best infantry faction?

[Palandiell]

which faction has the best infantry early/mid/late game? I like denmark earlier/mid but which one has a nice one late game? spain?

[Veliky Kaiser Theos]

Depends on what you like. Scotland has excellent pikemen (if you've modded the game to remove their swords), the Papal State has good halberdiers, and the HRE has the best 2-handed infantry.

[lolIsuck]

Spain and Moors are said to have some of the best late infantry, just like Turks (jannisaries) I guess

[Nazgûl Killer]

For early game I'd recommend Denmark.
For mid game I'd recommend either England or Venice.
For late game I'd recommend the Turks.

[Avatar]

For early game I'd recommend Denmark.
For mid game I'd recommend either England or Venice.
For late game I'd recommend the Turks.

Why England, especially? Aside from their low-maintenance Swordsmen I don't see much to separate them from other factions. Their militia is mostly pitiful and Billmen are...well, we know the problem with 2 hander units.

[Rero]

Russia and moors is excellent.

Check the signature.

[Nazgûl Killer]

The problem with the 2 hander units is fixed with some modding, nothing too awkward or complicated. I wish I could tell you how, but I've forgotten. It's been like 3 years since I did that.

Other than that, England has some pretty tough melee units. Both low maintenance and strong. I love the dismounted English Knights and also the Armored Swordsmen. Both very powerful... However the Armored Swordsmen might just count as late game.


It's just that England were the first to pop into my mind.

[Sursion]

I agree with England.

[Aymer de Valence]

Armoured swordsmen Though personally, i would say Venice or HRE

[HauptmanT]

I've been a stainless steel player for years, so the vanilla issues are lost on me.

France has excelent melee archers. Scots guards, french archers, and adventurier are insanely awsome. They also have my favorite heavy infantry, The 2 handed warhammer knights. Potugal and england also use these knights. Not so great in vanilla, but killing machines in SS.

HRE has gothic knights (modded in) and with their armor, are very difficult to kill. Zweihander and forlorn hope are cool, but just not as cool as the Gothics. The mace wielding German Knights are also very good quality.

Ottomans have a good roster with ottoman infantry and Jannisaries being the big murderers.

Venice However, posseses my alltime favorite roster. Venitian heavy infantry can be recruited from cities, as well as thier excellent Pavise x-bows. Venitian archers are also very well equiped, nearly as good as the french archers.

Also of note, in SS. Iberian pikemen are the absolute best pikes in game. Castille, Aragon and Portugal all use the Tercio Pikemen. In vanilla however, all pikes are broken.

[TheDarkKnight]

Depends on if you count archers as infantry. If so, I would say England.

[HauptmanT]

Well some archers are very good in melee. And when used in the front line are quite powerful. As i said, France, Venice, and the Turk archers fill the mainline infantry role very well. English yeoman are ok, but not heavily armored.

[TheDarkKnight]

Well some archers are very good in melee. And when used in the front line are quite powerful. As i said, France, Venice, and the Turk archers fill the mainline infantry role very well. English yeoman are ok, but not heavily armored.

Well I meant archers as archers...Some people count them, others don't.

[PrestigeX]

Early Game -- Denmark or scotland.

danes have heavier infantry - but it can be costly (dismounted huscarls) and upgrading required, etc.
scotland - theres are lighter, but widely available with minimal upgrade - cheap, and fast - highlanders with their axes can easily outflank and charge'n'chop enemy infantry.


Mid - Late Game.

England has good infantry, only because of their longbows -- the stakes pretty much negates cavalry threat - and the constant volleys means that whatever does make it against ur armor swords will be so whittled down. English Knights have Axes for secondaries, so they're great against other cavs when u can't use stakes or protecting the flanks. Also, the english longbow troops are quite resilient themselves in the melee - if need be.

Venice - the powerful italian militias, plus the Venetian Heavy Infantry (can openers lol) and the dismounted broken lances/men at arms -- u can get pikes too, and their other supporting units give a great scope of "army styles" you can make as them.
Forget if they also get Halberds but.


Pretty much every faction has great infantry by the end of the game -- what makes them special, are the supporting units - thats why I'd say England, only becuz of the longbows - and because your armor swords will be so abundant and easy to train everywhere later on.

[diez]

In my opinion,it is like this

Earlyenmark,Byzantium.Denmark is what you said above,while Byzantium has the Varangians who can destroy every other infantry.Maybe Papal States for the Papal Guard but spearmen are not so good in this game.Also if we count missile infantry too,Byzantium has better archers,while Pope has peasant crossbowmen but I dont think they are so effective in the early era.

Midenmark is even better with the Norse Axemen and the Chivalry Knights,the only problem with Denmark is the money.Byzantium gets a better sword unit too,which makes them capable.England,also is the first to have knights with 2h Polearms,have a good sword unit,and some good cheap billmen who can deal a lot of damage.France have chivalry knights too,and have very good mercenary pikemen too.England and France also have longbowmen.Italian factions start to get some worth due to their xbows.Russia has 2 good husclar like infantry,a good 2handed axemen and a hybrid archer-melee,who is capable is both.But do not forget the moors.They have the best single infantry unit in the mid game.Christian Guard.Some good support from urban militia too.

Late:Not many to say.Spain and Portugal.Both have the Conquistadores,the best infantry unit in the whole game.Spain has better infantry to support them,while Portugal has better pikemen.Venice has some good units too and at a low price.But in the late era,the factions that have power are the ones that have muskets,and all of the above have along with the Turks,Milan,Russia.Turks get some good Halbediers too,combined with the Naffatun they can do something.

[tudor93]

In my opinion,it is like this

Earlyenmark,Byzantium.Denmark is what you said above,while Byzantium has the Varangians who can destroy every other infantry.Maybe Papal States for the Papal Guard but spearmen are not so good in this game.Also if we count missile infantry too,Byzantium has better archers,while Pope has peasant crossbowmen but I dont think they are so effective in the early era.

Varangians are early units ?

[diez]

Varangians are early units ?

Yeap

[RomanKiller]

Moors

once you can spam their christian knights along with Hashashim they probably have the top infantry

[Blaze of Macedon]

Depends what you like.

All around if you like a good mix of pikes, sowors and missles i'd go with Spain or Portugal. Scotland doesn't have any gunpowder but they also have great pikes and swords. HRE and France also can make a nice combo of pikes, backbone infantry and some gunpowder units (arqs are not as good as the Iberian musketeers but they will still do the job). Venice also has some great musketeers and one of the best infantry units in the game - VHI, but their pikes are weak.

If you're more into deversified armies try the Russians or the Turks. The Turks have an incredible choise of archers that can also hold their ground in melee, plus they have the best gunpowder unit in M2. The Russian dismounted dvor archers are simmilar to the Turkish ottoman infantry and the cossacks to the janissary musketeers.

Earlier in the game consider the Danes and the English.

[Silverheart]

The Italian states are all well-rounded, with their militia being top-notch right from the start and better top-tier troops becoming available as the game progressess.

Denmark is good since they have the Viking Raiders and Dismounted Huscarls almost from the beginnning, and because those units remain as useful throughout the game - they also get the regular Dismounted Feudal Knights and the unique Norse Axemen, Sword Staff Militia & Obudshaer, with which they are a faction that fulfill your every infantry need.

Scotland is mostly geared towards infantry, and they have plenty of units that pack a punch (Highlanders, Highland Nobles) along with good infantry for holding the line (Highland Pikemen, Noble Pikemen, Scots Pike Militia, Heavy Pike Militia, Spear Militia) and a few top-tier units (Noble swordsmen, Dismounted Feudal Knights)
They have precious little cavalry and a lack of good archers, though (theirs are more like light infantry with bows...)

Spain has the Sword Militia, Sword-and-Buckler Men, Dismounted Chivalric Knights, Dismounted Conquistadores and Tercio Pikemen, making them a good all-round infantry faction - however, all their good infantry units are not available until middle or late game, and require some well developed buildings.
Portugal is almost the same, but a little less good in the infantry department (no chivalric knights, but the two-handed Dismounted Portuguese Knights)

Islamic factions all have a great advantage in the Hashashim (among the best infantry in the entire game), and they all their unique advantages in their Janissary Heavy Infantry (Turks), Tabardariyya (Egypt) and Dismounted Christian Guard & Urban Militia (Moors) later on in the game.

Russia gets good infantry from middle game and forward (Dismounted Druzhina, Dismounted Boyar Sons, Spearmen, Berdiche Axemen), but are reliant on either cavalry or large numbers in the beginning.
Poland is similar, but with a little less quality in their infantry.

England has very good infantry in the late game, with their Armoured Swordsmen and Dismounted English Knights being nice and numerous, but you still need to rely on low-quality Spear Militia and Levy Spearmen in the beginning of the game (or the... "complicated"... Billmen)

the Holy Roman Empire gets good infantry as well after the middle period, and become very all-round in the late-game - like England and France, though, you will be reliant on low-quality spear troops in the early game.

The Byzantine Empire has good infantry available to them in their Dismounted Lancers, Dismounted Latinkon, Byzantine Infantry and Varangian Guard, and even their early spearmen are relatively well-equipped and just slightly above the level of the average factions´ early spear troops.

So, in summary, most factions have fairly poor infantry in the beginning and get better infantry units in the middle game and forward.
The only exceptions are factions where the evolution of the infantry in stead becomes stagnant in the late game.