Answer: Strategies for Countering Skirmish and Halb
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I’m currently at 1000 elo and I often encounter an annoying strategy of mass halb plus elite skirmishers. These players start with poor units, perhaps thinking that the gold saved will be deposited into their bank account. The problem is that by then I’m usually heavily invested in knights or archers and this combination crushes me. If I get my timing right, I win, but if not, they gain an advantage with their quantity-over-quality approach, backed up by castles and trebuchets. It takes a long time to upgrade my swordsmen line, and I’m not a micro-management expert. Is there a reliable way for me to counter this tactic? I usually have gold, but should I switch to mass skirmishers myself?
Show up with gold units to a trash fight.
Infantry UU’s.
Poles, Vikings, Ethiopians, Japs ,Toots, etc
With Hindustanis, a mix of +2 range Hand Cannoneers, Onagers, and a few monks to heal the HCs and convert paladins, elephants, etc., is difficult to respond to without onagers or cannons of their own.
Skirm + halb is a slow comp that is very bad at destroying buildings. As others have said, siege counters it well, but you can also use walls, castles, and BBTs to defend your base while you raid them with cavalry. Skirms and halbs can’t really do anything against your defenses and your cavalry can avoid taking undesirable fights.
Generally speaking, one of the major downsides of trash armies is that they are not great at pushing defenses unless there is some siege sprinkled in.
Champion and hussars
if you go cavalry you can dodge their mass of slow units and destroy their economy
If not, you can always put a castle plus catapults and/or scorpions
So many things kill this. Arbs + Skirm for starter. Any unit + Siege (scorp or onager). Arbs + Knights. Even Knights + Halb or Knights + Skirm
Double Gold unit like Crossbow Knight or Massed Scorpions.
Open archers, get a decent mass of 30 or 40 and add cav in castle. Use archers to kill halbs and kts for anything else
Champs for the win IMO
Just make your own skirms. Halbs really aren’t good against anything that isn’t mounted. If your civ doesn’t have good skirms go champions.
I would say start with scouting.
Keep a presence near your opponents base to watch for barrack and archery production.
Then, keep your usually gold units, like knights, active in raiding, damaging their base.
Add mangonel as a counter to skirms.
If they continue going heavy into trash, bite the bullet and upgrade infantry.
Even two handed can run through trash units. Especially if they’re backed by a mango. Just be sure to not hit your own units 11
Try making a second barracks if you can’t get enough swords out. Halbs and Skirms have 0 pressure.
Full skirm beat skirm+halb. Skirm deal extra damage to halb(+3)
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