Favorite unit?

[Irishmafia2020]

DEI has a lot of amazing units - I've started campaigns with a dozen factions, and I have yet to see many of these different units, and I find that every time I play a new faction, or enter new territory, that I discover new units as mercs, AOR, or just as enemies...

What are your favorite units? First what is that really amazing unit you love - the mercenary that you march your general two provinces out of the way to get, the armored horseman that you upgrade your city to level 4 to gain access to, the elite barbarian that you wait through 120 turns for reforms so that you can unleash them at last in the campaign?

Secondly what is that practical unit you just are glad to have in your armies? Which soldiers consistently earn their keep and while being cheap and useful?

In my case my favorite unit overall (at the moment) is the Cyrenaican Hoplites - extremely heavily armored soldiers that are available as mercs for whomever happens to be near Libya. I have enjoyed using these guys early in campaigns as Carthage and Egypt, and my only complaint is that their upkeep is expensive... Other than that they are some brutal metal men, on par with Hypastists!

My practical favorite is the Pontic light spearmen... Very cheap and available from the first turn as Pontus - the first time I used these guys I thought "great, worthless Eastern spearmen, not even useful as cannon fodder..." then I realized that they could lock into a phalanx... I won that battle, against heavier hoplites because these light spearmen could hold long enough for my swords to break free and begin to collapse the enemy flank all along the line! Several more unexpected victories proved that this unit is no joke! They are cheap, and have little armor, but they can actually hold a line long enough for the other soldiers to win a battle!

So what are your favorite units from this mod?

[bogac94]

Parthian Cataphracts !!

[Cambion]

Gallic Aux Cav. Looks cool and with the bonuses from their region and subsequent horse and training buildings and recruitment ancillaries this is easily the best melee Cav in the game. Plus they are faster than Cataphracts and can take them if they at least partially avoid the first charge.

Edit: On a side-note: Would be great if the horse rescource in Gallia could be moved further south, so we Romans dont need to conquer half of Gallia early to get the full package. I like to expand somewhat historically.

[thomas_r]

Suebi berserkers and some northern guys (ancestors of the vikings)
I simply love them

[Zanze]

The Gallic Merc's Carthage can recruit anywhere on the map. Despite average stats, they have done well in every single battle so far. They usually outperform most of the swordsmen available in the first half of the game. They are my practical favorite.

Regular favorite are probably any form of Thureos Spear unit. The versatility they have make battles a lot smoother as opposed to relying on specialist units who might not be good at your immediate necessity.

[valky]

Sparta's Thorax Hoplites; once the 2nd reform triggers and every 'outdated' unit can be upgraded. You don't need anything else, despite some cavalry for whatever purpose and maybe some ranged units.

Else, Pike units (!!!) if handled proper, they are friggin' machines...

I assume I was a bit out o' luck, cause the 2 Germanic/Celtic games I started, were rendered obsolete due to some 'major' fixes prior to v1.0! Might need to change that after my current campaign, so I can't say much about those units :/

[User29]

Syrian Armored Elephants, They're beautiful and SMASHING.

Just got to use them right and they will wreck enemy armies

[ablebodie]

Uazali, or Karian Skirmishers. They wear Phrygian helms and rectangular slabs for shields, and they look awesome. They can be recruited from a lv1 barracks, and are cheap to produce & upkeep.

Their combat niche is basically tankier Greek Peltasts with lower accuracy and javelin damage.

Uazali are absolute monsters on the flanks. They can beat every single other skirmisher in a melee, obliterate jav cav with ease, and even have a respectable charge bonus. They have higher melee defense than every other javelin unit, and armor that rivals Thracian Noble Peltasts. They don't have super high melee attack, but their charge bonus and melee defense keeps them competitive on the flanks. They're great chariot and elephant killers as well. If they do end up getting charged by something, they can hold almost always hold out long enough for me to bring Galatia's excellent Leuce Epos (Galatian Raiders) to support. This generally concentrates so much damage in one place that nothing survives long.

I regularly rack up 100-250 kills with mine. I achieve this with a 3 Uazali, 2 Slinger skirmish line, with the skirmishers initiating and my army rushing as soon as engages. Uazali get a volley off then move to flanks, throwing at whatever poor group of soldiers is at the end of the line.

The only javelin unit that clearly outclasses Uazali are Thracian Noble Peltasts, who cost more and require lv3 barracks to recruit.

[txfirefghter]

Milnahts.

They outlast many of my other infantry.

[Aleksander the Average]

epirote/mercenary agrianian axemen. cheap, fast, reliable. Hoplite killers.

gallic a.o.r. light/med cavalry are my favorite all rounder cav unit.

[adambomb1]

The German Hunter archers sure do a lot of killing at excellent distance.

[Cambion]

Wow, great question OP. I love the diverse range of answers so far!

If I had to choose a unit based upon appearance alone, those Hoplites in Baktria look pretty badass with face-masks. I'm a fan of Hoplites in general to make up my reserve corps.

Overall choice would be either Hellenic Cataphracts or Indian Armoured Elephants.

Practical choice would be Jav-Cav of any sort, with Numidians being my personal favorite. I love fast cavalry, and they have so many uses! Especially so if you bring a large contingent of them. Any sort of light/med/missile cavalry can fulfill a similar role to this one. I also love light spearmen, as they're fast and cheap.

Try the merc armored hoplites in greece. They give even the Spartan Heroes a run for there money. As Rome I prefer them over the romanized spartan hoplites.

The German Hunter archers sure do a lot of killing at excellent distance.

The hunters are nice, because of their sneakiness, but try the syrian imperial militaria aux. Talk about blotting out the sun.

[ThatWhichThinks]

I love questions like these; they really make me think about why I choose the army compositions that I do.

I imagine that my favorite infantry choice is rather odd: Machimoi Machairaphoi (or however you spell Egyptian local swordsmen in Greek)
Hear me out on this: they are cheap, easy to recruit (as long as you are the Ptolemies or at least own part of Aegyptus), throw javelins, have decent stats (better armor even than regular Greek swords), there are 300 of them in a unit, and did I mention that they are cheap? They are quick enough to make good infantry flankers, especially with their javelins, and can even help hold or plug the gaps in a main line when necessary, especially in the early game. No, they can't take on a pike wall or hoplite phalanx head on and they are not going to take on Very Heavy swordsmen and win, but they can wear down flanks and hold their own against more expensive units. Egyptian swords hit that sweet spot between "cheap, but kind of useless cannon fodder" (looking at you, every single AoR spearman east of Anatolia!) and "full-priced battle line unit" that makes them invaluable for an early campaign or to fill in the gaps of armies later on.

[Menulo]

i really love the german longbow units. or wel, great archers in general! and i have a thing for hoplites, something about a man with a round shield and a spear is just cool as .

but perhaps on a shared first i have to put the 2 handed celts (le tane or the iceni ones) and the german berzerkers. i really like shock infantry, and rome 2 really doesn't have enough of that.. (one plus of atilla, loads of shock axes)
you can guess than that the nervii are my favorite faction atm, longbows and 2 handed celts make for an amazing army

[GourmetGorilla]

Wow, great question OP. I love the diverse range of answers so far!

If I had to choose a unit based upon appearance alone, those Hoplites in Baktria look pretty badass with face-masks. I'm a fan of Hoplites in general to make up my reserve corps.

Overall choice would be either Hellenic Cataphracts or Indian Armoured Elephants.

Practical choice would be Jav-Cav of any sort, with Numidians being my personal favorite. I love fast cavalry, and they have so many uses! Especially so if you bring a large contingent of them. Any sort of light/med/missile cavalry can fulfill a similar role to this one. I also love light spearmen, as they're fast and cheap.

[bogac94]

Wow, great question OP. I love the diverse range of answers so far!

If I had to choose a unit based upon appearance alone, those Hoplites in Baktria look pretty badass with face-masks. I'm a fan of Hoplites in general to make up my reserve corps.

Overall choice would be either Hellenic Cataphracts or Indian Armoured Elephants.

Practical choice would be Jav-Cav of any sort, with Numidians being my personal favorite. I love fast cavalry, and they have so many uses! Especially so if you bring a large contingent of them. Any sort of light/med/missile cavalry can fulfill a similar role to this one. I also love light spearmen, as they're fast and cheap.

If you like Cataphracts use Parthia. They have a little better armour melee attack and charge then Hellenic ones. They have a devastating charge. Their one charge from back can entirely destroy even the heaviest infantries. And Parthians have the best armoured horse-archers that means a great combo with Parthian Noble Cataphracts. The mix of these cavalry can destroy every type of army. First harras with your armoured horse archers till their arrow ends and charge cataphracts to weakened army. HEROIC VICTORY !

[Noone likes Thebes:(]

Thrakioi Aristoi Rhomphaiaphoroi - will always be my favorite ancient unit. A mouthful though.

Any elite polis hoplitai. Noble but going extinct, always bring a tear to the eye.

TINDANOTAE!

[Ravenhaart]

1. Agranian Merc Sellswords. They may not look like much (except for their thureos - I love those...) but they beat pretty much everything in the early game in their region and retain usefullness quite long.

Second place is very close for few units: Thraikioi Peltastai, I don't know how many times was like 'throw those javs already, I need you to CHARGE!', awesome units. But there are also Thureophoroi, even more versatile, quick unit with lots of javs that doesn't fear cav... And the Keltohellenikoi thureophoroi (not sure if that's the correct name) are just powerful and look amazing...

[ThatWhichThinks]

I know I already responded to this thread, but I have developed a newfound love and respect for Shipri Tukul (AoR Mesopotamian heavy spears recruitable from level 3 settlements) in my Parthia campaign.

Shipri Tukul don't look like much compared to some of the more flashy lancers and elephants in adjacent regions, but they are pretty excellent and versatile in a fight. They can hold a line against almost anything, destroy cavalry pretty quickly, and are substantially cheaper than heavy hoplites. I would fill my armies with them if recruitment wasn't limited!

[chilaw]

The Lusitani Axeman AOR (can't remember their name). If you're playing a lusitani campaign, they make your early expansion possible. Only 45 morale, but something like 25 melee attack and 21 weapon damage as an immediately recruitable unit is insane.