Medieval Units ?

[simspacey]

Im wondering if its is preferable to build Knights instead of Med Inf and Lbowmen ?

Knights are almost twice as expensive, yet they have the same attacking value. I Know of course knights have 3 defensive instead of 1 and also can move 2 tiles (more on roads) and retreat (even tho sometimes they dont) but what unit is really the best, is it worth building the knights ? I also know of course that there are crusaders, which have a 5/3 statistic value! But you cant massproduce them in ten cities (obviously).

And are longbowmen just as good as medieval infantry ? Shouldnt the archers and longbowmen have some longrange attack and be worse at close combat ? Is it just the defensive capabilities(shooting if a friendly unit is attacked) that separates longbowmen from medieval infantry ?

[jatf]

The main choice between longbows and MI for me is do I have iron. No iron = longbows.

Personally I prefer to use knights. More bang for your buck. x2 move rate is more useful more of the time in my opinion. Plus they upgrade to cavalry.

Lately I have started to use a combination of Knights and MI. I use knights to take cities and MI to garrison and quell resistance. MI can then be used to deal with any AI attempts to retake their lost territory.

[Aabraxan]

The cost difference between the two is pretty significant, but, then again, the retreat ability means that more of them survive. Also consider the terrain. If I have to slog through unroaded jungle to get to my enemies, then the double movement doesn't do me any good until I'm on their doorstep. OTOH, if there's lots of grass and plains between me and my enemy, the x2 movement rate gets me to the next target much, much faster.

[simspacey]

Yeah, and when you´re in enemy territory the knights also help out a lot. Cause then you cant use roads either...

But on paper, the longbowmen are better (than MF). they have slightly better defense and can weaken enemies if theyre attacking two of your units. But longbowmen doesnt seem to do as well when fighting as the MF:s when i play. Maybe im just unlucky though...

[vmxa1]

Really it comes down to what you need to have done. One huge advantage a knight has is the second move. It means I can use cats/trebs to ping a would be attacker.

Kill it and get back inside the town. Where the MDI/LB would be sitting out there to get counter attacked.

The upgrade path is much better as well. Guerrilla is a long ways off and they are not a great unit at that stage of the game, but cavs are a great value.

LB are just not an option, unless they are the only option. The defense of 1 makes them useful only MP duty or as part of a stack.

[Aqualung71]

Listen to the expert - vmxa1.

I concur. Knights kill MI and LB hands down, but are much more expensive! Still, in my experience (significant), they are worth the investment.

[Mad Bomber]

Knights are great but if your operating in bad terrain where the defender can entrech themselves then I use a MI or LB/pike or spear/trebouchet stack. Typically the stacks have about 10-15 attackers, 3-5 defennders , and 5 artillery.