Byzantines in Kingdoms

[Prince Constantius]

Hey
Im a big fan of the origianl Medieval II Total War game, and have purchased Kingdoms becasue of all the hype I've been hearing about the Greek firethrowers. Apparently the Byzantines get another two units

1. Alamolai (or something) they look like Zweihanders
What do they do? Are they useful? What situation would I use them in?
2. Archontoupolai
Heavy cavlary unit apprently, same question as above

P.S if anyone could point out any other new units I may have missed could you inform me? Thanks!

[Ged]

1) Shock infantry.

2) Well, what would you use heavy cavalry for?

(Do you like Quake Wars? I found it mega-boring.)

[eggthief]

they get some new mace unit as well and yeah etqw sucks.

[Ged]

Oh yeah, the mace guys, line holding and shock infantry.

Seems you agree with me all the time eggthief

[Prince Constantius]

Wait the mace guys are Prononai infantry aren't they?
Are they recruitable around the same time as Byzantine Infantry?

Would someone please PROPERLY describe what the Alamonai and Archontoupolai look like?

[Insurgent]

They also get ships that spurt fire. Greek Fire ships.

[Insurgent]

Wait the mace guys are Prononai infantry aren't they?
Are they recruitable around the same time as Byzantine Infantry?

Would someone please PROPERLY describe what the Alamonai and Archontoupolai look like?

Alamonai are men with Byzantine round helmets on wielding big 2 handed swords. They have German accents.

Archontopoulai are cavalry with heavy Asian style armour on.

[Skyline Pete]

If no one else has I'll post up screenies tomorrow morning. Too late now (tired) to change to jpg and host.

[Ged]

Alamonai: Think Byzantine infantry with a two-handed sword and a round helmet.

Archontopoulai: Quite similar to Byzantine Cavalry.

Now why can't you just play the damn game in a Custom Battle and find out for yourself?

[eggthief]

I'm not even trying out the byzantines, because the only really new thing about them are the flamethrowers and those are way to overhyped IMO.

[Insurgent]

I'm not even trying out the byzantines, because the only really new thing about them are the flamethrowers and those are way to overhyped IMO.

Overhyped my ass! I destroyed an entire platoon of the elite Canons of the Holy Sepulcher just through using 40 firethrowers. They are lethal!

P.S The Canons had improved weapons and Armour and also were on 3 gold rank stripes, while the firethrowers were not upgraded at all- you see, the firethowers kill anything, whatever quality the enemy troops are.

[eggthief]

Overhyped my ass! I destroyed an entire platoon of the elite Canons of the Holy Sepulcher just through using 40 firethrowers. They are lethal!

P.S The Canons had improved weapons and Armour and also were on 3 gold rank stripes, while the firethrowers were not upgraded at all- you see, the firethowers kill anything, whatever quality the enemy troops are.

Yes against the retarded AI they might have some use but any player who isnt that dumb takes them out without to much problems, which is especcially easy with ha´s (tho infantry ranged units can do this as well if properly used).

[COMIS -3- ΠΑΝΙΩΝΑΡΑ]

You mean the alamanoi (mercenary shock troop infantry recruited from germany,and their name is simmilar to Alemania),Archontopouloi are very good cavalry,but the hot point of the Byzantine Empire is the Greek Firethrowers.Just protect the with some spearmen or good infantry and they can smash any army,but they are useless alone because they are very easy to engage them

[Wolfo147]

I don't know, I think if you know how to properly use the flamethrowers they can win you a battle straight out.

[Chlodwig I.]

Flamethrowers are perfect for Defence

In Offense they are to slow and to vulnurable
especially against enemy Range and Cavalry Units are they realy Helpless.

The Alamanoi are Shock Troops like the HRE Zweihänder

Prononoi (or whatever) Infantry are good against Armoured troops because of thier Mace and you get them before the Byzantine Infantry in your Cities so you get earlier a Unit that doesen't suffer from useing spears in combat against other Infantry

Archontopouli (or whater) Heavy Calvalry....

[Old Geezer]

These special units must come rather late and require very advanced buildings because I never got them before I won my long campaign as the Byzantines which was rather boring because of the low quality of most (but not all) of their units. Fighting the Italian infantry and pavaise crossbows were particularly difficult.

[Salahiddin Ayoubi]

Flamethrowers can be the difference between victory and defeat, particlarly if you place them right over the gate in large towns, they blast the battering ram in a few seconds

[Chlodwig I.]

These special units must come rather late and require very advanced buildings because I never got them before I won my long campaign as the Byzantines which was rather boring because of the low quality of most (but not all) of their units. Fighting the Italian infantry and pavaise crossbows were particularly difficult.

You made a mistake

We are talking about Kingdoms
not Original M2TW

So you get the new units quite early in Game
Flamethrowers around turn 18 in Trebuzent/Trebizont ?
and Konstantinopel is completly build up so you can train
the Varangian Guards, Pronoia and Byzantine Infrantry right from the Start

[Grey Bahamut]

Alamanoi are heavy infantry armed with 2H swords. They make great shock troops, so use them along the same lines as Varangian Guard, Zweihanders, etc. The name means "German", by the way.

Archontoupolai are the Byzantines' best heavy cavalry unit, so use them like any other heavy cavalry. Their name means "sons of leaders" - they are drawn from amongst the nobility.

[Lamanz]

Yeah, Alamanoi is to German as Varangian is to Viking (and later Saxon-English)

Both are worthy additions to the Byzantine roster, so use them wisely...

And Greek flamethrowers...well...they are one of the contributing factors to why the Byzantines lingered so long in history...