best cavalry and shock troops

[x64bob]

haven't played RTW for a while now so i'm planning to start a campaign this summer and i'm currently looking for a good faction. my doctorine is always offense in the best defence so which cavalry units are the best ones and which overall shock troops are the best? which faction has the best troops for an offensive doctorine?

[removeduser_426582376423734]

Romans, hands down. Infantry - best. Cavalry - best to use with infantry. No other factions, on vanilla, has anything on the Romans. They have everything they need to beat every other unit.

[guyyug]

the best shock infantry as shyam says but the bet shock cavalry is cataphracts or compains but roman ones use sheilds so they can last longer

[Flogger]

Companions, cataphracts and other spear armed cavalry without shields use shock tactics - charge, then pull away, repeat. Leave them in the fray for too long, and they will quickly die. Other sword armed cavalry or those with shields are more suited for prolonged fighting, but are still at a risk when fighting infantry for too long. Infantry? Legions pwn everything else on the battlefield, but only when used correctly - head on with phalanx, for example, is a big no-no for everything. Phalanxes are very effective when kept in a solid line with no gaps and some more manouverable (sp?) troops to cover the flanks. Barbarian troops are more suited to just charging and hoing for the best.

In a nutshell, Roman army beat everything else - but only when used correctly - and Hellenistic armies are favourable for the hammer+anvil player. Barbarian armies are basically just select everything and attack anything, though I have not had much experience in this.

For your offensive tactics I would recommend either an Eastern faction like Parthia or Armenia for their cataphracts and horse archers, or a barbarian faction with specialised troops which can beat Romans - Germans, probably, as their Chosen Axemen hack through Roman armour with ease. Roman and Hellenistic armies, in my opinion, are best for defending and absorbing the impact of an attacking charge.

[x64bob]

k, think i'm gonna go with the seleucids then..

[Hader]

You might actually want to try Armenia, they have a great selection of troops to use. They got great Phalanx men, Horse archers and Cataphract Horse Archers, Cataphracts, and Legionaries. Maybe not as numerous in recruitable units as the Seleucids, but they can beat any Seleucid army made up of units with the same abilities anyday.

[RoyalGuard]

For the Barbarian factions, the best shock-troops are Spain's Bull warriors.


I was shocked when I tested this out in custom battle. Usually I found spanish troops pretty weak, but the Bull warriors can go toe-to-toe with Urban Cohorts, and almost always kill Praetorian Cohorts.

[orange slice]

Well the Romans are simpley the best, they have the best caverly, infantry, and good archers. If there is one certain Roman faction that you would like to choose, i would take the House of Brutii, because they start out with good field position, and their goals of taking over Greece, and Macedone is quite easy compared to the other houses.

[Hader]

Actually the Romans have some of the worst cavalry, they are only made good by their cooperation with the legions.

I still stand by my suggestion of Armenia, very good, diverse unit selection.

[EvilNed]

In Vanilla, the romans have excellent cavalry. Infact, some of the best. This is unrealistic, yes, but they still have them. Praetorian Cavalry are unnaturally powerful for a roman cavalry unit.

Myself, I prefer Macedon because they have a perfect mix of everything. Great infantry, great and accessible cavalry. They don't have cataphracts, but they have Light Lancers and Macedonian cavalry.

[Shaun]

The Romans simply have the best units in the game. Thier inf are the best in the game, as you would expect. And thier cav, well their not much use until the Reforms, but after the reforms they are the best in the game. Roman av are amazing for such a low cost, and can go toe to toe with any other cav unit that dosent have a sheild, like Companions and sacred band and so on.

Greek faction have really strong infantry( not as good as the Romans though), and some decent shock cavalry. Overall they are pretty decent, but have no other infantry appart from phalanxs,so are vanurable to flank attacks.

The Eastern factions have the best vareirty, except Parthia, Parthia has Horse archers and nothing else. Pontos has phalanxs and pretty decent cav, well thier cav is similar to the greeks. Armenia has the best varity in the game. They have legions(although not quite as good as the Romans), phalanxs( again, not quite as good as their greek counter parts) and excelent shock cav, as well as cataphract archers.

The African factions, well they are pretty useless. Carthage has not got powerful enough military. Iberian inf are rubbish, and they have no archers. their cav is OK against light opponents, but not legions or phalanxs. Carthage does have decent phalanxs, but legions are better. The only good thing about Carthage is Elephants. Their elephants are amazing against anything really, but are rather expensive. Oh, and forget about numidia, they are usless.

Egypt is a bit of an oddball. Decent phalanxs, great archers and chariots. Chariots are pretty useless against a solid mass of haevy troops, and are hard to control.

And finally, the barbarians. They fall to easily due to lack of armour.

[Zuwxiv]

Germans have my favorite shock units - beserkers and night warriors. Axemen are good as well. They have phalanx units, too.

After a little modding, the Britons are awesome. Including the alternate woad warriors, they have some good shock infantry. Chosen archers are extremely effective at range, or even as infantry - they can defeat almost all light infantry, and the majority of medium infantry.

Gauls, bleh. Same with Iberia, except for the Bull Warriors. But that is all you get for Iberia. Numidia, bleh. etc.

Armenia - awesome. A farily strong phalanx is useful. Their light infantry is very weak, but capable. Cataphract archers. Cataphract archers. Frickin' Awesome' Cataphract Archers.' They destroy in melee and at a distance. Normal cataphracts are good as well, but nothing beats cataphracts for shock troops. Their legionaires are sub-par. However, their high defense rating makes them capable troops.

An early Armenia game focuses on light horse archers and light infantry for mobility, but by the end game, you have phalanxes to hold the center line, legionaires to defend the flanks with their higher mobility, and cataphracts / cataphract archers for... Anything you could imagine, really. Seriously, playing as Armenia, I got one unit of gold cataphract archers. I disbanded them because it just wasn't fair. Charging silver shields head on with cavalry, and then destroying them immediately just isn't as fun.