Like many others in the community, I didn't really think much of the Samurai. Its built-in promo was okay, but not that great - a so-so unit. I've had occasion to revisit Japan and change my mind. The Samurai is pretty awesome.
Strangely enough, the unit that inspired me to revisit the Samurai was the powerful Janissary. It can't be built prior to Gunpowder, so it starts out under promoted compared to upgraded Longswordsmen, but its native qualities quickly allow it to shine and to pull ahead, once promos get even. I had a lot of fun trashing AI armies with my Jannissaries.
It occurred to me that Samurai are, in fact, the same way. You could upgrade your promoted Japanese Swordsmen into Samurai, but since they don't inherit the built-in promo, they're not really Samurai Samurai. They're upgraded Swordsmen.
The first time through, I thought, "What's the diff? The Samurai's promo simply allows it to play catch-up a little better, nothing more."
Couldn't have been more wrong.
This time around, I defended my nascent Japanese Empire from Mohawk rushes and Russian offensives with just Archers and one Warrior. Bushido allows you to pull shenanigans with Archers and Warriors you can't otherwise do, so it was easier than normal. Once Steel came in, upgraded to Samurai - nothing special, just a Longswordman with a different skin.
So, I built the Armory and bought/built a core force of 5 Samurai starting with Shock 3. Same diff, right? Apparently not. By virtue of having the first promo free, every succeeding promo was one level cheaper. This meant that although my Swordsman was up to Shock 3 before I started making Samurai, the ground-built Samurai rapidly outpaced it in promotions, aided by Military Tradition.
At 30 XP base, it only takes 30 more XP for a Shock 3 Samurai to reach Blitz - 4 attacks and one city bombardment. Three of my five Samurai were Blitz after I took the first city. They were all Blitz after the second. By the time I was on the third, two of them had March, too.
Blitz Samurai perform remarkably under Bushido. Unlike normal Blitz units, Blitz Bushido units deliver the same damage on the second attack as on the first, and they'll deal a hell of hurt to any melee attackers who mean to finish them off with a counterattack after the second attack (and since my Blitz Samurai were easy to make, I didn't mind losing any).
In comparing with Janissaries, Blitz Samurai (later Blitz Riflemen) perform similarly on the field. Janissaries who overpower their enemies can fully heal, which means they always do full damage on the turn after and are hardy and irresistible, but they have to overpower the enemy that hard to get the effect, and they can't retreat or attack twice.
Blitz Samurai perform well whether or not they kill the unit they attack, they can retreat back after attacking, and they can kill two units a turn in the right circumstances.
In attacking cities, Blitz Samurai are better. They can attack twice per turn, which multiplies the force you can exert on a city, and unlike normal Blitz units, neither the City Bombardment on approach, nor the first attack blunts the damage done by the second attack. The upshot of this is that I was able to take out a 30 defense city (multiple such cities, in fact) in surprisingly easy fashion just by storming it with Blitz Samurai and brutely attacking it the turn after approach. It seems that the equivalent of 8 full-strength Longswordman attacks can do that.
They performed so well under Bushido that I delayed getting Rifling as much as possible and made as many Blitz Samurai with B-Gate (Samurai actually get built with Blitz if you have Brandenburg Gate) as I could before I was forced to move on. I kept those as garrisons. They'll supply me with all the infantry I'll need until the game ends.
Apparently, playing as Japan means never having to control a melee unit without Blitz. Super fun.
Strangely enough, the unit that inspired me to revisit the Samurai was the powerful Janissary. It can't be built prior to Gunpowder, so it starts out under promoted compared to upgraded Longswordsmen, but its native qualities quickly allow it to shine and to pull ahead, once promos get even. I had a lot of fun trashing AI armies with my Jannissaries.
It occurred to me that Samurai are, in fact, the same way. You could upgrade your promoted Japanese Swordsmen into Samurai, but since they don't inherit the built-in promo, they're not really Samurai Samurai. They're upgraded Swordsmen.
The first time through, I thought, "What's the diff? The Samurai's promo simply allows it to play catch-up a little better, nothing more."
Couldn't have been more wrong.
This time around, I defended my nascent Japanese Empire from Mohawk rushes and Russian offensives with just Archers and one Warrior. Bushido allows you to pull shenanigans with Archers and Warriors you can't otherwise do, so it was easier than normal. Once Steel came in, upgraded to Samurai - nothing special, just a Longswordman with a different skin.
So, I built the Armory and bought/built a core force of 5 Samurai starting with Shock 3. Same diff, right? Apparently not. By virtue of having the first promo free, every succeeding promo was one level cheaper. This meant that although my Swordsman was up to Shock 3 before I started making Samurai, the ground-built Samurai rapidly outpaced it in promotions, aided by Military Tradition.
At 30 XP base, it only takes 30 more XP for a Shock 3 Samurai to reach Blitz - 4 attacks and one city bombardment. Three of my five Samurai were Blitz after I took the first city. They were all Blitz after the second. By the time I was on the third, two of them had March, too.
Blitz Samurai perform remarkably under Bushido. Unlike normal Blitz units, Blitz Bushido units deliver the same damage on the second attack as on the first, and they'll deal a hell of hurt to any melee attackers who mean to finish them off with a counterattack after the second attack (and since my Blitz Samurai were easy to make, I didn't mind losing any).
In comparing with Janissaries, Blitz Samurai (later Blitz Riflemen) perform similarly on the field. Janissaries who overpower their enemies can fully heal, which means they always do full damage on the turn after and are hardy and irresistible, but they have to overpower the enemy that hard to get the effect, and they can't retreat or attack twice.
Blitz Samurai perform well whether or not they kill the unit they attack, they can retreat back after attacking, and they can kill two units a turn in the right circumstances.
In attacking cities, Blitz Samurai are better. They can attack twice per turn, which multiplies the force you can exert on a city, and unlike normal Blitz units, neither the City Bombardment on approach, nor the first attack blunts the damage done by the second attack. The upshot of this is that I was able to take out a 30 defense city (multiple such cities, in fact) in surprisingly easy fashion just by storming it with Blitz Samurai and brutely attacking it the turn after approach. It seems that the equivalent of 8 full-strength Longswordman attacks can do that.
They performed so well under Bushido that I delayed getting Rifling as much as possible and made as many Blitz Samurai with B-Gate (Samurai actually get built with Blitz if you have Brandenburg Gate) as I could before I was forced to move on. I kept those as garrisons. They'll supply me with all the infantry I'll need until the game ends.
Apparently, playing as Japan means never having to control a melee unit without Blitz. Super fun.
