Great Conqueror: Rome Surena

Really good if you can use him like he should be used, trash if you don't. DRUSUS IS MUCH EASIER TO USE! OCTAVIAN IS SOMEWHAT BETTER! Surena is cheaper than Octavian and Better than Drusus. Maybe I just use Drusus like trash, though.

Me . Octavian is my 3rd Archer gen (After Caesar, Mith VI). It's a bit long time (may be more than 1 year) I come back this sub forum. 

Renege again. He, even when he is not on Horse Archers, is still pretty great. If I were to get a non-Dolabella strong Archer gen (even though Archer gens suck), he would be my man.

"But what about his competition?" Well, let's take a look. There are really 4 gens that act as Competition: Cleopatra, Mithridates VI, Octavian, and Drusus. I will not include Caesar. The other ones are strictly worse.

First Cleopatra. She is strictly worse than Octavian, but has something great: her price. She is 150 medals cheaper than Surena with the two best Archer skills in the game. However, that's just it. She only has 7 stars, bad. She has only two skills and no talent, bad. Even with her wonderful price, she still isn't good enough to cut it.

Next, Drusus. This will be really easy, because they are (roughly) the same price, with the same number of stars. Therefore, it is just skill and talent Comparison. Drusus has Advantage+Inspire. This means constant High morale and a +25% crit rate. He also has reduced Archer Damage, and a bonus when counterattacking in cities. Rain of Arrow is strictly worse than Street Fighting because you can attack in a city as well as defend in one. IMO, Marksman is about equal to Hide on an Archer. I think a 100% chance to dodge a 10% blockade (pretty common) is about equal to -25 Archer damage, as Archers shouldn't be attacked by (or attack) other Archers. So far Surena wins. Next, Drusus is one rank higher. This provides Drusus with higher attack, along with an extra stack. The stack is pretty unnecessary, as one, Archers shouldn't need it, and two, even if they did need it, it is hard to come by. However, it should not be completely discredited, as it provides more output. Next, we have Inspire+Advantage vs. Besiege, Archer Tactics, and Accuracy. I will assume you give the Laurel Crown to your best gen (Pompey). Advantage in this case strictly is better than Archer Tactics by 15%. So it is down to High Morale plus 15% crit rate versus Besiege+ Attacking in Cities+ Accuracy. Now I like besiege, because your generals will almost always outnumber the enemy. Street Fighting, as we see with Scipio, is an excellent offensive skill, Accuracy is strong, as that is the main target for your Archers. The 15% crit rate is good, IMO, but not great, because it is very Inconsistent. Inspire is amazing, but Orations and/or a Gold Ring should do the trick. This gives Drusus an extra skill slot. Lastly, Surena is Gold, so he gets a higher maximum level, and is a good cav Hybrid. I vote Surena in this scenario, but I understand if you choose otherwise.

Octavian is him, but with Counterattack And Arch Commander, along with Rank difference, instead of Marksman and Street Fighting, along with Cav Hybridity. IMO, Counterattack is a horrible ability for Archers, you never want them to be attacked considering how fragile they are. It is almost useless. I would say the rank advantage and that make it worse than Marksman. Then we have Archer Commander versus Street Fighting. As strong as Street Fighting is, it still pales in comparison to Archer Commander, the best skill for Archers in the game. However, Surena is saved by his 75 medal-less price. An Archer is less important than other units, so IMO, even a strong Archer like Octavian loses by this Huge price difference.

Lastly, we have his biggest opponent. Mithridates VI. They Share Besiege. Mith VI is a rank Higher. His Jungle Fighting is terrible without Geography (I doubt you will give him that item rather than a gold ring), but still reasonably useful if you are an excellent player. His talent, while incredibly terrible , goes well with besiege and advantage, so I think we can put all those equal to the Almighty Street Fighting. So to wrap this up, we have Archer Commander, Advantage, and an extra star versus Marksman, Archer Tactics, Cav ability, Accuracy, and 60 medals. You can choose who wins, but I like Surena more than even the Almighty Mith VI.

In Conclusion, Surena is the best Strong Archer gen in the Game.

PS: You may be wondering why I rate Marksman so high. "But Gerd von Rundstedt, it is terrible, the AI doesn't build Fortifications." And you'd be right on the second part. However, campaigns start with a lot of them, and you should build them, too (what else are you going to do with your industry?). The enemy, for most of you, will inevitably capture some of yours, so I think Marksman, while not nearly a top skill, is also not nearly a trash skill. 10% in this game is a huge amount.

Lol. It’s just hard to like someone if I prefer a general who is a fifth of his price, Pedius, because of his rumor

Dolabella is a very good general tho. He has a great rank, he is fast, has a cheap terrain bonus (tho i wish it was jf), and has advantage. I can understand why.

The Surena hype I am confused by. Why would you ever want an archer without archer commander?

Friedrich “Fried Rice” Paulus, what are your thoughts? Should I get a powerful Archer? I currently have Hekatonarches, Pompey, Scipio, Dolabella, and 350 medals. I also don't want a commonly bought gen. Any ideas?

Now I have Wei, Sertorius, and 471 medals. Which type of gen next?