[I Need Some Tips On How To Destroy Massive Archer Army]

Thank you for the answers everyone. I attempted to describe massive all Archer-Infantry armies, but your replies, I believe, should suffice.

[Are Stone Towers Too Powerful?]

On 10/10/2021 at 2:13 PM, Norse_Harold said:

Huffman3829, if you mass enough troops, especially champion and hero types, then you can surround the tower and capture it relatively quickly. In my opinion, the most likely root cause of the problems that newer players have with towers isn't the towers, it's their economy. Watch replays and read guides on how to have an efficient and highly productive economy in the game. Then you will be able to produce a large army, which can walk right past towers or else capture them quickly. Experiment with different strategies.

Also, did you know that you can garrison up to 10 infantry units in a battering ram or siege tower, and this protects them from 99% of piercing damage, such as from tower-fired arrows? It's unrealistic, I know, but it can be useful when your opponent has garrisoned swordsmen ready to defend against your rams.

Select a battering ram, right-click on the largest picture of the ram at the bottom of the screen, and you will see the statistics for how much armor it has against different types of damage. Garrisoned troops benefit from that armor.

If the battering ram is attacked, you can ungarrison troops in it by selecting the ram and pressing "U" or the ungarrison button at the bottom of the screen. Then the troops can defend in the vicinity of the ram.

I have done this in the past. Just early in the game, (I prefer to use all-Citizen-Infantry armies early on) it's difficult to make any offensive maneuver without losing the majority if my troops. This can only work in City phase.

[What if pikemen had their attack rate halved?]

On 04/10/2021 at 9:05 AM, LetswaveaBook said:

@Huffman3829 I guess the title for this tread was maybe a ill proven. I mainly wanted to make a point in a humorous way that the armor values are problematic. So take the suggestion with a grain of salt.

I understand. I just wanted to give you some stats.

[I Need Some Tips On How To Destroy Massive Archer Army]

Sometimes I get stuck in this heck of a pickle. Every time I try to break their line, (usually by Cavalry Swordsmen, or Cavalry Skirmishers. Cavalry Spearmen or other Infantry doesn't seem to leave much of a dent.) the majority of my soldiers get killed. It becomes very difficult to fight back once they get a good position and start fighting. As you can tell, when I fight against other players, I hate when they Archer-spam. Please tell me how to deal with this.

[What if pikemen had their attack rate halved?]

Pikemen? Please.

They are weak enough as it is. I never seem to be able to kill units, especially Hoplites. By half is too much.

I was thinking 1 point each at most. But to be honest, I think Pikemen should do more damage.

Or why not leave it as it is? Anyways, it's best to use Spearmen early in the game, because they do more raw damage than Pikemen. If you want to fight with Pikemen, (they are one of my favorite units) wait until later in the game. It would be easier to make a larger group of them, and that is the only way to do some real damage on your foe, isn't it?

Pikemen were made to be crowd-fighters, they can never fight on their own, or in small groups. I have experimented with this in the Map Editor, pitting Spearmen and Pikemen against each other, and the results were interesting. First, I fought 10 v 10. At the beginning, it seemed the Pikemen would win. They lost about 2 men while the Spearmen lost 5. Then the Spearmen started winning after they killed the unit at the far right, and they started picking off the enemy one by one until they had obliterated the enemy forces and left them at 4 men.

Next I fought 40 v 40. The Spearmen won very easily, losing very little. The Pikemen lost quickly.

Next I fought 60 v 60. The Pikemen somehow tore through the enemy within the first, about, 10 seconds. In those 10 seconds, the Pikemen lost around 3 men while the Spearmen lost most. Then very shortly after, the Pikemen lost 1 man while the enemy forces were destroyed.

These are the results of my experiment, and I would say the damage of the Pikeman currently is fair.

[What if pikemen had their attack rate halved?]

I was thinking that if you do this, maybe consider giving more armor. More health is already needed.

[Are Stone Towers Too Powerful?]

22 hours ago, Gurken Khan said:

I try to prevent the enemy to garrison the towers. If I really take it by surprise I might capture it before the AI has time to react, or I can kill the line of units that tries to get to the tower. Sometimes I move out of sight from the tower to get it ungarrisoned and then try the above again. (Reversely, I like to man my towers. Hated it when the enemy took over one of my towers...)

Thank you for that. I will try.

I usually do attempt to kill units before they garrison.

[what games do you play besides 0ad?]

Minecraft, of course. Wonder why anyone else didn't say that. I actually still play Minecraft, and very frequently.

I also like Cuphead.

[Are Stone Towers Too Powerful?]

I've noticed from playing that when I raid, my Units get killed of very quickly. I now use Battering Rams a lot more often when Raiding, but still, even weaker AIs seem to spam Stone Towers everywhere. They really are a nuisance. I'm not asking to remove them, I just think they are a little too powerful. Anyone feel the same way?

[more citizen infantry variety]

All Soldiers in Ancient Egypt (more so the Ptolemaic Dynasty than the Kushite Dynasty) used Axes as Secondary weapons, meaning that all men had an Axe with them to use if their Spear broke, or a Sickle like Sword called a Khopesh. Spears would be the primary weapon, not the Pike as shown in the Game. (Pikes were used almost exclusively by the Ruling Classes.) Swords were rare in Combat compared to the Spear and Axe, and the Axe was used as a Counter-Infantry weapon, I'm guessing against Swordsmen. It would be strange if an Axeman fought against a Spearman, for the Spear would kill the Axeman before he could even swing. They would have an advantage over the Swordsmen, though. The Britons and the Gauls alike used Axes for the same purposes as the Egyptians, and used them as a Secondary weapon. Shortswords used more often as a Secondary weapon than the Axe.. Although some would fight exclusively with the Axe, it was most common to use a Spear. The Spartans also fought with Axes, though rarely. Remember, the Celts and the Spartans fought with a Militia Force, so the weapons used would vary. As ChronA said, the Romans also used Axes, but on occasion only. It was a smaller Axe called a Pilum, and was thrown at the enemy to cause disorder among the enemy, much of a similar use to the Plumbata . Actually, most Ancient Armies had some Axe units, but they would be very rare, as Axes would only be used in specialized combat. The Chinese Imperial Guard (Han Dynasty) used only Axes and were famous for using very large ones, like this:

 

So yes, it does make sense Historically, because all the Civilizations I discussed in the latter paragraph have used Axemen in their Military. Of course, 0 A.D. doesn't have the Han Chinese as a Civilization, but I just wanted to share that interesting morsel of information. In case you wanted to know, my two favorite Ancient Civilizations are the Hasmonean Dynasty Jews and the Brythonic Celts. And my favorite Weapon/Tool is the Axe. That is the main reason why I wrote this is to get some Axemen into the game. Although there are some Axe units, like Kushite Temple Guards, and Hyrcanian Axe Horsemen, I just wanted some Civilian Infantry. Thank you for reading.