Spear infantry with mace is very effective heavy inf
Maces are the currently bad in 1v1s due to hilt spam being viable again, along with glancing generally having been reduced on non AP weapons. Maces are slow enough that the devs have acknowledged it, and are adjusting their stats in the next patch. Im assuming that you are taking Improved armor instead of the shield or spear. Without improved armor the Armor for Spearman is even worse at 23. 23 is Equivalent to a wildling, which is both cheaper and faster.
Bear in mind that Khuzait infantry armor is between 20 to 30 armor lower than most other infantry, and therefore taking a mace against Khuzaits is not required. This will mean that most people are taking Swords or Axes, and will have an advantage in both reach and speed over your mace while still doing equivalent damage. Out of fairness to you I will compare the stats of other "Heavy" Infantry WITH the mace equipped unless a specific reason makes me not do that. (even though the Spearman is definitely not heavy. 32 armor is not that much, its 100% medium like the Wildling)
Spear Infantry with Mace stats:
Armor: 32
Speed: 77
Varyag with Heavy Axe stats. I took the Heavy Armor Perk because the Axe has 93 swing damage and will do about as much AP as the 45 damage Khuzait Mace
Armor: 48
Speed: 77
Oathsworn With Mace
Armor: 43
Speed: 79
Sergeant With Mace. Like the Varyag, Sergeant has access to a very good axe which does generally similar damage to armor, while also being amazing against light troops. The mace which sergeant has is also far superior to the Khuzait equivalent, being significantly faster and therefore less of a liability in 1v1 fights.
Armor: 37
Speed: 77
Legionary with Mace. The Pilum which empire gets has nearly identical stats to the default Khuzait spear that you receive when picking Heavy Armor, with the added bonus that it can be thrown for massive damage.
Speed: 77
Armor 41
As you can see, the Spearman is worse than every other Heavy Inf statistically. It has identical or worse maneuverability than all of them, while also having severely worse armor. The only other mainline inf I did not mention is the Tribal Warrior, which functions completely different because of the 3 spawns. And yes, I would much rather be able to spawn 3 times as tribal warrior than twice as the spearman.
And no, being cheaper than those choices does not matter. As I outlined in the OP, Khuzait infantry economy is very bad right now. Being able to spawn twice in the first round when you are at THAT MUCH of a disadvantage against heavy troops, while also not being much better than most factions medium option, is not large enough of an advantage to justify the absolutely horrible economic options in the later rounds.
Sickle/Shield rabble is a real decent unit in the right hands
Compared to what? Its statistically worse than every 3 spawn unit. Even Peasant Levy with improved armor and small shield is a straight stats upgrade. Clan Warrior, Tribal Warrior, Warrior, and Recruit are all MILES better due to either far superior armor or much better weapon options.
Khan Guard is one of the strongest units in the game
They are a straight downgrade to many other heavy archers, and better than none of them. They have slightly more armor and a slightly worse bow than the Aserai Veteran. They are worse than the Fiann in every possible way for obvious reasons. Empire Palatine Guard have the option to take an identical bow while having more armor and a better twohander simultaneously. The Sharpshooter has a crossbow and can literally 1 shot headshot the Khans Guard from the other side of the map.
The Khans Guard is also by far the slowest foot unit in the game, due to its incredibly slow 74 speed, along with its shield option being one of the heaviest.
I guess Khans Guard is alright in captain mode?
Maybe east asia server just more talented player base
There is a member of my competitive team currently living in Korea, and he has confirmed that the quality of play is lower there than it is here.
Youve also not addressed their terrible win rates in both Europe and NA. Surely if players in both EU and NA were all just terrible, they would also be terrible as the other factions? If that were the case we would see a comparable win rate for the worst faction regardless.