Which soldirers are the best?

[Failing Conquer]

I keep on seeing people saying get rhodok sharpshooters, so I get swadian sharpshooters because im at war with the rhodoks. I also saw that Swadian sharpshooters are rubbish. What is the best archery type availble to Nords and Swadians? (Seiges and feild battles)

 

[Marauder8]

It's all a matter of preference really. But from what I've heard, in most situations Nord archers are a no-go. In a siege defence situation, sharpshooters of either Rhodok or Swadians are great, but from open battlefields go with either Vaegir or Sarranid marksmen. Try to avoid using ranged units of any kind when attacking in a siege, because you will need more melee combat troops(especially ones with good shields). Perhaps if you must have archers, Nord archers could work in a siege offense, don't they have better melee capabilities? Or am I thinking of Vaegirs?

 

[Landwalker]

Try to avoid using ranged units of any kind when attacking in a siege, because you will need more melee combat troops(especially ones with good shields).

Again, a matter of preference. My siege assault team usually consists of about 50% Rhodok Sharpshooters and 50% Nord Infantry.  The infantry's job is to soak up arrows with their shields, while the Rhodoks simply clear the walls.  Everybody's out of bolts?  Withdraw, rinse, repeat.

As far as Nordic and Swadian archery, I don't have anything against Swadian Sharpshooters—they're well-armored, they just don't pack as heavy of a punch as their Rhodok cousins (I think they use weaker bolts and crossbows, and their proficiency is a bit lower). I would be happy to use them on either side of a siege or in the field. My preference generally tends towards crossbowmen of any variety over archers, simply because the crossbows hit harder. This is good in siege offense because the constant crossbow fire will start to break the shields of any non-archer defenders, and is good in siege defense and field battles for plain killin'. Still, I haven't experimented with bowmen enough to discount them with any sort of authority.  If bowmen are your cup of tea, the Vaegirs are generally acknowledged to have the best, although I've found that high-level Sarranid archers can do some damage, too.

One thing to keep in mind about crossbowmen (and archers in general) is that they're more powerful in numbers than they are individually, for pretty much the same reason this was true with muskets in later centuries—one guy may not hit one other guy, but fifty guys are going to hit something.

 

[HolgerHardrada]

While there is a little room for debate as to which units you like in siege, in an open, relatively flat field swadian knights are hands down the best unit in this game...I feel like I'm cheating when I use them.

 

[Horrux]

I like to keep rhodok sharpshooters on hand since they are resistant to damage, pack serious punch and are deadly accurate. And then some kind of infantry, sometimes rhodoks, sometimes huscarls, and sometimes I do without infantry and keep only knights with my rhodok sharpshooters. They are of course extremely mighty on the field, but they also do very well attacking sieges, as well as defending.

Only in castle garrisons do I keep bow archers, never on the field, as they are way too lightly armored. Defending sieges they are useful and they get ammo replenishments from time to time.

Overall I feel that the Swadians have the best troops, as their knights are mighty, their Sargeants are plenty good infantry and their sharpshooters are useful archers in the right situation.  Whereas nords don't have any cavalry, Sarranid guards are meh, khergits are just all-around weak, Vaegirs are a bit weak in the infantry and archery, and of course although rhodoks have great infantry and archery, they have no cavalry. So if you are going to go with one kingdom, get the swadians. IMO.

 

[Max125]

Nord archers have been tweaked and are strong now, even better than vaegir (in stats) I mostly use rhodok and nord archers, they are great. For infantry you need huscalrs for cavalry swadian knights.