Advantages of Early Legionary Cohorts?

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

What's the point in training Early Legionary Cohorts? Unless I want to finish the game quickly (like with my last Brutii campaign) I wait until I can train Imperial Legionary Cohorts. There is little advantage in training early legionary cohorts unless there is some frontier that quickly needs to be defended with superior troops or in the case I mentioned. In almost all my roman campaigns I just build a majority of Imperial Cohorts and little or no Early Legionary Cohorts. Are there any other advantages in using Early legionary Cohorts or Early Legionary First Cohorts?

[turtle]

What's the point in training Early Legionary Cohorts? Unless I want to finish the game quickly (like with my last Brutii campaign) I wait until I can train Imperial Legionary Cohorts. There is little advantage in training early legionary cohorts unless there is some frontier that quickly needs to be defended with superior troops or in the case I mentioned. In almost all my roman campaigns I just build a majority of Imperial Cohorts and little or no Early Legionary Cohorts. Are there any other advantages in using Early legionary Cohorts or Early Legionary First Cohorts?

Not, really. Unless you want to be semi-historical. You could use the early cohorts when you get them and then when the imperial ones come along, you could just ignore that they are there until 120-100 B.C. or something. But, again, it is pretty pointless to even train the early cohorts because the imperial legions come really soon after, unless you have already built the max baracks you can have. Then you will get the imperial cohorts right off the bat.

[Jopo]

I usually used the Early Cohorts like Hastati and Late cohorts as Principies. Just for fun I guess. There's really no reason to train them except for what you stated.

[Aetius]

Another wasted unit slot. ho-hum

[turtle]

Another wasted unit slot. ho-hum

sure is

[Shaun]

Well early legionary cohorts are cheaper than normal ones. And if you get the reforms in 220BC(like what happens to me all the time) you are unlikey to have built up enough to get normal ones, and at that stage in the game the AI still has large peasant formations, so Early legionary cohorts easily beat them.

[Libertine]

plus Early Legionaries are more historical and just so much cooler

[Shadows]

I personally like the Early Cohort over the Imperial ones, they are available sooner, cheaper to train and still hold their own against most enemies. Not much difference except in availability, price and name.

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

I've tested them in different battles against the most scary and powerful german infantry. While my early legionary cohorts fled in terror, my Imperial Cohorts could hold their position. Actually, it is not a question of morale as they both have the same morale, but those extra defensive points provided from the improved armour can really make a great difference. I see no reason for actually training Early legionary cohorts only for their price; they have the same maintenance as Imperial Cohorts and their cost isn't much to worry about when you already have a well developed core of cities (and the giant amount of cash you have playing as the Brutii). Early legionary cohorts are still useful for secondary duties such as garrisoning cities. On the custom battle, however, I play with them alot when I try to simulate battles such as Aquae Sextiae against the germans (with early legionary cohorts). What I get is not much like the original Aquae Sextiae, but those bridge battles are still fun.

Plus, as I've tested, Early Legionary Cohorts are still beaten by most barbarian units like Chosen Swordsmen. The Imperial Cohort is superior to any infantry that the gauls, britons and even germans can field, provided that they don't have experience bonuses.

[John I Tzimisces]

Cheaper, more realistic, more indicative of how badly CA planned the Roman tech tree, by including Imperial Cohorts alongside them...even though the use of Chainmail outlasted Segmented armor by hundreds of years...and is generally just as effective

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

No. Loricas Segmentatas were used by the army because they are more effective, altough not cheaper or easier to produce, than the Lorica Hamata. Segmented armours were really the starting point for the late medieval armours that knights used. Chain mails are cheaper but not as effective, but the Auxilia units continued to use them during the roman era.

Anyway, Imperial Cohorts only cost slightly more and are really effective. With the Brutii, an Awesome Temple of Mars and a foundry, you can pump some really strong Legionaries for the fight.

[shadowarmy75]

But Early Legions are better for conquering places that are underdeveloped so you can retrain them. If you can't retrain troops in an area after they take casualties, eventually you will lose the city.

[Stalins Ghost]

Segmentata was however stupidly hard to maintain though, frequently falling to pieces easily, and being uncomfortable to march in...but lets not turn this into a Sementata/Hamata debate

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

I heard the romans have abandoned Segmentata because of the training required and because it was very expensive... But this is turning a bit off-topic. Perhaps someone can open a new discussion later .