Most cost-effective units

[mihnea]

Hi everybody,

First of all, I'd to thank the gods and the mod's developers for this wonderful game-changing experience!

I am now playing my first Romani campaign and have become interested in getting the best costs-benefits ratio in terms of army composition. I've seen threads dealing with the best and the worst units in EB, but these only marginally touch on cost-effectiveness.

My list, limited pretty much to Italia at this point, is the following:

1) Hippeis (Greek Medium Cavalry) - jack-of-all-trades charge-and-melee cavalry, that is both reasonably effective and very cheap at 538 mnai, about 200 mnai cheaper than the already worse stat-wise Eqvites Romani (Roman Citizen Cavalry). Sure, some people claim they're miserable, seeing as they don't excel in any role, but I think they have a lot going for them: charge bonus, melee damage, good defense, high morale, discipline and high training. They're also good for teaching the player sound cavalry habits: set up your charge correctly for its full effect, don't linger too long in melee, don't charge unengaged units, etc. With better cavalry, you might get away with lazier tactics, but not with Hippeis.

2) Iaosatae (Celtic Slingers) - 35 sling ap bullets at 162 range for no more than 138 mnai. Compare that to the 20 ammo Balearic Slingers that are over twice the cost. On top of that, they even have an 8 attack 0.1 lethality sword, not a measly knife, should one ever want to flank with them.

3) Principes (Heavy Infantry Maniple) - just wow!, their price of 262 and 296 mnai is simply unbeatable for the stats they provide. Perhaps the most profitable heavy infantry to get. I don't even want to compare their Polybian version with something like Pezoi Brettioi (Bruttian Infantry).

4) Appea Gaedotos (Alpine Phalanx) - phalanx against cavalry and 0.165 lethality ap axes against infantry, all in a reasonably-armored, high morale, disciplined and highly-trained pack. Their cost of only 289 mnai makes them stand out.

What is your roster of the most cost-effective units?

Best regards,
Mihnea

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

My most cost effective units are - any mercenary unit. Why, I hear you ask? Hiring them in the first place costs a lot, and many have high upkeep too! That's stupid!

But, actually... no, it's not stupid. Hiring mercenaries means you are not depleting your town population through recruiting. So your towns grow faster - a lot faster if you're not recruiting from them. More population equals more taxes, more money. On huge unit size, this means a lot.

In the long run, hiring mercenaries can actually be cheaper than recruiting. Provided you are a relatively peaceful faction that doesn't fight many full-stack vs full stack battles.

As for the most cost-effective mercenary unit.... Persian Archer-Spearmen are a good buy. Cheap, and plentiful in the East. The bane of un-armoured horse-archers, and unlike normal archers, can fight in melee if they have to. In sufficient numbers, and properly supported by heavy cavalry and some cheap spearmen, they can beat lightly-armoured enemies.

Cretan Archers are also a great mercenary unit. Expensive, but worth every gold coin. Devastating if they have a good height advantage. Cretans are worth three times their number in Greek toxotai archers, simply because they are much better at hitting the target. They've been the key to my Koinon Hellenon campaign, helped me hold off the Macedonians, not even phalangites can withstand their arrows if they are not in phalanx formation. And they can make mincemeat of light skirmishers or light cavalry in a melee.

[Entropy Judge]

1) Hippeis (Greek Medium Cavalry) - jack-of-all-trades charge-and-melee cavalry, that is both reasonably effective and very cheap at 538 mnai, about 200 mnai cheaper than the already worse stat-wise Eqvites Romani (Roman Citizen Cavalry). Sure, some people claim they're miserable, seeing as they don't excel in any role, but I think they have a lot going for them: charge bonus, melee damage, good defense, high morale, discipline and high training. They're also good for teaching the player sound cavalry habits: set up your charge correctly for its full effect, don't linger too long in melee, don't charge unengaged units, etc. With better cavalry, you might get away with lazier tactics, but not with Hippeis.

Curepos/Leuce Epos are better and more efficient. Better Lethality, AP, faster IIRC, and they've got Javelins to serve as mobile Skirmishers. Not quite as good at melee, but .... I'm also fairly sure that Hippeis (like most over-arm Spear cavalry) are actually pretty bad at charging, though I haven't used them in forever so I could be misremembering.

I'd also like to nominate the Illyrioi Hippeis, as they're basically a lighter Hippeis with better weapons.

What is your roster of the most cost-effective units?

Hmm ... dunno, never really thought about it. There was one guy who swore up and down about how AWESOME Imannae and Jugundiz were, but they're really not that good. Hmm... Jugundiz Xathiska and Sloxonez, seeing as they're dirt-cheap and effective AP units; Teceitos for being even better and cheaper than Sloxonez. Seriously, an army based on Teceitos is going to murder things horribly.

[athanaric]

Peltastai would be a good candidate. Also, Skythian HAs, especially as HAs are the unit type to exploit AI stupidity with. If you play as Pahlava, definitely Dehbed nobles.

[The_Judge]

Hoplitai Haploi: cheap and when there are many, they are deadly

[Frtigern]

Lots of men with long pointy sticks always will defeat less men without long pointy sticks regardless of whether they are on a horse or a chariot. Just make sure you bring some peltasts to take care of the elephants and maybe some Machimoi Hippeis to charge missile units.

Machimoi Phalangitai (Machimoi Native Phalanx) cheap and come with axes!
Pantodapoi Phalangitai (Hellenic Native Phalanx) also cheap and come with axes!
Machimoi Hippeis (Machimoi Light Cavalry) cheap, hardy and come with axes!

[Boriak]

Persian Archer-Spearmen. Cheap, long-range skirmisher with a spear to hold a line or defend himself against cavalry, at least for a while. In combination with decent heavy cavalry these guys are a blessing on a low budget Baktrian kingdom.

[Cyclops]

Part of me wants to say Kretan Archers, they smash by missile and carve by sword, but they are expensive and rare.

...
Pantodapoi Phalangitai (Hellenic Native Phalanx) also cheap and come with axes!...

Aw yeah. No 1. useful widespread unit in the game. As a pike formation that stand up alright to cav and missile fire, and AP secondary mean they siege and melee well above their weight, and they are available across the civilised east. 240 versatile killing machines in a readily available package.

Persian Archer-Spearmen....

Very handy, although less available. I find myself disbanding them for RP reasons as like keltic slingers they become machine-gunners once they get enough chevrons.

Tha basic hellenistic set (pantopidae x 2 and Persian Archer-spear, eastern cav: you need 2 levels in two MICs) is only exceeded in utility by the basic Hellenic set (hoplitai haploi, akontistai, and light cav one level in one MIC! Then Toxotai and sphendonetai and maybe peltastai at 2). Those boys will bleed a bit, but they are easily replaced and give you the basic tools to face any foe except high powered HA.

The Poleis of the Med make wonderful type IV's for most factions because they are self sufficient in the basic army types.

[seleucid empire]

Peltastai and slingers