Favorite Units?

[Sensei Warrior]

I can't help myself. I know I have seen endless threads about our favorite units, and all the old-timers reading this are probably sighing in bored misery, but I have seen quite a few new posters in here as of late so I figured I'd dredge up an oldie...

What is your favorite unit and why?

Anyone who has read me babbling on about units know very well I have a tendency to back the underdogs, the overused, and often unappreciated units in MTW. The top of my list is the humble Urban Militia. Often vastly ignored once a player hits High, opting for Halbreds or even sooner once FMAA can be built, these cast-offs of other players are often lovingly cherished by me well into my late-game.

Another is Swabian Swordsmen. Rarely used because of requirements and their early exit from the game, often get produced en-mass and are opted over most melee units when I have the chance.

Now just because I have a propensity towards the quickly outdated doesn't mean you have to. What are the units you while away your hours at work and/or school just dreaming about? Is it the all-powerful JHI? The everpopular Longbowmen or Billmen from the English? The Kata-tanks? Give us a post and let us know (or remind us of again ).

[seireikhaan]

Hmm. One personal favorite of mine would have to be cmaa's, an all around, very good unit, capable of being produced en masse. My 'underdog' pick would have to be ghazi infantry, mainly because I love watching them crashing into the flanks of the suddenly not-so mighty kataphracts. And one last one would be Muwahid foot soldiers. I always keep at least a few spots in my muslim army dedicated to these guys, mainly because they are so darn versatile, they can fill in at multiple positions at the army, from taking on lighter cavalry, to crashing into the flanks of an enemy and causing terrible casualties with their charge. It doesn't hurt that their a bit quicker than the average infantry as well.

[gregori99]

There are a lot of units I like, but won't pick any of the elite units because their merits speak for themselves.

I also like Ghazi Infantry. I've lost count of the times they've saved my bacon. Their morale is sky-high and they can do tremendous damage, especially round the flanks.

From the BKB Super Mod I like the Pechenig Horsemen. They're fast, never seem to tire, and go on charging again and again no matter their losses. Great for chasing down all those pesky Horse Archers. Their stats aren't anything special either. The Byzantines usually have good generals though, which helps.

Ghulam Cavalry, fast and devastating around the flanks. Don't tire too quickly.

[macsen rufus]

Well, I have bit of a soft-spot for hybrids - ranged + melee capable, and I think my favourite of these has to be the Ottoman Infantry. It's a long while since I've played a Turkish campaign so can't recall all the details, but I like the ability to use up the arrows then join the melee in a useful way. I often give the AI a surprise by keeping them in engage at will rather than skirmish, so they can go in the front line at a pinch (though I'm more likely to deploy them behind Saracens until it's time to move them out to the flanks and come in around and behind the pinned enemy.)

One undervalued unit I like for Catholics is the mounted Xbow - unlike HAs it can get quite tough, especially with a bit of valour and some teching up. Indispensible unit for my HRE campaigns - AP missiles and quite respectable medium cav, what more can the Emperor ask

In my current PMTW campaign, I'm developing quite a respect for berber cavalry, as well

[Ayachuco]

The undervalued unit that I like is the very flexible mounted sergeants. They don't suffer the poor morale of the hobilars and due to their quickness are very good at launching coordinated flanking movements with knights. Esp. playing as the English, I use them to harass the Jinettes so they don't mercilessly destroy my very inflexible formation of billmen/longbowmen. They're also perfect for luring those Frenchie knights into my pole troops. Just let them chase my mounted seargants and send my spears toward them and the knights will hit them and then double back the sergeants and hit the knights in the rear. They're also good in sally battles, I just send them out and try to destroy any seige artillery the army brought with them. I usually have one or two in my castle garrisons. They're cheap, quick, and reliable (most of the time).
I may not want them, but I NEED the Mounted Sergeants.

My favourite unique troop is the Naptha Throwers. They're pretty useless on the attack but if they can loose one volley(and that's usually all they throw) its pretty neat to see the explosions wreak havoc on the enemy. Another good choice is the Almohad Urban Militias. I HATE them. Esp. whenever I'm trying to get the almohads out of Granada. All those CMAA defeated at the hands of infidel militia. EVIL...

Finally, you got to love those Katanks.
No need for an explanation...Go Byzantines.

[Alouette]

Vikings: Like MAA except available in early from a fort (hence you get faster armor/weapon upgrades), and their AP. I bet the Mongols were pretty bloody surprised by my Viking horde.

FK's: Vicious enough to flank with, tough enough to flank with more than once.

That's really all you need.

[Martok]

Spanish Jinnettes -- for when you absolutely, positively need to drive the enemy crazy.

Ghazi Infantry and Bedouin Camel Warriors will always be in my top five as well. I admit I'm also a sucker for Huscarles, even though I know they're grossly overpowered -- it's probably the Scandanavian in me.

And one last one would be Muwahid foot soldiers. I always keep at least a few spots in my muslim army dedicated to these guys, mainly because they are so darn versatile, they can fill in at multiple positions at the army, from taking on lighter cavalry, to crashing into the flanks of an enemy and causing terrible casualties with their charge. It doesn't hurt that their a bit quicker than the average infantry as well.

[Sensei Warrior]

Nice to know there are a few of us that dont jump to the bog standard for favs. A couple I've overlooked, that weren't overlooked by others:

kamikhaan: Muhwadid Foot Soldiers. I've never really given them much thought. I know how to use them, but I dont think I pull it off well. I'll have to pay more attention to them in the future

macsen rufus: I like the hybrid units myself. It always seems to be a waste of a good unit to have a full unit quit the field just because they ran out of arrows.

Draconian: Mounted Sergeants. Talk about undervalued, I completely forgot about them and I play the English all the time. Dont know what I'd do without them.

Alouette: I rank the Vikings when I play the Danes along the same lines as I rank the Clansmen when I play the English. Why wouldn't you want to spam them, love them, merge them, and kik serious tail with them.

Martok: God I hate Spanish Jinnettes. I modded my Projectile Stats to give them a little more range so the AI can actually use them. They are a terrible pain in the hoop. My current game as the English and the Spanish backdoored me. The comp AI has absolutely no reservations about spamming these guys mercilessly. Javelins everywhere, I honestly dont know how I got through it. Dont care how useful they are, they are at the absolute bottom of my list of fav units ATM.

Nice mix so far, haven't seen JHI once. There is hope for us all.

[m52nickerson]

Pavise arbalesters - I always have three units up front. I love to watch dozen of enemy troops drop as they come into range.

[Roark]

From XL: Wallachian Merc Cavalry - Fast and with a good charge and attack. With plenty of Wallachian merc cavalry in the army, Jinettes and Mongol Horse archers are significantly less annoying.

Vanilla VI: Gothic knights. Yeah, the build reqs are a nightmare, and they're slow, but if they are deployed correctly they will break up any defensive line and turn it into pudding. I just love watching them in action.

[caravel]

kamikhaan: Muhwadid Foot Soldiers. I've never really given them much thought. I know how to use them, but I dont think I pull it off well. I'll have to pay more attention to them in the future

Easy, to use. They are good for flanking and short term pinning of cavalry. Saracens are better for the latter though. They are really only supposed to be Almohad units given to the other factions in error.

macsen rufus: I like the hybrid units myself. It always seems to be a waste of a good unit to have a full unit quit the field just because they ran out of arrows.

This is why I like the Turks.

Draconian: Mounted Sergeants. Talk about undervalued, I completely forgot about them and I play the English all the time. Dont know what I'd do without them.

Not forgetting Feudal Knights.

Alouette: I rank the Vikings when I play the Danes along the same lines as I rank the Clansmen when I play the English. Why wouldn't you want to spam them, love them, merge them, and kik serious tail with them.

The vanilla Vikings are just superb units. Surprisingly powerful but not so overpowered as to be ridiculous.

Martok: God I hate Spanish Jinnettes. I modded my Projectile Stats to give them a little more range so the AI can actually use them. They are a terrible pain in the hoop. My current game as the English and the Spanish backdoored me. The comp AI has absolutely no reservations about spamming these guys mercilessly. Javelins everywhere, I honestly dont know how I got through it. Dont care how useful they are, they are at the absolute bottom of my list of fav units ATM.

Javelins are deadly in STW/MTW, combine that with the mobility of cavalry and you have a dangerous unit. What makes Jinettes so powerful is the javelin volley followed by charge combination. The first severely damages morale (while obviously killing a lot) and then combined with a decent charge is sure to rout most light to medium non spear infantry. Units also tend to run out of formation to pursue missile cavalry which causes the exposed flanks penalty to come into play.

Nice mix so far, haven't seen JHI once. There is hope for us all.

I've never really rated JHI, they're slow and I've not found much use for them in battle. They don't really match the rest of the Turks highly mobile and missile based units. I've really only ever used them in some defensive situations against western knights or Kataphraktoi. Even then I can make do without them or with Ghazis as "can openers".

Peasants - The worst unit in the game but one of the most useful! Almost everyone uses to hold down provinces, or uses the for fodder. I use them as the Turks - which leads me to my second favorite - although the tactic may be seen as cruel. I generally have a line of JHI with Siphai(sp?) and peasants. I send the peasants foward to engange the enemy, while I spread my Siphai out. When the peasnats get close enough, I rout them. The computer charges foward blindly after my peasants, ignoring the fact they are become surrounded in a inverted defensive hexagon. Of course, they run right into my JHI and begin engaging them, while my Siphai nail them with arrows, eventually leading the charge into the rear.

I really can't see any use for peasants. The AI spams them and they're useless in battle, and vanilla spears or UM make a better garisson unit. They're better off modded out.

Siphai (or Boyar) - Hands down in my opinion. A very useful compination of a ranged attack and decent melee.

Sipahi of the Porte? The little 20 man bodyguard units? I don't rate them. Ottoman Sipahi are not armed with bows in Vanilla.

Gallowglasses - Infantry spam thats better in some cases the CMAA. Need I say more?

Good flankers with an AP attack, but poor morale and non elite. Moreso the Ghazis of the west. I prefer FMAA.

Woodsmen - Better then peasants, armor piercing, and have a better stomach then UM.

Agreed.

Pikemen - Sorry can't help myself. I just cant get over these guys.

Standard Pikemen? Chivalric Sergeants are better value for money and take less teching up.

Gothic Units - Ever fight a unit that just refuses to die? Only Jedis, Siths, Varangians and Gothic Units.

Uber units yes, but the teching up take eons and costs an arm and a leg plus they're extremely slow.

Mamluk Cavalry - My personal Catholic Can-Openers

But only as charge withdraw flankers. In sustained melee they start to die horribly.

[Xehh II]

My favorite units are, from XL, most of the Serbian roster, including Voynuks(Bladesman and Swordsman), Caska Guarda(early version with bows), Serbian Cavalry(early version with bows) and I think they have Serbian archers, I can't remember, I haven't played for a while.

[Roark]

I've never really rated JHI, they're slow and I've not found much use for them in battle.

You're either on multiple varieties of hardcore drugs or you've never actually used them, bro.

Janissary Heavies are fast infantry with one of the best attack ratings for foot soldiers in the whole VI game. Plus they're polearms, so they slaughter cavalry and heavily-armoured Catholics without blinking. If anything, they're overpowered.

I can only assume that you're a n00b who's stolen Caravel's account somehow and begun posting as him.

[r johnson]

My favourite MTW xl units is the rare Angevin infantry purely for the novelty, there not desperatly great and the development is a pain, Before I tried NTW I kept building vast quantities of artillery in MTW, I like to soften the enemy before sending in my lads.

[predaturd]

someone please enlighten me to agevin infantry

[caravel]

They're a unit included in, unless I'm very much mistaken, the XL mod.

[seireikhaan]

Aye, they are in XL. They are only trainable by the English. A pretty good heavy infantry, but are rather hindered by ridiculous training requirements.(A county militia and a chapter house) Hence, when I use XL, I usually mod the requirements down to the next lowest militia building, so that they can actually be trained at a reasonable time.

[sharpshooter]

Ha - I think Predaturd as the Spanish and Caravel as the Almos should have an MP battle, and save the result for us all to see.

That would be entertaining.