what is the use of light infantry?

[wngpooniii]

i get the use of light cav. especially if it is light HA. light cav or HA run, shoot, chase routing enemies, or just attack enemies from the back or the side quickly.

however, light infantries are only a little faster than heavy infantries. They are not fast enough to out flank the enemies yet they lack the armor to protect their slow march, they lack the armor and attack against heavy infantry, they lack the range of missile units. what good are they? how do you use them effectively?

[Don in the North]

pawns. use them to absorb archer/xbow fire while your own archers decimate the enemy archers.
what i usually do is a 'checkers formation' so ill have my front line spears/hv-inf at front, and random light infantry for gapfilling and flanking in centre, with heavy infantry shocktroops at rear with archers. they will obviously be the serious flankers that get at the back of the enemys mass. at the farback flanks are my cavalry or they are otherwise on the front line vs heavy cav armies (for baiting and luring them into spears)

[thehuscarl48]

They also absorb the initial shock of a melee charge and tire out the opponent. Think back to RTW. Hastati then principe then triarii. Same principle works here, specially in seige scenarios. Use your militias to break thru defences and soften em, light inf. to tire em, and h. inf. to finish them.

[Caesar Clivus]

Light infantry are also good for pinning down the enemy while you flank them with your cavalry or 2-handed shock infantry.

[mikil100]

Pretty much in every battle they are cannon fodder. Not that you WANT them to die... in most cases its what everyone has said, but it doesnt mean you should be careless with them. If you carefull position them they can, at times- change the course of battle.. IE tieing up enemy spearmen so you can get a good Cavalry charge in..

[magraev]

I'd say, that if you can afford/get heavy infantry then light infantry is not needed.

I've had some succes with using them as flankers, but in the end the heavy guys could have done it just as well if not better.

[Deio-Kamots]

cannon fodder basically, i haven't been using them much though. the result is many casualties (or at least more then those i wished for) in my ranks. if you can route the enemy out of formation with lets say, peasants, then you can have a free flank to charge against, with ur heavy calvalry, or infantry

[wngpooniii]

I'd say, that if you can afford/get heavy infantry then light infantry is not needed.

I've had some succes with using them as flankers, but in the end the heavy guys could have done it just as well if not better.

that is in fact what i do. i just get all heavy infantries. light inf have no advantage over heavy inf except they are cheaper

[Gogolometro]

Light infantry is not bad at all.First in desrt will discover the heavy guys became tired very fast, not so great in any situation.Lets say DFK, great unit very durable and great in defense.But their sword vs cavalry is nothing and your plans not coincide on battle.Some factions get good medium and light infantry.The clases are not relevant.My first in mind come almugavars.Compared with DFK they have half of defence and armor is mail at max if I remember but, they have armor piercing javelins, swords for defence and can atack reatreat easy than a crossbow.For me these guys represent muslim generals killers and great ambushers and ruoters chasers.
We have on other hand in aragon rooster the sword and buckler mans.Again great infatry, very effective and valuable in the tercio combo(pike&gunners).Dont forget they cost less than DFK.Swordsmans militia are very great in city siege defence, again less cost and cant be a unit without charge like garison.
By the way if I remmember battlefield assasins of hungary are light infantry too right?

[Angrychris]

crowd your gates with them, use them as support for main infantry (lower enemy moral), delay enemy troops on the walls, the possibilities are endless. I would go 90-95% through a campaign with just spearmen on numerous occassions. They are abundent and cheap, very useful even if they are ment to just die.

[W4SPY]

spearmen with armour upgrades can be very usefull indeed
i use them all the time

[Deadly Rabbit]

If you've ever to fight turks/egypt/kwarezmians etc in the desert with h/i you'd know that they tire quickly and then they start dying even quicker. In those situations lightly armed spear militias can be really handy, they don't tire as quickly and can pin enemy units and save your super expensive shock troops for what they're intended for.

[Gogolometro]

The light infantry have 2 big bonuses, are less affected by hot weather and are more maneuvrable and speedy.Because is a tactical game in battles who have better tactics win and speed is important never treat the light infantry with your less interests.If you have good light infantry use them and you will not be disapointed.They can atack/retreat better than a 40 kilos armor soldier.A veavy one keep the line, atack in the decisive way and act like shock troops not like chargers if you not want to seen them exausted in no time.Light troops combined with schirmish units and cavalry represent your core atack force.The heavy infantry and General make them kings of the hill and engage them at decisive moment.The tactic of Agincourt, waiting enemys to atack and you just defend position is an way to stand vs a superior force.Anyone who read some war theorys know who baricade himself and waith the atack is in a bad position.Best defence is the atack.
And again we come back to the light infantry ...

[Navajo Joe]

The light infantry have 2 big bonuses, are less affected by hot weather and are more maneuvrable and speedy.Because is a tactical game in battles who have better tactics win and speed is important never treat the light infantry with your less interests.If you have good light infantry use them and you will not be disapointed.They can atack/retreat better than a 40 kilos armor soldier.A veavy one keep the line, atack in the decisive way and act like shock troops not like chargers if you not want to seen them exausted in no time.Light troops combined with schirmish units and cavalry represent your core atack force.The heavy infantry and General make them kings of the hill and engage them at decisive moment.The tactic of Agincourt, waiting enemys to atack and you just defend position is an way to stand vs a superior force.Anyone who read some war theorys know who baricade himself and waith the atack is in a bad position.Best defence is the atack.
And again we come back to the light infantry ...

Here, Here, I go with you on this one. I have just finished a Norwegian campaign and Light Infantry made the bulk of my armies. They far more flexible and quicker on the battlefield and in sufficient numbers can hold up superior infantry in sieges. You have make sure you develop your armour production facilities.
I used alot of Spear Miltia, with armour upgrade and Viking Raiders with those axes effective against enemy armour. My first battle line was always made of these units, with heavier infantry behind who commit to battle, when they begin to tire. Also I found Norse Archers to be effective Light Infantry and incredibly versatile

[Henry707]

I think Light Infantry are also useful if you like to keep your armies realistic. I personally never use stacks full of elite knights as I think it makes it too easy & just no realistic.

I know not all light infantry are 'low skill' but this is surely the place the milita & the rest would go in war time. They are not professionals etc etc.
Also, the elite unit should be just that - elite.

Henri

[Inhuman One]

Same here, I try to keep some realism as well in my armies.

My armies consist mostly out of spearmen, usually armored sergeants are the backbone of my armies, but can be combined with spear militia and less armored sergeants.

They fare decently against cavalry and can hold the line quite well. In sieges they are also good to have.

The elite infantry such as knights are often used to strenghten my weak spots and attack the strong spots of the enemy.

It also has something to do with the general I use though. I am sure that Knights would be more likely to join a succesfull general on their campaigns to gain some wealth and prestige than they would join a young and unproven general whose father is a drunk gambler.

[Point Blank]

In latest RC, lighter infantry receive the most favourable and least negative terrain modifiers, and heavy infantry receive the opposite. Plus as other have said, in the desert etc heavy infantry are far less useful.

[Angrychris]

depending on who and where you fight determines what units you use. You play any of the eastern europeans or asians then your going to depend on archers and all calv varietys (horse archers). You fight African, middle/western europeans then your going to use lot of infantry/heavy calv. I made alot of mistakes when using mostly spearmen (not upgraded) a majority of campaigns and then just seeing hundreds of my stacks fleeing and getting slaughtered by late period units in almost all battle of all types so i know the good and bad of most scenerios. Everyone has their spot in battle, just always a time and place for them.

[zikas]

In the beginning of a campaign they are very valuable indeed. I consider peasants to be the heavy infantry of the starting turns. I'm playing for the third time the Byzantine early era campaign at hard (having aborted my first 2 attempts) and, as my economy is horrible, I can rely only on the Trebizond archers I was given at the start (can't recruit any new yet) and on the Skythikon I can recruit. Heavy infantry can be recruited after 7 turns.
This means that during siege battles I have to include 3-4 peasant units with armor upgrade (blacksmith) and they do a very good job supporting the missile units. I even set them to guard mode (!) sometimes in front of my valuable archers in order to protect them from cavalry charges. In this case I always put one unit of spearmen behind them. I try to minimize the losses of my peasants, so that I can use them again. When all missiles are depleted and the enemy army is crippled, I send the peasants to the central square to finish the job. They are usually fresh and eager. The scenario described above may seam strange, but let me explain that I usually wait the enemy army get out of the gates rather than forcing my way into castles. I always send 2 spies before, so that the gates will be open anyway.
If the AI is ...cooperative and sallies, my losses are minimal. If not, I will have considerable peasant losses and crowding 4 units of peasants in narrow streets is not very desirable (due to friendly fire, too).

[Musthavename]

As has been said before, they're there to take the casualties so your elite units don't.

-Engage the enemy with Light infantry then flank them with two-handed shock troops / knights.
-Use them to absorb a Cavalry Charge. Useful when most Light Infantry wields spears.
-Protect your archers. Then while they hold off a flanking force, you can pincer and destroy them.

Key is, if they take casualties, they can be easily retrained (or just replaced) for little cost. If your Knights take casualties, they're difficult to replace, particularly as if they're highly developed, a place you attack most likely won't be able to retrain them, but will be able to produce light infantry cheaply.