TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

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TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

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Post by evilcheadar »

This week's tip involves the saloon building or monastery depending on the region of the world your civ is from. The basic premise is that it can be bad to not take advantage of good mercenaries that are sometimes available. Mercenaries cost a lot of population and coin only. If you are playing as the German civ, you can get the "improved mercenaries" card which improves the strength of your mercenaries by about 20% I believe. This card can be a big deal since the base stats of mercenaries are already very high. Most improvements work off of the unit's base attack and hp so you can see how much this card helps.

These are some examples of some mercenaries that can be bad to not take advantage of if they are available:

Jaeger
Highlander (sometimes)
Black Riders
Mameluke
Hackapell (situational)
Swiss Pikeman (situational)
Manchu

I've attached a photo of a Jaeger so you'll know what to click on.
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

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Post by InsectPoison »

One of these has been due for a long time.
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by [Armag] diarouga »

I'd argue that Highlanders/Hackapells/Swiss pikes aren't really situation, they're almost always bad.
Jaeger/brs/mams/manchus and elmetis (you forgot these) should be used though. The issue is that you have to invest in a saloon, which is a waste of wood sometimes, and that such strats are very gold expensive.
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

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Post by evilcheadar »

I list swiss pikes because I won a game vs soiux where I would have been a goner without them. It's amazing what a disciplined man with pike can do. Also, I recommend the improvement from the arsenal that gives hand units more hp.
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by Snuden »

"Whaa-- where did my pikes go!?"
(The Baphomet made spies in bulk)

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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by Amsel_ »

Is there some way to see what mercenaries are available without building a saloon?
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by tedere12 »

highlanders with advanced mercs and advanced arsenal are too good
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by tedere12 »

Amsel_ wrote:Is there some way to see what mercenaries are available without building a saloon?

from observer UI
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by fei123456 »

Swiss pike are bad?! I can't understand this. They perform better than landskecht most of the times.
Also you forgot arsonist/ninja/the 300 gold musk (I forgot its name lol).
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by evilcheadar »

fei123456 wrote:Swiss pike are bad?! I can't understand this. They perform better than landskecht most of the times.
Also you forgot arsonist/ninja/the 300 gold musk (I forgot its name lol).

Arsonists are fun but tough to use. I think you may be thinking fusiliers on the second part? They’re fast and strong but at a high price and not too much range.
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by gibson »

fei123456 wrote:Swiss pike are bad?! I can't understand this. They perform better than landskecht most of the times.
Also you forgot arsonist/ninja/the 300 gold musk (I forgot its name lol).
arsonists and fusiliers are horrible, ninjas can be good if you use them right, but costing 4 pop sucks
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by deleted_user »

How are 7 speed Fusiliers bad?
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by Hazza54321 »

swiss pike can be amazing
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by deleted_user0 »

ya cullen is right. they r very good at raiding cause high speed and they nuke cav so it's quite annoying to catch em. 300hp for 300g (without card) is just why they r not so good in normal battles
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by gibson »

deleted_user wrote:How are 7 speed Fusiliers bad?
300 res for a musketeer in age 3? You literally get 6 per mine lol
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by deleted_user0 »

it's a raid unit
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by evilcheadar »

Fusiliers do bonus ranged damage against light cavalry
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by Garja »

They are only countered by skirms and with 5 speed and 70 attack they can get close and win even vs them. Pretty beast unit but ye very expensive.
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by forgrin »

Fusiliers = Ashis but every one is a Usain Bolt clone.
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

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Post by evilcheadar »

It's great if you can hide fusiliers in a composition that's fighting dragoons. Goons will start hitting the floor a lot more frequently and the enemy just won't know why!
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by Kaiserklein »

Fusiliers have just bad stats, seeing how expensive they are. They do good vs goons and they're good at running around the map, but that's it. It's a super shitty unit if you take a fight against skirms. They're not very good at killing hand cav either. And they lose to regular musks. So basically against the typical skirm/goon/cav, they're really not good.
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LoOk_tOm wrote:I have something in particular against Kaisar (GERMANY NOOB mercenary LAMME FOREVER) And the other people (noobs) like suck kaiser ... just this ..
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by deleted_user »

Perhaps then high risk high reward at worst. As somppu says they aren't a main staple unit -- they're a high apm raid unit -- and in that they excel -- and in high apm raiding is the ability to just win a game outright. It's the ability to dictate what goes on.
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by gibson »

problem is if you count on raiding to win youre counting on your opponent to play badly to win, which isnt really a good way to play
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by deleted_user »

If you're dropping a saloon your straight forward path to victory is already obstructed.

And yes, outraiding is a completely viable strategy unless you play every game with the mentality you're worse than your opponent -- then I can see how you'd think that.
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Re: TOTW #24: It can be Bad to not take advantage of good Merceneries

Post by fightinfrenchman »

gibson wrote:problem is if you count on raiding to win youre counting on your opponent to play badly to win, which isnt really a good way to play


I've frequently counted on OP dog boxes to bust Adam's factories, and they haven't let me down yet
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