Couple of qs

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cken1774

Recruit
Loving this mod to start off with, and cant wait for 2.0.

who have the best heavy infantry and archers? im still getting a feel for the game and havent really gotten used to the troop trees.

also who are peoples favorite companions? im playing with combinations of a few of them atm
 
I think the best troops kind of depends on what your playing style is but I'll have a go answering and then someone who actually knows might...  :mrgreen:

Archers
Depends. (I'm assuming you mainly mean non-mounted) you have Noldor which are great but not many arrows and are difficult to recruit en mass unless you prey on Jatu and non-faction armies hanging about there, otherwise you must convert those silly prisoners. I use a mix of Noldor and Pendor Greys, (when I bother with footies) who seem to sustain firing longer, have swd+board which makes them capable of surviving a bit (not too much tho, mine usually drop like flies to infantry) and, importantly, as has been noted before look cool grouped together. Raven's rangers are pretty good too, mounted which is nice enough but (forcibly) dismounted or in sieges do decent dmg and have big swds... Then you have Sarleon longbows et al.. I don't really use them but them and armoured xbows ocasionally knock off a couple of my knights.

Infantry
Again, depends...  :wink: I don't really use infantry so to my mind it's which ones cause me the most problems. Sarleon/Empire pikes/halberdiers massed can a right arse to deal with (esp. for my cavalry army) and have a bit of range which is great for open battles or defending sieges (not so great at attacking in my experience) Empire heavy infantry (like Immortals) are pretty decent and can be a headache in large numbers but aren't so useful verses cavalry but that goes for most infantry. They have decent shields so are quite good for closing down archers which is so-so since the ai doesn't seem to mass archers in large numbers like pcs can. I also found early on that the green guys (vikingy-types, can't spell name right so I won't bother) gave me problems with the combination of armour and axes so they might be worth a look too. The Pendor line has man-at-arms (which are weak) or the foot knights which seem to literally be Pendor knights sans horse so you basically know what you're getting there. The D'Shar have warriors and another I forget but they didn't seem to be that wonderful so I avoided them.

Companions
I use all I can find. Think I have 11/12 atm, I'd use all except for the poncey knight guy cause he annoys me and is a poncy knight. I just got my persuasion up to 7 I think it is so when they want to piss off I convince them to stay and share the bountiful glory of being my slaves.

It really depends what you like/how you play. My strategy atm is to go all mounted and just run at people, seems effective from a time-casualty-laziness viewpoint and is great to rush around the map getting booty to maintain the terrifying costs of said cavalry.  It also seems I can field smaller armies capable of killing large swathes of the enemy if I do this without the headache of mixing n matching to try and balance archers/inf/cav that way. It helps with the starting troop pool too cause with all horses you know exactly what you're getting; horses can outrun those damn Nolder arrows a bit too!

Ideally if I was to go with foot-army and to try to balance costs v numbers I would use mainly Pendors for ranged n melee mixing a few Noldor and Pikemen and/or Halbediers in for variety and flexability. I probably missed a load out but as you can probably guess my mounted army sort of ignores footies and laughs as they crawl across the map. The melee are great for breaking up enemy cavalry charges tho so you can surround and conquer lone horses when that don't arrive in a huge grouped mass of speedy death.

Hope that helps, it was a bit more long-winded than I expected  :grin:

EDIT: Pendor lines are recruited from farmers if you didn't know.  :wink:

 
Noldor and Grey Archers (Pendor troop line) are the best archers but are hard to get and (all) Noldors are very expensive to keep around in larger numbers. Since you'll probably (have to) with one of the main faction troops Ravenstern archers are probably the best. Their Rangers (top of the line archers) are mounted and therefore more expensive. They also often carry a shield and are very effective for both offense defense and running down fast enemy horse archers. Wardens are an upgrade lower than Rangers but have only slightly lower stats and cost a lot less to upkeep since they are on foot. They often carry 2 arrow packs and a two hand weapon making them extra effective in sieges as well as melee (they also have good armour).

Sarleon and Fierdsvain top archers are around the level of effectivness of the Wardens though in my experience slightly weaker and may be harder to train up (Sarleon has a more knight heavy army and archers don't stand out that much).

Empire has crossbowmen which are good if you know how to use them (good in sieges and against armour).

Problem with the D'Shar is that they have weaker armour than the rest.


I don't have time atm to explain infantry but hope this helps.
 
every little helps, just trying to slowly get a feel for them. im an all infantry person myself with mounted companions to jump in to turn the tide and chase down cavalry archers. dont like using weaker cav for anything early cause they just run off and get themselves in trouble and the later ones are too expensive.
 
EvilSam said:
Companions
I use all I can find. Think I have 11/12 atm, I'd use all except for the poncey knight guy cause he annoys me and is a poncy knight. I just got my persuasion up to 7 I think it is so when they want to piss off I convince them to stay and share the bountiful glory of being my slaves.

FYI, you'll have more companions than you can conveniently name in the next version.
I'm sorely tempted to try a beta test game with nothing but companion forces, it would start a bit slow but likely turn into a steamroller once I collect them all (!) and they start to come up to par level-wise. Cheap too if you ignore equipment costs; which you can't of course, many of them are nigh defenseless to start out more's the pity. However some begin at startling high levels (and 'signing bonuses' too sadly).
 
Hrm, speaking of which; suppose I wanted to keep all the companions I found - what level of persuasion might I need? 

I found out the hard way that figuring out which companions get along is a trial and error situation.  Half would eventually leave, but I managed to find a few of them contrite and rejoinable later.  I think an army of leveled companions would rock.  :cool:

-Ben
 
i had a group of 5 that were just awesome so im gonna have to get that savegame off of my laptop. still cant wait for 2.0  :grin:
 
Bad_dog said:
Hrm, speaking of which; suppose I wanted to keep all the companions I found - what level of persuasion might I need? 

I found out the hard way that figuring out which companions get along is a trial and error situation.  Half would eventually leave, but I managed to find a few of them contrite and rejoinable later.  I think an army of leveled companions would rock.  :cool:

-Ben

I use 7 persuasion but it doesn't always work, so if you play realistic then you want at least 7 cause that's when I noticed a bigger difference in the success rate. I don't loot villages currently and I maintain high morale etc. I don't run from battles (avoid ones I can't win  :wink:) and I make sure not to fail quests. So far I've only lost 1 (Leslie) when my persuasion was lower and I'm not entirely sure if she left just cause of personality conflicts or something I did; doing all of the above only Sardan wants to leave me atm for reasons I cannot comprehend so he gets the persuasion. A few of them are 'weary' but they hang about so its not a prob.

I run a small army usually, 25-30 mounted, looting groups to build up gold and captives/recruits (my army is entirely Companions, Noldor Knights n footies, Pendor Grey's, Hero Adventurers and Griffon Knights) which is a damn headache incidently and then have a blitz on a few sieges then rebuild forces. It takes longer that way but it avoids losing Companions and ever running into anything I can't handle. Like Delve said too, in 2.0 there are more companions so they will be a force to be reckoned with. I use them like that, either equipped and mounted like Noldor Knights or like Lady Valks, the combination of armour/ horse and supplemented with a missile weapon makes them pretty dangerous. I tend to avoid giving them lances since I don't notice them couching them a huge amount or they use them in inappropriate situations - decent bow/throwing and a Noldor Runebladey thing (not the longsword, the better one) and they are laughing. Letting them hang-back and flank while Pendors/ melee soak up the initial charge pays dividends in terms of xp when they are amoured/armed to the teeth like that. I only use 2 as skill-gimps, the rest are killers.  :twisted: (I cower at the back like a little girl...)
 
EvilSam said:
I cower at the back like a little girl...

Hehe i find i tend to get clobbered if i join the first charge so i do aswell, i prefer the lighter armours cause inevitably i get knocked off my horse and like to be able to run away  :grin:
loving my collection of companions atm and i got my persuasion to six so i can stop most of them wandering off.
 
I try to keep every companion as long as my persuasion suffices :razz: I have only 3 companions mounted, rest is my "Elite Foot Guard" with bows or throwing axes and well aromured:razz: And apart from Ravenstern reqruits and militia, they are my only infantry, rest is archers(i think 70%) and cavalry.
 
My opinion parts from the lower to middle tiers of the troop tree for two main reasons. First, because High tier is very hard to achieve and not really representative of the faction judging from the player's (me  :wink:) point of view. And second because lower to middle class troops are the backbone of your army.

Other than independent troops you can rescue, like Noldors and peasant/pendors, or mercenaries at taverns. I think the most balanced faction is the kingdom of Ravenstern. They have decent middle infantry and archers, their cavalry is pitiful until they reach knighthood status which is relatively easy to achieve. + their geographical situation allows them to have a whole flank covered, thus giving them a unique advantage over the rest of the factions. That and the fact that mountain bandits at the north end of their realm are great sparring troops for the starting commander and a  great source of peasant troops.

Sarleons have very weak infantry until they reach the armored footman status and then they are not so great either. Their archers are fairly as skirmishers and very good as longbowmen but you have to deploy them in numbers above 15 to really make a difference. Their cav. suffers the same problem as the ravensterns and, other than their extensive use of blunt polearms, can't find a real difference between both. Their position is too extended and vulnerable on all sides. I don't like this faction and the only troops I rescue are the longbowmen and the ocassional halberdier. Sarleon halberdiers are the best troops of the game when you are defending a castle imo.

Fierdvains have very good middle infantry and their archers are good melee troops too due to their massive use of axes, but they all easily fall prey to condentrated bow/xbow fire and to middle to heavy cavalry. Their cavalry is quite funny cause they have to change gender in order to become so  :shock:, good fast, light cavalry for harrasing loose formations and stragglers but can't stand a chance angainst the Rav and Sarleon heavies or the D'shar mounted archers.  Their position on the map is not as bad as the sarleon's but not very enviable either sice they are flanked on three sides and the northern raider armies prey on their caravans constantly.

D'shars were my first choice when I started the mod for my chatracter is a mounted archer but they have very weak infantry due to their lack of shield to protect them against misiles, and while they have pretty good archers, which can reach their veteran status very fast, I have to agree with a previous poster that they have light armor too and have a high rate of casualties in battle. Raider and horseman levels are very good light to medium mounted archers with decent melee capability against less than heavy cav. but their cav. tree simply lacks the heavy tier to support them and they are toast if caught by middle to heavy infantry or too many spears and misiles. Their position in the map is protected by sea and mountains on its north and east flanks + the other two flank have passages which can delay an invading army. Not a bad defensive position but nothing expectacular either.

At last the Empire has the best anti cav. light infantry and the best melee middle infantry of the mod. Their xbowmen are good but their slow rate of fire wont help much against large numbers of bowmen and/or fast cavalry and MAs. Fairly good support xbow cavalry but again they are good as flankers only. This is an infantry heavy faction and the only one where I prefer not to upgrade beyond legionaire level. Map position is big and hard to defend wit the added threat of permanent snake cult bands, great source of income once you get a half decent party btw, and the ocassional Noldor raiding band. But plenty of bandits + red brotherhood and some heretic cult parties that can help you improve and feed up your command.

Hope this helps.
Cheers!
 
I agree with you, but with few exceptions. In my opinion Sarleon is the most balanced faction, every tier in their army is very god (heavy cav, heavy inf, very good archers). There's a lack of good infantry in ravenstern i think, and their best archers are mounted(what a upkeep cost!).
 
HUtH said:
I agree with you, but with few exceptions. In my opinion Sarleon is the most balanced faction, every tier in their army is very god (heavy cav, heavy inf, very good archers). There's a lack of good infantry in ravenstern i think, and their best archers are mounted(what a upkeep cost!).

And that my friend is why I love this game and mods like PoP. They let you choose your style with the faction which suits you best. In BoW and BoWX I always go with the Khergits. In PoP I prefer to side with the ravensterners but add a good measure of D'shar mounted archers to balance my cavalry, mounted rangers are very good but I'd rather have them on foot too. I use sarleon troops but they die at an appalling rate, one of the reasons I quit my Sarleon character, but that's my style.
Cheers!
 
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