Rome: Total War unit Guide

[Yojimbo]

Hey there As you may know I've been writing a Unit guide to the RTW series. It is available as a pdf here. The pdf will include guides to all three RTW games when its finished in one file but there will be a separate thread for each.

Note: The PDF will usually be more current than this thread, so you should download the PDF if you want the most current version of the guide.

RTW Unit Guide

Version 3.5

Author: Forlornhope AKA Forlornhop3, Trueforlornhope

Hello and welcome to my unit guide for Rome: Total War and its expansions. This guide includes information on every unit in the RTW series, how best to use them, general information on how to use each class of unit, a glossary of Total War related terms and more! Devour this guide and make it a part of yourself and you will know how to use every unit.

Note that this guide does not focus on the campaign. It just focuses on units and tactics and how to use them in battle.

Note: The data files and the game differ on the listed price for units sometimes, which might have made some unit upkeep costs inaccurate. If you see an inaccuracy contact me and I’ll correct it and credit you

Copyright

This guide is exclusively the property of Allan Curtis aka Forlornhope, Forlornhop3, Trueforlornhope and sites I CHOOSE to allow to host it. Do not sell, make mass copies of, make derivative works of, bundle or charge access to this guide. This guide will remain free and may not be sold, except when I deem it allowable. Any breach of copyright will be met with the full extent of the law. I take my work very seriously and I will find you if you steal it as this took a long time to write. If you want to use it on your site CONTACT ME FIRST and make sure I’m credited.

Contact

You can contact me via PM on TWC as Forlornhope.(with a period). My Xfire is DarknessofFate

Glossary

These are terms I tend to use in this guide and that are used elsewhere when talking about both Rome and other war games.

ALX/Alex: Alexander the other RTW expansion pack, involving Alexander The Great’s unification of Persia.

Artillery: A heavy war machine unit that fires large missiles from far away and can fire over walls and such. Onagers are artillery. Archers do not count as artillery.

BI: Barbarian Invasion the Expansion pack to RTW, involving the later years of the Roman Empire

CA: Chariot Archers or Cavalry Archers. It is better to refer to Cavalry archers as Horse Archers or HA to prevent confusion with chariot archers. Also means Creative Assembly, the development team that created the Total War series.

Counter Fire: Fire directed at missile units by a missile unit, as most missile units themselves have poor armour and are easy prey for missiles.

Flank: The sides of a unit. Charging into the flank is much, much more effective than charging directly into the front. It is also a verb meaning to flank a unit i.e. going around their side.

Focus fire: Targeting all missiles at a particular unit, or group of units to weaken them

HA: Horse Archers. You shouldn’t refer to these as CA for Cavalry Archers as it can be confusing to some, thinking you mean Chariot Archers.

Skirmish: A unit firing missiles and staying out of melee. Skirmish mode, which all missile units have makes them run back to avoid melee if the enemy gets close.

RTW: Rome Total War. If you don’t know what this is why are you reading this?

TWC : Total War Centre a cool forum and TW website where I host this guide and I’m a member of.

General unit notes

Formations

Wedge
My! What a large wedge you have!

Wedge formation draws cavalry up into a tight triangular formation, with the unit’s leader at the front on the point. This means if you do this with a unit led by a captain he will be the first into the enemy and isolated and at risk of being killed. When a unit charges in wedge formation it focuses the entire charge on a small frontage and tends to bust though the centre of the unit. Usually though this isn’t of much use, as the front of the unit gets isolated and destroyed and the back of the wedge takes longer to make it into melee and are slower to start actually killing. In a standard formation more men charge into the enemy to do damage and more men are in the melee faster letting them kill more enemies faster. Really wedge isn’t much use for anything and its best not to use it, particularly with captain led units, unless you want him to die. Try to charge straight with this formation as it’s easy to lose cohesion if you try to move them any other direction but straight.



Cantabrian Circle
When crop circles go bad.

The Cantabrian circle is an ability useable by almost all horse archers, though it works better with lighter units. In this formation the cavalry gallop around in a small tight circle constantly moving and the ones nearest the front as they near the enemy fire their missiles and then reload as they move further form the enemy. The result is a constant stream of missiles onto the enemy and the cavalry constantly moving, making them a tougher target for return fire. Cavalry archers are vulnerable to counter fire and need every advantage they can get when it comes to ranged duels with foot archers. If you can’t or don’t want to charge the archers and fight them hand to hand, or you are using weak horse archers against powerful archers and they couldn’t win in melee the Circle is the next best thing. It’s also useful when you want constant fire on a unit rather than larger, slower vollies. When you use the Circle you should keep the units circling apart; so they don’t get bunched up and become an easier target. Cavalry fatigue quite quickly since they are always moving in this formation, so use it wisely.

Testudo
Crunchy on the outside deadly on the inside...

The Cantabrian circle is an ability usable by almost all horse archers, though it works better with lighter units. In this formation the cavalry gallop around in a small tight circle constantly moving and the ones nearest the front as they near the enemy fire their missiles and then reload as they move further form the enemy. The result is a constant stream of missiles onto the enemy and the cavalry constantly moving, making them a tougher target for return fire. Cavalry archers are vulnerable to counter fire and need every advantage they can get when it comes to ranged duels with foot archers. If you can’t or don’t want to charge the archers and fight them hand to hand, or you are using weak horse archers against powerful archers and they couldn’t win in melee the Circle is the next best thing. It’s also useful when you want constant fire on a unit rather than larger, slower vollies. When you use the Circle you should keep the units circling apart; so they don’t get bunched up and become an easier target. Cavalry fatigue quite quickly since they are always moving in this formation, so use it wisely.


Loose formation
The brown undies are appropriate for this.

A unit in loose formation spreads out into a looser formation, with space between each solider. This helps the unit resist missiles, as the space in the formation means there is a chance missiles may harmlessly hit the ground between men instead of hitting one of your soldiers. The formation doesn’t actually have any hard coded effects, like raising defence or the like it simply works on a physical level: by reducing the chance a missile will hit one of your soldiers. The formation is useless in melee however as men tend get into melee slower and the charge has less people impacting. The unit is also very vulnerable to cavalry charges as the unit seems to lack mass and allows cavalry to ride right into their flanks and rip them up and flank individual soldiers. Only use this formation when you’re under fire. Loose formation is also good for fodder units stood around solely to absorb missiles to allow them to survive just that little bit longer. It comes in handy also for light cavalry trying to catch horse archers as they can cover more area and it makes it easier to catch the horse archers and force them commit to melee.

Ready Status: If a unit is stationary and an enemy comes close enough, you’ll see an animation where the unit will prepare, they might raise their swords/spears and shields or skirmishers will raise their javelins, ready to throw them, if they are not on fire at will. The unit’s state will change from “Idle” to “Ready” when this happens. In this state, units resist charges better and you should always try to have your troops stationary if you’re going to receive a cavalry charge with units like legions, if you aren’t counter charging.

Force melee: If you are using a unit with missiles, like archers or legions holding alt and right clocking on an enemy unit will force them to charge straight into melee. This is useful for forcing archers to stop skirmishing and fight back or getting legions into melee quickly to help other units instead of waiting for them to throw their pila.

Armour Piercing: Axe, Falx, elephant melee attacks, artillery and mace units are armour piercing, to name some. These units ignore half their enemies’ armour and thus are devastating to those units. This is shortened to AP in the guide. Note that Armour is included in the unit’s defence statistic in this guide. I wanted to show armour separately as it governs resistance against missiles.

Charge Bonus: When a unit charges, its charge rating is added to the units attack for the duration of the charge. After the unit stops charging and the soldiers start standing and fighting the charge bonus fades. Thus the first attack a unit makes on an enemy unit will usually have the charge bonus behind it and will often kill. Note that a unit must reach full speed to deliver its charge bonus so they need room to run.

Combat bonuses: Some units get bonuses to attack in certain terrain. Most of the time this is easy to guess. Units that have a desert home such as Egyptian Peasants, Desert Axemen and the like get a bonus to attack in deserts, and get a penalty in terrain they would not be used to like woods or snow. This penalty can affect battle quite a bit and ranges from +3 to -3 to their attack. Cavalry suffer a huge penalty in forests as they get -6 attacks. Keep cavalry out of the trees!

Missile fire: The effectiveness of missiles dependent on where the unit is hit.

Units have two statuses for defence against missile fire, as defence skill is only taken into account in melee: armour and shield.

The front: If a unit is attacked from the front its shield attribute comes into effect, as the units shield is facing the fire. Units attacked from the front also receive a bonus to their shield effectiveness, as shields count for double the protection when shot from in front. This makes men much harder to kill from the front as a shield often gives a large amount of defence and the fact it’s doubled for frontal hits makes them almost impervious to missile fire if they are armoured as well. The unit’s armour also protects it.

From the right side: The right side is where soldiers hold their weapons; in their right hand. They therefore cannot block missiles coming front the right as their shield is in their left hand, so the unit has only its armour rating for defending, making it easier to kill. You should always try to attack from the units weapon hand if not from behind.

From the left side: The unit still has its shield to block attacks as it is held in the left hand, as well as their armour. This time however the shield just counts for its full value, not double. Attacking from the left is rather ineffective but much better than from in front.

The rear: Attacking a unit in the rear gives them only their armour rating for defence, and is by far the easiest way of killing troops. Compounding this is the fact that units armour only counts for 60% of its actual value when struck from behind. Units hit in the rear will take very heavy casualties from missiles and you should always target them.


Thus if you have a unit under missile fire and its impossible for them to attack the firer, like heavy infantry being attacked by horse archers, turn them to face the fire and leave them stationary. This way they can protect themselves from the missile fire with their shields and if the unit is stationary it braces behind the shield, which seems to also raise their defence a bit. If there’s room you should also put the unit into loose formation. See formation section for details. Never allow your units to be shot from behind as they will die very quickly.

Ammo: Ammunition carried by each man in a unit: Javelins: 6 BI Spearmen Javelins: 3 Slingers: 40 Archers and Elite Archers: 30 Head Hurlers: 6 Chariot Archers: 60 Horse Archers: 40 Elite Horse Archers: 30 Javelin Cavalry: 6 Elephant Archers: 60 Legions: 2 BI legions: 2 Crossbows: 20 Ornagers: 30 Heavy Ornagers: 30

Range: Unit ranges are expressed as numbers so it’s easy to tell relative ranges of units. Archers: 120 Trained Archers: 140 BI Elite archers: 160 RTW Skirmishers: 50 BI Skirmishers: 55 Crossbows: 70 Throwing axes: 45 RTW Legion pila: 35 BI Legion pila: 45 Head hurlers: 40 Ballistae: 180 Scorpions: 250 Ornagers: 300 Heavy Ornagers: 300 Slingers: 80 Elite slingers: 120

Fatigue: Fatigue is a major factor in battles. Fatigue doesn’t really begin to show its effects until a unit hits “Tired” as they start to move much more slowly and their morale is lowered. Very tired has a large effect on morale and exhausted, a huge one. Exhausted units rout much faster and move very slowly. Lighter troops such as skirmishers and missiles tend take longer to get tired than heavily armoured troops. Cavalry have a lot of stamina but heavy cavalry get tired faster than light cavalry. Heavily armoured units and units from cooler climates fatigue quickly in deserts and desert units fatigue more slowly. This effect is actually because of two attribute units have called “Stat_Heat” and “Hardy” or “Very Hardly” attribute, but heavy units still get tired faster. Shooting bows causes some fatigue. To restore units stamina let them stand still and don’t move them. The unit will gradually recover stamina, the rate they recover depends on if they have the hardy or very hardy stat or no stat. The hardier the unit the faster it will get its stamina back.

Disciplined and Impetuous: These attributes are usually found on elite or crazy units. Roman troops usually have disciplined because of their training while the crazier barbarian troops like Berserkers or elite ones like Chosen Swordsmen have Impetuous to represent their warrior ethos. Both these traits make the unit resistant to morale shocks so things like frighting weapons such as fire arrows or the general dying don’t affect them as much. Impetuous troops may charge without orders. If you have them close to an enemy, say you send your cavalry to flank the enemy and they pass close by them while on their way past you may sometimes see them charge into melee when you didn’t order them to. That is caused by the impetuous trait.

Morale: Morale is vital to units and to winning battles. A unit’s morale is its willingness to fight. Each unit has a morale value, how high it is depends on the unit. As you’d expect elite troops like Praetorian cohorts have high morale and untrained units like peasants have low morale. As a unit takes losses and gets into a bad situation their morale drops. Winning a battle and being in a strong position and the like raise morale. When morale gets too low the unit breaks and starts fleeing. It becomes uncontrollable and starts fleeing back to the side of the battlefield it entered from. Units with good morale and who are disciplined, have a chance to rally. Weaker troops like peasants once they break will flee a long way before rallying, if they do at all. Elite troops unless they have been utterly decimated will rally rather quickly as soon as they are away from the enemy. Routing troops have effectively no defence and any attack to them will usually kill them. Routers will occasionally hit back at an enemy trying to attack them from the front and they can actually kill the odd person with that attack.

If a unit breaks, but can’t rout as it’s surrounded or blocked somehow, it will fight to the death: the unit sits there and fights as normal but they seem to be a lot weaker, the soldiers will not attack as often and they seem to die much more easily.

Units are far more vulnerable to morale drop if the general is dead, they rout much faster from all things.

What follows is a list of factors and how severely they impact a unit’s morale. The more disciplined and the more elite a unit is the less these factors bother them.

Negative effects

Losing in melee: Moderate. If the unit has taken a lot of casualties that and this will be enough to make them rout

Casualties: None, to high, depending on number. Less effect on morale than losing a battle. If a unit has taken a lot of casualties, but starts winning a melee they will often stay and fight.

Threatening enemy troops: Moderate. If an enemy is at a units flank or rear, even if they are not attacking it will drop the flanked unit’s morale.

Flank attack: Moderate. Getting hit in the flank will cause quite a lot of casualties, so this can rout lesser units

Rear attack: High. Getting hit in the rear will cause a truckload of casualties and, coupled with the penalty for the rear attack will insta-rout even tough units.

Proximity to the enemy general: Low to high. This is kind of ambiguous, but being close to the enemy general seems to have an effect on morale, though it’s countered if you general is also close. If your general is dead the effect is much more pronounced. It’s enough to rout already battered units. This is one of the reasons most units lose to generals bodyguards.

General/Captain death: Very high, to moderate depending on discipline. The general dying is how many a battle will end and become a slaughterfest, the general’s death has a huge effect on morale at first, often causing a mass rout; the effect is largest close to the general and radiates out losing intensity, at the time of his death. You could call it a shock effect and then that effect slowly decreases over time till it affects units to a much lesser degree, if they haven’t routed off the field yet that is.

Fire attack: Low. Getting hit with fire attacks, e.g. fire arrows or flaming artillery missiles will apply a morale penalty, but it’s not that big and unless the unit has been already beat up it shouldn’t do much.

Artillery fire: Low. Getting hit by siege weapons, such as Ballistae or Ornagers and having that missile kill at least one person will lower a unit’s morale as they are panicked by artillery fire.

Routing friends: Moderate/large. If a unit can see friendly units routing, they will take a morale drop which is quite large.

Fighting a cavalry unit: Low. Some infantry units sometimes seem to get a morale message about being worried about fighting enemy cavalry, even if they are Spearmen. It seems to have little or no effect on morale.

Dismayed at the loss of the battle: This only happens when most other units on the unit’s side have routed/are routing and it’s clear the battle is unwinnable, they will have a morale message saying this. It doesn’t seem to have too much of an effect, but that late in a battle it hardly matters.

Intimidated by nearby enemy: This state comes from being close to enemy units that scare the enemy. For example Berserkers scare enemy infantry, lowering their morale with this state and elephants scare everything.

Positive effects

Proximity to General: Moderate to very high. Units close to your general receive a morale bonus, depending on how good a general he is and what traits he has, you can tell because their morale state will say (Sprits lifted by the general’s encouragements). Thus it is good to keep the general close behind fighting units, especially with low morale troops.

Winning a melee: Moderate. Just the opposite to losing a melee, being on the winning side of an ongoing melee will encourage your troops to keep fighting.

Secure Position: Low. If a unit has its flanks covered by friendly units it will get a morale bonus. This means if you have a line of spearmen, the ones in between the units on the end will get a morale bonus. The end ones will not.

Routing enemies: Moderate. If a unit can see routing enemy units they will be happy and get a morale bonus.

Hill: Low Being on a hill will make units feel safe, probably because they can see around them more and will give them a morale bonus.

Glad to be hidden: Low. If a unit is hiding, such as in a forest they will get a morale bonus.

Generals Rally: High. The generals rally special ability greatly raises nearby unit morale for about 30 seconds and can put units from wavering to steady.

Veteranacy

Units that fight in RTW can get more experienced, though this system seems a bit odd. Sometimes units which fought great and killed loads while taking few casualties get no experience and units that got decimated do. I have seen a unit gain experience in battle when it did nothing but march a bit and didn’t actually fight, so just being in a battle gives a unit some experience. Note that killing routers only gives 1/5 of that unit’s original XP gain for killing them. Experience is shown by chevrons () on the unit card and the actual unit will have one smaller square flag for each point of Veteranacy.

This is a raw unit with no experience.

This unit has the maximum 9 experience or three gold chevrons

The unit starts with no chevrons, unless it was produced from a settlement with an experience giving temple. After a bit of combat experience, the unit can get bronze chevrons once it gets three bronzes a bit more experience gives it silver ones then the cycle continues till it gets a golden chevron after a load of battle experience, three gold chevrons is the maximum and it is a very, very powerful unit able to hold its own against twice as many enemies.

Actually getting units to this experience level is very tough as they will take casualties getting to it. It’s much easier to get missile units experience because they can get kills without having their own men at risk as well like melee units do. Experience affects missile attack as well as melee attack.

The flags also indicate equipment upgrades. From the back of the unit the vet flags start at the right and with three gold chevrons or 9 experience there's nine flags from right to left if you give them bronze weapons and armour there's 12 flags so the next three count for their upgraded armour. With fully upgraded weapons and armour (gold) and gold chevrons the unit has 15 flags 9 for vet and six to show each level of upgraded weapons and armour.

Note that since experience grants defence skill bonuses, not armour, experienced units are still just as vulnerable to missile fire, because defence skill does not protect against it. Keep your veteran troops out of missile fire and let lesser units take it.

Experience is better than armour and weapons upgrades. Armour and weapon upgrades just upgrade armour and attack, not actually skill; they do not raise morale either. Defence skill is also useful in any melee fighting from any direction and isn’t affected whatsoever from AP attack.

Abilities

War Cry

Angus, you take those ones on the left. MacTavish, you get them fellers in front of you. Me and my boys will handle the ones in the middle. (quote from Morbles guide to Scotland in VI)

War Cry is an ability usable by most barbarian melee infantry. The ability causes the unit to taunt the enemy and raises their attack by about 4 for 60 seconds. The animation of the war cry must finish for the ability to take effect. When the ability is active you’ll see the units soldiers bang their shields and taunt like the pre battle animations, making it easy to know if it’s still active. The Warcry can only be done out of melee, the icon is unavailable in melee combat. All infantry that can do Warcry should; as it gives them a nice bonus that offsets their often low defence by allowing them to kill more enemy faster, reducing the amount of enemies that survive to cause damage.

Fire Arrows
Ohhhh pretty...

Fire arrows are an ability of foot archers. When activated the unit fires flaming arrows rather than normal ones. Fire arrows cause a small morale drop and can set constructed siege equipment alight. Another main use of fire arrows is that they scare elephants like all fire attacks and have a chance of making them run amok. When you are fighting elephants always use fire arrows. Archers shoot fire arrows slower than normal arrows, about 3times as slowly, when an archer raises his bow to shoot it takes about two seconds for him to loose his arrow with normal arrows. For fire arrows it takes about 7 seconds; the “loading” animation is the same and happens at the same speed. This makes normal arrows far more effective for actually killing soldiers as the archers’ fire faster. Use fire arrows to lower morale and damage siege engines.

[Yojimbo]

Legions

Pila is a huge equalizer in battles.

The legions are the heart of the Roman faction’s armies, as well as high level troops in a few other factions. They are heavy infantry armed with swords, a large shield and a number of pila; heavy javelins. They are all disciplined and almost all are highly trained, so it will take a LOT to get them to rout and they obey orders very quickly. All Roman legions have great morale and the later ones have insane morale so they will always be your anchor in battle.

Pila are AP and are devastating to anything at close range: they go though amour like paper and will cause a lot of casualties to any unit; even the general’s bodyguard will feel the pain. When a legion unit is ordered to attack, it will throw one volley of pila and then charge into the melee. This is effective because the rain of very damaging missiles will sap the enemy’s morale and dwindle their numbers, making the ensuing melee much easier for the legions to win. If you hold alt so the cursor is a sword, the unit will charge straight into the melee, which is useful when you need to help a friendly unit in need. Throwing pila takes a while and the troops are vulnerable to melee attacks while in the throwing animation. If the target unit pulls back out of range when the unit is just starting its throw animation, the unit will play it but not actually throw the pila. If you aren’t saving the ammo it’s a good idea to turn on fire at will and halt the legions near the enemy so they throw all their pila into them before starting the melee. This will cause tons of causalities and make the battle much easier.

All legion troops regardless of faction are very well armoured and have good to excellent morale. Legions will always be your main force when playing as the Romans. Just make sure to keep them away from AP attacks as they are always well armoured and will be seriously beat up by AP units.

Legion troops are best used in shallow formations of 2-4 ranks. That way more men can get into the killing zone with their charge bonus and in the melee there will be more men attacking at once sooner; this also helps to prevent the first few men hitting the enemy, being outnumbered and dying.

Defeating Legions: Legions are never really easy to defeat unless you can flank them. Pin them with infantry then smack into their back with heavy cavalry to slaughter then or use AP units to fight them head on. Most factions infantry cannot stand up to legions head on, so you usually use just use cavalry to flank. Cavalry archers can also wreck legions by shooting them in the rear.

Armenian Legionaries
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 11 Defence: 16 Charge: 2 Armour: 7 Cost: 500 Upkeep: 220
Factions: Armenia

Armenian Legionaries are basically crappier versions of Early Legionary Cohorts. They look almost exactly the same, except palette swapped and with a slightly different shield, but they have the stats of Principes, but with less morale, though they are still disciplined. Don’t go about trying to beat the Romans at their own game because it won’t work and they will lose. That said, they are leaps and bounds ahead of the other steppe infantry (besides Heavy Spearmen, that Armenia also have) and will crush them with ease and they are still quite a useful unit as they have great defence for that region’s infantry and they still have the pila. Armenian legionaries are definitely worth using, just be careful with them and use legion tactics and you’ll be fine with some support. They can’t form testudo.

Early Legionary Cohort
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 13 Defence: 17 Charge: 3 Cost: 610 Upkeep: 220
Factions: Roman

These are you first post Marian Reforms legions. They are much better in every way than the earlier legions: better stats, much better morale, better training, better everything. You might as well disband your Hastarti/Principes when they are available. They still use a gladius, large shield, and a number of pila. They are effective against pretty much anything except later legions or tough cavalry and are quite cheap and have very good morale. Still you should upgrade to the standard legion cohort when you can. They are the first legions Rome get that can form testudo, a huge advantage.

Early Legionary First Cohort
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 13 Defence: 17 Charge: 3 Armour: 7 Cost: 1010 Upkeep: 310
Factions: SPQR (as a reward), Roman (only trainable in Rome)

This is basically a huge version of an Early Legionary Cohort with 242 troops rather than 161. It also has a legionary eagle, though you can’t actually see it which provides a morale boost to all troops close by. With so many men in the unit it can be a real job for the enemy to fight, as they can outnumber any unit by so much and are very good troops. You only get First Cohorts in the campaign as gifts from the Senate or by training them at Rome ONLY. No other cities can train First Cohorts. Put them in the centre of your line to affect as many troops as possible with the morale boost and make sure they aren’t routed or you will lose the eagle, suffer a morale drop and give the commanding general very bad traits. They can form testudo.

Hastati
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 11 Defence: 14 Charge: 2 Armour: 5 Cost: 440 Cost: 170
Factions: Roman

Hastati are the first legions Roman factions get. They carry the basic gladius large shield and pila. They are well armoured for early infantry and much better trained than other faction’s early troops. Hastarti can slaughter any other faction’s early infantry, even Hoplites if they can get behind them. You should use lots and lots of Hastarti, usually half your army will be them in the early period, as they are well rounded and can do anything the situation requires. They also have huge morale compared to other early troops and will not rout unless most of them are dead, as they are disciplined like all Roman Legions. Their upkeep is quite expensive early on so watch out. They can’t form testudo.

Numidian Legionaries
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 11 Defence: 16 Charge: 2 Armour: 7 Cost: 500 Upkeep: 220
Factions: Numidia

Numidia’s only decent infantry unit, these will be the core of your armies if you play as them. They lack the ability to form testudo. They are only as tough as Principes, so don’t expect them to be amazing. Their morale is also lower. They can’t form testudo

Principes
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 11 Defence: 16 Charge: 2 Armour: 7 Cost: 490 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Roman

These are an upgrade of Hastarti. They have slightly more armour and the same morale. Other than that there’s not much to say; use them like Hastati and remember they are slightly better. They can’t form testudo

Legionary Cohort
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 13 Defence: 22 Charge: 3 Armour: 12 Cost: 740 Upkeep: 210
Factions: Roman

Legionary Cohorts are an upgrade of Early Legionary cohorts surprisingly enough. Again they are almost the same except they have much better defence, having upgraded from the earlier chain mail to the Lorica Segmentata the classic legionary armour. Use them in the same way. Also use them to soak up missiles as they won’t take much damage at all especially if you put them in testudo. Just remember to take them out of it before the melee begins and to stay away from armour piercing attacks. They can form testudo

Legionary First Cohort
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 13 Defence: 22 Armour: 12 Charge: 3 Price: 1010 Upkeep: 310
Factions: SPQR, (as a reward) Roman (only trainable in Rome)

The same as the Early Legionary First Cohort, except with the better stats provided by Legionary Cohorts Legionary First Cohorts are very tough to kill as there’s so many of them and they are so tough. This unit can be a real boon to use. As with the early version, be careful not to lose the eagle. They can form testudo. These units cost a lot to keep so if you have one, use it!

Praetorian Cohort
Attack: 12 Missile attack: 16 Defence: 23 Charge: 3 Armour: 12 Cost 810 Upkeep: 320
Factions: Roman

These are incredibly tough post Marian Reforms legions. They have much better attack than rank and file legions, are slightly tougher and have the same morale. These troops will devastate just about any other unit besides general’s bodyguards. Just keep them far away from armour piercing units. They are also very expensive and their upkeep is VERY high. So if you make these units, use them! Leaving them in towns as garrisons loses you loads of money.

Other than that this is just a Legionary Cohort on speed, you can expect them to not break until there is absolutely no other option and grind though massive amounts of enemies. They can form testudo.

Silver Shield Legionaries
Attack: 9 Missile: attack 13 Defence: 22 Charge: 3 Armour: 12 Cost: 710 Upkeep: 260
Factions: Selucia

With the same stats as Legionary Cohorts, except slightly less morale these are a great addition to your battle line and help make the Seleucids one of the best factions. Use them in conjunction with Silver Shield Pikemen to compensate for the phalanxes low mobility. They are allergic to armour piercing attacks such as what the Egyptians and their many Axemen use. They can form testudo.

Urban Cohort
Attack: 14 Missile attack: 18 Defence: 24 Charge: 3 Armour: 12 Cost: 860 Upkeep: 320
Factions: Roman

These guys are like gods in armour. Huge morale the best in the game, awesome defence, huge attack and cool looks make these the best infantry in the entire RTW series, except Spartan Hoplites which defeat them soundly, if they are in phalanx. Their morale is so high that they almost never break, usually fighting to the death, even if surrounded, they can massacre general’s bodyguards, they crush most other infantry and they can rip cavalry up. These troops are a nightmare to face and an absolute boon to use. Use them for anything at all if you’re Roman; they will completely annihilate anything, besides Spartan Hoplites. If you aren’t Rome these will stop you like a wall. Kill them with artillery, shots in the rear and AP units. Melee, even with insane numbers of troops will result in you taking insane causalities. They are cheap for how good they are. Use them, love them. They can form testudo.

Swordsmen
When you need a wall of men to stand fast and take and give pain think swordsmen.

Swordsmen are pretty basic troops and are quite common. They are usually the infantry of the line for most factions along with spearmen. The ones that get stuck in and dish out and take causalities, they tend to have good morale, attack and defence and are usually balanced stat wise. When using swordsmen you should have them in a thin formation with few ranks as then more swordsmen can make contact with their charge bonus and ensue the maximum amount of enemy die on contact. Swordsmen are very vulnerable to heavy cavalry charges as they have no way to resist them and will tker many causalities from a direct charge. Its best to let spearmen take cavalry charges as they are desgined for taking down cavalry. If you are going to be receiving cavalry charges with your swordsmen, put them in a deep formation; say 5 ranks to try to resist and absorb the charge and allow the swordsmen to cut the cavalry to pieces after their charge has been stopped. Just make sure that you have other units to support them in melee as the swordsmen will have lost alot of men from the charge. Once they are in melee you shouldn’t pull them back, as swordsmen are made to sit in a melee and not move until they or the enemy is dead, though they often have enough morale to be able to turn and fall back, without it turning into a rout. Use swordsmen as your do everything troops. Use them to plug gaps, reinforce wavering units, hold enemies in place and generally as soldiers, as they are good at everything. Just remember some swordsmen aren’t that well armoured particularly barbarian ones, and try to watch out for cavalry charges, as even with many ranks they will still take quite a few casualties, since most swordsmen lack the armour to resist charges. Missiles are also a major threat.

Defeating Swordsmen: Swordsmen are best defeated by massed archer fire, especially cavalry archers and by cavalry charges from any direction. Swordsmen have no defence against charges so a powerful heavy cavalry char will kill many of them especially get you charge them while they are fighting another unit.,

Arcanii
Attack: 12 Defence: 15 Armour: 7 2 Hit Points: Cost 900 Upkeep: 160
Factions: Roman

Arcanii are high level Roman troops only trainable in huge cities. There are 64 men per unit on large sizes. They can hide anywhere. They have 2 hit points a trait which few units share and use two swords rather than a sword and shield and lack pila. Arcanii will lose to later roman legions as they are outnumbered because of their smaller unit size and the Praetorian and Urban Cohorts still have better stats. The idea with Arcanii is to take advantage of their ability to hide anywhere and put them off to the side of a battle where they can later fall upon enemies from behind and crush them. That sort of opportunity doesn’t come often in RTW because the units start closer together than in MTW. Still Arcanii can be useful, as they are still very strong and well armoured and will beat many lesser troops. Just don’t use them instead of your legions as legions are much more useful. They have great morale but aren’t disciplined.

Bastarnae
Attack: 14 Defence: 6 Charge: 6 Armour: 2 2 Hit Points Cost: 790 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Thrace

Bastarnae are born flankers. They have a high attack and morale with very low defence and almost no armour. They do have two hit points which gives them a lot of staying power. They can crush earlier legionary cohorts without too many problems but their defence is still low and you’re better off flanking. They are also fast which helps them flank. Make sure to keep them away from missiles or they will die very fast. Their low armour and high attack makes them very effective against armour piercing units like axemen. They are impetuous.

Bull Warriors
Attack: 13 Missile attack: 17 Defence: 12 Charge: 4 Armour: 5 2 Hit Points Cost: 1150 Upkeep: 200
Factions: Spain

Bull Warriors are ridiculously powerful infantry. They are one of the few infantry units with 2 hit points, they have a very high attack, decent defence and a huge missile attack equal with Urban Cohorts, their morale is also the same as Urban Cohorts and they are impetuous: They use pila like the legions do. They are Spain’s late game line troops and will rip apart most other barbarian infantry: their two hit points give them plenty of staying power and their high attack ensures they dish out a lot of damage. They are however the most expensive infantry in the game, besides Spartan Hoplites and their armour is rather light for such an uber melee unit, but it is a blessing when going against armour piercing units as they do not lose much and they still have enough armour to resist missiles. Cavalry is still a danger to the sword wielding Bull Warriors. If you are Spain make as many of these units as you can and use them along with Scutarii as your late game forces.

Chosen Swordsmen
Attack: 13 Defence: 17 Charge: 4 Armour: 7 Cost: 680 Upkeep: 210
Factions: Gaul, Britannia, Dacia

Chosen Swordsmen are basically Swordsmen on steroids: they are way better at everything, have more armour, and keep the large shields making them quite tough. They are impetuous and have the same morale as Urban Cohorts so they won’t be running anywhere. They are the best sword unit for these factions but will still be crushed by legion troops, and very tough infantry, like Bull Warriors. When you aren’t facing Romans though they will crush most opponents themselves. They can War Cry and you should, though it’s not as vital with this unit as it is with lower defence units.

Druids
Attack: 13 Defence: 14 Charge: 4 Armour: 7 Cost: 480 Upkeep: 90
Factions: Britannia, Gaul

Druids are well armoured barbarian infantry with sickles. They have a great attack and good defence and very high morale. They have a Chant special ability that raises the morale of nearby troops and lowers enemy morale. They come in very useful for the mostly low morale barbarian troops and should be used like Screeching Women: keep them to the rear of the battle line, right behind the hardest fight and chant to keep your men fighting longer and the enemy routing faster. Chanting is also fun to listen to if you listen closely you have to wonder how humans can make those sounds. It really sounds cool. They are effective in melee themselves however so don’t hesitate to throw them into it if you need an extra push, unlike Screeching Women they can more than handle themselves in melee. The effect of their chanting will be lost since they have to stop to fight in melee.

Iberian Infantry
Attack: 7 Defence: 8 Charge: 2 Armour: 2 Cost: 240 Upkeep: 170
Factions Carthage, Spain

Iberian Infantry are basic swordsmen; they can be recruited from the beginning of the game, and as Carthage you’ll be using a lot of them at the beginning. They have a decent attack, but their defence is crap for a melee fighter, as they have almost no armour and small shields. Their morale is also low, so they usually won’t last too long before fleeing as they take causalities quickly and will run after enough Armour upgrades are much encouraged for this unit. These units cannot handle head on assaults against pretty much anything besides spear units, missiles and the lightest cavalry. You should instead use them to flank to mitigate their lousy defence. Their incredible cheapness helps them along, as you can afford hordes of these units to swarm the enemy with, also their upkeep is rather alot for such a weak unit. Always use as many of these troops as you can.

Naked Fanatics
Attack: 12 Defence: 5 Charge: 5 Armour: 0 Cost: 430 Upkeep: 130
Factions Gaul, Germania, Dacia, Spain

Naked Fanatics are an odd unit to say the least. Clad only in loincloths, but using large shields they fight with long swords. They have, as you’d imagine no armour whatsoever and low defence (unless you get them armour upgrades). This is coupled with a very good attack and high morale, as they are impetuous. They also have the war cry ability to pump them up for a few seconds. This unit will kill fast and die just as fast, the low defence ensuring any decent opponents will whittle the unit down in no time. The way to use fanatics is to flank with them, that way they can kill enough of the enemy to rout them or at least kill enough to prevent the fanatics getting slaughtered. The War Cry ability really makes a difference to fanatics. When I first tested them: five units of Gaulish fanatics vs. five Desert Axemen units, they suffered an average defeat with about 200 kills vs. 600 deaths. The next time I tried it with War Cry used just before the charge and they routed the axemen and then used it again before engaging the last of them and got a heroic victory with 640 kills and about 200 deaths. Getting in and killing first really counts with fanatics. Don’t try and use them to hold a line or they will die very fast.

Scutarii
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 13 Defence: 12 Charge: 4 Armour: 5 Cost: 430 Upkeep: 140
Factions: Spain

Scutarii are must have troops for Spain. They are one of the few units to use AP pila, just like legion troops and they have a good attack and defence. Their morale is a good deal lower than legions and they are also untrained, but they are impetuous giving them staying power. You should use Scutarii like legion troops: try to throw as many vollies as possible by halting them and turning on fire at will. Use them along with Bull Warriors as your main Spanish battle line troops. They are tough enough to stand in line as swordsmen.

Swordsmen
Attack: 10 Defence: 12 Charge: 4 Armour: 3 Cost 460 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Gaul, Britannia

Swordsmen are a huge improvement on Spear Warbands with much better morale. They are tough decent troops about equal to Hastarti. In a custom battle with one unit of Swordsmen vs. a unit of Hastati they only just lost and the melee remained even, it was only because they got pilaed while charging and once in melee that they lost. They make a good infantry line troop able to take a decent beating and dish one out. Make sure to use War Cry before charging. They have large shields to offset their low armour. Their low armour makes them effective against AP attacks like Germania’s copious Axemen. They can War Cry. When going against Roman troops consider using fodder units to take the pila then attacking the engaged unit with your Swordsmen. Pila dishes out tons of damage and it’s much better if skirmishers or some other expendable unit takes it. They are impetuous.

Woad Warriors
Attack: 13 Defence: 4 Charge: 5 Armour: 0 Shield: 2 Cost: 380 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Britannia

Woad Warriors are like Naked Fanatics, but with even better attack and even worse defence. They have the same morale. They are fast for infantry which aids them in flanking. Read the Naked Fanatics section above for more and use Woad Warriors in the same way. They can use War Cry and always should.

Axemen
Who needs can openers?

Axemen are rather specialist troops. Some of them are armour piercing making them very effective against heavily armoured foes. They usually have high attack and morale coupled with low defence so they should all be used as flankers if possible. Getting them armour upgrades is also a very good idea. You should deploy axemen in long thin formations like swordsmen to ensure the maximum amount of troops make contact with their charge bonus. With axemen this is important because they tend to have low defence and they need to be able to kill enough of the enemy to prevent them getting slaughtered quickly because of their low armour. All axe units, besides Screeching Women have the War Cry special ability and as mentioned above the need to get in and kill the enemy first makes the attack bonus from War Cry very useful.

Defeating Axemen: Axemen can be defeated much like swordsmen: charge them from any direction with cavalry and shoot them with massed missile fire. Low armour high defence skill swordsmen are also effective as axemen tend to have lower attack than elite swordsmen and the swordsmen can gradually wear them down as axemen tent to be lightly armoured.

Axemen
Attack: 11 Defence: 9 Charge: 5 Armour: 3 Price: 450 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Germania, Scythia

The ground floor for Axemen, these units are essential for these factions survival against Rome’s legions as they are heavily armoured and the Axemen can chop them up. They do not pierce armour even though it looks like they should, but have very good morale and still have a good attack to hurt most troops. Their defence is low and you should try to get them some armour upgrades or flank with them. They can use War Cry and should before every melee if possible to increase their chances of survival. This is Scythia’s only infantry so get used to them.

Chosen Axemen
Attack: 18 Defence: 6 Charge: 5 Armour: 0 Cost: 580 Upkeep: 200
Factions: Germania

Germania’s elite axe units, Chosen Axemen have a huge attack coupled with a very low defence and no shields or armour. Unsurprisingly they have huge morale and are impetuous. They wield giant two handed axes and have a very high kill chance with every attack. They utterly shred armoured units but take a lot of casualties themselves, due to their very low defence. You should use Chosen Axemen like you do Naked Fanatics, use War Cry, use them as deadly flankers if possible, get them armour upgrades and keep them away from missiles. Chosen Axemen has the best attack in the game and should rip apart most units if you can prevent them dying too quickly. They are also awesome to watch: their attacks really look painful!

Desert Axemen
Attack: 10 Defence: 10 Charge: 4 Armour: 3 Cost: 370 Upkeep: 200
Factions: Egypt

Desert Axemen are fast, cheap troops with, some armour and small shields. They have good morale and work well against any infantry. They are not AP however. You will use these as your infantry of the line for Egypt and you should make tons.

Falxmen
Attack: 13 Defence: 10 Charge: 5 Armour: 3 Cost: 500 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Thrace, Dacia

In game the Falx is considered an axe so it belongs in this section. It does not pierce armour.

Falxmen are good line infantry for these factions, tho they are rather uncommon since few factions use them. They have a great attack and a good charge for infantry, although with their lack of shields they also die quite quickly and you must keep them away from missiles. Falxmen are also great flankers as they only need a second or two of hitting the enemy from behind with their ultra deadly weapon to inflict a lot of casualties. You can charge straight with Falxmen and still do a ton of damage to lightly armoured units however.

Night Raiders
Attack: 14 Defence: 10 Charge: 6 Armour: 3 Cost: 540 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Germania

Night Raiders are another good Germania axe unit. They scare nearby infantry and have a very good attack and just about excusable defence for an axe unit, as well as high morale. These are useful troops for Germania, however they do not pierce armour, so don’t use them against heavily armoured troops and expect them to win alone. The morale penalty they cause makes them very useful also. Try using them with Berserkers for a morale crushing army that also owns in melee. They can use War Cry and, as with all barbarian troops it’s highly encouraged, as it makes them much more effective.

Screeching Women
Attack: 11 Defence: 1 Charge: 6 Armour: 0 Cost: 320 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Germania

Another fun Germania axe unit, Screeching women are very useful units despite what you might think. They aren’t that good in a fight they will kill quite a few as they have a good attack and charge, but their nonexistent defence means they will drop in melee in no time. They have high morale but a low resistance to morale lowering events so anything bad like the general dying will probably make them rout. They do not pierce armour. Their real worth comes in their Screeching special ability. This ability makes them stop and start screaming their heads off, which is a lot of fun to watch and listen to, it also raises the morale of nearby troops and lowers that of enemies. The morale bonus is quite substantial and can really prevent units from routing. It’s a good idea to station them right behind the fight out of harm’s way and let them scream their heads off to keep the men fighting. Only melee with them if they really need to, since when they stop yelling the morale bonus disappears and they die very quickly in melee. They rather cheap and easily replaced however. This unit is probably my favorite in the game and when you use Germania you should try them!

[Yojimbo]

Spearmen

I feel like kebabs for dinner after the battle guys…

This category covers the basic spearmen, not the phalanx ones.

Spearmen are low tech troops (usually), whose job it is to hold off cavalry and hold a line. They generally have good defence, with low attack and decent armour. They are not very effective vs. infantry, as they get a -4 penalty against them. Spearmen get a huge bonus against cavalry, to the tune of +8 and you should always use them against them with you can. Spearmen are also good at holding a line or pinning a unit in place for a while, as they can stay alive in melee for a while with their (usually) high defence, even if they don’t dish out many kills.

Defeating spearmen: Spearmen’s major weakness is other infantry. Their penalty against them makes swordsmen the best way to defeat spearmen and Axemen will easily cut their way though them. Basically use any infantry.

Auxilia
Attack: 5 Defence: 16 Charge: 2 Armour: 7 Cost: 430 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Roman

Auxilia are post Marian reform spearmen, replacing the Triarii, and sadly not nearly as good. They are obviously effective against cavalry. They have average morale compared to actual roman legions and will rout easier. They are still disciplined however so they still will take quite a bit of punishment to rout. They are well armoured and have high defence, making them useful to put on your flanks to protect from any cavalry attacks. Cheaper than legions, they can soak up missiles too as they are decently armoured. They aren’t all that effective at actually killing stuff other than cavalry however. They have a very low attack for melee units and other than against other spears you shouldn’t use them in melee except for a pinning force to hold units in place while you flank with cavalry.

Desert Infantry
Attack: 7 Defence: 13 Charge: 3 Armour: 3 Cost: 390 Upkeep: 200
Factions: Numidia

Desert Infantry are very good spearmen with good defence and great attack for spearmen. They also have good morale. Like Triarii they can hold on for a while against weaker infantry but will lose against anything but other spearmen. Just use them against cavalry and as good useful general infantry. They are a steal for their price.

Eastern Infantry
Attack: 3 Defence: 10 Charge: 1 Armour: 3 Cost: 330 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Pontus, Parthia

Eastern Infantry is one of the most useless units in the game. Their attack is terrible their defence is horrible for a melee unit and their charge bonus is woeful. These guys are barely worth recruiting for any reason other than pushing battering rams, and acting as missile fodder. They are completely useless in sieges as virtually anything beats them in melee. Their only saving grace is they come in units of 240 men like peasants so they can get a tiny bit of mileage out of their numbers. They also have a little bit of armour and large shields so they can soak up missiles for a while, better than Hillmen can. This useless infantry is what makes Parthia and Pontus hard to play as sieging just doesn’t work with them. Even against cavalry this unit is of little use as their defence is so low they will take a lot of casualties. They aren’t even useful as garrison troops as peasants are cheaper. You could use them as a pinning force to flank with cavalry, though their morale is such that they won’t hold on in melee for long. They are better than Hillmen.

Hillmen
Attack: 5 Defence: 9 Charge: 2 Armour: 3 Cost: 290 Upkeep: 170
Factions Parthia, Pontus

Hillmen are amazingly even more useless than Eastern Infantry are. They come in the standard 160 men on huge unit sizes, which means that eastern infantry outnumber them and have better defence, meaning the Hillmen will lose despite the fact they have slightly better attack. You should never use Hillmen: they are utterly completely useless when the factions that can use them have Eastern Infantry for a tiny bit more. They are however fast for infantry and can hide in long grass, which would make them useful for ambushes except for the fact that once they ambush their pathetic status get them killed just as fast. If you must use them, use them as flankers to put their slightly better attack to work and help offset their terrible defence. They have a little armour and are cheap so you could use them to soak up missiles as well. They only have a small shield however so they will take casualties quickly, so eastern infantry are better at this. They do however have better morale than eastern infantry do. They are also impetuous so they will take a quite a bit longer to break. This doesn’t really make them better however as they die very quickly. They serve well as fodder however as their morale keeps them fighting longer giving you more time to carry out your plans.

Judean Zealots
Attack: 11 Defence: 7 Charge: 5 Armour: 0 Cost: 490 Upkeep: 200
Factions: Rebels

Judean Zealots are spearmen that appear when Jerusalem rebels against whoever is ruling them as part of the Judean rebel army. There is no way to recruit or obtain this unit as it solely appears in this rebel army. They have a very high attack for spearmen: the best in RTW, along with almost nonexistent defence and no armour as well as insane morale. They are also impetuous. If you are facing them shoot them with missile units and watch them drop in droves. Obviously don’t send cavalry at them because it will be chopped up even faster than against more normal spearmen.

Libyan Spearmen
Attack: 5 Defence: 16 Charge: 2 Armour: 7 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Carthage

Libyan spearmen are much like Auxilia except they have less morale and are not disciplined. They still serve as good spearmen.

Warband
Attack: 7 Defence: 10 Charge: 4 Armour: 3 Cost: 420 Upkeep: 200
Factions: Gaul, Dacia, Britannia

Warbands are the bog standard unit of these barbarian factions. They are light spear infantry with good attack, average defence for spears and a good charge for their class. They also have lousy morale. They are the only infantry you have at the beginning of a barbarian campaign, but really aren’t all that useful afterwards. They are obviously good for defeating cavalry, but they are useless almost against infantry, like most spearmen and for the Gauls who start right near the Romans they are no match at all for Hastarti. Train these in the early game when you have to but use a lot and remember to support them well with missiles and your general and other cavalry. Expect to retrain them very often and always make a lot. They can War Cry and you should as they need every advantage they can get, since war cry raises their morale and attack it will stop them routing so quickly. Keep the general close and use every advantage you can to bolster their morale, as they are probe to routing very quickly. They are impetuous

Triarii
Attack: 7 Defence: 17 Charge: 3 Armour: 7 Cost: 500 Upkeep: 210
Factions: Roman

Triarii are tough, elite pre Marian Reforms heavy spearmen. Unlike the troops before them they carry a long spear, large shield and do not carry pila. They have high morale and are disciplined and highly trained like Roman legions. Though they are supposedly your best troops, they are spearmen and therefore are not that effective against enemy infantry. They will kill quite a few and hold for a long time before breaking due to their high morale and defence, but they will get the short end of the stick against infantry, besides other spearmen. They are godly against cavalry though; their toughness and high attack (for spearmen) means they will shred cavalry and even hurt general’s bodyguards. It’s best to have a core of legion troops and have a few Triarii to guard the flanks and kill cavalry. Don’t make up armies solely of them. Triarii are also rather hard to reach before the Marian Reforms in RTW and you often won’t get to use them or will use few, as they are unavailable after the Reforms. Hold onto the ones you have after the Reforms however, because they are much, much better anti cavalry troops than are Auxilia.


Phalanx


It slices it dices and yes it kills in two different ways!
The phalanx is a dense block of men with shields and very long spears or pikes. The men stand shoulder to shoulder and hold their shield in front of them creating a layer of them.

The formation works by having the first few ranks lower their pikes to form a wall of them to stab approaching enemies, the next ranks put theirs at a 45 degree angle to help block arrows, and the rear ranks keep their pikes vertical out of the way. Thus the phalanx is a block of steel with sharp points.

There are different length spears for different phalanx, the best being Levy Pikemen or better that the Greeks/Seleucids have. They can aim a maximum five ranks of pikes forward, provided the formation is deep enough, and can keep an enemy far away. This is important because as soon as an enemy gets too close, the nearest soldiers will switch to their swords.

Hoplites have shorter spears which puts them at a major disadvantage if used head on against a Pikemen Phalanx as the enemies longer spears will kill the hoplites at a distance while they try to close in formation to attack with their own spears. If you have to use Hoplites to fight pikemen you’re better off taking them off phalanx and guard mode and trying to flank or at least get into close melee to try to force the pikemen to change to their swords and put them on a more even footing with your troops.

The idea is to have the spear wall facing the enemy at all times.

Anyone approaching the phalanx from the front will take huge casualties, however if the enemy close enough the unit will switch to their hand weapons. It's also extremely deadly vs. cavalry if you catch them on the front of the formation. Make sure you turn if off if you need your men to move quickly as they can't run while in phalanx formation.

A stationary phalanx is more effective, as the men brace themselves and are harder to push or move and resist charges better. The bracing is visually shown as an animation of the troops raising pikes and shields and the unit’s status will change to "Ready" instead of "idle" when still. Bracing happens automatically when enemies get close and the unit is still.

The problems with phalanx is that it’s very slow and that if they are flanked it’s much harder for them to win. If the unit is flanked take them off phalanx, click to attack the flanking enemy then, when the troops turn around put them on phalanx again. This will make them lower the pikes, slaughtering the nearest troops and give them some breathing room to get back in formation.

When you order a phalanx to attack, they will usually raise their pikes - causing the formation to be useless, as enemies can walk right up to them while the pike wall is not up - while turning, so you want to make sure you are moving them straight at the enemy to ensure their pikes stay in position It's usually a good idea to halt them right in front of the enemy, so they brace themselves before the melee and let the enemy charge you.

If you have cavalry, once themelee starts send your cavalry around to the enemies rear and charge into the engaged units rear: this is almost always an insta-rout.

Quite a few phalanxes have low attack and defence and will suffer in melee. Often if the side of the phalanx is attacked and the soldiers have to use their swords other parts of the formation will continue to thrust their spears in phalanx formation. Just because a phalanx is partly in melee doesn’t mean it can’t still be effective.

Phalanxes should be deployed so they have no gaps between them if possible. This forms a solid wall of spear points and prevents the pikemen getting dragged into melee by enemies making it close enough to get though the pike wall, or enemies managing to get behind or flank the phalanx. Faster troops or cavalry should be on the phalanx’s flank ready to intercept flankers. Normal non phalanx spearmen, other tough infantry or even phalanx troops in normal formation are good for this, as are cavalry if infantry are too slow to prevent flankers.

Use phalanx to block wall breaches and gates and watch the enemy die in droves against them. Any narrow area is a great place for a phalanx, as the enemy is focused onto their spearpoints. Just drag out the formation to fit the width of the gap you are blocking and if possible put missiles behind them to fire into the enemy.

Guard mode makes a large different to the phalanx. With guard mode on, the formation will stay more coherent, troops will take longer to resort to their sword if attacked close up, sometimes continuing to thrust forward while being attacked at point blank. With guard mode off the soldiers in the unit will move around slightly more and act somewhat more independently. They will also not hesitate as long to start fighting with their swords if enemies make it close.

Generally phalanx should be kept on guard mode. They are used to make a wall and kill off enemies with their pikes not fight with swords. Only take them off guard mode if they will be fighting in standard formation such as if their pike wall collapses or they need to be more mobile.

Spearmen/hoplites vs. Pikemen: Within the phalanx class there are two sub classes: Spear/Hoplite phalanxes and Pikemen Phalanxes. Pikemen have longer weapons than Spear/hoplites, enabling them to attack first in a phalanx vs. phalanx fight and start inflicting casualties before the Spear units can even start hitting back, this also helps to keep enemies away from the spearwall. Pikemen units tend to be inferior to Spear ones on other ways such as lower stats or morale, they also always have small shields because of their heavier weapon making them more vulnerable to missiles than spear units that have large shields, but their longer weapons give them a huge edge. Pike units also have 240 men a big increase over the Spear’s 160 men, a big advantage. If you are using spear equipped troops, don’t try to attack phalanxes head on with your own phalanx, because chances are they will lose.

Defeating Phalanx: A phalanx is near invulnerable from the front, except with the strongest troops like urban and praetorian cohorts with loads of armour. The best way is attacks to the rear, especially cavalry charges. Phalanxes have no defence in the rear and they will suffer tons of causalities from a charge there. Arrows in the rear will also kill them off quick.

Armoured Hoplites
Attack: 9 Defence: 22 Charge: 4 Armour: 11 Cost: 640 Upkeep: 210
Factions: The Greek Cities

Armoured Hoplites are a huge improvement over normal hoplites. They are much more heavily armoured and have a better attack and very high defence and much better morale. You might as well disband your standard hoplites when you can crank these guys out.

Bronze Shield Pikemen
Attack: 10 Defence: 14 Charge: 4 Armour: 6 Cost: 690 Upkeep: 360
Factions: Pontus

Bronze Shields are exactly like Silver Shield Pikemen and will serve you well as phalanx, as they have very good attack for spearmen and good defence. They are also disciplined and have high morale so they are a very steady unit. This is the strongest Pontic phalanx

Heavy Spearmen
Attack: 7 Defence: 17 Charge: 3 Armour: 7 Cost: 460 Upkeep: 170
Factions Armenia

Heavy Spearmen are surprisingly tough phalanx for Armenia, a usually light mobile faction. They are well armoured and have an adequate attack. This unit makes Armenia tolerable at sieging, and you should use a lot of these units when playing as them. Their morale isn’t that great so be more careful with them than most phalanxes.

Hoplites
Attack: 7 Defence: 16 Charge: 3 Armour: 6 Cost: 440 Upkeep: 170
Factions: The Greek Cities, Selucia

Hoplites are the backbone of Greek armies and are much better than Militia Hoplites. They have good defence and decent attack. Use them as your line infantry till you can mass recruit Armoured Hoplites. They are extremely cheap for the huge amount of use you’ll get out of phalanx. Just watch out for their morale as it’s surprisingly low.

Levy Pikemen
Attack: 6 Defence: 5 Charge: 2 Armour: 0 Cost: 310 Upkeep: 150
Factions Selucia, Macedon

Levy pikes have very bad defence and low attack. They also have awful morale just a bit more than peasants, so make sure to keep them well supported and the general close by. They are pikemen though so their long weapons help offset all that. In normal melee these troops aren’t very useful, as they are only about as strong as skirmishers and they have no armour so missiles will crush them. When used well however Levy Pikemen can be the cornerstone of the early game and defeat far better troops with ease. Don’t underestimate them.

Militia Hoplites
Attack: 5 Defence: 8 Charge: 2 Amour: 0 Cost: 230 Upkeep: 100
Factions: The Greek Cities, Selucia, Thrace

Militia hoplites are actually allot more useful than they appear since they are very cheap easy to recruit phalanxes, they can defeat much “better” troops while in phalanx despite their bad stats. Their shorter pikes make them a lot less useful than levies as the enemy has an easier time getting close enough to make the pike wall collapse. Never use then outside of phalanx formation if you can help it, as they are poor troops in standard melee with low defence and lousy attack. Their morale is awful like Levy Pikemen. They do have large shields though, which gives then better defence than levy pikes. They have no armour which makes them very vulnerable to missiles especially since they should be used in the slow phalanx formation. They are great garrison troops, much more useful than Town Watch. Replace them with levies when you can though.

Nile Spearmen
Attack: 7 Defence: 13 Charge: 3 Armour: 3 Cost: 360 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Egypt

Nile Spearmen are a big upgrade over Nubian Spearmen as they have some armour and keep the large shields. They are much more suited to fighting in your battle line. They should form the bulk of your armies till Pharaohs Guards are available. Despite what the game says about them not having secondary weapons, they do actually have knives and fight decently in normal melee. They are ridiculously cheap like almost all Egyptian units and with the Egyptians massive income you should make truckloads of these units and make entire armies of them as they are good fighters and so cheap.

Nubian Spearmen
Attack: 5 Defence: 8 Charge: 2 Armour: 0 Cost 230 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Egypt

Nubian Spearmen are basically the Egyptian version of Militia Hoplites. They have low attack, no armour, and lousy morale but do carry large shields just like the Militia. As they are phalanx troops they are useful despite their crappy stats, but you should upgrade to Nile Spearmen as soon as you can and just use the Nubians for garrison duties because of their low cost.

Phalanx Pikemen
Attack: 8 Defence: 13 Charge: 3 Armour: 6 Price: 580 Upkeep: 250
Factions: Pontus, Selucia, Macedon, Thrace

Head and shoulders above the earlier Levy pikes, Phalanx Pikemen will be the backbone or your armies for much of the game when playing as these factions, especially Thrace as this is their best phalanx. They have good attack and much better defence as they wear decent armour; they also have decent morale, the same as Hoplites. They are great phalanx troops and essential to success as these factions.

Pharaoh’s Guards
Attack: 12 Defence: 16 Change: 4 Armour: 9 Cost: 600 Upkeep: 330
Factions Egypt

Pharaoh’s guards are the best Egyptian troops. They have a great attack for spears and pretty good defence as well as heavy armour. They lack shields and their defence isn’t as good as sacred bands but they are still extremely useful troops and should from the core of late Egyptian armies. They have very high morale and are disciplined so they can be relied on.

Poeni Infantry
Attack: 9 Defence: 18 Charge: 4 Armour: 7 Cost: 540 Upkeep: 210
Factions: Carthage

Poeni Infantry are very good pikemen with a good attack great defence and decent armour. They have high morale and can be relied on. Use these till you get Sacred Bands.

Royal Pikemen
Attack: 10 Defence: 17 Charge: 4 Armour: 6 Cost: 740 Upkeep: 360
Factions: Macedon

Macedon’s best phalanx, Royal Pikemen have a great attack for phalanx, a great defence as they have large shields and are well armoured and disciplined with high morale. These men will excel at anything that phalanxes are used for and can be relied on to see many victories.

Sacred Band Spearmen
Attack: 12 Defence: 23 Charge: 4 Armour: 11 Cost: 710 Upkeep: 270
Factions: Carthage

Sacred Band is the second best Phalanx spearmen in the game after Spartan Hoplites. They are very heavily armoured with a huge attack for spears and very morale, as well as discipline they will absolutely devastate just about anything in phalanx and out of it and are a vital unit for Carthage’s late game. Use them whenever you can.

Silver Shield Pikemen
Attack: 10 Defence: 14 Charge: 4 Armour: 6 Cost: 730 Upkeep: 360
Factions: Selucia

The best Selucia Phalanx the Silver Shields are good troops and are great coupled with Silver Shield Legionaries, but they are no match for the toughest phalanxes of other factions like Sacred Band. Their defence is quite a bit lower. Their high morale and the fact they are disciplined helps them along however.

Spartan Hoplites
Attack: 17 Defence: 18 Charge: 4 Armour: 3 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 1190 Upkeep: 460
Factions: The Greek Cities

Spartan Hoplites are the toughest phalanx and the toughest troops in the game. They are like a phalanx on very strong steroids. Their armour might seem low but they have a huge defence skill making them extremely tough in melee even against Urban Cohorts which they narrowly lose to in standard melee and crush if in phalanx formation. Their attack is huge and ensures they are a huge threat in phalanx or normal melee; this unit will destroy most others. They can take on two Phalanx Pikemen phalanxes and still have about half the unit left after routing and killing them one after the other. They also have the best morale in the entire game, even more than urban cohorts and are disciplined making them utterly fearless able to sit in the middle of a massive pile of enemies and calmly kill them, till either they win or all the Spartans are dead! Spartan Hoplites are a dream come true for phalanx users and you should absolutely use them every chance you get as they are the best troop in the game and absolutely essential to the Greek cities.

[Yojimbo]

Missiles

Skirmishers
This picture shows the maximum range of skirmishers. They can just target the Town Watch but will be charged and unable to throw more than one volley probably.

Skirmishers are unarmoured or lightly armoured infantry armed with small shields, throwing javelins and a hand weapon, usually a knife. They are used to rush forward and pelt the enemy with their javelins and then withdraw just as quickly, avoiding melee combat, as they are usually poor in it. They are extremely vulnerable to cavalry, because of their lack of armour, short range and light weapons they will be swept away. Skirmishers do not have much ammo: about 7 javelins each which can make it difficult for them to kill enough to contribute to a fight. They have a very short range, less than half the range of archers and must get much closer to enemies than archers to throw their missiles. This makes them very vulnerable to enemy cavalry charges as they will often become isolated and are usually too slow to run back to your line in time unless you move your troops together and they have no armour to resist the charge. Archers also love killing them, as their usual lack of armour and small range gives the archers free shots while the skirmishers run to get into range. If you want them to stay alive, keep a melee unit just behind them so they can skirmish behind it to safely if threatened. They are effective, like all missiles when they are attacking from the flank or behind. Some skirmishers are decent in a melee, so you can use them as light infantry afterwards. All skirmishers besides Heavy Peltasts carry small shields. Because of the fact they are cheap and not much use if you have some in a battle they are good troops to put out in front, taking arrows or to use to dig sapping points or push rams since it doesn’t matter if they take a lot of causalities and missiles alone won’t be enough to make them rout. They are also useful as just more bodies to throw into a melee if you need a unit to attack an engaged unit from behind or are desperate to stop another unit routing. Skirmishers have surprisingly high upkeep for their limited use and you should disband ones you no longer need. Their morale is ok, less than most units but more than peasants. The Light Auxilia is an exception, they have better morale.

Defeating Skirmishers: Skirmishers are weak and can be defeated by just about anything including melee infantry, cavalry charges, counter archer fire and basically anything that can catch or hit them. They are not a threat.

Heavy Peltasts
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 11 Armour: 3 Cost: 350 Upkeep: 170
Factions: The Greek Cities

Heavy Peltasts are the best skirmishers in the game. They are like normal Peltasts, but with some armour and large shields. They are OK in a melee, where they benefit from their armour and shields, which allows them to defeat other skirmishers easily in both ranged duels and melee, as they take a lot less casualties from return javelin fire. Use them like Peltasts but don’t hesitate to charge into flanks or into weak enemy units to support an allied unit. You should use more of them too, because unlike most skirmishers this one is actually useful. Their upkeep is the same as the normal Peltasts, despite being much better.

Light Auxilia
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 7 Charge: 2 Armour: 2 Cost: 290 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Roman

These troops are the post Marian Reforms version of Velites and are better trained, disciplined and have more morale compared to the undisciplined Velites. They are definitely better troops even if they still aren’t that useful.

Numidian Javalinmen
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 6 Defence: 4 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 180 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Numidia

Numidian Javalinmen are just Peltasts by a different name. Use them in the same way.

Peltasts
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 6 Defence: 4 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 180 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Macedon, Seleucids, The Greek Cities, Pontus, Armenia, Thrace

Peltasts are the most common skirmishers. They have very poor attack, defence and a low missile attack making them of limited use as skirmishers. They also do not have armour at all, making them very vulnerable to counter missile fire. Most factions have this unit and it really is of very limited use. Use normal skirmisher tactics, but don’t bother with them in melee, except against archers, as they do have slightly better stats than them. Upgrade to proper archers as soon as you can, though you might want to keep some of these guys around for suicidal tasks like drawing missile fire, or pushing battering rams. They do have small shields while archers don’t, since they have two handed bows.
Note that the eastern version of this unit is worse than others because it has a “low” mental stat so morale lowering things like generals dying has a greater effect on them hence they lose morale more quickly. Other versions of Peltasts don’t have this problem as they have a “normal” mental stat.

Skirmishers
Attack: 3 Missile: 6 Defence: 4 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 180 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Egypt, Carthage, Spain

These are the same as Peltasts with the same stats. Use them in the same way.

Skirmisher Warband
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 3 Charge: 4 Armour: 0 Cost: 220 Upkeep: 130
Factions Gaul, Germania

They have a pretty good attack and a good charge as well as having the best missile attack in the game for skirmishers, but very bad defence. You should use them as light infantry preferably to flank to offset their terrible defence. Don’t hesitate to use these troops in melee after they throw their missiles. They can defeat Velites and all other skirmishers, besides Heavy Peltasts easily. They are very cheap and have better stats than throwaway units, so you can get some use out of them. They have the same morale as other skirmishers but have a “low” mental state so they will rout faster.

Velites
Attack: 5 Missile Attack: 7 Defence: 7 Charge: 2 Armour: 2 Cost: 270 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Roman

The Roman version of skirmishers. They are tougher skirmishers than other factions use and can defeat them besides skirmisher Warbands and heavy Peltasts, all things being equal. They can also work decently as light infantry. They also wear a little armour unlike most skirmishers. Unlike pretty much all other Roman units, Velites are not disciplined and are untrained.


Archers
When you have to take heavily armoured men down with archers, attacking from behind is the way to go.

Archers are a must have in most armies in RTW. Their ability to inflict casualties and lower the morale of enemies before melee is important. The fewer enemies that make it to melee with your front line troops the less you have to kill and the fewer casualties you take. Archers are also useful for killing artillery crews if they can’t be attacked by cavalry for whatever reason and killing masses of unarmoured troops like peasants, skirmishers and militia. Archers are far more effective than skirmishers and have a much larger range, so upgrade to them as soon as possible. They will suffer greatly against cavalry in melee, just like skirmishers. Most archers are bad in melee and have little or no armour. You should deploy your archers just in front of a friendly melee effective unit, such as spears or legions. Archers shoot better the clearer their view is, so putting them directly behind defensive units is not very effective. Instead have them just in front of the unit with a clear path to the enemy and have them shoot. When the enemy gets too close they will skirmish back right though the defensive unit to safety and the enemy will hit the melee unit and fight the defensive troops instead. Just watch out for flank attacks. Skirmish also occasionally doesn’t work, so be ready to charge the defensive unit though the archers to intercept the enemy if it looks like the archers are going to be caught. Most archers have ok morale, lower than most units, but not critically low like peasants.

Defeating archers: Hands down the best way to defeat archers ischaring them with cavalry. One cavalry charge will almost always rout archers unless your using very weak cavalry. Massed counter fire is also effective against most archers since they lack armour.

Archers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 2 Change: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 190 Upkeep: 170
Faction: Macedon Selucia, Parthia, Pontus, Armenia, Numidia, The Greek Cities

These are the first archers most factions get. Keep them out of melee and just focus on shooting. They are great to use early on as there are a lot of light infantry and cavalry without much armour, just begging for a hail of shafts. Note that eastern versions of this unit are trained while other versions are not.

Archer Auxilia
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 8 Defence: 6 Charge: 1 Armour: 3 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Roman

Archer Auxilia are post Marian Reforms troops and are far superior to Roman Archers They wear some armour so they can take some counter fire, are slightly tougher in melee and shoot slightly better. Their range is also huge. The combination of armour, accuracy decent morale, discipline and slight melee ability make these troops a must have for every army. Always use these when you can.

Archer Warband
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 5 Charge: 1 Armour: 3 Cost: 270 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Dacia, Scythia

Archer Warbands are similar to standard archers for most factions except they wear a bit of armour. This makes them slightly more useful as they can soak up counter fire a little better. Still, use them exactly like normal archers and just take advantage of their armour when the situation requires it.

Bowmen
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 2 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 190 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Egypt

These are just the Egyptian version of standard archers, except they are trained. Use them exactly like basic archers.

Chosen Archer Warband
Attack: 10 Missile attack: 8 Defence: 10 Charge: 4 Armour: 7 Cost: 700 Upkeep: 180
Factions: Germania, Dacia, Scythia

Chosen archers are again great archers: they have high attack, great defence armour, and morale for archers and a good missile attack. These archers are actually better at melee than they are at shooting: their missile attack is lower than the other elite archer units. If you need support quickly in a melee don’t hesitate to send these guys in. They can come in handy in a siege since they can shoot the foe and then fight then if they make it up the walls much, much better than normal archers could. They do lack shields since a bow is two handed making them somewhat less useful as they are prone to die rather quickly. This versatility still makes them a must for every army.

Forester Warband
Attack: 11 Missile attack: 11 Defence: 7 Charge: 4 Armour: 3 Cost: 960 Upkeep: 200
Factions: Gaul

Forester Warbands are amazing units; ever better than Pharaoh’s Bowmen. They are the best archers in the game, have a huge melee attack for archers and a decent defence, allowing them to function as good light infantry if the need arises, particularly if they can hit the flank. They have a similarly huge missile attack, even higher than Pharaoh’s Bowmen that allows them to utterly destroy just about anything without a lot of armour that doesn’t reach melee with them, however Foresters do have spears for melee weapons unlike other archers so they can do well against cavalry in melee. Their very high morale helps too. Any light infantry and cavalry will fall to the Forester Warband. They are vital to Gaul’s survival in the campaign vs. Rome and you should get them as soon as possible. Get them love them.

Pharaoh’s Bowmen
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 10 Defence: 12 Charge: 3 Armour: 7 Cost: 680 Upkeep: 330
Factions: Egypt

Pharaoh’s Bowmen are amazing archers. They are deadly at range, have a huge defence value and high armour for archers, making them tough to kill with most missile fire. They are great in a melee for archers and will beat all other missile units, most early melee oriented units like Hastarti and Iberian infantry and will smash spear units. They shred just about anything without a lot of armour at range and lightly armoured units such as spear war bands will be utterly crushed. They have very high morale and are disciplined and highly trained. These are the second best archers in the game and maybe the best Egyptian unit. Use them always.

Roman Archers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 2 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 190 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Roman

Roman Archers are the baseline archers for the Roman factions. They are standard archers: use them to shoot and keep them far away from melee. Their lack of armour makes them vulnerable to counter fire as well. They are cheap and expendable so make a lot, but keeping them alive to get veteranacy is a better idea. They are untrained, unlike most Roman units.


Slingers
This picture shows the maximum range of slingers. It is a bit shorter than the range of archers, but a bit longer than skirmisher range.

Slingers are very different to archers. They fire rocks that fly in straight lines and that do not arc like arrows do. This means they can’t fire over the heads of other units very well. They seem to fire with reduced accuracy and a few at a time if they are behind a friendly unit. Slings are also weaker at piercing armour and armoured foes will be pretty much impervious to slinger bullets. Slingers are vulnerable to archers: they have a shorter range than them and are never armoured making them a fat target for archers. They aren’t useless though as they are very cheap and slightly better in melee than most faction’s vanilla archers, they also have a small shield which archers do not. They have the same morale as archers.

Defeating slingers: Much like archers, a cavalry charge or counter fire will kill off slingers quick.

Slingers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 4 Defence: 4 Charge 1 Armour 0 Cost: 150 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Britannia, Egypt, Carthage, Numidia, Parthia, Spain

The only slinger unit besides mercenaries, slingers just have a sling, a knife, a small shield and no armour. They aren’t really useful for anything much except killing unarmoured troops and acting as fodder. They are dirt cheap; just a bit more than peasants so make a lot to compensate for their weakness. Think of them as the RTW equal of TIE fighters. They are definitely much more useful than peasants are, so you could even consider using them for peasant type jobs. Parthia’s Slingers deserve special mention for wearing one of the most unique battledress I have ever seen in a wargame. Note that Eastern Slingers have a low mental state, so it won’t take much to make them run.

Other
Remember men always use your head in battle!

Head Hurlers
Attack: 12 Missile attack: 17 Defence: 2 Charge: 6 Armour: 0 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 130
Factions Britannia

Exclusive to Britannia and a fun unit to use, the head hurlers unsurprisingly hurl severed heads at their opponents. The heads have a major effect on morale and cause quite a lot of casualties, as well as being AP, and thus very effective against both lightly armoured and heavy troops as they have a massive missile attack. They have quite a short range however, but are surprisingly effective in melee as they have a very high attack for missile units and very high morale, though their complete lack of armour and their nonexistent defence makes them more useful as flankers. They are impetuous however. Keep them out of counter fire as their lack of armour means they die very quickly from missile fire.

[Yojimbo]

Cavalry

Cavalry are used completely differently from infantry. Cavalry need to take advantage of their mobility and their charge bonus. Use cavalry to flank and charge into the flanks and rear of units to cause lots of casualties and to chase routers and kill them before they escape. Some cavalry should keep pulling back and charging while other cavalry is better left in melee to slug it out. Cavalry can also pull back a lot more effectively than infantry can if they are losing. Don’t leave Cavalry in a line and let them hold it like infantry do they just aren’t used that way. The whole point of cavalry is to stay mobile and use their speed to your advantage. Cavalry are terrible against Camels and get -4 attack vs. them and Camels get +2 attack vs. them. This means that camels absolutely destroy cavalry even the strongest ones.

All cavalry are also bad in forests as they receive a -6 modifier to combat

Cavalry have medium shields only, unlike infantry. They are the only units to have medium shields which give +4 defence.

Light Cavalry
When it comes to chasing routers, light cavalry is the way to go to ensure those beaten enemies won’t be coming back to annoy you.

Light cavalry includes units like Round Shield Cavalry, Light Lancers and Barbarian Cavalry They tend to be lightly armoured and have low to average attack and fast speed. They are best used to charge into flanks and then pull back and charge again and to chase routers. Their low armour makes them useful for charging into AP units like axes that tend to be bad against cavalry anyways. They are usually not strong enough to charge into the front of most units head on and will get sliced up by prepared units. They have very good stamina and can gallop for a long time before tiring. They tend to be quite cheap and disposable.

Defeating light cavalry: Light cavalry is best defeated by heavy cavalry, as the often huge difference in stats will see the heavy cavalry chop them up in seconds. Spearmen of course also destroy light cavalry; as the do with all cavalry. Archers are also effective if the cavally is still or moving slowly due to the bonus archers get against cavalry and their lack of armour..

Barbarian Cavalry
Attack: 8 Defence: 10 Charge: 7 Armour: 3 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 90
Factions: Gaul, Dacia, Scythia

Barbarian Cavalry is your basic light cavalry unit. It has a good attack for light cavalry and ok defence for its class; they have a good charge as well. This is a useful cheap cavalry unit perfect for crashing into the rear of units to rout them and its tough enough for fighting other light cavalry and missile units. They are impetuous but have low morale.

Equites
Attack: 6 Defence: 12 Charge: 5 Armour: 3 Cost: 420 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Roman

Equities are ok light cavalry, good for chasing routers and flank attacks on weak units. They are not that good in a melee as they have low defence, little armour and a pretty weak attack for cavalry. Use them often early on until you get Roman Cavalry. They aren’t exactly cheap for how weak they are and you’re better of spending money on more infantry and only using Equites when you need to.

Desert Cavalry
Attack: 6 Defence: 11 Charge: 5 Armour: 3 Cost: 420 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Egypt

Effectively Desert Axemen on horseback, Desert Cavalry are armour piercing so use them against heavy cavalry and watch them drop. Their attack isn’t that amazing, so you’re better off flanking more lightly armoured foes.

Greek Cavalry
Attack: 6 Defence: 8 Charge: 5 Armour: 3 Cost: 330 Upkeep: 120
Factions: The Greek cities, Thrace, Macedon

Greek cavalry are very weak light cavalry with pretty unimpressive stats. They are the worst cavalry in the game. They have no shields and low armour making them extremely vulnerable to archers since cavalry already are and you should never let them get close to them. Use them to just chase routers and attack missiles shooting at something else. Their stats are too low for them to even be useful as flankers. They are cheap for cavalry though, making them rather throwaway troops. They can form a wedge.

Light Lancers
Attack: 7 Defence: 5 Charge: 9 Armour: 0 Price: 370 Upkeep: 140
Factions: Macedon

The stats say it all with Light Lancers. They have a devastating charge tied for the strongest in the game and high morale, but their total lack of armour and shields make them an absolute sitting duck for missiles and in melee they die really, really fast. The idea with lancers is to smash them into the flank of a foe causing loads of casualties because of their powerful charge and then trying to pull then back for another charge. Don’t leave lancers in a melee or they will die in the blink of an eye. Also don’t expect to defeat heavily armoured legions with just the charge as they are strong enough to resist it. Charging missile units or skirmishers will often instantly rout them, because so many die from the charge.

Long Shield Cavalry
Attack: 9 Defence: 13 Charge: 6 Armour: 3 Cost: 510 Upkeep: 140
Factions: Carthage, Numidia, Spain

Slightly heavier cavalry than the Round Shield Cavalry they replace, Long Shield Cavalry are still too weak to work as heavy cavalry; they don’t have enough armour. Their morale is much better than Round Shields however. Use them like round shields and for more aggressive tasks, as their good attack makes them effective flankers and since they are flanking their low defence doesn’t hamper them as much. Just don’t try to fight heavy cavalry with them. They are useful for killing off AP units however.

Nubian Cavalry
Attack: 8 Defence: 10 Charge: 6 Armour: 0 Cost: 420 Upkeep: 140
Factions: Egypt

Nubian cavalry are just another unit of light cavalry for chasing routers and destroying missile units. They lack armour but they do have large shields and for some reason high morale.

Round Shield Cavalry
Attack: 7 Defence: 10 Charge 4 Armour: 2 Cost: 300 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Carthage, Spain

Round shields are pretty basic light cavalry, use them to chase routers and attack flanks as they are too light to be used head on. They are armed with swords and thus have a weak charge and are better left in melee. They have next to no armour, so watch out for missiles.


Heavy Cavalry
Taking advantage of Heavy cavalry charges correctly is vital to success with them.

Heavy cavalry includes units like Praetorian Cavalry, Cataphracts and Companion Cavalry. They are always heavily armoured; usually have shields and lances or maces. They are slower than light cavalry. They are best used as a battering ram to smash into units and break up their formation and rout units with their weight and mass. They tend to have a good charge which makes them devastating against anything other than spear infantry. They should also be used to fight enemy general units and destroy missile units. Generally use heavy cavalry to charge into tough units to inflict casualties and work as a jack of all trades unit that is faster than infantry and can do almost anything required. Their balance of speed and power makes them very flexible and should always be taken advantage of. Heavy cavalry tire much more quickly than light cavalry and are still vulnerable to spears and phalanx. Don’t use them to chase routers if you have light cavalry. They will also be vulnerable to AP units, though most of them suck against cavalry, try to rout them with the charge.

Defeating Heavy Cavalry: Heavy cavalry can usually only be defeated by spearmen or heavier cavalry. Your general’s bodyguard is often a good counter to enemy heavy cavally, but failing that spearmen are born to kill off cavalry. Phalanx will also instantly slaughter any cavalry that is caught on the spear points.

Barbarian Noble Cavalry
Attack: 9 Defence: 15 Charge: 7 Armour: 6 Cost: 600 Upkeep: 160
Factions: Gaul, Dacia

These are good heavy cavalry: they have a good attack for cavalry and great defence for barbarian cavalry. Use them as your main cavalry as soon as you can make them. They have high morale and are impetuous. Despite being untrained, they can form a wedge.

Cataphracts
Attack: 7 Defence: 23 Charge: 9 Armour: 18(!) Cost: 940 Upkeep: 190
Factions Armenia, Selucia, Parthia

Cataphracts are basically tanks on legs. They have masses of armour: both horse and rider are covered in it. They have a good attack, massive defence a punishing charge, high morale and are disciplined and highly trained. They are armed with spears which are effective against enemy cavalry but they also have secondary AP maces which you can get them to use by alt+right clicking the target. This is the better bet against heavily armoured cavalry and infantry as they will slaughter then easily with AP weapons. You can also charge, as they have a devastating charge and then pull back and charge again. They will absolutely destroy non armour piercing units taking almost no damage. Of course they almost completely resist missiles with all that armour, besides pila and other armour piercing missiles. This unit can almost do anything except fight anything that pierces armour. Keep them far, far away from anything with an armour piercing attack, like infantry or cavalry axemen or Scythian Head Hunting Maidens, as they will slice this unit up in literally seconds because of its huge armour value. I remember playing multiplayer, I attacked my enemies’ Head Hunting Maidens with this unit and watched in disbelief as my uber horsemen were chopped up merrily in about 20 seconds and routed with more than half the unit dead. Ouch! They can form a wedge.

Companion Cavalry
Attack: 10 Defence: 17 Charge: 9 Armour: 11 Cost: 760 Upkeep: 240
Factions Macedon, Selucia

The best looking cavalry in the game I think, Companion Cavalry are heavy cavalry and have a devastating charge coupled with very heavy armour and a great attack for cavalry. They are the strongest cavalry in the game after praetorian cavalry and armoured general’s bodyguards and you should use them whenever you can. Use their shattering charge to instantly rout weak units or crash them like a battering ram into the back of tougher units. They can cut up enemies in melee too. They lack shields, but the heavy armour compensates. They can form a wedge, have very high morale and are disciplined and highly trained.

Cappadocian Cavalry
Attack: 7 Defence: 23 Charge: 9 Armour: 14 Cost: 870 Upkeep: 190
Factions: Pontus

The Pontic version of Cataphracts, Cappadocian Cavalry looks the same, but they are untrained, aren’t disciplined and have lighter armour than true Cataphracts. They have the same high morale. Use them like Cataphracts and stay far, far away from armour piercing units like axes. They can form wedge.

Gothic Cavalry
Attack: 12 Defence: 19 Charge: 7 Armour: 9 Cost: 790 Upkeep: 190
Factions: Germania

Totally out of left field comes this great cavalry. Their defence and armour are almost unheard of for barbarian factions, who tend to have lousy cavalry. They have great morale, are impetuous and have a very good attack. You should take full advantage of this cavalry as it’s about the only barbarian heavy cavalry that can stand up to that of other factions and they change Germania’s strategy when you get them. They can form wedge.

Head Hunting Maidens
Attack: 10 Defence: 11 Charge: 8 Armour: 6 Cost: 600 Upkeep: 140
Factions: Scythia

Head Hunting Maidens are one of three female units in the game. They are medium cavalry; they are too well armed and armed to be called light cavalry but their nonexistent defence skill arbitrarily makes them weak for heavy cavalry. They are still well armoured and have a decent attack so they will serve very well as light cavalry or fairly as heavy cavalry, use them for both jobs. Don’t forget their axes are armour piercing and they have a huge charge for non lance cavalry, so anything heavily armoured including tough cavalry like Cataphracts will be sliced by them. They are also fast so it makes it easy to catch the routing heavy units and kill then off. They can form wedge

Legionary Cavalry
Attack: 8 Defence: 22 Charge: 6 Armour: 12 Cost: 790 Upkeep: 190
Factions: Roman

Legionary Cavalry is much better than the ones before it and offers better attack, much better defence and a lot of armour making them useful for all cavalry tasks. They have the same morale as infantry legions and are disciplined so they won’t be routing anywhere. Charge them into archers, use them to charge into tough units flanks and whatever else these men can do the job. Just stay far away from armour piercing units. They can form wedge.

Macedonian Cavalry
Attack: 8 Defence: 17 Change: 6 Armour: 11 Cost: 690 Upkeep: 160
Factions: Macedon

Unique to Macedon, these cool looking units are pretty good cavalry; they are very heavily armoured, have high morale and have a good attack. Use them for all the usual heavy cavalry tasks. They lack shields so they can be slightly vulnerable to missiles even with their huge amount of armour. The lack of shield also makes them even more vulnerable to AP units so watch out for them. They can form wedge

Nile Cavalry
Attack: 8 Defence: 13 Charge: 6 Armour: 7 Cost: 570 Upkeep: 190
Factions: Egypt

Nile cavalry are a lot like Nubian cavalry except they trade the shield for a lot more armour. Still use them in the same way as Nubian cavalry. They have high morale and can form wedge

Noble Cavalry
Attack: 9 Defence: 15 Charge: 7 Armour: 6 Cost: 600 Upkeep: 160
Factions: Germania, Dacia

A good cavalry unit for barbarians, Noble Cavalry has decent attack and good defence as well as being well armoured, putting them on an even footing with most heavy cavalry. Barbarian factions aren’t known for their good cavalry so this unit and Gothic Cavalry are a real boon for Germania. They are impetuous, have high morale and can form wedge.

Pontic Heavy Cavalry
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 14 Charge 5 Armour: 6 Cost: 630 Upkeep: 160
Factions: Pontus

Pontic Heavy cavalry are good units with a good attack, a high missile attack for a javelin unit, high morale and decent defence and armour. The fact that this unit can fight well in melee as well as throw javelins makes them very versatile. They have swords so leave them in melee as their charge isn’t really worth it. They can form the cantabrian circle

Praetorian Cavalry
Attack: 12 Defence: 22 Charge: 6 Armour: 11 Cost: 840 Upkeep: 240
Factions: Roman

Praetorian Cavalry are Generals Armoured Bodyguards, with the normal 1 hp each, slightly less armour and more defence skill. As a result they are truly deadly cavalry, able to shred any other cavalry in the game basically, besides Cataphracts. Use them as much as you can. They have very high morale, are disciplined and can form wedge.

Roman Cavalry
Attack: 6 Defence: 15 Charge: 5 Armour: 6 Cost: 520 Upkeep: 120
Factions: Roman

Roman Cavalry are like Equities and pre, except they have more armour. Use them in the same way, but you could also use them as weakish heavy cav. They have good morale and can form wedge.

Sacred Band Cavalry
Attack: 11 Defence: 18 Charge: 6 Armour: 11 Cost: 780 Upkeep: 340
Factions: Carthage

Sacred bands are better cavalry than the ones before them, they are very heavily armoured and have a decent attack and they also have good morale. Use them as you would heavy cavalry. This unit doesn’t have a shield so they are rather vulnerable to missiles though with their heavy armour they are well protected. They have a huge upkeep cost, so only recruit them if you are going to use them. They have very high morale are disciplined and highly trained. They can form wedge

Scythian Nobles
Attack: 8 Defence: 13 Charge: 10 Armour: 9 Cost: 630 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Scythia

Scythian Nobles are very tough lance armed cavalry they have a massive charge attack tied for highest in the game and heavy armour. Use them like you normally would lancers, shattering units with charges in the flank or rear, or front with some units then pulling back and doing it again. They can handle themselves in melee but their lack of shields puts them at a disadvantage. They still will be butchered by spear units so don’t charge head on into them. They have high morale and can form wedge.

[Yojimbo]

Generals Bodyguards
Forward for the greater glory of Rome!

Generals are at the heart of all armies, regardless of faction. In Rome Total war the general commands armies. The better he is at his job the better the overall army will fight and the difference can be huge. Firstly a general projects a boost of morale around himself: units around the general will get a boost to their morale. The general also has a rally special ability that temporally raises the morale of nearby troops even more and can stop routing or just make wavering troops stay and fight.

The general’s command ability also greatly enhances his troops fighting skill and their morale to the tune of +1 attack and more morale for each star. The amount of stars also affects the area of morale boosting the general has, with more stars providing a larger coverage. Influence might also tie into this. It also seems the more command a general has the larger his bodyguard unit is.

General’s bodyguards range from average to the toughest cavalry in the game and the general can have a huge difference on the battle solely because of the fighting power of him and his bodyguards.

Note that all; barbarian bodyguards and generals are untrained while all other more civilized factions have disciplined and highly trained bodyguards, except Parthia’s Eastern Generals; they are highly trained but not disciplined. Barbarian generals have more base morale however so it sort of balances itself that they aren’t disciplined.

Generals can get traits and some can be very bad or good for his army, boosting or lowering his army’s morale or other effects. Check a generals traits closely before using him and don’t disdain low star generals as using them in battles makes them better and gives them more stars. Young generals that have just come of age usually start with little command but since they are younger you should use them as soon as possible to start boosting their attributes, so their sons have good attributes too, as sons to an extent take on their father’s skills.

Generals are an integral part of an army and every army you send out should have a general as often as you can.

Note on Captains : A Captain has no skills whatsoever. No command or influence. He provides virtually no help, except he still boosts morale a bit and his death still crushes troop’s morale.

Defeating generals: Generals are usually extremely powerful and the strongest units in the game besides maybe Urban Cohorts. When you try to kill a general you should use a general or two of your own and a lot of spearmen. Spearmen alone will not be enough. General’s bodyguards are just too powerful. Depending on what you have, just send in loads of heavy cavally or camels including your general, shoot him in the back with horse archers, try to lure him into a phalanx or just constantly wear him down by pinning him and charging something into his rear. Expect heavy causalities and probably routing when trying to kill a general if you don’t have units suited for it. You really should just use your own generals to kill enemy ones, especially if you have a powerful bodyguard like Roman or Parthian generals.

Chariot generals are best killed with massed infantry or archers. They die very quick if caught in melee and a nice mob of infantry to stop the chariots moving will cut them down in short order. Archer fire will usually get him after a while too. Running into a phalanx will slaughter chariot bodyguards too.

Early Generals

Warlord
Attack: 12 Defence: 13 Charge: 7 Armour: 3 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 810 Upkeep: 110(Gaul, Dacia, Germania, Scythia)
Attack: 13 Defence: 1 Charge: 7 Amour: 0 Cost: 1010 Upkeep: 140 (Britannia, Chariot)

Good attack but low defence makes this an average bodyguard

Another useless hated chariot bodyguard. Whee.


General’s Bodyguard
Attack: 11 Defence: 10 Charge: 6 Armour: 3 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 690 Upkeep: 80 (Thrace, Selucia, The Greek Cities, Macedon)
Attack: 11 Defence: 14 Charge: 6 Armour: 3 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 790 Upkeep: 80 (Spain, Carthage, Numidia, Roman)
Attack: 12 Missile attack: 12 Defence: 15 Charge: 5 Armour: 6 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 940 Upkeep: 80 (Pontus, Armenia, Parthia)

These are the beginning bodyguards and are a lot weaker. Greek generals are the worst as they have lousy stats and no shields. You should be much more careful with generals during the early game. Eastern factions are exempt from this rule as they have strong generals units even early and the general can throw powerful javelins with his unit’s very high missile attack so use them well.

Late Generals

Armoured Eastern General
Attack: 10 Defence: 24 Charge: 9 Armour: 18 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 1400 Upkeep: 90
Factions: Armenia, Parthia

The best general in the game, this unit has massive amounts of armour like a Cataphract and great attack for the Cataphract class. They also have an AP attack, which is insanely useful coupled with their other strengths. Take full advantage of their combat power in battles and don’t worry about the general dying much.


Barbarian Chosen Warlord
Attack: 12 Defence: 16 Charge: 7 Armour: 6 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 940 Upkeep: 110 (Gaul, Dacia)
Attack: 11 Defence: 14 Charge: 10 Armour: 3 Cost: 980 Upkeep: 110 (Scythia)

Scythia’s Chosen Warlord uses a lance and is a slightly stronger version of Scythian nobles.

Chariot General
Attack: 12 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 1 Charge: 6 Armour: 0 Hit Points: 5 Cost: 990 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Egypt

The reason I don’t use Egypt. Leave him in melee for more than a few seconds and say goodbye, as they have all the defence of wet tissue paper. They are disciplined and highly trained and have great morale like other generals but they still suck.


General’s Armoured Bodyguard
Attack: 11 Defence: 20 Charge: 6 Cost: 1020 Upkeep: 80 (Thrace)
Attack: 12 Defence: 13 Cost: 830 Upkeep: 80 (Egypt)
Attack: 11 Defence: 18 Charge: 6 Armour: 11 Cost: 1040 Upkeep: 80 (Carthage, Numidia. Spain)
Attack: 10 Defence: 17 Charge: 9 Armour: 11 Cost: 1020 Upkeep: 130 (Macedon, Selucia, The Greek Cities)
Attack: 11 Defence: 22 Armour: 11 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 1120 Upkeep: 80 (Roman)
Attack: 10 Defence: 19 Charge: 9 Armour: 9 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 1020 Upkeep: 80 (Pontus)

Egypt sucks again with an utterly crappy general. Greeks general is much better but still lacks a shield as he uses a lance. The Romans and Pontus have the best. The Pontic general loses his javelins and gains more Defence, Armour and a high charge stat, so use conventional general tactics.





Rebel General
Attack: 12 Missile attack: 12 Defence 18 Charge: 5 Armour: 9 Cost: 770 Upkeep: 80
Factions: Rebels

Rebel; armies are sometimes led by a general. This is one tough unit with very high attack and missile attack very good defence and heavy armour. This unit is never playable it is seen solely in command of rebel armies sometimes, and it makes them a lot more annoying to kill. They actually have a cost in the data files though this is obviously something you can’t buy.


Camels
Yeah they stink, but in a good way!

Camels are made for one purpose: Killing cavalry. Cavalry get -4 attack when fighting camels and camels at the same time get +2; this huge deficit in attack makes camels much harder for cavalry to kill and makes it easier for them to kill cavalry. Hence camels are great vs. cavalry even though they are statistically usually much weaker. Camels usually have very low armour and average to low attack and you shouldn’t use them against anything but cavalry, as they are usually too slow and too weak to fight and charge infantry effectively and will lose to them or at least take too many losses to make it worthwhile. Skirmishers, weaker missile troops and peasants are fine to attack with camels however. The Cataphract Camel is exempt from the weakness rule started above as they are very tough troops and will destroy cavalry so fast it’s not funny.

Defeating Camels : Infantry are the best for defeating camels, as they really are quite weak when not facing cavalry. Also a cavalry charge in the rear will kill enough off to rout them or dramatically lessen their threat to cavalry, letting the cavalry finish them off quick.

Camel Archers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 2 Charge: 2 Armour: 0 Cost: 420 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Egypt

Camel Archers are really too slow to skirmish well as camels are slower than horses. Even though they have a bonus vs. horses their tiny melee and nonexistent defence mean heavy cavalry will still crush them. This is a mostly pointless unit, though you can flank charge with them to take advantage of the morale drop they give to cavalry, even if they won’t actually kill many. They have low morale.

Numidian Camel Riders
Attack: 8 Defence: 13 Charge: 6 Armour: 3 Cost: 520 Upkeep: 140
Factions: Numidia

These are useful troops indeed. They have a good attack for cavalry and decent defence and they are armed with spears, making them even more effective against cavalry. Good stats, coupled with anti cavalry weaponry and the camel bonus/penalty means this unit will crush cavalry completely; even Cataphracts will either be defeated or take a ton of casualties from this much cheaper unit. If you’re Numidia you’ll want to use lots of these.


Cataphract Camels
Attack: 7 Defence: 23 Charge: 9 Armour: 23 Cost: 940 Upkeep: 140
Factions: Parthia

The toughest camels in the game by a long way, Cataphracts have almost as much defence as Cataphract cavalry, but when it is coupled with the huge advantage against cavalry and a huge charge with lances you get the ultimate cavalry killer. Send this after anything from General’s Bodyguards to Praetorian Cavalry and they will slice them up with few casualties. Truly a boon for Parthia and makes it impossibly easy to kill generals. They have high morale but are surprisingly untrained.


Horse Archers
When you want a pile of dead infantry at little to no cost to your own troops you can’t go past Horse Archers.

Often referred to as HA, horse archers can be a real boon to command. Their mix of mobility and arrows makes them a very effective force against slow opponents. They are however less accurate compared to infantry archers and are usually weak in melee. They are also very vulnerable to missile fire themselves; usually lacking armour and as cavalry they are a large target for counter fire. Don’t use HA vs. infantry missile units. If they have to fight archers and you have no other more suitable cavalry, order them to charge and fight hand to hand.

When using horse archers you always want to ride around the enemy line and shoot into their rear. As mentioned above, arrows do much greater damage and have a higher kill chance when fired into a unit’s rear. Infantry are the best targets for horse archers, since the infantry have no hope of catching them and with skirmish mode the cavalry will pull back when the enemy gets close, keeping them out of melee. If there is room you can send horse archers around to the rear of the infantry and have some at the front, so no matter which way the infantry they turn they will keep taking heavy causalities from the rear fire. Horse archers can fire while moving, so even while skirmishing, charging or following movement orders they will fire at the enemy if on fire at will. This makes it possible to keep manually moving them, so you can gallop past the enemy at close range to shower them with missiles or manually try to dodge arrows. Just make sure to keep an eye on your horse archers so they don’t get trapped against the battlefield edge or against some impassable terrain, as sometimes the skirmish screws up and they may be caught. The way horse archers can kill while taking no causalities makes them one of the best units for gaining veteranacy and you don’t want some silly mistake to wipe out your experienced units. Take care of them.

Some HA have the Cantabrian Circle. This ability involves the missile cavalry galloping around in a small circle in front of the enemy they are shooting at to make themselves a more difficult target for counter fire, as they are always moving and not a stationary target. This formation makes them less accurate and also tires them continuality as they are always moving. It’s best to avoid this formation and just ensure they aren’t attacked by missiles at all.

Defeating horse archers : Horse archers can be a pain and the only real way to defeat them without major causalities is to shoot back at them with foot archers. Foot archers have the advantage in distance combat because they have a large target, the horse to aim at and are harder to hit for the horse archers Very fast light cavalry may be able to catch them and artillery could hit them. Fighting massed horse archers is going to be a bloody battle no matter what.

Horse Archers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 2 Charge: 2 Armour: 0 Cost: 440 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Armenia, Parthia

The basic horse archers; they have an average missile attack and almost no defence or attack. Keep them far away from melee, except against weak archers. Low morale.

Cataphract Archers
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 22 Charge: 5 Armour: 18 Cost: 1230 Upkeep: 190
Factions: Armenia

Cataphract Archers are very tough horse archers. They have the same missile attack as the rest but they have the very heavy Cataphract armour to resist counter fire, though they are not as immune to it as you might think. They also have a very high melee attack for horse archers so they can more than handle themselves in melee; however their lack of shields makes them somewhat vulnerable. Still this is a great unit that can do many things. They will tire quickly in their heavy armour, particularly as horse archers are almost always moving and Armenia starts with desert provinces. You should never use the Cantabrian Circle with this unit as it will just tire them even faster. They have high morale and are highly trained.

Persian Cavalry
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 10 Charge: 5 Armour: 6 Cost: 790 Upkeep: 140
Factions: Parthia

Persian Cavalry are HA than can fight in melee. They are well armoured for HA. Don’t hesitate to use them as light cavalry and as HAs, as they do well in both roles. This makes them very useful units.

Scythian Horse Archers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 5 Charge: 2 Armour: 3 Cost: 540 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Scythia

Scythian HAs live up to the barbarian style by having slightly better defence, as they wear a little armour. Use them in the same way as normal HAs and just take advantage of the fact they are a little tougher and can survive counter fire a bit better when it’s needed. They are still cavalry so you shouldn’t keep them under fire anyway. You should switch to Noble Women/Noble Archers and use them instead as they are both much more versatile; than this unit, as they can fight well in melee.

Scythian Noble Archers
Attack: 10 Missile attack: 8 Defence: 12 Charge: 6 Armour: 9 Cost: 900 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Scythia

Noble Archers are a great unit for Scythia. They fight well in melee as they have a great attack for archers and are heavily armoured. They shoot well and have good morale. Use a lot of these units and don’t be afraid to charge weaker infantry and flank charge stronger ones with this unit as its one of the most useful HA. You should try to preserve them at least a bit however as they are very expensive. High morale.

Scythian Noble Women
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 8 Defence: 9 Charge: 5 Armour: 6 Cost: 660 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Scythia

Again women get the short end of the stats stick. Noble Women are noticeably weaker than noble men in most ways and are only a little cheaper. They do shoot just as well however, so if you’re just after a good horse archer and melee doesn’t matter they are cheaper and have less upkeep than Noble Archers who shoot just as well. They will still defeat allot of other horse archers, as they have very good melee for an archer, (though no match for the nobles stats) and are well armoured. They have the same morale as Noble Archers.

Javelin Cavalry
A shower of javelins in the back does wonders vs. slower units

Javelin Cavalry are mounted troops that throw the same kind of javelins that skirmishers do. They have a short range and are often lightly armoured but since they are mounted they are much more effective at skirmishing than infantry skirmishers. They also tend to be at least decent in melee, unlike some horse archers which adds to their usefulness. Most factions get javelin cavalry and for factions like Rome or Greece that focus on slow heavy infantry/phalanxes a fast missile cavalry can be very useful indeed. Use javelin cavalry to shower units with javelins preferably while they are engaged with another unit and to attack missile units in melee. They can also guard your flanks and serve as a diversion as they are cheap.

Like horse archers they can skirmish and are easy to keep out of melee since they are fast They have a good chance to earn high veteranacy because of the method of their attack.

Javelins do not pierce armour, even though they did in mtw1.

Defeating Javelin cavalry : Javelin cavalry is best defeated by shooting them with archers as they are either unarmoured or lightly armoured and will die quick to missiles, or by hunting them down with most any cavalry since they tend the be weaker in melee than even light cavalry so they should be easily crushed. Spearmen of course can defeat them if they can catch them.

Cavalry Auxilia
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 9 Charge: 4 Armour: 2 Cost: 470 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Roman

Cavalry Auxilia are the strongest javelin cavalry in the game. Use them as faster skirmishers. They aren’t too bad in melee as they are equal to other light cavalry, with the advantage of missiles. They can be useful to attack in the flank and chase routers. They have good morale.

Militia Cavalry
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 6 Defence 6 Charge: 3 Armour: 0 Cost: 340 Upkeep: 110
Factions: The Greek Cities, Selucia, Thrace

Militia Cavalry aren’t that amazing with low attack and missile attack. They are important to these factions however, as they all use slow phalanx armies as their main force and as the phalanx lack manoeuvrability this lighter missile cavalry is very useful for chasing off missile units shooting the slow phalanx and keeping their flanks secure. They are also the best unit for the Greeks to chase routers. They have low morale and will take causalities quickly if caught in a melee so it’s best to make sure they aren’t focused on. But then they are militia

Numidian Cavalry
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 8 Charge: 4 Armour: 0 Cost: 420 Upkeep: 130
Faction: Numidia

Numidian Cavalry are strong for missile cavalry with better defence and charge and they are much better shots. They also have much better morale than other mounted skirmishers. This is a very useful unit for Numidia, a faction that is light on strong units and the mounted skirmisher is perfectly suited for their desert home.

Pontic Light Cavalry
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 7 Charge: 4 Armour: 0 Price: 370 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Pontus

Pontic Light Cavalry are decent at both melee and ranged attack but don’t excel in either. They still come in handy, but have low morale.

[Yojimbo]

Chariots
Chariots. Fear them.

Chariots are very specialized. The idea with them is to charge into formations and break them up. Chariots scare infantry and they are very, very effective vs. horses cutting them down almost instantly when they touch them. Chariots work well as assassins for enemy generals, as they destroy cavalry in seconds and two chariot units attacking a general’s bodyguard should crush it and the general will die.

With the way they scare infantry and their devastating charge bonus massed chariots can rip a infantry line to shreds. Just charge them into the front of the infantry and watch them get smashed with the charge and after a few kills the infantry should rout very quickly. Low morale troops like early barbarian troops will disintegrate if charged with a load of chariots and you can then pick their cavalry general off.

Chariots are sort of out of control and in melee they often circle around and have a hard time doing anything that requires precision, like chasing routers. They can also fall off bridges so don’t use them in bridge battles. If you have them in a bridge battle and want to use them, deploy your army back from the bridge and allow the enemy to cross so you can fight in the open land near the bridge.

Chariots have effectively no defence and die extremely easy. Scythed Chariots also have a chance to run amok and attack anyone, though it doesn’t happen even nearly as often as it does when using elephants. I hate them because they die way too easily, even with high hitpoints and Egypt uses them as a generals unit!

Defeating chariots : Chariots are a real problem if they are en mass as it’s hard to stop your troops from routing. Archers and spearmen are the best way to try to whittle them down and cut them up in melee as if they are attacked chariots will die very fast. When there are only a few chariots it’s easy enough to use a large mass of infantry to stop them and cut them up. A large stack of chariots will be a real slugfest however.

British Heavy Chariots
Attack: 13 Defence: 1 Charge: 7 Armour: 0 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 580 Upkeep: 190
Factions: Britannia

A crappy chariot unit where the description says they are well armoured and they have zero armour! Whee! Use them against cavalry and watch the horses drop. Hey have insane morale and are impetuous


Egyptian Chariots
Attack: 12 Defence: 1 Armour: 0 Hit Points 3 Cost: 660 Upkeep: 330
Factions: Egypt

Egyptian Chariots have a good attack and more hp than most others. They have very high morale and are disciplined.

Scythed Chariots
Attack: 15 Defence: 1 Armour: 0 Hit Points: 4 Cost: 920 Upkeep: 210 (Pontus) 980 Upkeep: 160 (Selucia)
Factions: Pontus, Selucia

I hate the unit description for this. It says the crew is heavily armoured. Well they have 0 armour and 1 defence. Whee.
This is another chariot about as useful as the others. They have a massive attack. They ahve very high morald and are impetuous.


Chariot Archers
Ownage in a chariot

Chariot archers are an entirely different kettle of fish. They are the ultimate harassment troops able to keep out of melee very easily and outrun anything. When they are using cantabrian circle they are almost impossible to kill with missiles as the chariots rain down arrows of their own. This unit effectively is almost invincible as long as it doesn’t enter melee. That said they can melee well against cavalry, as chariots so completely counter cavalry. Note that the game and the data files list different prices for these units so some of the upkeep costs might be wrong.

British Light Chariots
Attack: 10 Missile attack: 10 Defence: 1 Charge: 6 Armour: 0 12 Hit Points Cost: 440 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Britannia

Not nearly as good as Pontic CA, Light Chariots are still very useful for harassing slow units and lighter cavalry and used well can win a battle with almost no casualties. They are still decent in a melee too vs. Cavalry, especially since they have huge morale and are impetuous. They are very cheap for how effective they are.

Chariot Archers
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 14 Defence: 1 Charge: 5 Armour: 0 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 1040 Upkeep: 330
Factions: Pontus

Chariot Archers, despite their generic name are the most skilled of the CAs, with a very high missile attack. They have one less hit point than Egyptian chariots and they have less morale than some, but their increased missile attack gives them the edge.

Egyptian Chariot Archers
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 1 Charge: 5 Armour: 0 2 Hit Points Cost: 530 Upkeep: 330
Factions Egypt

Egyptian Chariots have the lowest missile attack but can still be very effective in the cantabrian circle. They are the only disciplined chariots and are trained so they will actually hold their formation a bit.

Elephants
Nothing can grind an enemy army up like armoured elephants can.

Elephants are the tanks of RTW. They kill tons and scare the crap out of everything around them and take a lot of punishment to finally take down. About the only things elephants need to fear are spearmen that get a bonus vs. elephants though a lot of them will still die, Phalanx, which can stop elephants dead on their spears; if the unit doesn’t break, skirmishers which are very effective vs. elephants as they get a bonus vs. units with high hitpoints and very tough infantry such as Urban Cohorts which in numbers can eventually take elephants down.

Elephants can also run amok easily, especially if hit by fire attacks which frighten them. Incendiary pigs are very dangerous to elephants in this regard as they can make them run amok very easily, which, needless to say is a very bad thing. You will lose control of them and they will attack friend and foe alike randomly as they run around. If this happens, the elephant’s special ability can be used to order the mahouts the kill their elephants almost instantly saving your own troops from getting crushed. You should think before you do this however as losing a few expendable units can be worth it if the elephants can be preserved to fight again. Elephants are rare to train and very expensive so you should not kill them if you can help it.

Elephants use a unique sort of attack where they sort of butt their enemies with a an area of effect AP attack that hits enemies directly in front of their heads and slightly to the sides, sending them flying backwards usually killing them when they hit the ground, though it’s possible for troops to survive. Elephants kill very quickly: each butt will kill 2-4 men and since even the weakest elephants take a while to take down they can kill a LOT of enemy troops, especially non spear types that take a long time to inflict enough damage to kill the elephants. You shouldn’t really try to flank with elephants as they are quite slow and get tired fast and take so much punishment your better charging them into the largest pile of enemies you can find and while the elephants are throwing the enemies around, charge in with infantry or cavalry support and watch the enemy line crumble. Elephants can, of course charge devastatingly into the back of enemy units, almost certainly routing them. The attack values in this section are pretty deceptive as all elephants are dangerous even the weakest ones.

While elephants can be a deciding factor in many battles: the heaviest armour is little defence against them, javelins counter elephants. This means the units beat suited to defeating elephants; the strongest most expensive units in the game are the otherwise almost useless, incredibly inexpensive skirmisher and more useful javelin cavalry. Javelins kill elephants quickly and these units are cheap and otherwise of little use, it’s no great loss if they kill a few then get crushed since elephants are very expensive to train you’ll have dished out a lot of damage and lost some very expendable troops.

Note that while it looks like elephants aren’t being affected by missile fire they are still taking hitpoints off their total. Don’tlet missiles keep shooting at your elephants or they will eventually drop and will still hurt them before the melee, where they will be taking more damage.

Armoured Elephants
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 6 Defence: 19 Charge: 8 Armour: 16 Hit Points: 12 Cost: 2970 Upkeep: 590
Factions: Carthage, Selucia

Armoured Elephants are the toughest elephants in RTW and the toughest unit full stop. They can soak up damage like a sponge even from the best troops and dish a lot out themselves with their devastating attack and very, very high defence, hit points and armour. You’re best off just charging these elephants into the largest group of enemies, since armoured elephants are so tough they can stand in melee and steadily kill off infantry while causing a huge morale penalty and shrugging off most damage. While this is happening attack with your supporting infantry and cavalry and watch the enemy flee. About the only thing you need to watch out for is javelins, as this unit is the most expensive one in RTW and you really don’t want to lose almost 3000 denarii of elephants you can only make in a handful of provinces to guys with pointy sticks that cost less than 200 denarii, even if you kill a lot of them. They have high morale.

Elephants
Attack: 3 Defence: 12 Charge: 7 Armour: 10 Hit Points: 7 Cost: 1320 Upkeep: 280
Factions Carthage, Selucia

Quite a bit weaker than the other elephants, these noticeably smaller ones are unarmoured; though their tough hides provide a lot of built in armour. They have a much weaker looking attack, and no archers on top, though they can still kill off infantry decently but they can’t stand in melee as long as the others with everyone jabbing at them and them shrugging it off. Their morale is much lower than other elephants and they have a good chance to run amok after taking a few losses. If you use these elephants be careful with them and consider sending some fodder infantry in to distract the enemy so you can charge the elephants into a flank or simply though your own infantry and use their morale penalty and toughness to help crush the enemy. Just make sure nobody important is behind the fighting elephants in case they run amok and attack you. These elephants are still expensive, so that’s even more incentive to be careful with them.

War Elephants
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 6 Defence: 16 Charge: 8 Armour: 13 Hit Points: 12 Cost: 2520 Upkeep: 490
Factions: Carthage, Parthia, Selucia

War Elephants are a medium between the elephants, but they are still much more expensive than the weaker elephant. The only difference between these elephants and armoured ones, are the armoured ones have more defence due to their armour. Go figure. That said war elephants are much superior to normal elephants as they have the archers on top and a lot more hit points and better defence and much better attack. You should always get War Elephants over the normal elephants, as they do a great job in battle and have far more staying power with their much greater hit points and the same high morale as Armoured Elephants

Artillery
When you want to unleash fiery doom from afar on your enemies, artillery is the answer!

Artillery are large war engines that fire AP missiles a long way. They include the catapult like Onagers and the crossbow like ballista. Artillery is best used to attack enemy fortifications as then you save destroy defences without having to risk your men with a ram or in a wall assault which is especially useful if you have weaker infantry than the enemy. Epic walls in particular have deadly defence and you really need artillery to have a chance at breaching them without taking terrible causalities Artillery crews are no good in melee, only equipped with knives and no shields and are a ripe target for cavalry charges so you should keep some troops around the artillery to protect them. Roman artillery crews have better morale than others and are the only artillery crews with armour and barbarian crews are trained or untrained rather than highly trained like everyone else’s Artillery units all have low upkeep and its fine to keep units of artillery ready for settlement assaults without draining your treasury.

Ballista
Attack: 53 vs. Troops 24 vs. Buildings (All)
Defence: 10 Armour: 7 Cost: 320 Upkeep: 100 (Romans)
Defence: 3 Armour: 0 Cost: 220 Upkeep: 100 (all others)
Factions: Roman Dacia, Macedon

Ballistae are artillery pieces that are like giant crossbows that fire large bolts. Ballista have rather long range, slightly less than long range archers, like Cretan archers, but have a slow firing rate as the weapon must be slowly drawn back by hand cranks. Ballista bolts are rather accurate: about 1 in 3 bolts will hit the unit they were targeted at and will kill 1-3 men per bolt. Being hit by artillery inflicts a morale penalty.

Flaming missiles don’t make much of a difference they seem to be pretty much as accurate and kill the same number. Ballistae really aren’t very useful artillery they don’t kill enough and fire far too slowly.

For buildings, they are effective vs. wooden walls but do little damage to stone walls and large and epic walls take no damage from them.

Onagers
Attack: 53 vs. troops 70 vs. buildings
Defence: 10 Armour: 7 Cost: 830 Upkeep: 120 (Roman)
Defence: 3 Amour: 0 Cost: 720 Upkeep: 110(all others)
Factions: Roman, Armenia, The Greek Cities, Macedon, Numidia, Parthia, Pontus, Scythia, Selucia, Spain, Thrace

Onagers are large catapults. They fire large rocks or flaming missiles in a high arc enabling them to fire over walls effectively. Onagers are mainly designed for use against large walls they destroy stone walls quickly and large and epic walls will fall quite quickly as well with focused onager fire. They are the most effective artillery against troops; a direct onager hit on a phalanx will usually kill 15-20 people with flaming missiles. Onagers however are very inaccurate when firing at a smaller target than a settlement. You should aim at dense deep concentrations of men, so that you hit something and cause casualties. If aiming at men you should always use flaming missiles as they cause far more causalities than normal rocks.

Heavy Onagers
Attack: 63 vs. troops 110 vs. buildings (All)
Defence: 10 Armour: 7 Cost: 1060 Upkeep: 120 (Roman)
Defence: 3 Armour: 0 Cost: 930 Upkeep: 110 (All others)
Factions: Roman Carthage, The Greek Cities, Macedon

Heavy Ornagers are much like normal Ornagers except they do even more damage to buildings They also have a larger splash damage and kill a lot more troops with a direct hit, about 20-30. You should use them over Ornagers as soon as they are available. Use them in the same way.

Repeating Ballista
Attack: 33 vs. troops 0 vs. buildings Defence: 10 Cost: 460 Upkeep: 160
Factions: Roman

These are much like normal Ballistae except they fire much faster: the crewman just has to pull a lever and the weapon fires about once every 4 seconds. It is otherwise the same as a normal ballista and still not much use as it doesn’t inflict enough casualties. If you must use ballistae use this one. It is however of no use at all against buildings, as unlike the ballista it has 0 building attack.

Scorpions
Attack: 43 vs. troops 0 vs. buildings Defence: 10 Armour: 7 Cost: 380 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Roman

Scorpions are like advanced Ballistae; they have a bit more range and can use flaming missiles which repeating ballista can’t. They aren’t very accurate and they still only kill 1-2 men with flaming missiles. They have no minimum range though. Still they aren’t worth having as they cause almost no casualties. They are better than ballistae however, and artillery is fun to use

[Yojimbo]

Peasants, militia and others
Peasants make great arrow fodder!

Peasants are, like MTW pretty darn crap. They have no armour and have no shields. Unsurprisingly they have terrible morale and defence. Their attack isn’t quite as woeful as MTWs peasants and they come in 240 men on large unit sizes so they can actually hold for a few seconds in melee as the enemy hacks though them. They can be effective for tying up the enemy and also tiring them by making them fight. Peasants aren’t so effective at this however, because of how quickly they die. Their morale is such that as soon as one unit breaks they have a very good chance of fleeing along with them. You can use them to soak up missiles, as this doesn’t incur such a large morale penalty and they shouldn’t rout until there are very few left.

Knife Peasants
Attack: 1 Defence: 1 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 100 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Roman, Macedon, Selucia, The Greek Cities, Thrace

These are the worst peasants. They are absolutely useless except for sort of typing up enemies, though they aren’t even useful for that. You could use them as garrisons and for pushing rams.

Barbarian Peasants
Attack: 1 Defence: 4 Charge: 1 Armour: 3 Cost: 150 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Gaul, Britannia, Germania, Dacia, Scythia

Barbarian Peasants are still useless but at least have the distinction of being able to beat the crap out of their civilized brethren. They also oddly wear armour.

Desert Peasants
Attack: 3 Defence: 3 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 120 Upkeep: 100
Egypt, Carthage, Parthia, Pontus, Armenia, Numidia, Spain

The game still refers to these as peasants but they have pitchforks and better stats than the other kinds. These still aren’t any use in a real battle but can still wipe out the other peasants. Surely that counts for something right? For some reason even though they have better stats than barbarian peasants they are cheaper.

Incendiary Pigs
Attack: 7 Defence: 4 Charge: 2 Armour: 3 Cost: 200 Upkeep: 50 (Roman)
Defence: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 110 Upkeep: 50 (The Greek Cities)
Factions: Roman, The Greek Cities

This unit is a weird one. It is made of actual pigs as well as a handler for each pig: a fairy weak solder with a dagger. The idea of them is to release the pigs at enemy elephant units. This scares the elephants, and will often make them run amok. The pigs last for about 30 seconds after being ignited and you ignite them simply by using the attack command at any unit. Unfortunately this units AI is buggy. The unit will often just run up to the elephants and get wiped out without igniting them it can be very glitchy to get them to ignite and the unit doesn’t have the greatest morale. All up when this unit does what it’s meant to do it works great and will almost always send the elephants running but when it doesn’t its useless. Ignited pigs can also frighten troops and lower their morale, making them useful in battles without hostile elephants though they don’t scare other troops nearly as much as they do elephants. Dead pigs are replaced after battle at no cost, but handlers that die aren’t. Roman handlers have armour.

Town Militia
Attack: 3 Defence: 7 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 150 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Carthage, Spain

A step up from peasants, Town Militia use short spears, large shields and do not wear armour. They have some training and slightly better morale than basic peasants and can stay alive in melee for a short while. Unfortunately they have the standard 160 men on large unit sizes and will actually lose to a unit of peasants one on one, as they are far outnumbered. Even though they are spearmen a cavalry charge will go through them like paper, as they are not strong enough to resist the charge, though they do still get a bonus against cavalry. The best use for Town Militia is for garrisons to stop towns rebelling. They are cheap, have low maintenance and are effective at keeping the citizens in line. It’s best to keep them off the battlefield

Town Watch
Attack: 3 Defence: 7 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 150 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Roman

Town Watch is the Roman version of Town Militia. They have the same stats and the same large shield and spear. They are equally useless on the battlefield and should be reserved for keeping order in towns.

War Dogs
Attack: 10 Defence: 3 Charge: 2 Armour: 2 Cost: 570 Upkeep: 50
Factions: Roman

Another oddball unit this unit is comprised of the same handlers as pigs, but with large angry dogs instead. The wardogs are released when you right click on an enemy unit and cannot be controlled afterwards. The handlers can be and will stay back unless ordered to charge. If the unit is routed before the dogs are released the dogs run along with their handlers. Dogs aren’t that effective against anything tougher than a peasant but they take time to kill and also impose a morale penalty on nearby infantry. Dogs have unlimited stamina and always run fast, which makes them useful for chasing routing units and the way they move around themselves makes them good for distracting and hassling the enemy while you focus on your main army. Just don’t send dogs in alone as they are not strong enough to kill units by themselves. War dog handlers have low morale and aren’t useful in a melee though dogs themselves will never rout. Dogs that die are replaced for free after the battle but handlers that die aren’t.


Warhounds
Attack: 12 Defence: 3 Charge: 4 Armour: 2 Cost: 510 Upkeep: 50
Factions Gaul, Britannia, Germania, Dacia, Spain, Scythia

Warhounds are much like War Dogs, except they have better attack and charge and cost slightly less. Use them in the same way as War Dogs

Velite Gladiators
Attack: 12 Defence: 14 Charge: 3 Armour: 2 Cost: 620 Upkeep: 250
Factions: Brutii

Exclusive to the Brutii, Velite Gladiators, like all gladiators are very tough troops. They have 2 hit points each, and very good defence and attack as well as insane morale. Just don’t let them get shot up, as they have very little armour, though they do have large shields and a very high defence skill making them tough in melee. Their morale is also excellent and they will last a long time in battle. Being spearmen they aren’t so effective against infantry but will still kill allot and last a long time. They are quite expensive and have high upkeep so use them.

Samnite Gladiators
Attack: 14 Defence: 14 Charge: 3 Armour: 7 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 720 Upkeep: 260
Factions: Julii, SPQR

The Julii exclusive gladiator, Samnites are just as tough and capable as Velite ones except they have a sword and have slightly better attack making them even more effective. Despite how they look they are well armoured. Use these troops along with your Hastarti. They are expensive and have high upkeep. They still have crazy morale.

Mirmillo Gladiator
Attack: 12 Defence: 14 Charge: 3 Armour: 7 Hit Points 2 Cost: 700 Upkeep: 260
Factions: Scipii

Scipii’s exclusive gladiator and the coolest looking ones I think, the Mirmillo have more armour than Velites but lack a shield Keep them out of missile fire and get into melee as soon as possible. They are tough troops, just like Velites with the same insane morale.

Berserkers
Attack: 19 Defence: 7 Charge: 7 Armour: 2 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 840 Upkeep: 120
Factions: Germania

Berserks are crazy! They are absolute killing machines in melee: they have the highest attack and morale in the game and are fast for infantry. They have a very unique style in melee, they run though the enemy swinging their weapons, sending lines of men flying as they do so and killing multiple soldiers in a single attack. They will rip up just about anything in melee, shredding the men with almost no casualties. Berserks start the battle under your control but when told to attack they will almost always go berserk, become uncontrollable, become unable to rout and attack any enemy they care to insanely. This is usually good, as they do crazy amounts of damage in this state and are even deadlier, as well as scaring nearby infantry. They will however sometimes chase after something you don’t want them to like running after horse archers, getting shot all the while. About the only way Berserks can lose is to a cavalry charge or massed missiles, since they have next to no armour they will take a lot of damage from it and from missiles, again because of their lack of armour. Use berserks for any type of melee, as they will crush anyone. Just try to keep them alive if possible as they are expensive and can only be trained in very advanced cities which are difficult for Germania to get. They can War Cry but when you tell them to do so near an enemy they will go berserk and attack instead.

Mercenaries
Killing and dying for fun and profit!

Mercenaries are troops you can find in a province to recruit. You just click the recruitment button outside a settlement with a general (not a captain) selected and a scroll will come up with the mercenaries available, however sometimes there may be none, in which case the icon will be greyed out. After being hired, mercs take a while to be available in a province again. Mercs can be extremely handy for obtaining troops your faction can’t usually create, such as elephants for Romans or horse archers. Getting elephants as Rome can be very useful and it adds flavour when you’re able to use different units from the norm. Mercs however are more expensive, sometimes much more so than the normal version of the unit, or more than they are worth. Even lousy mercs like Libyan Mercenaries are expensive and cost more than recruiting decent troops normally, such as swordsmen. Mercs can be useful as fodder in sieges as you can hire some skirmishers or such to push battering rams and get decimated, so your more useful troops don’t get killed. Mercenaries are also useful for when you need troops immediately, like when you’re in trouble and don’t have the troops to repel an attack.

Infantry

Barbarian Mercenaries
Attack: 7 Defence: 10 Charge: 4 Armour: 3 Cost: 800 Upkeep: 200
Locations: Gaul

Barbarian Mercenaries are pretty useless mercs. They are spearmen but have lower stats than Spear Warbands, a common barbarian unit and cost a LOT more: about twice as much. The barbarian factions don’t need this unit, since they all have spear units besides Spain. Rome doesn’t need them either as their legions are good enough to kill cavalry. Don’t bother with these mercs unless you desperately need soldiers quickly. Their morale is still low even tho they are mercenaries and they can war cry so do so to offset their low morale. They come with 240 men on huge unit sizes.

Cilician Pirates
Attack: 10 Missile attack: 13 Defence: 5 Charge: 3 Armour: 0 Cost: 450 Upkeep: 200

Cilician Pirates are odd troops. They throw AP pila-like javelins just before the charge like legionnaires and use a non AP axe in melee. They have next to no defence and pretty good attack so they kill fast and die fast. They are cheap so use them as fodder or attack from the flank. Always target the armoured units with their missile attack when you have a choice. They have high morale and are impetuous. They aren’t very common mercs.

Eastern Mercenaries
Attack 5 Defence: 9 Charge: 1 Armour: 1 Cost: 300 Upkeep: 150
Locations: South east of map

Eastern Mercenaries are basically Eastern Infantry with slightly better attack. They are really still not of any use, except for fodder, as that low defence and 1 armour isn’t going to be stopping much of anything. Oddly they have less armour and defence than standard Eastern Infantry which is pretty sad for supposed mercenaries. Their morale is awful; the same as Town Militia and they have a low mental state so it won’t take much for them to rout at all.

Mercenary Hoplites
Attack 7 Defence: 16 Charge: 3 Armour: 6 Cost: 850 Upkeep: 170
Locations: Italy and in Greek/Macedonian lands, turkey and islands

Merc Hoplites are very useful for factions without phalanxes such as Rome or Gaul. They are identical to Greek Hoplites, with the same morale and good attack and defence. They are expensive but useful mercs. They are quite common too.

Spanish Mercenaries
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 11 Defence: 12 Armour: 3 Cost: 710 Upkeep: 170

Spanish mercs are sort of like legionnaires, as in they throw AP javelins before charging into melee. They have good attack and decent defence, as well as little armour making them quite effective vs. AP units, though missiles will hurt them. They are good general troops and are always good to recruit. They are rather uncommon since most factions don’t conquer Spain till late game. They have large shields and low morale.

Thracian Mercenaries
Attack: 10 Defence: 6 Charge: 5 Amour: 2 Cost: 330 Upkeep: 130
Locations: Turkey and Mediterranean islands

Thracian mercs are uncommon mercs with a good attack, a great charge for infantry and very low defence and armour. Just use them as general attack troops and try to flank with them, if you can to help offset their lousy defence. They can use War Cry so make sure to use it when you can, as it really helps them out. They have low morale but are impetuous.

Missiles

Balearic Slingers
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 6 Charge: 3 Armour: 0 Price: 470 Upkeep: 200

Balearic Slingers are used just like normal slingers except they are better at everything, have the same range as archers and can fight in melee better, though with their very low defence and lowish attack they won’t be beating much. They still have no armour and small shields so keep them out of counter fire. Their attack is much better so they could come in handy for armies that lack missiles but as they still lack armour and range they are easy targets for counter fire. They have high morale for mercenaries

Cretan Archers
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 11 Defence: 5 Charge: 3 Armour: 0 Cost: 550 Upkeep: 200
Locations: East of Italy in Greek/Macedonian lands, Turkey and Mediterranean islands

These are very good archers, their elite archer stats gives them a very long range and they are probably the most useful mercenaries after War Elephants. If you are a faction that doesn’t have good archers or don’t have good ones in your army at the time these will be very useful. They aren’t completely terrible in a melee, but they aren’t that common and they shoot very well so you should keep them out of it. Watch out for counter fire as they lack armour. They have high morale and are highly trained.

Illyrian Mercenaries
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 8 Armour: 2 Cost: 380 Upkeep: 130

These are skirmishers with almost decent melee stats, though for skirmishers they have high stats. They aren’t amazing at melee, but they have a very good missile attack for skirmishers and large shields, so don’t hesitate throwing them into a melee as fodder after they throw their missiles, as they are quite common. Their upkeep is also less than most mercs. They have low morale but are impetuous.

Libyan Mercenaries
Attack: 2 Missile attack: 5 Defence: 3 Charge: 1 Armour: 2 Cost: 350 Upkeep: 100
Locations: South of map in desert provinces

Libyan Mercenaries are one of the weakest units in the game. They are stunningly terrible at melee, as they have even less attack than Desert Peasants, their defence is completely terrible, they have a lousy missile attack: the lowest in the game besides slingers and no armour. About the only useful thing they are for is numbers, for more bodies to throw into battles and very light skirmishing tasks as they will kill few. They can be used, sort of to flank a unit that’s already engaged to lower the enemy’s morale and they can chase routing infantry if it’s tired. These mercs are surprisingly expensive for how crappy they are, but you could still hire them, as numbers are always useful near the end of the campaign where money is no object. They are also fast and being desert troops they tire slowly in deserts making them useful for chasing tired routers. Just don’t rely on them at all during combat.

Mercenary Peltasts
Attack: 4 Missile attack: 6 Defence: 9 Charge: 1 Armour: 2 Cost 600 Upkeep: 170
Locations: East of Italy in Greek/Macedonian lands, south east of map, turkey and Mediterranean islands

Merc Peltasts are stronger, lightly armoured versions of the standard Peltasts. They are still no good in a melee and their armour is very light and almost no defence against missiles. The biggest black mark against them is their cost: 600 denarii is way too much for what is a pretty useless unit. Don’t bother with these.

Rhodian Slingers
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 6 Charge: 3 Armour: 0 Price 470 Upkeep: 200
Locations: Turkey and Mediterranean islands

Rhodian Slingers are just like Balearic Slingers except highly trained rather than trained. Use them in the same way.

Samnite Mercenaries
Attack: 6 Defence: 15 Charge: 2 Armour: 5 Cost: 450 Upkeep: 170
Locations: Italy

Samnites are pretty good mercs as they have better attack and just slightly less defence than Auxilia, making them very effective at stopping cavalry, especially since they get a phalanx level spear bonus of 8+ rather than 4+ vs cavalry. They have low morale but will knock down cavalry like nobodies business. Their attack is still low for fighting other troops however.

Calvary


Arab Cavalry
Attack: 7 Defence: 11 Charge: 4 Amour: 3 Price: 480 Upkeep: 120
Locations: South east of the map in deserts

Arab Cavalry are decent cavalry: they have a decent attack, ok defence and a bit of armour. Use them for the average light cavalry stuff: flanking, chasing routers and attacking missiles. They are common mercs and thus are reliable support for infantry heavy armies, though their morale is low. They can form wedge.

Mercenary War Elephants
Attack: 7 missile attack: 11 Defence: 16 Armour: 16 Hit Points: 15 Cost: 2460 Upkeep: 490

Elephants are very, very useful for any battle so if you are a faction that can’t recruit them normally it’s great to hire these mercs to take advantage of their power. It’s fun too, since you usually can’t use them! They have high morale the same as recruitable elephants.

Sarmatian Mercenaries
Attack: 8 Defence: 13 Charge: 10 Armour: 9 Cost 1200 Upkeep: 170
Locations: North of map in Scythian lands.

Sarmatian Mercs are some of the most expensive mercenaries in the game. They are certainly elite though with a good attack, decent defence and the highest charge in the game as they use lances. This unit does not have shields as lances are two handed so you should charge into a unit then pull back and charge again, putting that massive charge bonus to work. They have high morale and are impetuous but for some reason untrained.

Missile Cavalry

Numidian Mercenaries
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 8 Charge: 4 Armour: 0 Cost: 520

Numidian Mercenaries are just like the recruitable Numidian Cavalry Use them in the same way. They have high morale.

Scythian Mercenaries
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 2 Charge: Armour: 0 Cost: 790 Upkeep: 120
Locations: Scythia, north of the Greek cities

Average HA at a very inflated cost. Their attack and defence are awful and they have low morale so only recruit these if you really want horse archers.

Camels

Camels are useful to factions that usually can’t make then as their anti cavalry role can be very useful.

Bedouin Warriors
Attack: 7 Defence: 11 Charge: 4 Armour: 3 Price: 430 Upkeep: 110
Locations: South east of the map only found in deserts

Bedouins have a good attack and ok defence. They can rip up cavalry easily and put up a decent fight vs. weaker infantry also. You should always get these mercs when they are available as they are only available to very few factions and are very useful. They are somewhat uncommon. They actually have the same status as Arab Cavalry though they obviously use camels instead. They have low morale.

Bedouin Archers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 5 Charge: 2 Armour: 3 Price: 730 Upkeep: 110
Locations: South east of the map only found in deserts

Not all that good, as camels are too slow to make good skirmishers and they aren’t the greatest shooters. They do have some armour, which is rare for cavalry archers. They aren’t worth using in melee even vs. cavalry as they are too weak. Low morale.

[Yojimbo]

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[Yojimbo]

Ok its fine to post now. seems the guide has lost quite a bit of word 2007s formatting.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

Great work, this must have taken a long time to create. +rep

[NobleNick]

Excellent post(s). I will +rep, also.

A suggestion: Upkeep is a significant portion of total unit cost. I am sure many would like to see that added right after "initial training" cost, for each unit.

EDIT: Second suggestion --> it would also be helpful to break out total defense into its parts = armor + skill + shield. This is because total defense tells so little of the story. Skill is ignored by ranged weapons. Armor is halved by AP weapons. Shield is ignored by any attack from the right or rear. And (IIRC) skill is ignored from the rear.

[Yojimbo]

Excellent post(s). I will +rep, also.

A suggestion: Upkeep is a significant portion of total unit cost. I am sure many would like to see that added right after "initial training" cost, for each unit.

EDIT: Second suggestion --> it would also be helpful to break out total defense into its parts = armor + skill + shield. This is because total defense tells so little of the story. Skill is ignored by ranged weapons. Armor is halved by AP weapons. Shield is ignored by any attack from the right or rear. And (IIRC) skill is ignored from the rear.

Thanks

Yes it actually double front full left non rear non right for shields.

I thought defence skill worked equally from any side its the only one that does since shiled are useless from behind and armor is only 80% effect at the rear of a unit, which is why arrows have such an effect.

I have noted in the descriptions and tactics of units if they have large shields to protect from missiles or good armor etc but i could add the numbers later.

Adding unit upkeep is alot more difficult tho because I have to encounter the unit on campaign and see its upkeep which could be influenced by the general commanding them or the governor or anclieries. With unit cost i can just see it in custom battle mode.

[Yojimbo]

Hey the first post in this thread has been updated with additions that im adding to the pdf version like abilities and formations. The next version of the pdf with the BI section compete should be out tomorrow or the next day as im putting the finishing touches on it. Enjoy.

[Entropy Judge]

Hello again! Looks good, just a couple things:

* Wedge formation is very good for breaking up anything that requires a nice, tight formation - specifically, Phalanx units (a decent cavalry unit in Wedge formation *can* crack open a phalanx with a frontal charge, especially against Spear phalanxes, since they're being concentrated in a close area and not against the whole front) and Legionary units (who, due to their high Defense, Discipline, and Morale are difficult to engage, even with similarly-tiered barbarian infantry - breaking their formation lets you divide the unit, reducing its effectiveness).

* Although you note that they're capable of flaming missiles in the artillery section, in the section on Fire Arrows you only refer to foot archers.

* Veterancy: The flags also indicate any Weapon/Armor upgrades, IIRC. At least, I've seen un-levelled units but upgraded weapons carrying extra flags.

* Testudo: Similarly to Defensive Stance, a unit in Testudo won't exactly "break formation" to engage an enemy - it will try to maintain the Testudo, with only the men actually being attacked responding. You have to break the formation manually, unless it's been completely disrupted (like by a cavalry/elephant charge), and even then they will try to reform.