Army composition

[Janus]

Hey guys, what army composition would you suggest for early to mid game?

[Gazgrim Ironjaw]

Honestly it all depends on what you want. One guy might say "this is the best comp" while it gets countered hard by something else, while the counter army gets countered by another army entirely, Every unit has a weakness, every unit has a counter.

Personally I went through majority of the single player with 3 melee shields with 3 range & 3 siege, but 5 melee with 3 range 1 siege works just as fine. Units depend on one and other to succeed and a certain unit skill choice could change the direction of your entire unit composition.

Read through all the units, check and compare their stats to one and other, then create a build that suits you. Some like 2 range, some like 3 or 5. Others prefer 5 cav or 3 shields, maybe a spear wall on the frontline, or javalins with wildshot.

The skill of the player matters more than the units themselves.

Remember that,

sword beats spear

spear beats cav

cav beats sword

axe beats armour (knights)

shield beats range (especially jav)

mace beats light armour.

Read the unit equipment, (the upgradable equipment) on the right panel when you select a unit.

Longbow is good against shields, jav is good against armour (bad against shields) crossbows are the best against armour, composite bows are the worst against armour/shields best against light armour.

Sword is good against light/medium armour. Axe is good against heavy armour (half plate that knights wear) spear is good against cavalry of all types. Mace is best against light/medium armour but worst against heavy armour.

[76561198876763145]

Longsword knights, longbows (x2), swordsmen (at least x2), medium cav, a ballista are must haves in the early game. Viking hunters are free and you should get them as soon as you can. Level these guys up and give them the neighbour bonus (ideally +5 for longswords and longbows).

Spearmen can be used, but I personally found them a little hit and miss: they are only useful to counter cavalry.

In terms of the gold/craft units, knights cav are the strongest melee unit in game, and should be your first priority. Crossbows and trebuchet (or mangonel if you prefer more damage against ligth armour) next. Then greatswords. Then maybe javs to replace your Viking hunters.

When doing missions/quests against the AI, you can set up your army beforehand to directly counter the AI army. You can't do this for PvP obviously, so have some flexibility in your army to account for the fact that you might face cav heavy armies, melee heavy armies, archer heavy armies, or anything in between.

Your church orders are also important: learn to use them wisely. Some of the orders have very obvious synergies with certain units and abilities, e.g. Scout and Wildshot for javs/hunters, Take Aim for crossbows etc.