English troops

[Cheese7]

Hi, I have some questions about the English troops.

1. Do the Billmen have any other use than to mow down cavalry? Most of my enemies don't use much cavalry but rather just lots of spearmen.

2. Are the English archers actually exceptionally 'good archers'? Are the better ones worth putting in an army?

3. Are the dismounted feudal knights worth the extra money over light men at arms even though they are only a little better in stats?

4. If a unit costs double the amount of another unit but only say 2 higher in defence and 1 higher in attack is it better than the other unit?

5. Do stats actually mean anything in battle?

[ash874]

Hi, I have some questions about the English troops.

1. Do the Billmen have any other use than to mow down cavalry? Most of my enemies don't use much cavalry but rather just lots of spearmen.

2. Are the English archers actually exceptionally 'good archers'? Are the better ones worth putting in an army?

3. Are the dismounted feudal knights worth the extra money over light men at arms even though they are only a little better in stats?

4. If a unit costs double the amount of another unit but only say 2 higher in defence and 1 higher in attack is it better than the other unit?

5. Do stats actually mean anything in battle?

there is a good chance that everything im about to say is incorrect
but since i just played an entire campaign with england than i feel i should give my impression

1. billmen - didnt find anything they are good for
2. yes the longbowmen and the yeoman archers are incredible
if you remember to put the stakes before the battle (these sticks against cavalary) than you can form entire armies made of archers and a few units of hobilars (to kill the units that flee)

however on very hard settings archers are not the best way to go. since the AI has a serious morale boost and armor boost

3. i noticed that the feudal knights are taking longer to get tired (personal observation) and all in all they seemed much better

[Cheese7]

Thanks ash.
I had doubts about the billmen

[meese]

1. billmen - didnt find anything they are good for

I actually quite like them, especially the heavy versions. True, one of their main purposes was to kill cavalry but they're not too bad against infantry either. The main benefit of them is that you can get so many of them and they're so much cooler than spearmen.

[Cheese7]

I actually quite like them, especially the heavy versions. True, one of their main purposes was to kill cavalry but they're not too bad against infantry either. The main benefit of them is that you can get so many of them and they're so much cooler than spearmen.

Cooler than spearmen as in look better or epic fighting skills? Can they be used as a pinning unit, sort of like an upgraded armoured sergeant or something?

[meese]

Cooler than spearmen as in look better or epic fighting skills? Can they be used as a pinning unit, sort of like an upgraded armoured sergeant or something?

Mainly in terms of better looking, more interesting They won't hold the line as well but the heavy billmen will last long enough and they'll probably take more down with them. To be most effective, you probably won't want that many of them but spear lines are so boring after a while.

[Gogolometro]

If a billmen atack a cavalry in melee that cavalry unit die in seconds. They work well in RR-RC with spears/pikes combo. Are shock troops, can openers and ussualt treat them like that. About DFK/ MAA I will choose always MAA. Why? Because the maintanence who is less than half for a MAA. The morale of unit is fixed by a good general to lead the battle, but for economy DFK like all expensive units are the recesion factor and debt.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

5. Do stats actually mean anything in battle?

With good tactics, you can take a hand full of poo and rule the world... Yes tactics beat stats every time unless...your just swamped by mass...

[Kaledon]

English have access to absurdly good archers. Take advantage of this. When it comes to the comparisons of specific units I can't help much, as I use RR/RC which changes the stats of units. However, one thing I'll mention is that 2 defense can be quite important, as can 1 attack. If the defense is armor, that is immensely useful as armor applies to everything, flanking attacks, ranged attacks etc. Of course it is reduced by armor piercing attacks, which halves armor. Defense skill on the other hand only applies it's full value to melee attacks from the front. Shields lose their defense to flanking attacks towards the side that does not carry the shield and to rear attacks.

[Cheese7]

Thanks guys

I have to work on my tactics, the things I've been doing recently are just auto-resolving (Works surprisingly well) and lining mobs of spear militia up and mashing them into the enemy . Hoping to get some more income so I can develop more varied armies.

EDIT:
I also have another question;
I've got a full stack of troops for defence in England, so I don't have to stick half stack garrisons in all my cities. I've now taken out the Scottish so the only threat is someone sending a small navy with an army and attacking me. I'm becoming extremely tempted to move the full stack onto the mainland or to send it off on an attack. So is it likely that an AI will try and bring an army oversea?

Norway recently declared war on me via blockading my port at Antwerp with 5 mercenary cogs so they may send an army over but they're also at war with Denmark and as far as I know they have not much in the way of armies.

Thanks, Cheese7

[Kaledon]

Factions will attack from sea, however such attacks are not especially dangerous in general. It is easy enough to defeat their navies and then just blockade their ports to prevent them from fashioning more ships. ^_^. As well, you can make sure to have one ship fleets scattered about in various locations to provide sight of areas too far from the coast for watchtowers to help. This is useful as it allows you advance warning if any navies are bringing troops towards you. And if they attack it, meh, it's only one ship. If you do get advance warning of fleets bearing ships coming towards you, well that's when you collect enough ships together to crush it. If you sink 'em all, it'll be a heavy blow to their military.

[ash874]

Thanks guys

I have to work on my tactics, the things I've been doing recently are just auto-resolving (Works surprisingly well) and lining mobs of spear militia up and mashing them into the enemy . Hoping to get some more income so I can develop more varied armies.

EDIT:
I also have another question;
I've got a full stack of troops for defence in England, so I don't have to stick half stack garrisons in all my cities. I've now taken out the Scottish so the only threat is someone sending a small navy with an army and attacking me. I'm becoming extremely tempted to move the full stack onto the mainland or to send it off on an attack. So is it likely that an AI will try and bring an army oversea?

Norway recently declared war on me via blockading my port at Antwerp with 5 mercenary cogs so they may send an army over but they're also at war with Denmark and as far as I know they have not much in the way of armies.

Thanks, Cheese7

the chance that someone will come through the sea is infinitisemal

[Cheese7]

Thanks guys

[0N3]

I can't understand that people auto-resolve battles in a total war games. Play europa universalis or civilization or something if that is what you like...

Anyways, if the ai do come from the sea which is unlikely they usually just bring 5-9 units so just keep a small portion of your army at home and the rest can start invading. If you have ships you can send them to spy for an invasion from Norway and sink it.

[Housman]

I can't understand that people auto-resolve battles in a total war games. Play europa universalis or civilization or something if that is what you like...

Anyways, if the ai do come from the sea which is unlikely they usually just bring 5-9 units so just keep a small portion of your army at home and the rest can start invading. If you have ships you can send them to spy for an invasion from Norway and sink it.

Depends on the battle. If it is an interesting battle, then yeah. But if it's yet another stack of militia spearmen against an equally militia spearmen filled AI stack? Auto-resolve.

[Rean]

3. Are the dismounted feudal knights worth the extra money over light men at arms even though they are only a little better in stats?

The main difference of Light men at arms and DFK's is that DFK's can survive a cavalary charge very well, except from the most powerfull cav. and this can be very helpfull.

[Cheese7]

The main difference of Light men at arms and DFK's is that DFK's can survive a cavalary charge very well, except from the most powerfull cav. and this can be very helpfull.

Thanks

[Kawee]

I sometimes auto-resolve siege attacks simply because when the AI only has one unit housing the settlement, I can take the settlement losing like just 2 men, when if I were to play manually, the towers alone would kill 10 of my men.