Why Archer commander is the best
Jun 29, 2023 7:23:06 GMT
Kliment Jefremovitš Vorošilov, Theron of Acragas, and 1 more like this
Post by John Marston on Jun 29, 2023 7:23:06 GMT
I've been playing GCR for a while now. I initially thought of making my commander specialize in cavalry, even giving him a couple of cavalry skills. However I was persuaded to change my mind and make my man an archer commander. Needless to say, I have no regrets, in spite of spending 5000 gold and wasting the scrolls of cavalry commander and ambush on ten sides. The investment was totally worth it and here's why -
0. The innate advantage of archers - Of course my man is an archer so its fair to talk about the innate ability of archers which is - to attack without being countered. This is one of the most crucial and important archers ability which enhance their survival. This is crucial because of one big reason - low investment once deployed. Archers don't get counterattacked due to which unless you have archers on your frontlines, they can easily survive without replenishments, the money which can be used elsewhere. Also, archers deal more damage relatively compared to other legions.
1. You can ignore defense items - If you can position your legions correctly so that you provide adequate protection for your archers, you can safely throw away defense items out of the window. Never allow archers to venture out on their own and absolutely do not use them as scouting units. Make sure that your archers are flanked by your own legions or at least, position your troops to defend your archers in case you expect an attack from any direction. In most of the cases though, simply putting any unit just before your archers in the direction of enemy attack should distract them.
I have noticed a few of AI behaviours in this game which I will list here.
a. The enemy AI regularly attacks your legions which are nearest to them. So if you're expecting an attack, just put your most tanky general in that direction, with adequate protection behind him, just to be on the safe side. You don't want the guy who emerges from the shadows to be Caesar or Pompey.
b. If there is an objective you need to hold, the AI sometimes charges mindlessly, head long into that objective. I was horrified when my archer commander scouted Pompey standing right beside him. But he ignored my archer and just went to besige the city I was holding. I'm not sure how often this works, but it did happen a fair number of times.
c. The enemy AI will attack that unit which last attacked it. If you have an infantry and cavalry, and attack first with infantry and then cavalry, the AI seems to attack the cavalry. Keep in mind that like always, its not true everytime and the legions holding cities seem to attack randomly.
So, if you can position your legions correctly and provide adequate defense and attack with archers first before attacking with other legions, you don't need defense items.
2. You can ignore movement items - You don't want your archer to be too fast otherwise it can be difficult for others to keep up. The advantage of using your commander as archer is that he has an innate ability of +3 (?) movement I believe, which is fast enough to keep up with the frontlines and slow enough so that the legions guarding archers can keep up. Any extra mobility imo is unnecessary. It just seems to me that the his hero talent is perfectly suited for archers.
3. Damage dealing - In the beginning the commander has the worst abilities. 1 star in everything. He struggles to deal damage and making him archer commander partly addresses this issue. Of course I trained my commander twice due to which he had a fair bit of damage dealing ability from early on. However, since you don't need movement or defense items for your guy, you can give him an attack item, buffing up his attack and making up for the lack of his ability (In case you chose not to train him). Even if you do decide to train him, giving him an attack item makes him a force to be reckoned with. If you decide to make your commander as other types, he will obviously struggle with damage dealing (If you don't train him) initially. This can be avoided with archers.
4. No perfect archer commader - I bet most of you all here felt that Mithridates can be further improved like maybeeee plain fighting instead of Jungle (Just realized that it would literally be Caesar
)?. I mean, we have the tanky Pompey and destructive Vercingetorix for infantry. One man show Belisarius and the deadly Asian named Huo for cavalry. But there isn't any such duo for archers (Discounting IAPs). Even if you do consider Mithridates as the best (He is, with the exception of commander), there isn't a second archer guy you can use. Octavian needs somewhat of initial investment in his archer ability and even then, he has counterattack which is not preferable for archers. Surena is far behind Mithridates. Drusus is also a worthy second, but not on par with the other 'seconds' like Verc or Huo. Thus that gives you another reason to make your commander an archer - to fill the battlefield with rain of arrows and destroy your enemies along with Mithridates .
Well, obviously there will be flaws in my analysis, things that I don't know yet. I haven't played the game for nearly as long as some you guys did (Still in post Caesarion civil wars in the campaign and struggled massively in my first and only conquest till now, taking around 100 rounds). Anyways, these are the reasons I put forth as to why an Archer commander is the best choice.
Me commander says hello to you all
0. The innate advantage of archers - Of course my man is an archer so its fair to talk about the innate ability of archers which is - to attack without being countered. This is one of the most crucial and important archers ability which enhance their survival. This is crucial because of one big reason - low investment once deployed. Archers don't get counterattacked due to which unless you have archers on your frontlines, they can easily survive without replenishments, the money which can be used elsewhere. Also, archers deal more damage relatively compared to other legions.
1. You can ignore defense items - If you can position your legions correctly so that you provide adequate protection for your archers, you can safely throw away defense items out of the window. Never allow archers to venture out on their own and absolutely do not use them as scouting units. Make sure that your archers are flanked by your own legions or at least, position your troops to defend your archers in case you expect an attack from any direction. In most of the cases though, simply putting any unit just before your archers in the direction of enemy attack should distract them.
I have noticed a few of AI behaviours in this game which I will list here.
a. The enemy AI regularly attacks your legions which are nearest to them. So if you're expecting an attack, just put your most tanky general in that direction, with adequate protection behind him, just to be on the safe side. You don't want the guy who emerges from the shadows to be Caesar or Pompey.
b. If there is an objective you need to hold, the AI sometimes charges mindlessly, head long into that objective. I was horrified when my archer commander scouted Pompey standing right beside him. But he ignored my archer and just went to besige the city I was holding. I'm not sure how often this works, but it did happen a fair number of times.
c. The enemy AI will attack that unit which last attacked it. If you have an infantry and cavalry, and attack first with infantry and then cavalry, the AI seems to attack the cavalry. Keep in mind that like always, its not true everytime and the legions holding cities seem to attack randomly.
So, if you can position your legions correctly and provide adequate defense and attack with archers first before attacking with other legions, you don't need defense items.
2. You can ignore movement items - You don't want your archer to be too fast otherwise it can be difficult for others to keep up. The advantage of using your commander as archer is that he has an innate ability of +3 (?) movement I believe, which is fast enough to keep up with the frontlines and slow enough so that the legions guarding archers can keep up. Any extra mobility imo is unnecessary. It just seems to me that the his hero talent is perfectly suited for archers.
3. Damage dealing - In the beginning the commander has the worst abilities. 1 star in everything. He struggles to deal damage and making him archer commander partly addresses this issue. Of course I trained my commander twice due to which he had a fair bit of damage dealing ability from early on. However, since you don't need movement or defense items for your guy, you can give him an attack item, buffing up his attack and making up for the lack of his ability (In case you chose not to train him). Even if you do decide to train him, giving him an attack item makes him a force to be reckoned with. If you decide to make your commander as other types, he will obviously struggle with damage dealing (If you don't train him) initially. This can be avoided with archers.
4. No perfect archer commader - I bet most of you all here felt that Mithridates can be further improved like maybeeee plain fighting instead of Jungle (Just realized that it would literally be Caesar
)?. I mean, we have the tanky Pompey and destructive Vercingetorix for infantry. One man show Belisarius and the deadly Asian named Huo for cavalry. But there isn't any such duo for archers (Discounting IAPs). Even if you do consider Mithridates as the best (He is, with the exception of commander), there isn't a second archer guy you can use. Octavian needs somewhat of initial investment in his archer ability and even then, he has counterattack which is not preferable for archers. Surena is far behind Mithridates. Drusus is also a worthy second, but not on par with the other 'seconds' like Verc or Huo. Thus that gives you another reason to make your commander an archer - to fill the battlefield with rain of arrows and destroy your enemies along with Mithridates .Well, obviously there will be flaws in my analysis, things that I don't know yet. I haven't played the game for nearly as long as some you guys did (Still in post Caesarion civil wars in the campaign and struggled massively in my first and only conquest till now, taking around 100 rounds). Anyways, these are the reasons I put forth as to why an Archer commander is the best choice.
Me commander says hello to you all
