Nobody use improved bowman 
because composite is bronze age too.
@LegoVogel said:
Mine are:
- Broad Swordsman
- Improved bowman
- Composite Bowman
They all just look badass to me. (but I know they’re not that good :p)
Actually, composite bowmen can dominate the bronze age battlefield if you have plenty. Their faster build time makes you able to keep them coming a lot faster than chariot archers. They are also ‘cheaper’ than chariot archers as they only cost 40 food and 20 gold whereas chariot archers cost 40 food and 70 wood. If you researched gold mining then you only need about 4-5 gold miners to keep a steady pump from 5 archery ranges. You will be able to use the wood then for sea domination or stone throwers. The only downside to composite bowmen is the fact that you have to do 2 upgardes to be able to use them.
Agreed, I would often switch from cavalry to compies as Yamato as eventually the volume of critical mass archer fire would make cavalry unviable.
Composite bowmen for sure
@BlazingGaming13 said:
@LegoVogel said:
Mine are:
- Broad Swordsman
- Improved bowman
- Composite Bowman
They all just look badass to me. (but I know they’re not that good :p)
Actually, composite bowmen can dominate the bronze age battlefield if you have plenty. Their faster build time makes you able to keep them coming a lot faster than chariot archers. They are also ‘cheaper’ than chariot archers as they only cost 40 food and 20 gold whereas chariot archers cost 40 food and 70 wood. If you researched gold mining then you only need about 4-5 gold miners to keep a steady pump from 5 archery ranges. You will be able to use the wood then for sea domination or stone throwers. The only downside to composite bowmen is the fact that you have to do 2 upgardes to be able to use them.
Definitely. Compies with a few added stone-throwers as funds become avaliable is a devestating combo in Bronze. But it does bleed gold so your attacks need to gain significant ground for it to work. If your opponent can hold off with Chariot Archers alone while teching to Iron he can steamroll you with better units and a bigger gold supply.
From my point of view there is a lack of units and micro-gestion in fight.
I mean in the 3rd you have canon good vs infantry, cavalry good vs canon but some infantry good vs cavalry and …
There is a lack of units. If i remember well all civilisation have the same units (nearly all) . You haven’t as the 2nd and 3rd lot of units and specialisation. I mean civilisation as Russian rush bad infantry but a huge number of them or France which plays defensive until GENDARME…
And it gave me a lot of fun because i had to adpat my self to my opponent, here it’s just 6/7 units even in starcraft 2 you have more …
From my point of view there is a lack of units and micro-gestion in fight.
I mean in the 3rd you have canon good vs infantry, cavalry good vs canon but some infantry good vs cavalry and …
There is a lack of units. If i remember well all civilisation have the same units (nearly all) . You haven’t as the 2nd and 3rd lot of units and specialisation. I mean civilisation as Russian rush bad infantry but a huge number of them or France which plays defensive until GENDARME…
And it gave me a lot of fun because i had to adpat my self to my opponent, here it’s just 6/7 units even in starcraft 2 you have more …
From my point of view there is a lack of units and micro-gestion in fight.
I mean in the 3rd you have canon good vs infantry, cavalry good vs canon but some infantry good vs cavalry and …
There is a lack of units. If i remember well all civilisation have the same units (nearly all) . You haven’t as the 2nd and 3rd lot of units and specialisation. I mean civilisation as Russian rush bad infantry but a huge number of them or France which plays defensive until GENDARME…
And it gave me a lot of fun because i had to adpat my self to my opponent, here it’s just 6/7 units even in starcraft 2 you have more …
@GepardenKalle said:
@BlazingGaming13 said:
@LegoVogel said:
Mine are:
- Broad Swordsman
- Improved bowman
- Composite Bowman
They all just look badass to me. (but I know they’re not that good :p)
Actually, composite bowmen can dominate the bronze age battlefield if you have plenty. Their faster build time makes you able to keep them coming a lot faster than chariot archers. They are also ‘cheaper’ than chariot archers as they only cost 40 food and 20 gold whereas chariot archers cost 40 food and 70 wood. If you researched gold mining then you only need about 4-5 gold miners to keep a steady pump from 5 archery ranges. You will be able to use the wood then for sea domination or stone throwers. The only downside to composite bowmen is the fact that you have to do 2 upgardes to be able to use them.
Definitely. Compies with a few added stone-throwers as funds become avaliable is a devestating combo in Bronze. But it does bleed gold so your attacks need to gain significant ground for it to work. If your opponent can hold off with Chariot Archers alone while teching to Iron he can steamroll you with better units and a bigger gold supply.
@GepardenKalle: You’re right: there is this ‘sweet spot’ for a Composite Bowman rush in the Bronze age. And they’re even stronger when playing Minoans, where they simply out-range sentry towers. And indeed I found them to be very strong in combination with siege units.
But I always thought they’d be easy to counter in Iron Age. Now I just ran some tests* with 2players being on post-iron age. and did some battles which were ‘even’ in terms of resource cost:
1 War Elephant vs. 5 Compies: Compies win
1 War Elephant vs. 4 Compies: War Elephant wins
1 Horse Archer vs. 2 Compies: Compies win
1 Heavy Horse Archer vs. 2 Compies: Heavy Horse Archer wins
1 Chariot Archer vs. 1 Composite Bowman: Chariot Archer wins
2 Chariot Archer vs. 3 Compies: Compies win
1 Slinger vs. 1 Composite Bowman: Slinger wins
Yeah so in terms of cost-effectiveness they’re stronger than I thought. But as @BlazingGaming13 said, the cons are 2 researches that cost time and resources. And you need to have more archery ranges to keep up indeed. The other thing is the pressure on your population cap. (1 War Elephant = 4.5 Composite bowman) and you need them in groups to function well.
If you have the right upgrades for them (like Egyptian, Babylonian, Minoan & Yamato) they can prove to be effective in late-game battles. And that I didn’t know. I always rushed to Iron, skipping those slow researches (except when playing Minoan :p) and started to build horse archers or Elephant archers.
*test info: did all the battles Yamato vs. Yamato. Except: War Elephant, and Chariot Archer, was Egypt vs. Yamato
Persian Elephants
@okilian76 said:
Persian Elephants
Persian only gives movement speed to Elephants. Carthaginian Has health bonus to elephants.
Chariot Archer
Composite Bowman
Hoplite
Trireme / War Galley
Clubman (purely aesthetic - I’d love a paleolithic/neolithic-only mod of AOE)