Pisskop
Goblin Axeman
A halbred is an axe one a stick with a sharpened end. i.e. = Axe-pikeman.
This is another UU that looks a lot more powerful on paper than it actually is in practice. The problem is that if you want to use them on offense, they’re going to run into longbowmen, in which case you’re better off with mostly macemen to go with your siege units. As stack defense, they’re decent but not quite as good as crossbowmen against macemen, and you still need knights or crossbows/longbows to protect your stack from enemy crossbowmen. Your primary use for the Landsknecht will still just be for defense against mounted units.
A halbred is an axe one a stick with a sharpened end. i.e. = Axe-pikeman.
I upgraded it a while back from "worst UU candidate" to simply "bottom tier", as it is clearly better than things like the Panzer.
The reasons LK are crappy:
1. They are no better at anti-mounted than pikes
2. They are only marginally better against melee than maces
3. They are no better than pikes at all against the most common defenders in cities (longbows)
4. They get completely ruined by xbows and thus you still need the anti-xbow component in your army.
So what role do they serve? They're worse pure attackers than maces, worse against enemy maces than crossbows, and don't beat knights better than regular pikes. They get slightly upgraded over pikes because they can attack offensive stacks a bit more effectively (mace defenders don't ruin you, just xbows), but all they amount to is a slightly more powerful version of a role player in a standard stack...but they also come in one of the harder time periods to war.
If you play AW, try playing as the Khmer some time. It's one of the few situations in which the Ballista Elephant really shines.I agree. For me, better than the ballista elephant, carrack (I rarely play watery maps), and seal I think, and possibly phalanx or even berserker too, and maybe others I can't remember.
...
Now I've convinced myself to give them a go in one of the stupid AW team games I've been playing recently.
It's ridiculous that axes get a melee bonus and are superior to spears at melee in the first place lol.
I'm not sure a halberd is materially better in these kinds of battles either.
If you play AW, try playing as the Khmer some time. It's one of the few situations in which the Ballista Elephant really shines.
The Panzer is the worst UU for me, although it looks darn cool. The Gallic Warrior is a close second.
The problem is that they don't really replace anti-melee units, Crossbows or Maces are usally better against melee threats.
Landsknechte let one get a balanced stack defense on less hammers so we can go a little heavier on siege. That's only marginally useful though, because the anti-melee units we can replace are the best cleanup units available. At least until gunpowder.
Well I disagree with that maces are powerfull(...) I don't find you really need maces.
I'll go with "marginally useful". I just had a game where I bulbed towards engineering before CS, and attacked with mainly them, xbows and trebs, and I can't say I either noticed their effectiveness or missed maces. So that was inconclusive for me anyway. Obsolete units work for cleanup after siege, I don't find you really need maces.
what so ridiculous about it > ? smash his skull untill he cannot move a spell. Nothing complicated about axes ! just watch for Your legs , one bad swing can cost You !
Doing the numbers, landsknechts are superior to maces for attacking melee when the defender's modifier is between 0 and 100% (don't include the -50% or -100% adjustment coming from the attacker's melee bonus in that modifier). Otherwise the maces perform better. Of course, the real problem would be they suck at attacking anything else than mounted/melee? I guess that's where siege comes in.
Lines of soldiers with spears can, and did (repeatedly) completely slaughter melee weapons that requite a wide swing. Even one on one an axe is pretty unwieldy compared to a spear...but in organized combat spears were largely king until shooting the enemy with guns became practical.
it would be easier to recover from a missed swing than a misssed thrust
pikes/landsknechts and trebs than maces/berzerkers/samurais and catapults.
After them I tried Ballista Elephants in another AW game, and they were ****ing awesome! It almost seemed unfair, the ease with which they removed all of the knights and HAs out of enemy stacks - eg. with crossbows and only a little luck, they could destroy big stack of Knights, maces and Pikes without loss. Thanks to Doshin for that recommendation!