I must admit that I thought the same.
TA have often been discussed. In the early ages they were considered way op, and now, after a 0.5 attack nerf, they are considered way up. I can only say that they do a good job for me, with or without Skadi.
Look, they do 4.5 damage with a 2.25x multiplier vs infantry (even more against hoplites). That means about 10 hack damage total.
Now compare this to the classical infantry counters of other races, particularly the infamous toxotes, which are said to own pretty much everything, but are also used primarily against infantry (look, Greek have nothing better vs infantry in classical age, and nobody complains about it). Toxotes do 6.5 damage per second against infantry. Okay, they have the advantage that they do pierce damage, and infantry normally has lower pierce armor than hack armor. But that can hardly compensate for 10 damage vs 6.5 damage.
To compensate, toxotes have the additional advantage that they have the better range and do full damage against non-infantry targets, too.
Full damage? Many non-infantry targets, especially most cavalry, have good pierce armor but poor hack armor. And that is where the TA comes back into play. TA do a base 4.5 damage vs RC and hippikons, but those have only 10-15% hack armor. Toxotes do 6.5 damage against them, but have 35% pierce armor standing against them, and against hippikons and contarii tox suffer a 0.9x penalty multiplier, while TA do not.
FLAME DISCLAIMER: I am not saying that tox are bad or that TA are just as good as tox. They certainly are not, their significantly lower range being the main reason. But against infantry, they serve an excellent job. Also remember that their hack armor is the best of all Norse human combat units (besting even the ulfsark), and they have slightly more hp than tox, so while they need to get closer to the target, they can better afford having a leaking meat shield and being confronted with melee attackers (against which tox sure die quickly with their 60 hp and 15% hack armor).So against infantry, TA are definitely an efficient choice (and way better than their reputation). They also do well against hippikons due to TA having high and hipps low hack armor. They do less well against RC because these have slightly better hack armor and a substantial bonus vs TA.
Quoted from Quircus:
Norse have too many God Dependancies.
I disagree. Norse has to choose a stronger focus than the other races, but that is not necessarily a disadvantage, because you can direct this focus against the primary strength of the god that you are facing. For instance, I have seen NoFx__P3n3m4 going Forseti/Bragi/Tyr against Ra, obviously focussing on ulfsarks (but also on huskarls), and he ended up having an uber-ulf/bravery-huskarl mix that countered all migdol units effectively. Ra has to resort to axemen, which no Ra likes to make, because Ra has his boni on migdol units and normally avoids even making barracks, not to mention investing in axemen upgrades. Against axemen, TA can be added, doing very well against Ra axemen when shielded by uber-ulfs or a few jarls.
Quote:
they NEED Bragi to fight Cavalry
Yes. If they are facing a cavalry god (including all Eggy due to phants), then Bragi is obviously first choice.
Quoted from Quircus:
they NEED Skadi to fight Infantry
No. For the reasons just explained TA do well even without Skadi. Of course Skadi is a good choice against an Infantry god such as Loki or Zeus. Skadi's Frost will also counter Loki/Bragi's Flaming Weapons.
Quoted from Quircus:
and they NEED Baldr/Freya/Njord to fight Archers...
Umm... why? I mean, having three gods to choose from for only one purpose is not a bad start, but if I go Tyr instead of Baldr, I get Bravery Huskarls, which will rape any enemy archers with ease! Bravery Huskarls also have a Zeus hoplite bonus against buildings (but way better pierce armor against the defensive building fire), so you can use them to destroy archers and raze buildings.
In mythic age, I can also add ballistae. They have good pierce armor and longer range than any archer, and the most dangerous archers (particularly toxotes and Chariot Archers) have low pierce armor.