Draco_Wolfgand
Mortal
posted 21 June 2017 07:57 AM EDT (US)
Now, first of all, I need to clarify: By "Heavy Cavalry", I mean cavalry units which are stronger but slower then usual and are meant to be at least as good( If not better ) at dealing with infantry as they are to deal with archers. Namelly: The Jarl, the War Elephant, and the Cataphract.
Now, I am imagining using Hoplites against the Cataphract would be a incredibly bad idea, but as for the other two... I usually only win battles against then when the Hoplites greatly outnumber then, and as such I prefer to use the Prodromos. The thing is, I never actually bothered to count, let us say, just how many of my Hoplites died versus how many enemy War Elephants died, for a example, to do the math. Not to mention how I assume it also depends on the god upgrades chosen by either player.
So, summarising: Are Hoplites viable against heavy cavalry units?
eine_Gurkensalat
Mortal
(id: eine_gurkensalad)
posted 21 June 2017 08:35 AM
EDT (US)
1 / 2
Hoplites as you said can't beat Cataphracts. Owever, this is one of the best Infantry unit to that because they are very solid and resistant for their cost, so they can resist enough time to let your archers beat the low pierce armored cataphracts.
Of course, the maceman or even the royal guard do this better. The myrmidon has some trouble because he has a slightly lower bonus, but he has 0.45 base hack armor.
Against Jarl, hoplite are definitively good, because jarls are expensive and their myth bonus don't apply on hoplites... Prodromos are better and they can go after if they flee.
Against War Elephants, it is quite balanced. Since War Elephants are often used against buildings, your hoplite can do to them fair damages. But because they don't have any bonus, they will lost at equal cost (same upgrades) and worse at equal pop.
Even Prodromos have trouble to beat Elephant, because their speed isn't used in such battle. But they do very big damages and with some micro you can attack War elephants better than they can attack your prodromos (let's say you run on a single Elephant with 5 prodromos and then an other etc).
The best greek elephant counters for me (in degressive order) are cyclops, hydras, medusas, chimeras, Colossus toxotes and of course Odysseus who got a *10 bonus against War Elephants