Discussion: the most cost-effective unit?

[Alrik]

Hmm...can't necro the thread, when it's already at the top of the forum, right?

Anyhow as far as militia hoptilites goes, they are WAY overrated. Levy pikemen requires another level of barraks, but that's 2000 people settlement and civilized factions, not really that much to ask for is it? They have the same cost as militia hoptilites per soldier and their long spears mean that they kick militia hoptilite's asses any day of the week and can actually handle a cavalry charge, which I'm sorry to say, militia hoptilites does a horrible job at.

As good as they are I still think there are better units.
Wardogs have been mentioned, though I'd take warhounds any day of the week over wardogs (only romans gets wardogs, warhounds are tougher and cheaper as most barbarian things are.) I'd probably vote for German/Schythian warhounds as they are 120 in a unit over the other 96 troop units, eventhough they are a little more costly per soldier/dog with their 60 denarii a turn instead of 40.
Warhounds/dogs are really just about everything you can ask of infantry, they are expendable, in that you really don't care if they die (you get new ones as long as the handlers survive.) and they don't break! On top of that you get that they frighten enemy infantry, they are fast so they run down fleeing infantry and more importanly, nimble along with that quickness, meaning that they can intercept oncoming cavalry which means that by the time your cavalry have circled around your hounds can have the enemy's cavalry pinned for you to charge and slaughter.
Their two main drawbacks are that they take two turns to build and don't gain experience unless the handlers do the killing, they only need a first tier barracks to build though which will also give you the cavalry needed for the above tactic of pin and slaughter.

Even so they are fairly light troops, even if three of them does take down a general unit (that's a bloody fact, he's dead and there's nothing he can do about it.)

So my vote probably has to fall on the forrester, again two bloody turns to build and now a third tier building (even though it's just the second level of archery building it does need 6000 pop. Which still means that you'll have them long before civilized factions have their elite troops)
At only 200 denari per unit and turn you can afford to have a lot of these guys and as they should only be built out of third tier epona cities it takes a little while before you have them, but oboy when you do.
17 in missile means that you don't care if you're fireing into their front, or how much armour they have, or the size of their shields, they die anyway and with long range this means that a lot of them die before they have the chance to face you in hand to hand, only to learn that your forresters have an equally staggering 17 in melee attack and a defence of 10, not to mention excelent moral and very high stamina, in fact they actually rest when fireing arrows! Very rarely do I even with running with them everywhere ever get them to winded, half a breather while giving some other unit an order is usually enough for them to lose a level of fatigue.

These guys paired with warhounds are the menace of anyone. warhounds are expendable, menaing that you don't have to stop shooting, this paired with the hounds ability to counter the archer's biggest threat, cavalry, is flabbergaisting. And should the cavalry still make contact with your forresters, then they are they only archer unit to fight with spears in hand to hand combat, so they can give cavalry a fair beating anyway, with their melee value of 17 this means that even heavy cavalry should quiver in their saddles.