[Arryn]

Originally posted by moro:
Hi, I'm sure this is a really dumb question, but I've looked around and haven't been able to find the answer.

Do units and / or weapons have inherent advantages against another? (Aside from weapon range and how it applies to repel attempts.) For instance, in other games I've played, all else being equal, pikemen have an advantage against cavalry but are weak against regular infantry. (I don't know if this is historically accurate. )

When I see that a province has 20 heavy infantry, for example, I really don't have any idea what it takes to defeat them.

Not a dumb question at all.

I have not seen an inherent advantage in something like pike vs. cavalry. (It may be there, but I've not seen it.) The pike's advantage lay in that it was longer than the lance, so could reach the horseman (or his horse) before the lancer could strike. The pikeman would set the pike into the ground so that the earth, and not him, received the shock of impact when the pike hit the mass of the charging rider/horse. In Dom 2, it seems that the pike's only advantage is that it's longer. There does not appear to be the added bonus that a grounded pike would have vs. charging cavalry.

Some weapons do have advantages. Flails and morningstars ignore shield defenses, for example. This makes them better against things like HI, than swords or spears. Spears get the repel, but the high protection of the HI renders its weak damage fairly moot. Swords do more damage than flails/morningstars, but that damage has to be able to get past protection, hence the flail/morningstar's advantage.

If you have units with giant strength, then weaker but longer weapons become more useful because they can do enough damage to actually be effective on repel. Which is why I prefer spear-armed giants to axe-armed ones.

The best ways to counter HI are (IMO): magic, giants, lancers, your own HI, pikeman, and crossbows. In that order. (I don't claim this is the only way, incidently, just my prefernce.)