Dealing with the Billmen and Caravels

[Ironside]

Yes, there is always a free space for the billmen in my army. I occasionally hire Longbowmen. I have not tried the Chivalric men-at-arms but I doubt they will be successful against the billmen.

Stat wise CMMA should win due to the shield. Reduced if both got heavy armour upgrades of course. Billmen win if both got golden armour.

Btw, I am quite sceptic of the armour upgrades (one silver armour province is more than enough, the other can go even without armour). I have the feeling they are only useful against the Mongols (protect from arrows) but are useless and even harmful because of the huge amount of armour piercing units and the fatigue. I am not even sure whether they affect the defense in a hand-to hand combat.

1 armour from armour smith=1 defense or 0.5 defense vs ap units. Only for the desert corps is armour a downside (in long battles). That and winter, but you don't fight enough winter battles to bother.

On a different issue, the problem of the Late campaign is that when you finally manage to secure yourself financially (bribes!), the game is going to be over.

It's the blitz age sadly enough.

Slightly off-topic but since we are discussing the Byzantines. I always dreamed of making an army of deadly assassins but the border forts absolutely limit my options on this occasion. How many stars are required in order an assassin to be able to evade the curse of the border forts?

Never really tried it but iirc they need 5 stars to be really good at it (Syria produced). 2-3 stars should be enough to prevent death in droves I think.