In real life, people fought in formations, not because they got magical buffs or because they were stupid, but because that was most effective way to do things . Altough if there are not enough soldiers to form proper formations, it may be better to fight in looser skirmish order - unless enemy had cavalry, and almost everyone in all time periods wanted to always have at least some cavalry, and almost always had at least some.
In Warband though, fighting in formations was usually not worth it. Long lines were sometimes good in single player, and sometimes you could form deep formations to protect against cavalry, but in multiplayer it was rarely worth trying to find other players and group up with them. It was even worse if you had spears and tried to defend narrow corridor in good shield wall. That was just stupid idea that never worked, even though historically it was one of the best things you could do in that situation, only beaten by pikemen, flanking attacks if possible, and sometimes archers.
Greeks at Thermopylae were not beaten by enormous amounts of Persian archers, because shields were great. In medieval times armor had become even better, but so had bows and crossbows so i don't know how exactly that would work. But there was still way more melee infantry than ranged infantry, which simply would not have happened if shields and armor would be useless. Formations, while easy to hit (and formations of spearmen might have hard time damaging archer), should not be destroyed by archers alone, just weakened. (though obviously, any armor had weak spots so if you just stand there entire day anyone should eventually be killed)
Peasants. Historically they varied a lot, from useless rabble to defeating strong knights. Historically all nations used at least some weak militiamen, and plenty of armies had at least some of them, so they propably should be cost effective as long as they are just part of an army and not entire army. Use them as garrison, reinforce the line, maybe bolster your flanking moves with them etc. They should be more worth using than they were in Warband (most of the time), but obviously they should still be just peasants.
How is it in beta atm? Do people want to always find other players to fight in formations or is everyone soloing? Can you just destroy shields by spitting at them? Are archers primary weapons for everyone? Or do shields actually shield people as they should? Are spearmen any good, or are they immediately decimated against any infantry? And are peasants/cheapest troops available any good?
In Warband though, fighting in formations was usually not worth it. Long lines were sometimes good in single player, and sometimes you could form deep formations to protect against cavalry, but in multiplayer it was rarely worth trying to find other players and group up with them. It was even worse if you had spears and tried to defend narrow corridor in good shield wall. That was just stupid idea that never worked, even though historically it was one of the best things you could do in that situation, only beaten by pikemen, flanking attacks if possible, and sometimes archers.
Greeks at Thermopylae were not beaten by enormous amounts of Persian archers, because shields were great. In medieval times armor had become even better, but so had bows and crossbows so i don't know how exactly that would work. But there was still way more melee infantry than ranged infantry, which simply would not have happened if shields and armor would be useless. Formations, while easy to hit (and formations of spearmen might have hard time damaging archer), should not be destroyed by archers alone, just weakened. (though obviously, any armor had weak spots so if you just stand there entire day anyone should eventually be killed)
Peasants. Historically they varied a lot, from useless rabble to defeating strong knights. Historically all nations used at least some weak militiamen, and plenty of armies had at least some of them, so they propably should be cost effective as long as they are just part of an army and not entire army. Use them as garrison, reinforce the line, maybe bolster your flanking moves with them etc. They should be more worth using than they were in Warband (most of the time), but obviously they should still be just peasants.
How is it in beta atm? Do people want to always find other players to fight in formations or is everyone soloing? Can you just destroy shields by spitting at them? Are archers primary weapons for everyone? Or do shields actually shield people as they should? Are spearmen any good, or are they immediately decimated against any infantry? And are peasants/cheapest troops available any good?
