Thaqlah infantry

[Sanguinis]

These beasts have been wrecking me in my KoJ campaign. I like a challenge, but on H or VH it's damn near impossible to take a castle packed with these guys.

I did some testing and two units of late dismounted Templars (the armor piercing ones) combined barely defeats one unit of Thaqlah in the open, and they take about 80% casualties. In the field you can deal with this by just spamming cavalry and crossbows, but my real problem is sieges. On walls I burned through 3-4 Templar units before routing one Thaqlah unit in a custom battle. Once you add exp and combat bonuses at higher difficulty levels they become unstoppable.

It just feels odd that KoJ's late elite infantry gets chewed up by a relatively cheap, early Ayyubid unit. At the very least, it seems like the unit size needs to be scaled down. On large they get 93 men while the elite KoJ infantry units get 37.

[nein]

sieging a well guarded settlement is never a good idea, autoresolve will generally screw you over and manually assaulting it will stagger odds in favor of the defender... basically make them sally out at you and defeat them with cavalry. A small group of knights can destroy a much larger infantry force if you keep charging. You can also lure the enemy to the corner of the screen and rush some light cavalry to the town center. This will guarantee victory although it is a tad gamey

[Sanguinis]

Yeah I starved them out and eventually won the campaign... but I prefer to assault since I find it a lot more fun.

I guess my point was that the Thaqlah seem OP: large unit size, high AP attack value, efficient attack animation, heavily armored, effective vs. cav, relatively cheap, and low tier/high availability.

I think they could have half the men in a unit and still be a really good unit.

[Mamertine]

A few things I noticed: If your Dismounted Templars are 37 a unit, you are playing with a small unit scale. Because of this elite units get encircled and mobbed quite easily by more numerous, inferior units. It is recomended that you play a larger unit scale with the BC mod.

I personally adjust the unit size of all elite units, including the enemy's. I feel that the smaller the unit scale the more tactics can be used and therefore requires more skill. Sieging and defending with a large unit scale is very boring, imo. So adjust if you must. I feel the slower recruitment size and extremely high costs justify the bump in size for elite units, personally.

Also I noticed that with BC shock infantry, those guys with two handed weapons and no shields, do not fair as well when in long, pitched battles holding the line. Dismounted Templars fall into this category.

You can always adjust the enemy infantry attack or defense in export_desc_unit file in the data folder to your liking.

Lastly, you mention playing on H or VH. The odds are already stacked against you. Add in the fact that they are defending and your unit has 37 men in the unit, and the outcome you've shared does not surprise me tbh.

[nein]

it's like pelekyphoroi vs tirpan azaps... a large mob of ap units will wreck your tiny group of super elites. The worst thing you can do is commit a small heavily armored unit against a mob of ap units. They are after all designed to wreck armor.

[Sanguinis]

A few things I noticed: If your Dismounted Templars are 37 a unit, you are playing with a small unit scale.

Really? Maybe my install is messed up. Dismounted Templars/Teutonic are 37 men for me on large, while Thaqlah are 93. On small they are 20 men and Thaqlah are 50.

[hypo]

The way to do it is to attack from multiple directions rather than trying to force your way in. Clog up their Thaqlah inf with guarded units so they are stuck fighting as long as possible while other units assault from the 3 other sides using ladders. Rather than fighting your way through, you want to be overwhelming the defender and trying to reach that city center and cut off their retreat asap.

[AqD]

Get cheap axe units to deal with them. The Halberdiers should be the ideal choice.

[CaptainIglo]

Just Charge into them with askari nobles, thats my way to deal with them, frontal charge takes down 80% of the unit, but make sure to get ur askaris out quick, they will get slain in no time if u leave em in middle of the restant taqlahs, same with the tabardariyyas and ghazi axemen, ghazis are a lil bit tougher since those ers are a hell to break and route, nearly impossible.