strongest infantry in game (spoilers perhaps?)

[jerby]

like the title.

what did you find teh hardest, thoughest infantry you've faced, or used. and how do they compare head to head?

i find they GAESATAE practically unbeatable in head-to-head infantry fights.
anybody else such experiences?

[Dayve]

Up to now the toughest infantry i've had to face are the fanatical naked guys... They rip through my infantry like no other... I remember the first time i faced them, they were guarding a city gate during an assault of mine... I sent in three units of Hastati like i usually do and to my surprise they routed... Sent in my other two and they also ran... (there were other units defending too, lesser quality though) It was in the end my two units of Triarii which saved the day.. They also routed my principes... I was amazed to say the least.

[Ranika]

Gaesatae I think are the strongest in pure brute strength and shock, but clever tactics can deal with them handily. There are some very very well armored units that I think can toe-to-toe with Gaesatae solely due to their excellent armor, but I never tested it.

[jerby]

wich? wich?

anybody havign nasty experiences with torikatai argyraspidai (ninja's)? or hypaspistai/pheraspidai?

[jerby]

back again. made a list of *strongest* infantry.
I added the melee-attack up to teh total def. so attk=12, def=31->43....
i don't think this is teh ideal method since it's quite possible that soemthign with attack=17, def=8 (25) can beat a attk=10, def=18 (28)...but stilll. here's teh list:

43: thorakitai argyraspidai (seleucids)
40: Basilikon agema
39: Elite afrikan pikemen, Preitorians, Cohors evocata, thorikatai Hoplitai
38: antesigani, soldurii, rycalawre, arveni arjos, Hypaspistai
37: cohors imperium, pheraspidai, hoplitai iphikrates
36:Iberian aussault infantry, Neitos, Gastiz, hoplitai korintoi.

and off course the gaesatae (36), with 2 HP...
i was very surprised teh ptolemoi had such a powerfull unit...didn't expect it..

EDIT: did soem one-one testing. the gaesatae beat the Thorakiati agryraspidai. pretty toe2toe.
the cohors evocata lost to the Thora's. and the cohors evocate beat the gaesaetae by a mile...
BUT: the thoa's are with 30 men, the chippendale's with 40, and the cohors evocata had 51 men..so that explains a bit...

[QwertyMIDX]

Luckily in the EB cost system you pay per man .

[Ypoknons]

Imperial Cohorts are really quite tough. I nailed them on the front of phalanxes, flanked them with hypaspistai, showered them with longbows and they still wouldn't break. Of course there one or two Praetorian cohorts with them as well; that might have helped moral a bit.

[The Persian Cataphract]

You are all wrong. The Êrânshahr Ârshtibârâ are the most powerful infantry in the game... Well, maybe not in pure, brute force... But they excel in killing off horse archers in every possible way (It could only take a fool to lose against horse archers with a few regiments of these light infantry), something that very few other infantry can do. Foot archers are generally too vulnerable, even against horse archers, as they are practically defenceless against cavalry charges. So versatility and recruit-upkeep cost is kind of... powerful in their own right =P

Oh yeah, I figured I wasn't the only one noticing how Gaesatae practically chews infantry to pieces in melee. While I've read that these guys were practically mountains of flesh on drugs, they can take a hell of a beating, even against flanking from cataphracted cavalry (Zradha Pahlavans). Not only take a hell of a beating, they deal a hell of a swipe as well, and there were moments were I thought that I was actually losing against them. Though I got a crushing victory, those naked fanatics left me quite the impression... Boy oh boy...

Just to further confirm to myself that they were powerhouses, I set up another custom battle, having numerical advantage with my peltastai infantry. Javelins did wonders here. But that didn't help me. When those monsters closed in for melee clashing, I noticed one peltastai card declining rapidly. And I mean rapidly. After one second, there was only ten peltasts left, routing. Not only that, soon after, a chain rout kicked in, and I instantly forgot the cataphract vs. gaesatae match I earlier had. I was like "holy ****". I always knew heavier infantry/shortrange missile infantry never was my forte, but ya'll could imagine how I began to feel about hellenic infantry afterwards. There is no way I'm going to touch the hellenic factions, ever again. In Vanilla, I felt that they were not so good, and RTR my opinion of them reached another bottom. EB however takes the cake. I almost felt sorry for those Peltastai that got slaughtered. "Imitation legionnaires in spirit"... Baloney... Gaesatae are the most powerful infantry in the game when it comes to pure brute force, hands down. I may feel that the Ârshtibârâ are incredibly versatile as cost effective garrison and deterrent against pesky horse-archers, but I'll never forget my 2nd encounter with the Gaesatae. Sweet, sweet jesus...

[tk-421]

I like the Thureophoroi. They are great at killing peltasts and can fight fairly well against some heavier infantry. Killing Macedonian phalangites is really easy if you hold them up with hoplites or pikemen and then charge their rear with Thureophoroi. Ekdromoi hoplites have to be some of the best infantry for killing peltasts and other skirmishers, but they are no good against heavier infantry or cavalry.

[Krusader]

I like the Thureophoroi. They are great at killing peltasts and can fight fairly well against some heavier infantry. Killing Macedonian phalangites is really easy if you hold them up with hoplites or pikemen and then charge their rear with Thureophoroi. Ekdromoi hoplites have to be some of the best infantry for killing peltasts and other skirmishers, but they are no good against heavier infantry or cavalry.

Sounds like they work like they should and are used in the role they are meant for then

[CorporateSlave]

Gaesatae...

I had to laugh at the description:

[img=https://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8243/00141cw.th.jpg]

[jerby]

nice work on the campaign though..

[Bonny]

I find the Triarier Hoplite unit really strong, if your only troops are lybian spearman and some mercenaries it is really hard to fight them, and the roman armies i faced used them as standard unit....

[Mujalumbo]

The Basilikon Agemata are the guys in white, right? And they beat out the Kleruchoi Agemata?

Spoiler request, I guess, are the Thorakitai Hoplitai going to be KH's strongest unit? (Not that I mind if it is, of course, it's a damned fine unit.)

So far, I've played until 250-ish B.C. as the Koinen Hellenon and the Ptolemaioi. The most powerful infantry units I've been able to recruit have been the Kleruchoi Agemata and then the Thorakitai Hoplitai.

[The_Mark]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spartiatai, quite probably

[Reenk Roink]

For you Epeirote players a chaenonian guard unit (40 men) can nicely hold off those gaesatae 'til your pelatstai soften them up with javelins and the finish them off with a flank charge...

BTW, I'm guessing Spartiatai will be the best infantry unit.

[Zenith Darksea]

Except for the fact that they're not in the game yet.

[mattholomew]

in vanilla, phalanxes worked for me to kill anything. I haven't really played as any of the hellenic factions long enought to fight anything but other phalanxes yet, so i was wondering how gaesatae do against a wall of spears. I once came up against a gallic army with six units of them, and they completely destroyed my full stack roman army. It's even harder to take them out when they have other infantry, skirmishers, and cavalry for support. They're definitely great shock troops and have make me think twice about invading gaul.

You know what would be fun, one unit of gaesatae versus a full stack army of vanilla rtw peasants.

[Reenk Roink]

Except for the fact that they're not in the game yet.

Exactly why I said "will be"

[Dayve]

One unit of Spartan hoplites against an army of peasants used to be fun. Although if you really wanted to... Go to vanilla, find naked fanatics in the export_descr_unit (i think) and change their stats to the stats of Gaestae in EB... Then you can have your Gaestae versus peasants.

[Goatus_Boyus]

What about this fear causing wolves of wodan??..they tend to break any unit they hit in the rear or flank in my germania game.

[The Stranger]

Luckily in the EB cost system you pay per man .

good invention isnt it

[LordCurlyton]

Bah Gaesetae are overrated. Y'all must have crappy Principes. A unit of principes will hold a unit of gaesetae for more than long enough. If you can't get around them in the 5 or so min it takes to break the principes then you needs to refine your tactics.
And you hellenic bashers must not know how to use phalanxes. They are gods in EB almost. Even levy phalanxes are damn useful.
Strongest infantry would have to go to Thorikita Agyraspidai in my book. They can whomp just about anything. Even Marian cohorts and above will take a beating, if not get routed 1 on 1. But then, you never go 1 on 1...

[The Errant]

The strongest infantry in the game is not Gaesatae but the Lusotana Dosidataskeli (Vasci Armoured Shock Infantry), after that comes Seleukid Thorakitai Argyraspidai and Goidilic Uachtarach DuboGaiscaocha (Goidilic Armoured Shock Infantry).
They may not have the shock value of the Gaesatae charge or two hitpoints but in sheer staying power they are the best. The javelins they throw are all iron Solifera which can easily bring down the one hitpoint advantage of the Gaesatae, and they all have both enough armor and skill to withstand the charge meant to break them.

[Dan_Grr]

Exactamondo! The mightiest infantry is the Vascii Armoured Shoch Infantry, from the mightiest Lusotanan faction. Ahem. They are indeed powerful, they impressed their foes so much that even as far as in the empire of AS they were copied.

Add that an excellent morale, bonus fighting cavalry, expert at hiding in the woods and you got yourself a mini superman. God, I how love them!

The original Lusotannan badass:


Arche Seleukeia clonetrooper:



Goidillic brother:

[Fondor_Yards]

Notice most of these posts are well over a year old. Back then there was no Dosidataskeli.

[Owen the Mighty]

I would have to agree that those naked psychos have to be the best shock infantry in the game, but for holding-the-line infantry (heavy, essentially) I would have to nominate Saka Heavy Hoplites and Makedonian Reformed Pikmen....if walls could walk, they'd be like these guys. A close third in my book would be Baktrian Royal Guards.

[Wolfman]

1. First Cohorts
2. Gaesatae
3. Wodanawulfuz
4. Vascii Shock Infantry
5. Ethiopian Agema
6. Spartan Hoplites

[Owen the Mighty]

Oh, for versatility, Indo-Greek Peltasts have to be up there. They're just too good to not include in my armies!

[Rogge]

I know the stats doesn't really show it but I often find the KH hoplites a tough nut to crack. They don't respond to being surrounded at all and is fairly resistant to archers. Also they are very mobile, good against cavalry and don't lose their breath in an instant. All considered, a very nice allround unit.
After fighting them a few times as romani I'm actually a bit tempted to start an KH campaign.