favourite foot archer unit?

[Rad]

My favorite ones are the Carthaginian/Punic archers
120 soldiers, better armor and defensive skills than the toxotai. An awesome unit to have x)

Wut? Tell me that they're going to be a thing

[Lusitanio]

Wut? Tell me that they're going to be a thing

Well, they are, on my submod

[Baharr]

I've been wasting way too many projectiles on enemy shields.

Units with the...what is it called? The soliferum? The badass metal hyper-javelin, many Iberian units have it, as well as the Romans - those are absolutely brutal. Completely level even heavily-armoured units with a good side or rear shot. Instant break more often than not.

[Jervaj]

To be honest I have quite a like to even the infamous toxotai useful. Specially as garrisons, inexpensive and relativelly effective. In open battles depends more on enemy composition. They tend to be scarce compared to toher psiloi, so I dont bring them out unless I really need them or feel they will make a notable difference due to enemy composition.

As a favourite archer I would probably pick the cretans. They don't have the ebst stats neccesarilly but I like a lot their loooks, they are available from the start and are a really versatile unit. Not the best archer attack but I find they effective enough ,specially in volley trades, and they are very effective as a light infantry melee unit on top of that.

[Septentrionalis]

Units with the...what is it called? The soliferum? The badass metal hyper-javelin, many Iberian units have it, as well as the Romans - those are absolutely brutal.

Nice to learn something new! I had to look it up, and it is soliferrum; a geminate r. The meaning is roughly "only iron". The distinction is meaningful because a short r, solifer(um), would either mean "only fierce" or "sun fierce" or imply connection with carrying/bearing (solifer, "sun bearer").

I did not know that Roman units have that, too, even though I have played the Romans!

[Roma_Victrix]

Hellenistic Greek Thureopherontes Toxotai are the best archer unit in the game if we exclude Hayasdan's Armenian royal guard. They're certainly a hell of a lot better than regular Hellenistic toxotai, the poor man's choice, aka archers that Bernie Sanders would advocate for and try to unionize. Ew! That's gross! Poor people smell! Vote for Bloomberg and become a billionaire too, which can happen for any millennial if they would just stop spending all their money eating avocado toast and save their money from their three jobs, those hipsters.

[Baharr]

I did not know that Roman units have that, too, even though I have played the Romans!

Thank you for the etymology, that was interesting to find out! I think Romans only get them once the Marian reforms kick in; I'm not sure if reformed hastati/principes have them, but I don't believe they do iirc.

[Beckitz]

Yeah.......true, Victrix. But what kind of Hellene bothers to hire them when he has barbarian mercenaries and elite cavalry or infantry contingents to draw upon? Archers are always a secondary element in the Mediterranean armies. For that reason, I submit that you have to consider some of the Sabean elite units in this contest. Compared to what else the player has to draw upon in that region, the aristocratic archer-spearman unit (dont remember the name) or the ethiopian archer unit (dont remember) are of an outsized value on the battlefield. Both of them probably exceed their price level

[BailianSteel]

Clearly there not a lot of Hayastan players here. Dranik Gund blows the other options out of the water. Some archers can perform well, under the right circumstances. Dranik Gund don't just hold their own, they destroy most infantry that aren't elite and can go toe to toe with units like Hypaspistai. Their archery also help out against other elite units who are lightly armoured, like elite Hellenistic Peltastai and Rhompaianai.

They're also a serious breath of fresh air in the Hayastan campaign, as you'll be seriously lacking in heavy infantry (though you do start off with a unit of Caucasian axemen.) If you push the first reform, the Dranik Gund will become available once you start pushing into Hellenic territory and the lack of heavy infantry will become very apparent in sieges.

[Maltacus]

The Sabaean elite can be quite effective and if you have the funds it is easy to build up armies of them pretty quickly. Unfortunately that is a bit impractical since their home lies so remote but still possible to do. The Dranik Gund may be the true sucessors of the Immortals but it is the Khamis that will stand a decent chance of totalling 10 000 anytime soon.

Usually i prefer the cheap missile troops, they are remarkably cost-effective. Pritanoi slingers rule the Celtic world at a fraction of the cost of nobles armies.

[Roma_Victrix]

The Sabaean elite and Dranik Gund are great heavy infantry archers who can hold their own, but you'll always be on the receiving end of their missiles if you don't play as Saba or Hayasdan, respectively. In regards to universally available units for recruitment, the Thureopherontes Toxotai have to be the best, with Cretan archers right behind them.

[BailianSteel]

The Sabaean elite can be quite effective and if you have the funds it is easy to build up armies of them pretty quickly. Unfortunately that is a bit impractical since their home lies so remote but still possible to do. The Dranik Gund may be the true sucessors of the Immortals but it is the Khamis that will stand a decent chance of totalling 10 000 anytime soon.

Usually i prefer the cheap missile troops, they are remarkably cost-effective. Pritanoi slingers rule the Celtic world at a fraction of the cost of nobles armies.

True, I had forgotten about the Sabai. I have given them a try, though I haven't gotten them much action outside of Arabia. I was pretty shocked at how much firepower they could put out, they're like a steppe army on foot. I've fought with and against Sabai elite, but rarely in situations where I'd get a good grasp on their lethality.

Some elite units can be pretty expensive, but for a heavily armoured, professional unit with heavy shields Dranik Gund aren't expensive. And it's not like archers are coming out of your ears unless you're Sabai, or have your fingers in steppe/Iranian plateau pie.

It's been some time since I played Pritanoi, but I definitely needed more than them to deal with the Sweboz ur-Reich and Eporeda Donnoi. Though I do think they're pretty cool.

The Sabaean elite and Dranik Gund are great heavy infantry archers who can hold their own, but you'll always be on the receiving end of their missiles if you don't play as Saba or Hayasdan, respectively. In regards to universally available units for recruitment, the Thureopherontes Toxotai have to be the best, with Cretan archers right behind them.

True enough. Even so, Dranik Gund are good enough in their context that I hold to my choice. I rate them so highly in large part because they're such a boon to a Pan-Caucasian Hayastan, who will soon have to deal with sieges involving heavy Hellenic infantry and even Hellenistic Agema (or if the player goes nuts and wars with the Successors from Turn 1, even more sieges.)