Hi!
I always love the thought of a mass of men at arms but knights do seem to crush them generally. Even after the new price reduction on men at arms. They both could have similar armor, but men at arms generally attack with half the damage and have half the health of knights but also cost half as much.
Knights with archers is a strong combo.
What would a strong pairing be with men at arms against all those mass knights out there on the battlefield?
that wouldn’t make much sense :d
We’re talking about infantry-focused civs, right? It depends on the civ and the counters.
In theory, Men-at-Arms are weak against Crossbowmen and Knights, but they are good against Archers, Spearmen, and Horsemen.
I’d suggest going with a mix of Crossbowmen and Men-at-Arms. The problem with using only Spearmen is that they share the same engagement line (they’re right up against the enemy) as the Men-at-Arms; this means you have to do a lot of micromanagement to get them to hit the Knights effectively—and the opponent can micromanage their units too. Now, for that strategy, you’ll need a lot of gold, since both units have a gold cost. Always consider the map and how you can leverage it to produce the units you want—especially since they introduced maps with mines containing only 1,600 gold, which is a pittance.
Choosing the best counter-unit is the best way to counter an opponent, unless the opponent beats your counter-units with numbers, altought that generally happens if you let them eco-boom.
Regarding specific civilizations:
Order of the Dragon: One of the best combos is going full Men-at-Arms, Spearmen, and Crossbowmen.
English: They usually boom their economy with farms, and with the extra food, they mass-produce Men-at-Arms alongside various ranged units: if the enemy uses Knights, you add Crossbowmen; otherwise, you use lots of Longbowmen.
HRE: Their Men-at-Arms have the unique trait of being GOOD against Knights thanks to the anti-heavy damage from “Heavy Maces,” so you don’t need as many Crossbowmen. Instead, use Archers or lots of Horsemen, because the enemy will likely build Crossbowmen to counter your Men-at-Arms—meaning you’ll always need units to counter their secondary unit.
I definitely would say more infantry based civs. Obviously HRE has it easiest with that heavy mace bonus and even the malians have a version of heavy armor attack bonus too. But I guess does a men at arms plus a crossbow equal a knight? Cost wise nearly equal but actual usage?
HRE MAA are also super fast which also helps against knights.
What’s the best Men at arms?
HRE - faster, heavy armor bonus?
Ootd- better armor and high stats but double population cost?
Japanese -samurai with deflective armor, bonus to infantry and bannerman bonus?
Sengoku -samurai with a bow and potentially faster attack speed from dyaimo?
Jin dynasty - anti cavalry men at arms?
Templar - their big dude who just gets stronger the more it kills?
Others?
The best option isn’t on your list: Varangian Guard.
Ooo why do you say that? And which one?? The one from Byzantine or the one from macidonian? Berserk vs the potential+6 to damage and armor?
I guess thinking of other ones the Jean’d’arc champion men at arms unit is also really good! Bonus to spears is a bit IDK odd? Like if you still have a lot of cavalry it’s good!
Also another surprise favorite is the golden horse men at arms and their rus tribute that gets a bonus to cavalry. Pair them with the landmark upgrade for better range armor, do the triple unit production. Then add the karash for another bonus to armor and they become very resilient!
Do man at arms and crossbow combo it mostly kills everything.