What really kills them, imo, is the production time.

They're not bad units, but with byz inf coming in 100 man units and one year, they're just not worth it. I've seen tests where they actually LOSE to a lot of the units (e.g. chiv sergeants) that equal valor byz inf can beat.

In the time you spend producing/teching up to var guard, you could build two upgraded byz inf or katak that will prove FAR more effective on the battlefield.

Maybe they'll get better after the armor piercing bug is fixed....

Oh, and regarding byz cav and pro al... I don't like byz cav. Their missiles do way too little damage, and while they have decent stats, they aren't decent enough to make up for their lousy charge bonus.

Pro al are overpriced and inferior to katak in just about every way (speed is big, obviously, but you can use steppe cav for chasing archers, routers), but they're ok if you produce them in Nicea. Otherwise, my opinion is that they're a waste. Compare them (475 florins) to katak (400 florins):

Katak
3 atk, 5 def, 7 arm, 8 charge

Pro Al
4 atk, 3 def, 5 arm, 6 charge

So you get 1 atk, but lose 2 defense, 2 armor, and 2 charge!!!

Imo, another one of those units that needs rebalancing......

[This message has been edited by Dorkus (edited 10-18-2002).]