Camel Archer, Cataphract or Conquistador?

[reddishrecue]

Which knight do you prefer?
Camel Archer, Cataphract, Conquistador or plain Knight? None/ I don't use knights.?

 

[Ghpstage]

Your playing vanilla/warlords I assume? Conquistadors are no longer Knights in BTS, they are the unique version of the much better Cuirassier unit. They've been excellent UUs since they patched a crippling bug.

Of the other two, Cataphracts are far better though I seldom use Knights.

 

[Mylene]

Of the other two, Cataphracts are far better though I seldom use Knights.

Iam not so sure
Is 2str really much better than first strike immunity (matters against longbows, if engineering appears they are both out in a competitive game) and 15% withdrawal, and no need to hook up Iron if it happens to be far away.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

yes.

cataphracts are pretty awesome - there is nothing that can beat them until rifles. You need seige, of course, which is less helpful.

Camel archers aren't the worst UU, but they are definitely mediocre.

 

[GKey]

Cataphracts looks better then they actually are. I felt into this trap couple of times "wow early cheap cuirassiers!" Um no! What is cataphracts era main defender? Longbows! luck of first strike immunity really matters.

 

[Tlalynet]

Of the two the camel, of the three probably the Conqistador.

15% evade really helps when runing a knight blitz, and re-sourceless is nice.

The first attack VS a longbow is probably going to be a loss one way or another, and the second attack is probably going to win weather you have 10 or 12 str. An extra 15% on the escape rate can save troops an extra 20% str cannot.

 

[Bei1052]

Your playing vanilla/warlords I assume? Conquistadors are no longer Knights in BTS, they are the unique version of the much better Cuirassier unit. They've been excellent UUs since they patched a crippling bug.

Of the other two, Cataphracts are far better though I seldom use Knights.

Cataphracts aren't in Vanilla/Warlods, so I would have to guess BtS.

Anyway, Conquistadors all the way. They get a +50% bonus against melee units (meaning you don't have to fear pikes at all) and they can defend. If they're not the best mounted unit, they're the second best.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Iam not so sure
Is 2str really much better than first strike immunity (matters against longbows, if engineering appears they are both out in a competitive game) and 15% withdrawal, and no need to hook up Iron if it happens to be far away.

FS immunity won't come anywhere near the 2 strength for the vast majority of cataphract encounters, on an odds basis.

Cataphract needs to be very early or to have spy support however. Castles hurt them lots.

 

[Akbarthegreat]

Beelining to guilds makes cataphracts quite darn powerfdul.

 

[elohssa]

I've tried rushing with cataphracts and they really didn't impress me that much (I did get some of the worst RNG I ever had though). It seems without siege and with walls/castle they really struggle against longbows (especially protective ones). Sending them with siege is an option but defeats the point of a 2 move unit. In my experience I would much rather have Janissaries who are much more cost-effective (and resourseless) and only 1 tech deeper in the tech tree. Conquistadors all the way.

 

[Skallagrimson]

I've tried rushing with cataphracts and they really didn't impress me that much (I did get some of the worst RNG I ever had though). It seems without siege and with walls/castle they really struggle against longbows (especially protective ones). Sending them with siege is an option but defeats the point of a 2 move unit. In my experience I would much rather have Janissaries who are much more cost-effective (and resourseless) and only 1 tech deeper in the tech tree. Conquistadors all the way.

Spies + worst enemy + EP yield buildings, and maybe 10% or so slider EP should help with that whole castle problem.

Then you still get your 2 move epicness.

 

[Skallagrimson]

The only real problem with all of these is opportunity window: Guilds (or MT for Conquistadors) comes late, and Rifling comes pretty soon after that if you're teching right. Granted the AIs tend to dawdle in their Rifling tech paths but all it takes is for one of them like a Wang Kong to tech into it and boom they all have it, they trade it around like water.

 

[twansalem]

I voted plain Knight. Not because they're actually better, but because if I have regular knights, that means that I have a different UU.

I'm not a fan of the Conquistador mostly because it requires a dead end tech. I'd rather trade an AI for it later than research it myself, and by the time I do that the conquistador has lost a bit of it's punch, and I might be able to build cavalry by that point anyway.