What is the Empire’s Strength Supposed to Be?

[phillies6f]

So I’ve done a playthrough as both Vlandia and the Khuzaits and the empire seems not that great.

They have a marginal advantage in infantry quality over Vlandia but their armies only ever have a handful of cavalry that’s easily overwhelmed by Vlandian cavalry so the infantry doesn’t end up mattering.

The Kuzhait infantry seems to actually perform better toe to toe with imperial infantry not even including the massive cavalry advantage the Khuzaits have.

I even tried 500 Khuzait spearman vs. 500 imperial veteran infantry and the Khuzaits won! Just not sure what the empire is supposed to be good at. I know their troops are well armored but it doesn’t seem to matter much and their cavalry is good but their lords never seem to have much of it and it’s just trampled.

 

[teuton]

Supposedly they are a representative of the Byzantine Empire and would have much more advanced tech, possessing flaming grenades, primitive flamethrowers and just better armor, weapons and siegecraft.

 

[mamastoast]

Legionaries seem quite strong to me... Obviously the damage reduction the player benefits from in SP could easily give this impression for any soldier, but having played multiplayer recently I got the same impression.

legionaries tend to do well against anything that isn't wielding a 2 handed weapon

 

[M_Rat13]

Strongest shield wall in the game, combined with competent archers and true heavy cavalry, means free reign to pick apart enemies, when used correctly.

 

[phillies6f]

Does shield wall actually work for you? No matter what formation I use the infantry of both sides seems to evaporate almost instantly.

 

[Mppqlmd]

- Archers : high armor, good archers (nowhere near the battanians though) that are super easy to level up because they become archers at T2 (so MUCH easier to level up than aserai) and don't require noble troops

- Infantry : excellent shield/spear/heavy armor infantry

- Cavalry : not the best...

IMO they are the jacks of all trade with a heavy focus on having great armor.

 

[Zsword]

From what I can tell they're the 'Pretty gosh darn great at everything' faction, having extremely competitive infantry, good heavy calv, good horse archers, good basic archers, and good crossbowmen. This likely imitates the idea of them being ahead of the tech curve in a, reasonable way to feel 'strong' but not 'the best period.'

Because none of their units are 'bad' or 'subpar' for their tier, I suppose the Empires biggest strength is versatility and flexability: find an answer to their opponents strengths and exploit it. They may not win as crushing as the faction dedicated to that troop type, but with a bit of restructuring they can just wheel around to the next target. In theory.

 

[phillies6f]

It just seems like when I fight them their armies are push overs. While their infantry and archers may be slightly better than others it just doesn’t seem like enough to make a difference. And again maybe it’s just anecdotal but in multiple battles in campaign and custom the Khuzait infantry defeats the imperial troops. Which seems wrong.

 

[M_Rat13]

Does shield wall actually work for you? No matter what formation I use the infantry of both sides seems to evaporate almost instantly.

It works for SurrealBeliefs. Use it to take the brunt of a charge, then attack before the enemy can react. Combined with a well timed heavy cav charge, and the raw DPM of your archers (which will also hopefully pick off some people before melee contact), and you will start to see enemy morale shatter, and your enemies flee.

I suppose, in a sense, the Imperials work best under good tactics.

 

[phillies6f]

It works for SurrealBeliefs. Use it to take the brunt of a charge, then attack before the enemy can react. Combined with a well timed heavy cav charge, and the raw DPM of your archers (which will also hopefully pick off some people before melee contact), and you will start to see enemy morale shatter, and your enemies flee.

I suppose, in a sense, the Imperials work best under good tactics.

That would explain why the Imperial AI is so easy to beat then lol.

 

[M_Rat13]

That would explain why the Imperial AI is so easy to beat then lol.

Then why did the Southern Empire used to steamroll?

 

[phillies6f]

Then why did the Southern Empire used to steamroll?

I think it’s due to their political situation and fighting the Aserai.
When I’ve fought them in battles as the Khuzaits and Vlandians I find them very very easy to defeat.

 

[CoolYo]

I like Empires archers. I have been doing 40% vlandian calv and the rest a mix of vlandian crossbowmen and imperial archers.

 

[DatBandit]

- Archers : high armor, good archers (nowhere near the battanians though) that are super easy to level up because they become archers at T2 (so MUCH easier to level up than aserai) and don't require noble troops

- Infantry : excellent shield/spear/heavy armor infantry

- Cavalry : not the best...

IMO they are the jacks of all trade with a heavy focus on having great armor.

Omg I treat Aserai archers like gold

 

[Surreal_Beliefs]

It works for SurrealBeliefs. Use it to take the brunt of a charge, then attack before the enemy can react. Combined with a well timed heavy cav charge, and the raw DPM of your archers (which will also hopefully pick off some people before melee contact), and you will start to see enemy morale shatter, and your enemies flee.

I suppose, in a sense, the Imperials work best under good tactics.

Yup, I tend to use combined arms as the Empire and I'm probably less than a week from completing my conquest of the map. I haven't really tried to press hard into any other faction's troops so I have no idea how they feel.

I very much prefer crossbows over the palatine guards though, for whatever reason.

 

[M_Rat13]

Yup, I tend to use combined arms as the Empire and I'm probably less than a week from completing my conquest of the map. I haven't really tried to press hard into any other faction's troops so I have no idea how they feel.

I very much prefer crossbows over the palatine guards though, for whatever reason.

Crossbows raw power can definitely be fun, but your shield infantry and heavy cav can cut through even the toughest opponent. However, there weakness is against agility, and that's where the machine gun bows come in. You can only dodge so many arrows.......