[Anonymous Player]

Hello, as a beginner player, I find it challenging to defeat pikemen protected by crossbowmen when I play as knights in the early castle age.

I was wondering whether I should produce a large number of skirmishers or elite skirmishers and how many would be necessary to overcome this obstacle.

Alternatively, should I try to use scorpions?

I’ve been struggling at a 1000 rating, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[MtG-Crash]

Yep, skirms counter them both.

But siege works too if you micro it a bit.

And the advanced tip is: Use your mobility.

Knights can attack left, and right, and everywhere, while archers + pikemen are slow.

And without siege, they cant do anything against your castles and TCs at home, so basically you are completely safe at home and you can run around and hit&run.

[Helvedica]

Scorps arent bad, but honestly, if you have good cav.

start raiding, reaid EVERY place you can, force them to shift all over the place

[contemporaryAmerica]

At your elo if you just get better with feudal army pressure, faster to castle, and can mass more knights more quickly you will win.

This seems like more an issue of solving another part of your game than this specific comp issue.

Id focus hard on that feudal pressure, consistent fast dark age into consistent sustained feudal pressure.

Get that right and your eco and castle age timing into knights will mean you’re able to produce more Moe quickly and get upgrades… and will wipe the enemy regardless of their comp

[Koala_eiO]

Add scorpions.

[scarvet]

You run away and use your own Xbow/CA to kill the Pikes.

Extra points of you can also send you knights around the pikes while doing that.

[Tobenbert]

Well…it depends 🤡

What are your typical civ match ups?

How does feudal age looks like and how is your general situation when reaching castle age?

In general, the pike upgrade is a comparable huge investment for an overall defensive unit.

Therefore, I would spend the res in booming and go for defensive siege if needed.

But this is a general advice and it is difficult to give tipps without knowing everything in more detail.

Skirms could be a good choice depending on the situation.

However, elite skirm is also a big investment and in addition the skirms will need some further upgrades to perform well.

[Kraize97]

Thank you everyone for your help, much appreciated

[varunpikachu]

Considering your enemy goes for gold-trash combo, you can do so too, with Knight+Skirms.

To be honest, Elite skirms are cheaper in castle age than pikes, go for it.

Although, if the enemy adds a Mangonel, you need to micro your knights onto their Mangonels while your skirms kill the pikes and crossbows.

Or add your own Mangonel or castle!

[Affectionate-Tone680]

You’ve got three main options:

1.

Use mobility and raid.

Pros: can mass Knights, get upgrades, and damage their eco
Cons: you can’t take direct fights unless they split up their defending army

2.

Add 3-4 scorpions
Pros: counters crossbow + pike for a lower investment
Con: you have to babysit then, otherwise they can get picked off one by one

3.

Elite skirm
Pros: strong counter to enemy army
Cons: it’s a big investment to switch, so it damages your ability to push, and leaves you open to a tech switch from the opponent

In general, I prefer to start with raiding, and see what they do.

If they invest heavily in pikes or crossbow, mix in elite skirms later in castle age.

Remember they need upgrades to be effective

[total_score2]

Full knights will do the job, you didn’t have enough knights.

[Ordinary-Leg8727]

Champ + Onager is a possibility as well 🙂

[Exe0n]

I wouldn’t recommend scorpions as much as I did in the past.

A single mangonel will flatten your group of scorpions, and your own mangonels are somewhat suceptible to pikes.

If you are confident in your micro you could have a couple of scorps and a mangonel.

That said Elite skirm counters that entire comp, just be careful of the odd knight or siege additional which can quickly turn the tide.

[Scoo_By]

Scorps.

Least investment with the best return. 4 scorps on a hill behind the knights will work wonders against pikes.

I consistently get good results with that.

[Silenty77]

As most ppl answered I would suggest to pressure you opponent with kts as well as kill the first pikes (they are bad against kts when not many).

Then scorps in probably a good answer against both to defend while you can try pressure your opponent base with kts.

[Author]

Posts