every1 plays heavy inf in skirmish?;
Yes, shock inf is super situational. Heavy inf is the standard. (With the exception of some factions you are forced to play shock inf such as Aserai)
maneuverability of a light infantry (not that you can really be a good shield bearing light infantry anymore ever since they introduced the heavier shield mechanics which make your character unbearably slow compared to people not carrying shields so you would have to drop your shield in order to not be surrounded then you just get shot to death by arrows bc your trapped and cant retreat like in a normal open plains battle)
It has nothing to do with maneuverability and everything to do with better players. If you don't have a shield, you are going to get couched. If you don't have a shield, you are going to get shot. If they played on an open field, they would simply get shot or couched faster than what they do currently. In siege and TDM, it's a mosh pit of swinging and bouncing 2hs (friendly fire would reduce some of this mosh pitting but Taleworld's code can't handle it). it's not as if every shock inf can be properly countered by the archers, even though a competitive level archer will go into a siege/TDM and rack up 5 headshots within their first 6 arrows/bolts.
the respawn mechanic of skirmish makes any tactic of waiting out archer's arrows or taking out their cavalry so you can maneuver the battle field safely without getting flanked by unblock-able lancing mechanics irrelevant bc at anytime the enemy can just spawn in another cavalry or archer replacement
You also have multiple tries at the approach, and the archer can be caught by the shock inf if they miss their 2 shot window they have on an approaching shock inf. You can't just run in like an idiot, you have to wait until the inf lines engage and the enemy cav is busy.
and playing cavalry or archer yourself dooms you to being unable to maneuver properly on foot due to the penalty they have on their foot speed making them unviable in anything besides a 1-1 duel (assuming they have to melee on foot at some point)
Yes, archer is so nerfed that in competitive play it's not the most optimal option in 60% of games as opposed to another inf. There is only really one dedicated archer player left in NA because all of the other archer players have realized this, and they only go archer in situational instances. Cav on the other hand is still the game dominator as it always will be and should be. (But maybe only one cav life per round)
so i guess the only option would be to play heavy inf so you can last just a little longer before eventually get kited by archers (whose arrows can always penetrated your armor (not crossbows which is realistic but regular arrows)) and cav))
Light class archers do about 20 damage to heavy inf, headshot do 50, heavy class archers do maybe 25-30, headshots 80. Keep in mind though, inf and cav do the most damage to inf, the archer is there as a support and annoyance, and only really have the most impact when they are completely ignored and allowed the freeshoot for the duration of the entire inf fight, and even then you have to be a pretty competent competitive level archer to make those shots.
sorry dont mean to sound rude,
i just think it is a poorly designed concept
Game is poorly designed, everything should be balanced to a competitive standard though. Except for Captain's Mode which should be balanced differently and launched through the Singleplayer mode.