Empire Crossbowmen

[Ehden]

Hey I was just thinking that the Empire Armored Crossbowmen are a bit op. They definitely aren't perfect but they are very easy to get and have good melee skills. Also if you use them like I do you can take a town with no casualties on max difficulty by just hanging back.

Does anyone agree?

 

[noosers]

Start facing the Snake Cult Armies with Empire troopers only and you´ll realize they are adequate.

 

[Ehden]

I have actually I usually kite the anaconda and cobra knights for a while and then retreat to my battle lines.

 

[Ian Jones]

Also if you use them like I do you can take a town with no casualties on max difficulty by just hanging back.

                      Any town?Which?All?Rane with lots of Ravenstern Rangers?Torbah filled with Windriders,Dustriders,Eventide Ghilmans,where you spawn super close to the ramp?Against other armored crossbowmen in Ethos?Without casualties?Doubtful.
    Against the Fierdsvain?Definitely.

 

[Alavaria]

...you can take a town...

Any town?Which?All?

A town.

Like probably one specific town against one specific enemy.

It basically sounds like your usual pull back and shoot them from afar then retreat trick, there's a few good layouts that make this very easy/powerful.


Though due to where I set up, I would consider the Empire Crossbowman the trench stormer missile troops if it wasn't for the fact AI lords bring so many people (or else one having to worry about triggering the "sally" mechanism) that bringing tons of CKO or something isn't used instead

 

[SenorOcho]

Armored Crossbowmen also have an upkeep of something like 84 each.  Can almost field Sarleon Armored Longbows at 2:1 for the price.

(And Ravenstern Horsemen at almost 3:1...)

 

[Ehden]

It was Sarleon at full strength with me with 115 guys. I also use a few Sarleon Armored Longbowmen for the faster fire

 

[Ian Jones]

It was Sarleon at full strength with me with 115 guys. I also use a few Sarleon Armored Longbowmen for the faster fire

          Lmao.No wonder.With Sarleon you can park your troops below at the beach,pester them with arrows until they start pouring down the ramp to the beach then pick them off with arrows and those that get close can get mobbed rape by your infantry or cavalry.Easy town to capture.
              I have to agree though armored crossbowmen are to pricey for me to field many but there is the rub, you have to field at least 15(at least IMO) for them to be effective against the enemy.

 

[Ehden]

It was Sarleon at full strength with me with 115 guys. I also use a few Sarleon Armored Longbowmen for the faster fire

          Lmao.No wonder.With Sarleon you can park your troops below at the beach,pester them with arrows until they start pouring down the ramp to the beach then pick them off with arrows and those that get close can get mobbed rape by your infantry or cavalry.Easy town to capture.
              I have to agree though armored crossbowmen are to pricey for me to field many but there is the rub, you have to field at least 15(at least IMO) for them to be effective against the enemy.

Ok  I guess I am just not at the stage where they are good 

 

[thermocline]

Ravenstern Rangers are better IMO. EACs are decent shield infantry, true, but RRs are better for field combat and siege defense, and not much worse in siege offense. They are the same price (48d at 10 leadership) and considerably easier to train, since they upgrade from level 20 units.

I have used both and I think EACs are good troops, but I would take RRs 90% of the time.