I need a better Venetian stack

[Beren Son Of Barahi]

1 General
1 Caroccio Standard
6 Pavise Crossbow Militia
6 Venetian Infantry
6 Feudal Knights

* i would drop the standard, unless your in a city and defending.
* i would most likely take either pikes or dismounted men at arms or dismounted knights to make up the core inf , they have high defence and can keep the other force pinned in location, and have the venetian inf on the flanks, there high attack is great as a flanking force.
*take less xbows, take some venetian archers.
*i would take some light cavalry, the light cavalry at the top end of the tech tree are awsome, and maybe the quickest light cavalry around.
*some arty would help, trebuchets are great.

so i would go with the following..
1-2 generals
2 xbow (to be out in front taking on missle troops and thinning out the front lines)
2-3 v.archers (behind the lines used to focus fire on shock troops or elites)
4 pikes/dismounted anything (used to hold the line, while others wrap around)
2 venetian heavy infantry (flanking force)
4 heavy horse of anytype (charges flanks and light troops to rout)
2 light horse (used to get behind and take out arty or anything the routs)
2 arty (trebuchets to send forth the cows and break up lines)

[Amon_Zeth]

What specialities do the Venetian Archers and the Pavise Crossbow Militia have? I'd think that the Xbows would be better all around, seeing as how they have high-powered armor piercing shots and shields to guard against arrow fire.

[TinCow]

The Venetian Archers are fabulous. Not only do they have ranged capabilities comparable to Longbows, they have very decent melee abilities. They will beat anything below the dismounted knight level of infantry in melee. This makes them particularly good at defending cities and castles, since they can repel ladders and towers as well as shoot.

[katank]

Xbows don't shoot as fast. Thus, Venetian archers can kill enemy units faster. Once they fix the passive AI, xbows will not get ability to expend all their ammo.

There is indeed no "best" stack. I assume this is for SP. If so, then exploit the passive AI all you want and load up on Xbows and Venetian archers. Throwing in a piece of siege might also be good. Then add in 4-6 units of heavy cav to break up the lines and rout chase. That's for a general AI stack.

Some bread and butter units are Italian spear militia and Venetian Heavy Inf for anti-cav and anti-armor respectively. Carraccio standard is likely a waste unless you have tons of militia units.

Note that catapults are a must for bridge defense as they can shred enemy troops on the bridge.

[Musashi]

Xbows don't shoot as fast. Thus, Venetian archers can kill enemy units faster. Once they fix the passive AI, xbows will not get ability to expend all their ammo.

There is indeed no "best" stack. I assume this is for SP. If so, then exploit the passive AI all you want and load up on Xbows and Venetian archers. Throwing in a piece of siege might also be good. Then add in 4-6 units of heavy cav to break up the lines and rout chase. That's for a general AI stack.

Some bread and butter units are Italian spear militia and Venetian Heavy Inf for anti-cav and anti-armor respectively. Carraccio standard is likely a waste unless you have tons of militia units.

Note that catapults are a must for bridge defense as they can shred enemy troops on the bridge.

My Crossbowmen get to expend their ammo almost every time, even when the enemy charges. I just don't cease firing when they engage my front line

[andrewt]

If it's campaign, venetian heavy is a lot cheaper to maintain than dismounted feudal knights, so I barely use any dismounted feudal knights.

[sapi]

Personally i'd either drop most of the cavalry or all of the infantry.

I find that mixed armies often suffer from being the jack of all trades and the master of none, so it's sometimes easier to have both an all infantry (+ the general) and an all cavalry army operating at the same time; you can use either one as the situation demands...

[Von Nanega]

Carraccio standard is likely a waste unless you have tons of militia units.

With the Venetians I have used lots of militia units. The Carrico standard has helped hold their morale. I have also had them drop the standard and fight. They are pretty good IMO. My Carrico standard in my main army has a silver chevron from their various battles and have over time only lost a total of three men. Some of these battles against Milan have been brutal with the dead stinking in the sun. But the Carico standard has stood over the piles of the slain.