even then, worthless.
Professional defense is for professional defenders. These guys, even when spammed to the max, cannot hold a settlement from any serious invasion. They can delay the enemy from taking the settlement perhaps until reinforcements arrive, and that is all.

Professional Offense (siege)- 1 Star *

Useful in moving siege equipment and taking casualties cheaply.
Stats terrible, and only useful as meat shields.
If you're going to assault any seriously defended place, you're a fool to bring town militia. They can take arrow hits for your better troops and fight archers and artillery, but what else could they possibly do?

Field Offense (Open O)- 1 Star *

Hopelessly defenseless against archers, cavalry, artillery, and infantry. If they are upgraded, and spammed en masse, they could theoretically hold a line against bad troops for a short while, while your flankers destroy them. But you should slap some armor on them, really.

Field Defense (Open D)- 1 Star *

Terrible against an offensive force. Enemy cavarly and generals will cut them down like grass, and most infantry will demolish and rout them. Why bother? I suppose they are useful in taking cavalry charges and missile fire, so your better troops dont have to. But even then, they rout.

Hill Offense (Hill O)- 1 Star *

Theoretically useful in taking missile fire as your better troops advance behind them. This is where they actually are "meat shields".

Hill Defense (Hill D)- 3 Stars ***

The morale boost and increased fighting power of being uphill makes them useful in defending against archers, formed charges, etc. Being uphill makes them almost competent, but even so... they are better off inside a settlement.

Forest Offense (For O)- 2 Stars **

Many different peasants and town militia get combat bonuses in forests. Useful in blocking cavalry charges and flanking. If you had to ambush someone, they are good for pinning the enemy while your better forces flank them.

Forest Defense (For D)- 2 Stars **

Defensive bonuses for militia and peasants make them marginally useful in holding a line, but not against charges.You need to have better troops to help them, and they will take casualties.

Bridge Offense (Bridge O)- 1 star *

Just plain atrocious. They can take missile fire, but little else. If you need to fight your way across a well defended bridge, why would you bring weak, untrained, useless fighters?

Bridge Defense (Bridge D)- 2 Stars **

Good for blocking bridges, but not for holding the other side. Meat Shield only.
If you shove them halfway across the bridge while the enemy is attempting to cross, you delay their assault and you lose only worthless troops in the process, while your archers wear them down. This trick is actually worthwhile, but the peasants rout quickly.

Hint: Only use peasants/town militia under a Chivarlous general. So what if they die, at least they dont rout quickly under a Chivarlous general, which actually makes them almost useful, and cheap useful troops have a place in any army.

Spear Militia grade- Town/Spear Militia grade. Lightly armed spearmen, militia grade.

Garrison-...... 7 *******
Strike- .........3 ***
Defender-......2 **
siege-...........3 ***
Open O-........2 **
Open D-........2 **

Garrison Defense (Garrison)- 7 stars *******

While nearly as useless as peasants or town militia, these cheap, easily upgraded, easy to replace spearmen can hold a line, defend well, and are perfect for destroying cavalry. Though armoured cavalry will deliver plenty of punishment to these guys with poor attack stats, its a cheap way of dealing with armoured generals and cavalry units. You'll take casualties, but trading a unit or two of spear militia for an enemy general is an excellent trade.

Garrison Offense (Strike)- 3 stars ***

You could do better, seriously. But if you have to kill some peasant archers, slap a ladder on these men and watch them at least get the archers to stop firing at your better troops. Fighting light cavalry or defeating the enemy general, if upgraded and spammed these guys can deliver. You'll take casualties, and there are better troops for the job, but you can win a war with these guys as your only real infantry, if you are strong in other areas. These are your realistic bare minimum fighter infantry. They can't even take a formed charge properly. In the early game, you can spam these and do just fine though. Add armour to make a semi-professional line of spears.

Professional Defense (Defender)- 2 stars **

You have to do better than this if you're going to be defending one of your strongholds against a serious enemy attack. These guys are nearly worthless against professional forces. However, the town square, wall morale and spear bonus they get, plus their cheapness, makes these a good final option if youre running out of time. Realistically, a good commander can deflect a better force with these troops, but not if the walls crumble.

Professional Offense (siege)- 3 stars ***

These guys could be used to defend artillery and archers against a sally force, so I suppose they are useful defenders of a siege force. They are best used to defend your artillery and missile troops until they run out of ammo and need to withdraw. For this task, you can find no better unit. Cheap and effective, and they can be restocked and retrained at the captured settlement, taking the casualties your professional troops can't afford to. However, when it comes to taking defended walls, they are atrocious, fighting armoured troops, even cavalry, they stink, and their morale is too low to be used seriously as offense. Your best hope is to tie them to a chivalrous general with high command and pray it works.

Field Offense (Open O)- 2 stars **

Even in the early game, they are not so great in the open, especially against cavalry. However, with the absence of heavy cavalry, these guys can be used to cheaply chase down horse archers. Spread formation, from one end of the map to another, running at full speed, while your cavalry tries to flank, pin, or force a melee. So, in some situations they can be ok. However, against armour, formed charges, missiles, artillery... anything, really, they just plain stink in the open battlefield.

Don't bother without armour upgrades, then use them simply as a defensive line unit with a chivarlous general and pray some more. Use them to outnumber the enemy. Don't get flanked, and don't rely on them to do the heavy fighting. They can only realistically defend their front for a short time against professional troops.

Field Defense (Open D)- 2 stars **

If you can hold the high ground and avoid being flanked or charged, these guys could delay the enemy. But you're in trouble if youre outnumbered or facing professional forces. I suppose they can deal with the enemy's militia units that they sometimes field, but honestly, they can't do much more than delay the enemy from hitting your good troops. Out in the open, they are too slow and weak to matter with cavalry dominating them, even with spear bonuses.

Hill Offense (Hill O)- 1 star *

If trying to destroy an enemy that's uphill or on a mountain, you're going to do poorly with this unit. I highly advise against it. You'll take missile casualties, and cavalry can charge your exhausted troops and retreat before you can take advantage of the spear bonus. You'll lose men, morale, and the battle itself. Never use these troops to take a hill unless it is absolutely necessary AND you have allied reinforcement.

Hill Defense (Hill D)- 4 stars ****

The spear bonus helps fight cavalry from a defensive position, and if they don't move, the fact that the enemy could have shaken morale, depleted forces, or be exhausted by the time they get to you means you have a fighting chance. This makes these guys look much better than your enemy, and it offsets their weaknesses. You need to spam these guys, but every man on the high ground carrying at least a spear is a man fighting more effectively. You can even take on the enemy general with just these troops if they are fresh and healthy. 4 stars, for this particular situation.

Forest Offense (For O)- 4 stars ****

Most of the european militia spearmen have bonuses in woods or snow. This makes them have a distinct advantage over, say, Muslim units or Italian units in the woods or snow. Even these little volunteer spearmen have some fight in them, especially against cavalry, in the woods. If you're going to set up an ambush inside your territory, and you don't have the funds for better troops, these troops are capable enough and cheap enough and can be recruited almost anywhere. In the open field, these guys have a tough time dealing with cavalry and archers and artillery and the enemy general, but inside a forest those odds are even, and you get the proper bang for your buck that you need from a militia unit. Since these troops are so cheap and always available, if you're in a pinch and you need to fight defensively, you can do well with these militia spears on a hill, in a forest, or behind a castle wall. They can go man to man with professional troops in those situations. In others, they aren't so great.

Any time a militia troop can go man to man with the expensive, experienced guys, that gives the militia troop the advantage. They are cheaper, easier to maintain, re-train, re-arm, and manage out in the field. Ironically, they have some applications offensively on long campaigns when your better troops get depleted and you need reinforcements. Spammed, armoured militia spearmen can add to your force along with professional mercenary troops, while your professional troops made at home are less easy to find.

For these spearmen, however, keep them out of the open field. Use tactical situations to even the odds, or you will take losses.

Forest Defense (For D)- 5 stars *****

See the forest offense section. Not having to move means you can deploy them in a very defensible way for ambushes and allow them to fight almost as hard as trained soldiers in their natural element, woods and snow. When you force the enemy to take the fight to you in the forest, you have an advantage. You can spam these troops and field an impressive force for less money, and they fight effectively. This is the best utilization for these troops besides as defensive garrisons or reinforcements.

Forests hamper archers, horse archers, artillery, and all cavalry. This means the woods-capable spear militiaman looks very good by comparison to the so-called elite troops. Add a chivalrous general and some armour and you're in business for a real fight.

Bridge Offense (Bridge O)- 2 stars **

I wouldn't recommend it. They don't have powerful offensive capability and cavalry doesn't come into play very much in bridge situations. They can't hold their own against better troops. All they can really do is get in the way, possibly taking missile fire in place of better troops.

Bridge Defense (Bridge D)- 3 stars ***

They still aren't so great in this situation, but they can hold the bridge itself for a while, while your archers handle the advancing force behind them. Holding a bottleneck is a good idea, and they do have an advantage against cavalry in these close quarters situations. Holding the other side of the bridge is not such a good idea... the horsemen can and will push the spearmen back, until the bubble breaks and they rout, taking fewer casualties than one might expect horsemen to take from spears.

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Comments welcome.

This is a small part of only one section of the unit guide, which is itself a small portion of the Compendium. It's not intended to be comprehensive in and of itself, but a good starting point for understanding the various strengths and weaknesses of general unit types.