Whats the best army comp for each era and faction?

[The Shadow Rose]

Ive been reading through stuff and i just wondered if you only had 1 army stack of 8 units and you needed it to be the best of the era what would you pick for each era for the herder and farmer factions? Ill be honest ive just ignored the entire unit thing and spammed militias or horse archers and ive steamrolled all my games on very hard but i wanted to learn more about the units thus here i am.

[Ernst Cornell]

never got too much into warfare but this i remember:

farmers:
bronze age:
noble chariots supported by militias (spears in open combat and archers for sieges)

iron age:
noble cavalry, supported by professional melee and archer militias for siege and support.

"imperial" age:
rarely got that far since you can win earlier. apparently palace guard troops replace professionals. cavalry becomes heavier and deadlier and gunpowder becomes essential to both defend (gunners) and attack (cannons) cities. of course militia stays relevant due the sheer numbers and instant availability despite their awful quality.

herders:
all ages:
just horse archers, once they become available they just become the whole army. nobles are the heavy mainstay and tribals fill the ranks just as militia does for farmers. eventually you'll need a siege train but besides that horse archers for days, and they do become better with upgrades.

the campaigns/scenarios have a lot of unique faction units but i haven't played them besides genghis.

[Deez_Noots]

I generally have a split between field armies and siege armies, usually for field armies its just cav spam since they are so strong, and for siege armies its halberds+artillery since the Halberds can reduce a city garrison far quicker making sieges take less time.

[Hat8]

Originally posted by Ernst Cornell:

never got too much into warfare but this i remember:

farmers:
bronze age:
noble chariots supported by militias (spears in open combat and archers for sieges)

iron age:
noble cavalry, supported by professional melee and archer militias for siege and support.

"imperial" age:
rarely got that far since you can win earlier. apparently palace guard troops replace professionals. cavalry becomes heavier and deadlier and gunpowder becomes essential to both defend (gunners) and attack (cannons) cities. of course militia stays relevant due the sheer numbers and instant availability despite their awful quality.

herders:
all ages:
just horse archers, once they become available they just become the whole army. nobles are the heavy mainstay and tribals fill the ranks just as militia does for farmers. eventually you'll need a siege train but besides that horse archers for days, and they do become better with upgrades.

the campaigns/scenarios have a lot of unique faction units but i haven't played them besides genghis.

At a certain point militia just get annoying and get in the way of professional troops. You should have armies entirely made up of professionals by the late game.