Which is the best unit available in archers, cavalry and infrantry?

[No idea]

I always make my armies "multinational", trying to take the best archers of all factions, the best cavalry and the best infantry. That means I get in my armies:

- Swadian Knights as cavalry with a few Sarranid Mamlukes for their maces (which give me a lot of prisioners)

- Vaegir Marksmen as archers, with some Rodock sharpshooters if I can get them.

- Nord Huscarls and Rhodock Sargeants as infantry.

Hoiwever, as I am a newbie, I am not sure if these are the best troops available for each "bussiness" in the field of battle. What do you think?

On top of that, is there any way to know which equipment do troops carry?. I suspect the equipment they carry should give me big hints about which troops are more suited to make this or that, but I have not been able to find any source that tell me that (for example, I don´t know if Nord Huscarls carry trown weapons or not). Do you know of any soruce which might hel me?

Thank you

 

[Argeus the Paladin]

Rhodoks totally and utterly dominate both infantry and archer aspect. Nowhere else can you get archers who melee better than dedicated infantry of other factions, even against horses, or infantry that flat out refuses to die while whacking you silly with heavy military hammers. I'd say Rhodok sergeants are at least as good as, if not better than Huscarls just from the hammers alone.

As for cavalry, theoretically Swadian Knights are best. But in terms of cost-effectiveness and ease of replacement, nothing beats Khergit lancers.

 

[Gilwe]

Nord Huscarls are the best infantry, followed closely by the Rhodok sergeants. Huscarls carry throwing axes/spears most of the time, very useful right before the battle as they can inflict many casualties. Their huge shields absorb arrows and bolt without breaking easily. However, Sergeants have a little more Ironflesh and sometimes use military hammers instead of fighting picks, which could give you a few extra prisoners. They sometimes use a two-handed polearm too.

Rhodok Sharpshooters are better than the Vaegir Marksmen in my opinion. Their crossbows do much more damage and they don't use up all of their bolts in the first few minutes. They can also hold their ground better with sword and shield if they are forced to fight in melee. Marksmen don't always carry shields, which makes them quite vulnerable to enemy ranged units.

As for cavalry, I don't really know which type is the best. I like both the Sarranid Mamluks and the Swadian Knights. They both have a lance for engaging and heavy weapons for close combat. Knights tend to use a morning star, which is quite good against heavily armoured enemies.  I personally prefer Mamluks, because they look much better and sometimes have blunt weapons for taking prisoners.

 

[Lord Silvabane]

Nord Huscarls are the best infantry, followed closely by the Rhodok sergeants. Huscarls carry throwing axes/spears most of the time, very useful right before the battle as they can inflict many casualties. Their huge shields absorb arrows and bolt without breaking easily. However, Sergeants have a little more Ironflesh and sometimes use military hammers instead of fighting picks, which could give you a few extra prisoners. They sometimes use a two-handed polearm too.

Rhodok Sharpshooters are better than the Vaegir Marksmen in my opinion. Their crossbows do much more damage and they don't use up all of their bolts in the first few minutes. They can also hold their ground better with sword and shield if they are forced to fight in melee. Marksmen don't always carry shields, which makes them quite vulnerable to enemy ranged units.

As for cavalry, I don't really know which type is the best. I like both the Sarranid Mamluks and the Swadian Knights. They both have a lance for engaging and heavy weapons for close combat. Knights tend to use a morning star, which is quite good against heavily armoured enemies.  I personally prefer Mamluks, because they look much better and sometimes have blunt weapons for taking prisoners.

Mamlukes often spawn on un-armoured horses.

 

[bjcs333]

People think their bad but i like nord archers because they are fast fireing easy to upgrade and are really good in melee

 

[HolgerHardrada]

People think their bad but i like nord archers because they are fast fireing easy to upgrade and are really good in melee

Nord Archers are a great value archer.  Lancers are a great value cav

 

[Ivan Khan]

I always make my armies "multinational", trying to take the best archers of all factions, the best cavalry and the best infantry. That means I get in my armies:

- Swadian Knights as cavalry with a few Sarranid Mamlukes for their maces (which give me a lot of prisoners)

- Vaegir Marksmen as archers, with some Rhodok sharpshooters if I can get them.

- Nord Huscarls and Rhodock Sargeants as infantry.

However, as I am a newbie, I am not sure if these are the best troops available for each "business" in the field of battle. What do you think?

On top of that, is there any way to know which equipment do troops carry?. I suspect the equipment they carry should give me big hints about which troops are more suited to make this or that, but I have not been able to find any source that tell me that (for example, I don´t know if Nord Huscarls carry thrown weapons or not). Do you know of any source which might hel me?

Thank you

CAVALRY
When you think of best cavalry Swadian Knights take the prize.

Mamlukes are their equal if on armoured horse but the is a chance they will get a Sarranid horse which leads to unhorsings. Though I have noticed that once you lose some Mamlukes (almost always the dismounted ones) they retain their equipment so eventual most will be on armoured horses.

Do not forget the Slaver Chief, they have armoured horses and blunt weapons -- they are especially effective against heavily armoured units. The problem is you have get manhunters and train them, which means hunting bandits, ok in early game but in later game can be more of a hassle.

As for Vaeiger Knights forget them, Khergit Lancers are better.

Khergit Lancers are easy to train, cheaper, and actually have the highest lance skill. They also spawn with unarmoured horse but the ultra-fast courser which can come in handy is you have to chase down cavalry. Khergit Lancers are a good troop to fill-out a cavalry army, or until you can train-up enough Swad Knights, Mamlukes and Slaver Chiefs.

Finally, Veteran Horse Archers, they need micromanaging in battles, but are excellent additions to an army if you learn to do it. They are a force multiplier as there is no 'friendly fire' problem with npc missile troops. Also work great to draw-off enemies or reorient them. They are also likely the best 'Bow' unit in the game, they hit as hard as any and they are the only one with decent armour and shields.

Sword Sisters. Their lack of helmets and unarmoured horses mean they die too easily. I always train them up just because they are unique but they are really not worth the trouble.

INFANTRY
On paper Nord Huscarl should be the best, but I have not seen it in practice. Cavalry will cut them to peices as they spawn without enough weapon reach. They have thrown weapons but these are not as effective as they should be and they have very few. They are also hard to train. I have not even seen them do well in siege defence, once had six of them at the top of the ladder against Khergits of all things and all six were dead so quick it was not funny. After that I stopped going to the trouble of training them.

Vaegir Guard have the same problem as their knights and offer nothing over other elite infantry.

Sarranid Guard have throwing weapons, but their armour is not that strong -- they are ok, but you can get better.

Swadian Sergeants are pretty good. They do not do well against cavalry though as they tend to stay with one-hand weapons despite having more appropriate weapons on their backs (they say this bug was fixed in 1.53 but have not played with them enough to know yet). They have the best armour along with 1h skill/weapons. Pretty good shields/skill too. When I put them at the top of the ladder they survived until the end of the siege, in contrast too the Nord Huscarls.

Rhodok Sergeants have they enormous shields and lots of shield skill, along with good armour. They are tough and normally die swarmed with enemies if they lose. They are good with their glaives and have a chance at a military hammer which makes them deadly. They also had the bug of picking 1h weapons against cavalry, but again that may be fixed. They are at least as effective as Swadian Sergeants and likely a little better.

ARCHERS
Rhodok Sharpshooters. The best! No missile unit comes close. They have the best x-bows, bolts and skill. They have good armour and huge shields. They more often than not spawn with a military hammer or pick. Remember I told you I stopped training Nord Huscarls, well I replaced them with Rhodok Sharpshooters in my garrisons, and I have never been happier.

Swadian Sharpshooters. Not nearly as good with x-bows as Rhodoks but they are very good and can do a lot of damage. In melee fighting they do not do well, and tend to die rather quickly. If you got Rhodok use them, if not they are good x-bowmen.

Vaegir Marksman. They should be the best bow unit. They can get warbows and they have 10 more skill than any other archer. You have to keep them out of melee though as they have decent weapons they lack skill and have no shields and weak armour for an elite unit.

Sarranid Master Archer. I like them over Vaegir Marksman, though their arrows hit with less punch they fire faster. They normally spawn with two bags of arrows so they are not as likely to run-out. They have ok armour and will have good sword or maces for melee. Still they are in now way shape or form melee troops. I would give them the nod over the Vaegirs as best foot bowman.

Nord Veteran Archer. Like Khergit Lancers they are a good economical choice for bowmen. Long bows and bodkin arrows and skill just below the elite bowman. They have no shields but good armour. They get long axes as melee weapons and they have good melee skills so they do ok in melee. Add all this to being cheaper and easy to train and they are worth having.

Khergit Veteran Horse Archers. See above. They are the best bow and arrow men in the game. They do not know they are archers though and they have to be micromanaged to be effective archers. They are the best counter to Rhodok Sharpshooters, as their speed and good hitting power with the bow will overwhelm sharpshooters. Caveat is the micromanagement, which is a big caveat.


MERCENARIES
All mercenaries are more expensive and weaker than faction units. Their only good point is they do not suffer morale problems. I only use them when garrisoning a new castle/town or I am desperate. After I use them as 'bolt-fodder' storming a town or castle.

BANDITS
I use bandits when I get them, but their inability to advance limits there use in later games.


As for knowing what they carry get the editor from Tale Worlds site, then you can see it. Or get Diplomacy it allows you to look at their armour and weapons.



Personally I like all cavalry armies so I have Swad Knights and/or Mamlukes depending on the ease of recruiting them. All the Slaver Chiefs I can get.  And, 25-30% Veteran Horse Archers. I garrison my towns with a group of 20+ Rhodok Sharpshooters followed by other high end troops I have stumbled on. About 50% is mid-level troops, normally heavy on Rhodok's lesser x-bowen. And, down the bottom recruits, Khergit being my favorite as they seem to have the best weapons for recruits.

 

[tzlop]

Some units can be more useful depending on the terrain/location.  If you have all Khergits in a castle, they are more or less useful than bunch of Nords warrior with bows excluding lancers as they are pretty decent even without horses, but as for horse archers they usually spawn with a lance +shield and bows instead and their behavior of cavalries make all of them pile up at the front of castle despite them being 'archers' in siege.

I would have to disagree on Vaegirs being weak as the comment mentioned above.  Despite their lack of shield on most elite units, their mobility is a bit more supreme compared to Rhodok/Swadian counterparts, this is especially true for Vaegir guards and can serve as a good shock troop.  In siege defence their bardiches/battle axes/fighting axes come in handy and is just as effective as any Nord troops in garrison.  Their archers also cover the lack of throwing weapons by the Infantries with more supreme fire power and speed.  Vaegir knights spawns with bardiches as well and can slice through light armoured units with ease even unhorsed.  But will prove fatal against archers at a distance.

Now to answer the question, for cavalry it's either lancers for cost-effective and fast building but also quite durable under most situations or Swadian knights for heavy charge/mop the ground on plains or Sarranid mamlukes for a slight better in riding skill (fast speed) and with blunt weapons but lesser armour.

Infantry would be Nord huscarl or Rhodoks Sergant for the easy way out, but Swadian Sergant has morningstars and they can sometimes hit through shields/blocks from their opponents and it can work wonders (especially against Rhodoks/Huscarls' big shields).

And for archers Nord vetern archers can hit the longest distance as they have long bows outreaching even Rhodok Sharpshooters if grounding is right and the fastest archer unit in the game with their high athletic (7) and light armour.  For more solid choice choose either Rhodok Sharpshooter for power and durability against enemy infantries and cavalries or Vaegir Marksman/Sarranid Master Archers for speed and fire power but sacrifices defence.  Swadian Sharpshooter lacks the firepower of Rhodoks as they only get heavy crossbow and if unlucky even a normal crossbow, but they actually can spawn with armours that is better than Rhodok sharpshooter stats-wise.  However Rhodoks spawn with 100% rate as Swadian spawns with chance and often loses because of that so the unit is not suggested.

 

[Lord Silvabane]

隐藏

I always make my armies "multinational", trying to take the best archers of all factions, the best cavalry and the best infantry. That means I get in my armies:

- Swadian Knights as cavalry with a few Sarranid Mamlukes for their maces (which give me a lot of prisoners)

- Vaegir Marksmen as archers, with some Rhodok sharpshooters if I can get them.

- Nord Huscarls and Rhodock Sargeants as infantry.

However, as I am a newbie, I am not sure if these are the best troops available for each "business" in the field of battle. What do you think?

On top of that, is there any way to know which equipment do troops carry?. I suspect the equipment they carry should give me big hints about which troops are more suited to make this or that, but I have not been able to find any source that tell me that (for example, I don´t know if Nord Huscarls carry thrown weapons or not). Do you know of any source which might hel me?

Thank you

CAVALRY
When you think of best cavalry Swadian Knights take the prize.

Mamlukes are their equal if on armoured horse but the is a chance they will get a Sarranid horse which leads to unhorsings. Though I have noticed that once you lose some Mamlukes (almost always the dismounted ones) they retain their equipment so eventual most will be on armoured horses.

Do not forget the Slaver Chief, they have armoured horses and blunt weapons -- they are especially effective against heavily armoured units. The problem is you have get manhunters and train them, which means hunting bandits, ok in early game but in later game can be more of a hassle.

As for Vaeiger Knights forget them, Khergit Lancers are better.

Khergit Lancers are easy to train, cheaper, and actually have the highest lance skill. They also spawn with unarmoured horse but the ultra-fast courser which can come in handy is you have to chase down cavalry. Khergit Lancers are a good troop to fill-out a cavalry army, or until you can train-up enough Swad Knights, Mamlukes and Slaver Chiefs.

Finally, Veteran Horse Archers, they need micromanaging in battles, but are excellent additions to an army if you learn to do it. They are a force multiplier as there is no 'friendly fire' problem with npc missile troops. Also work great to draw-off enemies or reorient them. They are also likely the best 'Bow' unit in the game, they hit as hard as any and they are the only one with decent armour and shields.

Sword Sisters. Their lack of helmets and unarmoured horses mean they die too easily. I always train them up just because they are unique but they are really not worth the trouble.

INFANTRY
On paper Nord Huscarl should be the best, but I have not seen it in practice. Cavalry will cut them to peices as they spawn without enough weapon reach. They have thrown weapons but these are not as effective as they should be and they have very few. They are also hard to train. I have not even seen them do well in siege defence, once had six of them at the top of the ladder against Khergits of all things and all six were dead so quick it was not funny. After that I stopped going to the trouble of training them.

Vaegir Guard have the same problem as their knights and offer nothing over other elite infantry.

Sarranid Guard have throwing weapons, but their armour is not that strong -- they are ok, but you can get better.

Swadian Sergeants are pretty good. They do not do well against cavalry though as they tend to stay with one-hand weapons despite having more appropriate weapons on their backs (they say this bug was fixed in 1.53 but have not played with them enough to know yet). They have the best armour along with 1h skill/weapons. Pretty good shields/skill too. When I put them at the top of the ladder they survived until the end of the siege, in contrast too the Nord Huscarls.

Rhodok Sergeants have they enormous shields and lots of shield skill, along with good armour. They are tough and normally die swarmed with enemies if they lose. They are good with their glaives and have a chance at a military hammer which makes them deadly. They also had the bug of picking 1h weapons against cavalry, but again that may be fixed. They are at least as effective as Swadian Sergeants and likely a little better.

ARCHERS
Rhodok Sharpshooters. The best! No missile unit comes close. They have the best x-bows, bolts and skill. They have good armour and huge shields. They more often than not spawn with a military hammer or pick. Remember I told you I stopped training Nord Huscarls, well I replaced them with Rhodok Sharpshooters in my garrisons, and I have never been happier.

Swadian Sharpshooters. Not nearly as good with x-bows as Rhodoks but they are very good and can do a lot of damage. In melee fighting they do not do well, and tend to die rather quickly. If you got Rhodok use them, if not they are good x-bowmen.

Vaegir Marksman. They should be the best bow unit. They can get warbows and they have 10 more skill than any other archer. You have to keep them out of melee though as they have decent weapons they lack skill and have no shields and weak armour for an elite unit.

Sarranid Master Archer. I like them over Vaegir Marksman, though their arrows hit with less punch they fire faster. They normally spawn with two bags of arrows so they are not as likely to run-out. They have ok armour and will have good sword or maces for melee. Still they are in now way shape or form melee troops. I would give them the nod over the Vaegirs as best foot bowman.

Nord Veteran Archer. Like Khergit Lancers they are a good economical choice for bowmen. Long bows and bodkin arrows and skill just below the elite bowman. They have no shields but good armour. They get long axes as melee weapons and they have good melee skills so they do ok in melee. Add all this to being cheaper and easy to train and they are worth having.

Khergit Veteran Horse Archers. See above. They are the best bow and arrow men in the game. They do not know they are archers though and they have to be micromanaged to be effective archers. They are the best counter to Rhodok Sharpshooters, as their speed and good hitting power with the bow will overwhelm sharpshooters. Caveat is the micromanagement, which is a big caveat.


MERCENARIES
All mercenaries are more expensive and weaker than faction units. Their only good point is they do not suffer morale problems. I only use them when garrisoning a new castle/town or I am desperate. After I use them as 'bolt-fodder' storming a town or castle.

BANDITS
I use bandits when I get them, but their inability to advance limits there use in later games.


As for knowing what they carry get the editor from Tale Worlds site, then you can see it. Or get Diplomacy it allows you to look at their armour and weapons.



Personally I like all cavalry armies so I have Swad Knights and/or Mamlukes depending on the ease of recruiting them. All the Slaver Chiefs I can get.  And, 25-30% Veteran Horse Archers. I garrison my towns with a group of 20+ Rhodok Sharpshooters followed by other high end troops I have stumbled on. About 50% is mid-level troops, normally heavy on Rhodok's lesser x-bowen. And, down the bottom recruits, Khergit being my favorite as they seem to have the best weapons for recruits.

Kudos to this.

 

[HolgerHardrada]

Two arguments I would use to say Huscarls are overall better than sergeants.
1) Ranged.
2) Upgrade path.  Rhodok infantry sucks before you get to sergeants, while all nord infantry is very strong.  Although, it does take a while to train a huscarl.

Siege defense, however, I would say sergeants are better.

 

[annallia]

Go for the Huscarls, by the time you can train up a ready supply you shouldn't really be worrying about the income from prisoners anyway and that tiny bit more iron flesh that the sergeants have imo doesn't make up for the lack of skull seeking throwing axes.

Archers I prefer Nord for defense, Vaegir for field. I say this only because should the infantry get beaten back at the walls the Nords are slightly better melee fighters. Yeah yeah yeah rhodok sharpies are better than both combined, I like speed though and while sharpies are accurate and powerful they lack rate of fire.

Cavalry you can put your numbers wherever you want, Vaegir Knights are the only cav I use with 2 exceptions. Those exceptions being Khergit Lancers (early game cav cheap, easy to train, and surprisingly effective even dismounted) and sword sisters which I use basically as a novelty.

I occasionally get a few manhunters as well but I don't actively search them out.. I just give my companions blunt weapons. Vaegir Knights I like because they use my beloved Bardiche, and even dismounted can be a handful. (not to say that Swad knights and Mamluks are pushovers once they are off the horse)

Edit- Forgot about companion cavalry. Get 4 or 5 of your companions to level 24-27 and stick them on a charger with a decent sheild, long arming sword, and heavy armor and unleash them on your enemies.. I have sat back behind my infantry lines and watched them mow down 40+ troops all by themselves.

 

[Mods]

I started my sarranid game by going for a even balance of gaurds, master archers and mamlukes
Then I got chrushed by some khergits and basically said '**** just got real, mamlukes only now *****'
that was fun

 

[Mods]

Edit- Forgot about companion cavalry. Get 4 or 5 of your companions to level 24-27 and stick them on a charger with a decent sheild, long arming sword, and heavy armor and unleash them on your enemies.. I have sat back behind my infantry lines and watched them mow down 40+ troops all by themselves.

I wish there was an easy way to switch all companions their weapons in one click
I want them to have a lance in battles (so we can have an epic initial charge) and a bow in seiges, but it's just such a pain to switch their weapons

 

[annallia]

Edit- Forgot about companion cavalry. Get 4 or 5 of your companions to level 24-27 and stick them on a charger with a decent sheild, long arming sword, and heavy armor and unleash them on your enemies.. I have sat back behind my infantry lines and watched them mow down 40+ troops all by themselves.

I wish there was an easy way to switch all companions their weapons in one click
I want them to have a lance in battles (so we can have an epic initial charge) and a bow in seiges, but it's just such a pain to switch their weapons

I agree, that is why I just turn most of them into tanks with one or two sitting on the sidelines for medical/engineering and the sort.  I used to give them all axes but I like the look of swords so started giving them long arming swords then usually whatever the armor is called that swadian knights wear (I forget) or if I am not playing rhodok I will sometimes go for heraldic mail. Aside form that they get huscarls shields, sit on the front lines of seiges, first up the ladder in sieges to make a hole for me and the rest of the infantry, and usually riding just behind me in field battles charging the line.

 

[Ivan Khan]

I wish there was an easy way to switch all companions their weapons in one click
I want them to have a lance in battles (so we can have an epic initial charge) and a bow in seiges, but it's just such a pain to switch their weapons

I say jut build up their PD and Horse archery. You get skill over 200 with PD and HA at 6, you can charge at the enemy line and watch 2-3 enemy fall per campanion before you hit the line. If they have good swords, axes or whatever (long and fast is best) elite armour and armoured horses they will then finish them off.

 

[Illusive Man]

I usually make armies mono-national, Rhodoks to be more specific, but I personally think that:

Nord Huscarls - best infantry. They have good armor, weapons and high combat skills.

Rhodok Sharpshooters - best ranged units. They have decent armor, strong crossbows, high health. It's also my favorite unit in MP, though there, they don't have good armor

Swadian Knights - best cavalry. They have strong armor and weapons, I used to make armies made entirely of them, they would swarm the enemy and kill them off very quickly.