Quote Originally Posted by Orda Khan
Which brings me back to the Hunnic archers which cost over 700 denarii at exp 0 or Hun horde archers at over 600 denarii at exp 0
I hope youi're not suggesting that Huns or any other faction which depends on the mobility of their cavalry should be able to win when they can't use that mobility.

Hunnic elite warriors (66 men, 6/10/15 chg/att/def for 900 denari) beat comitatenses (81 men, 2/8/25 for 680 denari) frontally in melee after killing about 10 men with their arrows which they can do in about 15 volleys.

I tried Sarmatian virgin archers (380 denari) vs limitanei (380 denari), and they could only kill about 17 limitanei with their arrows which is far too few for them to win in melee. So in BI, ranged inf do not beat melee infantry at equal cost.

It would seem that in BI, if flanking isn't possible, you are going to have to use a faction that can field strong infantry, and that will just give you even chances of winning at best.