Footmen vs HC numbers

[Redgar]

Let's take upgraded GP troops without unique buffs.

6 footmen is 211x6 = 1266 DPS, 473x6 = 2838 HP
1 HC is 208 DPS, 8316 HP.

Using a 1 HC instead of footmen decreases your army DPS by 1058 (83%!) and increases your army HP by 5478 (just 65%).
Gain/Loss DPS/HP ratio is: 5478:1058 = 5.17, so you exchange approx 1 DPS to gain 5.17 HP, if using 1 HC instead of 6 footmen.

If people think that it is a good deal, let us apply this ratio to footmen, we'd get a units like this (111 DPS and 973 HP, 61 DPS 1123 HP). Any Japan/Roman players would like to have such a 'buff/exchange'? I doubt, caz those units would die near the walls even faster and that HP increase wouldn't help. DPS is always the main parameter.

Of course, we may argue that AI of HC is better than footmen, but it's not. Footmen give you more control in unloading and have AI that GENERALS have, which is the best one.
Conclusions are up to you.

P.S.

I am not even calculating unique rangers imbalance, who are a complete joke right now... caz defenders they counter are not even close to the main defensive threats. They might counter horsemen too at least.

 

[Pharon]

What makes HC invaluable is their ability to target defensive structures first, without having to rely on the rally command. They're like vacuum cleaners -- you drop them in and make the surrounding area safe for your footmen and archers. The only vulnerability they have is ballista towers, which can be countered with a sabotage tactic, if necessary.

 

[Redgar]

Not just balistas, which are getting to 3 in the enlightement. Defensive horsemen stuck them heavily, castle can deal with them too, plus traps, so they have more than enough counters. Nevertheless, I agree that army with some HC is better than plain soldiers.

At other hand, army with 100% troops is strongly better than army with 100% HC (even uniques), not saying about 100% archers army. Imbalance is huge here, imo.

 

[Pharon]

I agree with you there -- 100% Footmen is better than 100% HC, but balance is better than both. And one's battle strategy should be focused around whatever unique units you have -- otherwise, you have no advantage.

Personally, I'm Greek -- and I find that 10 HC, 10 bows, 10 footmen are a nice balanced combination, at least so far for me (I'm in Medieval).

 

[General Alexander]

Try deploying 11 HRC + 4 HHR.
Unleash the HHR when enemy's defense is about to demolish.
Generally works fine with Max Medieval Age Base at the loss of 3-4 HRC.

 

[firedancer]

The HC maintains the same ATK until all his 8000HP is depleted. The combined ATK of footmen doesn't. This simply means that every footmen that died from ballistas, mortars, traps and etc. reduces the ATK as they go along.

I don't think this game should be played by spamming single unit i.e. HC only. You will still need some other units to assist. HC alone cannot clear larger bases not because they are weak or strong, but because they move too slow.

 

[woolybugger]

sure, but I can take over bases with no HC losses.
with 100% infantry, you are bound to take losses and require retraining time.

 

[dbukalski]

its been said several times. the best offense is going to have combined units. the fact that pure roman infantry can sort of take a base down with horrendous losses. and pure hc cant destroy the base but lose very few troops(or all of them ) isnt particularly important. cav do their job well, they target the defenses, draw all the attacks like their supposed to. and the infantry clean up behind them as it should be. adjust the amount of cav vs infantry in ur army according to preferance, how u play tactically, which unit bonuses u have. french probably gonna have more cav vs roman with their infantry. but if either go pure one way or the other their probably making a mistake.

 

[Redgar]

HC is still usable, no doubt. We might be forgetting what a joke they were before the buff. But if we consider unique units/nation balance, it was more fair before the nerf, so it was sacrificed in favour of already the strongest nation. They definitelly should buff defense instead (balistas, traps, may be even walls) so it was a badly thought quick fix from their side. I managed to get the same performance I had with pre-nerfed HC once I learned how to use bombards.

 

[dbukalski]

how u using bombards? army comp and strategy on map?

 

[Redgar]

Well, the main trick I've learned is to not loose time on their re-builds I put two of them to rebuild in one barraks and attack even without them when the rest of the army is ready or with just one using mercs, etc. I am loosing them may be 1 time per 10 battles or even less often. Of course, now I have to skip really strong enlightement bases even when they have 300k resources. Today I had my record with 630k in total, tho. I use 2 bombards, 4 HC (was 7 before nerf), 4 raiders, 20 british yomen, 21 soldiers. The main idea of my attacks is to distract catapult with HC and let the main army kill balista towers. Some bases do require tactics and sometimes you have to choose who dies, HC or footmen. But usually I attack with two groups: HC + just a few archers/footmen and the second group with the rest of the army and bombards, what also helps to keep them save, caz all the first waves go for HC. Timing and directions are critical, so both groups meet in the center, it's not like I attack from the two opposite sides, I'd say I attack from the corner or just one side, so it's easy to rally back if things go wrong. i hope this helps. Rebuilding time for bases up to level 70 usually is 6 mins like it was before. Armor blessing makes a big differense tho.

 

[Tekkaman Blade]

@Redgar
Exactly. Don't even need ballista.
2 Stables and catapult will completely destroy those stacked horseman. No matter they have 5000HP or 5 million HP. Stables keep spawning 4 knights at a time+ some garrisons + 4 jungle knights will block those horses literally forever.
I train 3 horses just for the sake of tanking. Still heavily rely on footmen to do the damage job.