Peasants + 5 Valor + 3 Armor + 3 Attack > All other units

[Manstein]

So, I was besieged by Greek force of about 300, and they have a unit of peasants, spearmen, and 2 units of Kataphraktoi. I had 500, high valour peasants. I thought I would lose, but, when they broke into my castle, and then I sent 200 peasants against their kataphraktoi, I killed the byzantine general and
captured over 100 prisoners. Then, the siege was relieved.

Lol, I guess valor is all what is needed, eh?

[IrishMike]

Yes peasants combined with high valor, and their charge bonus can do a surprising amount of damage. Valor most of the time is they key with all units. The number of increase it does to attack, defense and moral escapes me at the moment, but it is a very potent force and can turn the weakest unit into a good unit.

[ElmarkOFear]

Every level of Valour increases Morale by 2, attack (Weapon) by one and def(armor) by one. So using the values in the title of this post the peasants in question would have been:

Val 5 = 10 morale, +5 attack, + 5 attack
with attack (weapon) upgraded to 3 this would be an 8 attack
with defense (armor) upgraded to 3 this would be an 8 defense

For a total of:

Valour 5
Morale 8 10 - 2 (Initital value of peasant Morale I believe)
Attack 8
Defense 8

Not bad aye? :) With the spear bonus vs. cav, and a charge bonus, the kataphracktoi would have been hard pressed to beat these peasants. Also remember the 2 peasant units means 200 men vs. 80 horse which gives a penalty to the cav since they are outnumbered by more than 2 to 1. Try it on Custom battle and see if the result isnt the same. Also, if you make the custom battle, after the start hit the F1 key 2 or 3 times and it will list the stats of the units in your army. It should show the values I have stated as the final ones above. There is more to this game than most people realize. That is why MP is much more challenging battle-wise than SP. :)

Hope this helps.

[CBR]

Actually peasants doesnt have anti cav bonus. But yes if they had that many upgrades they were only peasant by name as their combat power would be higher than chivalric men at arms plus being a 100 men unit.


CBR

[Manstein]

Peasants, I find, are effective during sieges and defense movements, but, are not as effective in offense that much.

[el_slapper]

Lone use of standard peasants in plain battle is flank charge - with quick withdrawal, & huge losses.

How the hell did you push them to that insane level? They tend to die very fast in my games, so I don't make them.....

[Manstein]

I upgraded them through armories, alehouses, and metalsmiths. You build them, and troops in the province will get a boost.

[Harald the ROCK]

Its the morale and their big unit size that keeps them going. With 8 or 10 morale they're as motivated as v2 or v3 chivalric men at arms.

[{KotR}Lionheart]

Hmmmm, a novel multi player idea comes to me...