ADestroyerOfArzock said:
wakko2k said:
all factions are good in their own way... how do you like to play?
Nords - strongest infantry and decent archers
vaegir - strongest archers and decent knights and infantry (dont use shields much?)
swadia - strong knights
khergit - horses, good on flat battlefields, not as good on sieges
sarranid - pretty good knights and avarage archers and infantry
rhodoks - very defensive, strong defence and very strong crossbowmen and decent infantry
Pretty much summed it up.
Thing about Swadia is that they have Knights. Knights are strong melee and Calvary units. On foot, they are strong because they have good armor and weapons and on horse, they are strong too. The only thing they're lacking is ranged attacks. They are pretty much the perfect soldier to have. The only fraction that has a troop that rivals Swadian Knights are Sarranid with their Mamlukes. They too are good Calvary and melee units.
I think Vaegir actually have weak knights. I think their strength is with their archers.
Hmm...I dont know about that. Yeah, Swadians have good knights, but I think that the best faction to join---if you choose to only use the troops from that faction...are indeed, the Vaegirs. I think their army is more balanced than the Swadians, but also I think their strength in archers is better placed than in cav. the marxman can pretty much decimate any enemy infantry corps or archers that try and come up, due to that godly firerate. The vaegir guards, I think, get a bad wrap in the end. YES, they do not have sheilds, but consider their name--GUARDS. Use them the guard the archers! They do not need sheilds when used guarding marxman--the marxman's rate of fire can overpower enemy archers! So the lack of sheilds actually does not matter, since you definatly will have marxman in there, right? Now, after the footman, is their cav. Most people say that that the Vaegir strength is best in bowman, they have average cav, and then bad infantry. However, I have to disagree with this...I prefer that the cav is they're worst stregth, as two handers are not really useful on horseback, and they dont always use good armors and carry sheilds, which is important for them since archers and cav dont work well on the same team, and marxman cannot supress enemy fire for cav. Their main purpose, is...well, with the guard/marxman combo, they don't really have much purpose. I suppose they could be useful for breaking a tight formation your marxman cant unload on, which they do allright, as they do have armored horses.
Against lots of heavy cav, you can have all the components of your army as close together as possible, and dont forget to mix in the knights and horseman. This way, when a Swadian charger comes through your line, it will not just pass right through, the horses will stop the knight, and the two handers will reach up and cut him up, not just his legs.
Against a fair amount of archers, a different approach may be needed. This may be where the Vaeigir knight shines, as my favorite strat in this situation is to have the knights wreak havoc in the archers lines, while my guard/marxman get setup to unleash hell. You probably should not tell them to charge--just click on the tactical map or whatever the backspace button minimap is called, and then hae your cav run through the archers, and ride behind them. They will disrupt the lines, and while they may not cause as much damage as Swadian knights, they will not have to. They will usually run right through the line, and then go to where you clicked ont he map. Have them ride away from the archers. By now, your guards and marxman have gotten set up and will be able to force vaegir rain upon the wanna-be archers and/or crossbowman.
Finally, against heavy infantry, it may be wise to have your knights dismount and supplenment your infantry. Then play defensively, and wait for the enemy to come in range, and pincushion them--a reletivly common strat.
In the end, I tend to value versitility above all else, although whatever strat works for you, each one can be completely different in other peoples hands.
