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Thread: Most valuable unit for each campaign

  1. #1

    Default Most valuable unit for each campaign

    For each campaign, which unit could you absolutely not live without? The one unit that gets all the work done in your campaign. The MVP of the faction.

    Level 1 garrison infantry are necessary for all factions, so you don't have to pick militia as campaign MVP unless they are exceptional (ahem, Sword Quendi). Same with Generals; of course Generals are necessary to the game, but are they really your work horse unit in battle? For some factions they might be, but not for others.

    Here are my picks! Feel free to make a list for MOS or Vanilla, I am still learning MOS so my list is for Vanilla 3.2.

    Dwarves - Dwarven Warriors
    The dwarven middle infantry are insanely powerful. Normally shieldwall is reserved for Tier 4 infantry, but these Tier 2 units have it, along with 16 defense and armor piercing. Being Tier 2, they are extremely common through the whole campaign.

    Dale - Dale Cavalry / Yeomen
    Rhun will send nonstop waves of Balcloth Tribesmen as well as other ranged units. The Dale light cavalry roster is completely critical to their campaign, especially since their weak infantry won't be getting much work done alone before turn 42+. Dale is absolutely a hammer+anvil cavalry faction.

    Mordor - Nazgul / Black Numenorians

    In the early game, Nazgul really win all the field battles. I hesitate to use Generals for this list, but for Mordor it's really true. Press your fodder infantry into the enemy then rout them with Nazgul charges and screams.

    Silvan Elves - Sentinels of the Woodland Realm
    As a faction with no real cavalry, the Silvans have a pretty unique army composition of archer lines that can cut down stack after stack from Mordor. When you see a battle that is 3000 vs 20 dead, it's usually Silvans vs Mordor.

    Orcs of the Misty Mountains - Snaga Skirmisher, Cave Troll, and Warg Riders are all critical
    I tried to decide their MVP unit between Snaga Skirmisher, Cave Troll, or Warg Rider but they really need all 3 of those units to defeat the superior Silvans and Dwarves.

    Free Peoples of Eriador - Merchants
    Free Peoples are a pretty balanced faction and you can choose the archer strategy or cavalry hammer+anvil and make both methods work. Merchants are extremely powerful for their availability level in the game.

    Gondor - The Unique Generals
    Gondor is an extremely balanced faction with great infantry. I think they could get through the campaign without one particular type of infantry though. What really makes the campaign interesting is the unique generals. Faramir and the other archer general harrying Mordor stacks in Ithilien and then holding the river crossing. Boromir's citadel guard holding Osgiliath and then blockading Minas Morgul. Imrahil and his Swan Knights raiding the Harad coast. Gondor gives a series of unique generals with Tier3/Tier4 bodyguards which are critical to the early-mid game.

    All right I won't do them all. What do you guys think?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    Since I only play with elves I would say: basic archers
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  3. #3

    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    For HE/Eriador/Gondor/Harad/Mordor:
    bodyguards. Cav bodyguards are just way too good. Shout out to Imrahil's bodyguard, a full unit of Swan Knights.

    For Rhun:
    Balchoth Tribesmen.
    They don't cost anything and they rip through everything. Fill a stack with a general, 2 Variag Riders, 2 Clan Warriors or other infantry and 12 Balchoths. You can easily capture Dale and Erebor with 2 armies like those (while you have the funds to field 3!).

    For OotMM and OoG:
    Sadly you don't have any real units that do anything. Nothing except pure numbers is going to win you the game.

    For Isengard:
    Only a well balanced army of Uruk Infantry, Uruk Pikemen and Uruk Crossbows is going to win a lot of battles.

    For the Dwarves:
    Dale mercenaries can help you beat the Orcish armies of Gundabad and the Misty Mountains. I don't play with cav if I'm the Dwarves though, so my vote will probably go to the Dwarvish artillery which you need against Rhun.

    For the Silvan Elves:
    Their bodyguards are okay (heavy archers). Most of the time you will recruit everything you can because of the unit replenishment time. Sentinels are pretty good for their cost.

    I haven't played a full campaign with Dunland yet so I can't decide on this one.

    For Lorien:
    I can't remember the exact name but before the Barracks Event, you already have access to a very heavy infantry, Galadhrim Guardians.
    In it for the rep.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    My non-BG answers:

    FPOE: Merchants. High unit size cavalry unit with good availability excellent against pretty much every Orc unit.

    Gondor: Ithilien Rangers. Personal preference for me, but these guys are awesome in defensive battles against Mordor.

    High Elves: Sword Quendi. Yes their archers are awesome, but the fact that you can build a decent army with only 1 or 2 cheap infantry units to hold the line, take minimal casualties, and still smash the enemy is awesome. I love seeing my one unit of Sword Quendi holding the line against 5-6 orc units while my archers rain death on the enemy and a cav charge to the rear.

    Dale: Yeomen Cavalry. The lack of mounted BGs + Rhun's army composition makes these guys essential. Almost on par with Merchants, but they aren't as numerous nor as easy to get.

    Dwarves: Dwarven Warriors. Tier II infantry that is pretty cheap, easily available, and dominates everything in its class.

    Isengard: Uruk-Hai Pikemen. Never again fear cavalry.

    Mordor: Morannon Guards. I feel like these guys are critically underrated. Very sturdy spear unit that can actually hold the line against most enemies. By far the best early game Orc unit.

    OOTMM: Wargs. Fighting the Elves with just infantry is one of the most painful experiences ever. I may add warg-riding BGs to the OOTMM if I ever learn how.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    Factions I've played:

    Eriador: Woodland Hunters - These guys are the best archer you can mass produce early on, they're cheap, and they can still tear up all but the toughest units from the orc factions you see pre-Arnor restoration.

    Gondor: Ithilien Rangers (3.2 vanilla) or Winged Swordsmen (MOS) - The rangers are vital in vanilla since they are the only decent archers you can get without a level 3 archery range, and they are devastating against the light/medium troops of either Mordor or Harad. In MOS, you can get Gondor Archers at a lvl 2 range (same level as the Rangers), so the Ithilien Rangers aren't so crucial. In my MOS Gondor campaign, however, I absolutely fell in love with the Winged Swordsmen unit. A heavily armored 2-handed shock infantry unit with armor-piercing, those guys absolutely wreck orcs and can even take down Olog-hai pretty fast as long as something else soaks up the charge.

    High Elves: Noretirno Warriors - These guys are fabulous mid-tier archers (which, being elves, means they're at least as good as almost everyone else's elite archers) with solid range, damage, and defense skills. All that while not breaking the bank either; at least in MOS, they're actually comparable in cost to Sword Quendi. You can get them quick, field a lot of them, and they are quite strong.

    Dale: Longbowmen - Personally, I think Dale's cavalry and their infantry below the elite tier all suck. So, that leaves me with archers to be my workhorse, and Longbowmen are the first decent ones you get. I consider Dale to basicly be a human faction you have to play like it's an elf faction, which makes these guys the equivalent of Noretirno Warriors. They're much weaker, of course, but they fill the same role: a serviceable archer unit you can access early, field in bulk, and still win decisively with.

    Elves of Lorien: Lorien Rangers - Great mid-tier archers...good all-around...win without breaking the bank...I think we've heard this one before.

    No doubt you guys are getting the idea that I really like archers.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    Quote Originally Posted by Wizad View Post
    I haven't played a full campaign with Dunland yet so I can't decide on this one.
    Dunland's most valuable unit is its economy

    I will say that many factions don't have such a limited roster that there is a unit they depend on, especially the likes of Gondor and Rhun. But I'll still add my 2 cents...

    Gondor, Rhun, Harad, Rohan, Arnor

    None, their rosters are epic with weak links that barely have to be recruited early game, mercs included.

    High Elves

    Quendi, the best replenish rates (in comparison to HE units) and are better than most tier 3 units of other factions, bodyguards are just for fun

    Silvan/Lorien

    Their heavy archers, for obvious reasons

    Dale

    Very close match up between the Dale Cavalry and the Barding Hird

    Mordor

    While the Morannon Guard take a well deserved rank at the top, they fall second to the Nazgul, Mordor's amazing cavalry. I know they can recruit mercs in lower Khand, but the logistics really cripple their usefulness

    OotMM

    Wargs. Wargs Wargs Wargs. Not Trolls, not Skirmishers (though I will admit, I've pulled off heroic victories with these guys. They get a close 2nd place). You get Wargs before trolls, and they will run down those Olympic runner elves. Even their nerfed MOS versions will get the job done.

    OoG

    Rhudaer Mercs as a whole for MOS, Snow Trolls or Wargs for Vanilla. Both will kill dwarves for you when used correctly, wargs being slightly more useful with routing and Snow Trolls being more useful for breaking enemy moral and allowing your infantry to swarm around.

    Eriador

    Merchants and Dunedain, for obvious reasons

    Dwarves

    I think what Dragun said with the Dwarven Warriors was spot on, but if you do play with merc cavalry, then the Dale Cavalry for obvious reasons
    Last edited by LuckyPistol; July 27, 2013 at 09:55 PM.

  7. #7

    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    at first I thought wargs sucked, but after a few battles chasing down skirmishing elven archers... I realized they can be very useful. When fighting Dunland I realized they can even be very good when I don't mess up and use them stupidly

  8. #8
    Flinn's Avatar His Dudeness of TWC
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    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    Let me take part on this discussion, I can give my idea at least for those campaigns I've played more than the first turns; note that I play Mos only from almost 1 year now

    Eriador: merchant cavalry is a must, both Woodland hunters and Lumbermen are cheap but useful units and they are easy rercuitable as they go with their own (cheap) building queue and need low culture to be trained. If you manage to reform Arnor they will become useless unless you have some with very high experience. Using general bodyguards in battle is very important too, a must I could say considering how bad their militia is ...

    Gondor: I love both Gondor Scouts and the two javelin units (Pelargir Marines and Axeguard of Lossarnach); in particular those last two are awesome, they have good armor and high damage with javelin, which makes them priceless, provided that they are not charged in by cavarly. Gondor has a bounch of great units, but those are all quite easy recruitable since the first turns.

    Rohan: they have a good all around rooster, their only problem is few places where to recruit good units even after the barrack event (basically Hornburg and Edoras if you decided not to invest in economy only), so I pick my dearest Scouts, which can be recuited also in all the variuos wooden forts you'll have on the map. They are really fast, not very expensive and have very good charge, thought they are very weak in melee, so if you like harassing strategies with cavalry like I do they can made your day.

    High elves: Bow quendi, definitely. They are very good archers and have good armor too, as long as you only fight the orcs they will be the sole unit you need, really. You can have some Sword quendi to hold the enemy mass, especially after barracks event. Their upgrade is noretirno worriors, as soon as you can, use them, mix them with Bow quendi and in case you need to go to melee send those guys in before the bow quendi. Again, their rooster is awesome, as basically they upgrade to tier 2 and 3 units which are already awesome in tier 1, still the problem is recruiting places, so bow quendi are far the most used and useful units in my campaigns.

    Mordor: all their infantry toops pratically equal, because their real purpose is always the same, holding the line and pushing around the enemy with the mass as long as you can send faster troops to flank them. In MOS nazguls are awesome, they are definitely the best unit in the early, as long as you can use effectively their dread effect (meaning figthing against captain or having killed the enemy general) and of course they are the only units you can use to pursue enemy until barracks event. Trolls/Ologs I use like cavalry, that's it, and they prove very useful in this spot. Without those units Mordor, despite all their numbers, would prove very weak.

    Isengard: again they have a good rooster, well balanced for both offence and defence, though they are IMO the most archerish orc faction, so I go for both Uruk Archers and Uruk Crossbows, they are both awesome in their own fashion. Hold the enemy with the mass of your cheapest troops, protect flanks against those pesky horse lords with less heavier troops and let your archers fire on light cavalry, crossbow on heavy. They can both deploy stakes, making them priceless in defense.

    Dwarves: must concur on Dwarven Warrior, they can do their job well and against everybody, because they can come in mass and be easily recruited/retrained. Shield wall is great when you have to hold a point while waiting for your brothers to flank (slowly slowly, darn them) the enemy. I personally love axetrowers too, IMO this unit is understimated, when they can fully drop a volley on enemies, NOBODY will withstand; keep them on the second line, wait for your warriors to engage the enemy line, than send them to flank, drop a volley and than charge, result granted (if they get cought in front melee always retreat them, even if it costs you some losses in the short, do it, they are not meant for prolonged direct fight), or hold them in higher ground behind your line (shot on diagonal to your enemy, this will reduce chance of loss for your own warriors) if you are largely outnumberd. I found useful to have a couple of ballistas in my stacks, they offers some interesting strategies for dwarves.

    Rhun: love those guys, but far too easy campaing . Balchoths, Balchoths and Balchoths, they are great troops, VERY cheap, HIGHLY available and their javelins can do seriuos damage; if they are catched in melee simply run them out, especially against dwarves, reform and keep dropping javelins. Coupled by few light or medium infantry and some cavalry (I like Variag raiders in particular) they can swarm around the campaign map quite everywhere. Honestly, Loke troops are nice looking and undoubtely powerful, but tribesmen made the difference as long as you don't fight cavalry focused enemies (Rohan and Gondor in particular).

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  9. #9

    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    Without the Pelargir Marines the Mumak are a nightmare. Yes fire arows eventualy can make them run amok but it's dicey how long it takes and sometimes they don't. The marines javelins are the key to felling the Oliphants before the trample your army. Marines all the way as the must have for Gondor.

  10. #10

    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    IMO, once I get some better developed settlements, the Dunedain are amazing and Having an army of Dunedain supported by some militia or Merchants can smoke any army you come across in the North.

    I've only played Eriador/Arnor and Dale enough to really recognize advantages and disadvantages. One of those being(atleast in MOS) is the large, yet multiple fronts.

    OoG: LARGE front with nearly no choke points or restriction areas, just a large plain.
    OotMM: Good choke points but tons of them to pop out of.
    Dunland: Large production, and just a bit of a money hole due to worry of attack.
    Isengard: Never know when that army of Uruk-Hai come up for some nice Northern Man.

    The way I've dealt with these is having armies of Dunedain, not full armies though Only about 1,000 can take on about 3-4,000. Using the Hammer+Anvil technique with the Battle-Ready Dunedain, you can dispatch mose armies rather quickly, especially when paired with Elite Rangers or Normal Rangers. with 2-3 units of cav you can take on full stacks with these guys.

    So yeah, the Dunedain. Guess these faded people can make a bigger difference than most think.

  11. #11
    Redgrave's Avatar Civis
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    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    When playing as Gondor, although the MOS 'Winged Swordsmen' win it for me, I love the units you can train in Arnach (I don't know about vanilla TATW, but with MOS you get 'Axemen of Lossarnach', who I find incredibly useful, 'Axeguards of Lossarnach', who are like the axethrowers that the Dwarves get, and the 'Riders of Lossarnach', who are good for charges. They're not that expensive, but it normally takes me ~85 turns to get the population of Arnach high enough to build the required buildings to train them, so I can't use them as much as I'd like ). I also love the 'Bow Quendi' the High Elves get, because they're available from the start and are incredibly powerful against Orcs!

  12. #12

    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    Not so long ago, I started a custom map with Sauron squaring off against a random force of Rhun, just for the fun of it. I expected Sauron wipe the map with them. Instead he was brought down by the first couple of volleys from Balchoth tribesmen. That's how good these guys are. Lord of the Ring my ass. They're pretty much the closest equivalent TaTW has to hastati.

    Playing as the dwarves in my MoS 1.41 (vh/vh), I just don't understand shield wall. In all occassions, it's worse than just letting your units be in regular form. It always gets broken by almost any infantry unit, and I actually ended up losing sometimes in 1v1 to a mob of basic goblin troops, which is pathetic. Don't get me wrong, Dwarven units absolutely rock on their own, but it's the shield wall that doesn't seem to confer any advantage, no matter where I used it (and yes, I know how to exploit a choke point).

    In MoS, my favorite dwarven units are the Wanderers of Ered Luin due to their power and easy availability for the eastern portion of your faction, and Hammers of Gundabad for being hands down, probably the most powerful and cost effective elite unit in the game. Having warrior level defence and armor piercing mauls these guys will take down a squad of balrogs on the double and still have enough to eat trolls for dessert.

    As for elvish factions I disagree on the usefulness of bow quendi. Sure they are cheap, comparatively strong and easily available, but elite elfs have very long range missiles. That's why I usually replace most basic bows with Mirkwood Rangers or Sentinels as soon as possible, to allow glorious elfy cheese to rain down from halfway across the map.

  13. #13

    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    Some good answers here; I'm this started a detailed conversation

    Quote Originally Posted by Carl Jung was right View Post
    Playing as the dwarves in my MoS 1.41 (vh/vh), I just don't understand shield wall. In all occassions, it's worse than just letting your units be in regular form. It always gets broken by almost any infantry unit, and I actually ended up losing sometimes in 1v1 to a mob of basic goblin troops, which is pathetic. Don't get me wrong, Dwarven units absolutely rock on their own, but it's the shield wall that doesn't seem to confer any advantage, no matter where I used it (and yes, I know how to exploit a choke point).
    Shieldwall vs Close Formation is like Close Formation vs Loose Formation. The units are packed more densely so you can have more units engaged in attacking. The enemy may only have 20 units in melee swing range along the contact line while you have 30. This assumes you form a line however, and don't get each unit enveloped. Shield wall also grants mass which increases resistance to charges and allows holding ground better. I don't know if it grants any actual defense points.

    Overall, my findings are different from yours. I think units in shieldwall tend to perform better.

  14. #14

    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    I know I made my picks for High Elves and Eriador already, but for the later game, my absolute favorite unit for these guys in the Dunedain Elite Rangers. These are MOS only, recruitable in dunedain regions for Arnor, and Imladris for HE, elite archers with armor piercing. Having armor piercing on an archer unit which can match the range and attack strength of the best elven archers is simply incredible. A couple units of these guys will wreck trolls, mumakil, bodyguards, whatever in a matter of seconds. In one battle I just fought, I had 3 units of gold chevron elite rangers focusing on a unit of Olog-hai: the trolls were fully bloodied up after the first volley, started dropping after the second, and were all dead after about the 6th.

  15. #15
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    Default Re: Most valuable unit for each campaign

    I've only played a handful of campaigns, but I'll pick for the ones I have. In almost every faction, I find the bodyguards are the best, but I'll give some non-bg answers. I play with MOS.

    Eriador/Arnor: Pre-Arnor I would say the Dunedain. If you take Amon Sul early, you can recruit Battle-Ready Dunedain, Mounted Battle-Ready Dunedain, Dunedain Rangers, and Elite Dunedain Rangers. An army of these guys is almost unstoppable by orcs. They can be a saving grace in a weaker militia-based stack too. Post-Arnor, the professional army almost recruits itself because of its replenishment rate, but I would pick Arnor Men-at-Arms because they replenish the quickest. Of all of these, I relied on the Mounted Battle-Ready Dunedain the most.

    High Elves: I would pick bow Quendi simply because they have a strong melee compared to orcs, and they have a long range to boot. That being said, coupling them with sword Quendi and a general, and almost nothing can stop you. Switching capital to Mithlond and taking as many surrounding rebel settlements as you can with two or three Quendi can bolster your early economy tremendously. The hardest thing for me to learn with these guys was that I didn't need a lot of troops to do the job.

    Mordor: I feel compelled to note the Nazgul. I know they're generals, but with MOS, you can hold Gondor at bay almost solely with these guys. Besides them... -sigh- I have to say trolls. As much as I hate relying on them, they're almost necessary to stand a chance against the elves in the north. They don't hurt in a fight against heavy Gondor troops either.

    Harad: While Harad is one of the easiest campaigns, I feel obligated to mention them as I've played them recently. Sadly, Gondor has mostly stronger units than Harad. Luckily, Harad has greater numbers. They also have some VERY handy skirmisher cavalry like the Muhad Beastmasters and Haradrim Raiders. They can weaken Gondors stronger units before being swarmed by corsairs and spear men. Southron lancers are pretty good fast, medium cavalry too if you prefer hammer-and-anvil tactics. If mumakil weren't so expensive to keep up, I'd include them, but sadly Gondor is pretty good at bringing them down...especially Pelargir. If I had to pick one invaluable unit, though, I would pick a non-traditional answer: the corsair ship. Yep. Blockade Gondor's ports, move good early corsairs up from Umbar quickly, and (especially in MOS 1.60 with DaC map--beta testing now) blocking choke points on the Anduin! Forcing Gondor through one hole if they want any of Harad makes it very defendable, and even helps in the defense of Mordor.

    Dale: I'm just now playing as Dale, but from what I can tell, it's going to be a challenge. I'm relying heavily on Yeoman cavalry and longbowmen (who are surprisingly effective despite being cheap). Fingers crossed that some of they're heavier tiered infantry get stronger. Dalesmen seem like fodder even against orc raiders. One VERY useful early unit has been the Rivermen. Same melee stats as Hearth Watchmen, which aren't great, but their javelins can prove invaluable if the battle should come close enough for a melee.

    Rohan: Scouts! Cheap, fast, easily replenished, and STRONG charge. Like said before, use them for harassment, and they can't fail.

    Gondor: Last because I haven't played them much. Ithilien rangers are great for ambushes and hit and runs. Scouts are one of the best skirmisher cavalry in the game. These two units can lead even levy swordsmen to victory.

    Sorry for the length. This became rambly.

    Fozzie

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