Beginner Inquiry Regarding Byzantines versus Eagle Warriors
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According to my research, the Byzantine strategy for countering eagle warriors in the Castle Age is to use longswords and focus on defensive tactics.
Though longswords are effective against eagles in direct combat, they come with issues related to resources and game meta.
Alternatively, I tested Byzantine pikemen against eagle warriors on a simulation website and found that 16 pikemen can defeat 10 eagle warriors in a head-on confrontation without using gold.
However, I am unsure of the cost-effectiveness of this strategy as the value of gold versus food in the Castle Age for Byzantines is not clear.
I am seeking advice from the community on this matter.
Please note, I mistakenly tested spearmen instead of pikes earlier, which resulted in a 2:1 trade instead of a 1.6:1 trade.
I wouldn’t make any trash unit against eagles, especially not when you have the anti infantry behemoth in the Cataphract.
Halbs are “ok” against them but pikes or eagles?
They get trashed by the bonus damage and eventually trample damage.
Gold is cheaper than food in Castle Age.
Also with small armies Mobility is king.
Byzantines want to open with Knights vs Eagles.
You don’t have Bloodlines but they work.
Then lead smoothly into Cataphracts.
If you cannot get the production of Cataphracts Hand Cannons and Hussar get it done.
Against Meso you’re playing gold units vs gold units.
If you’re turtling anyways, try to get up a Castle.
Eagles die if Byzantine Cataphracts so much as flex on them
Trying to use Long Swordsmen in Castle Age as any civ (except maybe Goths) is a noob trap due to the food cost.
Knights and Lancers trade well against Eagles for the civs which go for those.
If you’re going Archers, a few Long Swords are good as meatshields, so that the enemy Eagles don’t straight up dive into your Archers.
But other than that, it’s best to avoid Long Swords as your primary in Castle Age
I don’t think the question is “can I make pikes against eagles”.
It’s “is there any sense in making pikes over longswords”?
The answer is no.
Even if you can trade not terribly with pikemen, a similar number of longswords will absolutely *destroy* the eagle warriors.
Both are slower than eagles, so neither can force a fights, which is the real issue.
But 20 longswords can start shredding your opponent’s base if you’re fully walled, while pikes will do nothing of the sort.
Food is worth between 1.5 and 2x as much as gold in castle age.
Longswords are not the general answer though, every civ has those and if those were a good counter to eagles then Aztecs and Mayans would not be top tier.
The byzantine actual answer is cataphracts, but it takes a while to get there which is why the matchup is rough.
Even once you do get there, you still need eskirms/arbs to deal with arbs/monks from the enemy.
Food is a slower resource.
So easiest is just to think of it as 1:1 value.
Byzantine answer to eagles is cataphracts.
They slaughter them like nothing else.
If you actually go out there with pikes against un-converted Eagles in a 1v1, I’m going to deny your existence.
Byzantine answer to eagles in castle age is turtling & catas.
Byz don’t need infantry to beat infantry.
As lot of people explained here, do not worry about Gold in the Castle age, food is more important as you need Food for creating villagers, upgrades and going to next age.
Longswords will work if you are fully walled and you are being pressured with Eagles + Siege.
Or if you want to put up a Forward castle or something.
Otherwise it is difficult to Catch Eagles with their speed.
As others suggested, build Knights till you can get some Cataphracts of yours.
Why in Oblivion would you ever think about making pikemen against eagles?
Instead of having the slow yet super effective counter that is the longswordsman, you will have a slow unit that gets beaten cost-effectively by eagles.
Knights are better, since you can catch them and roll over them
I would go for byz camel. 85res for a 100hp unit is great.
For what you could spend on longsword upgrade you can spend on cavalry upgrades.
I recall they are more cost effective than byz knights vs eagles and also less susceptible to monks due to increased numbers.
You will want to get cataphract as soon as possible and maybe some or skirms to fend off archers and monks.
Having shared cavalry upgrades helps with this.
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