Light Infantry... what the ****

[Taqwus]

They might live a bit longer with something like Marble Warriors, Fog Warriors or Antimagic. With those spells and anything else that boosts all friendlies on the battlefield, the more the merrier.

[Firebreath]

As Taqwus mentioned, the moment that you can make the fight drag on, and on, and on (using spells or simply 20-1 numbers - light infantry (low encumberance) becomes an advantage rather than a waste of space...I would hate to think what a large group of flaggelants blessed with fire 9, and an air shield, and an ironskin could do to any heavy infantry or cavalry...especialy if you combine that with the surround bonus, enemy encumberance, and any defence lowering spells like web or tangle vines, etc.

[HotNifeThruButr]

That's your solution to everything, isn't it, Taqwus?

Hey, at least you don't have to hire 'em.

[Peter Ebbesen]

Originally posted by Firebreath:
As Taqwus mentioned, the moment that you can make the fight drag on, and on, and on (using spells or simply 20-1 numbers - light infantry (low encumberance) becomes an advantage rather than a waste of space...I would hate to think what a large group of flaggelants blessed with fire 9, and an air shield, and an ironskin could do to any heavy infantry or cavalry...especialy if you combine that with the surround bonus, enemy encumberance, and any defence lowering spells like web or tangle vines, etc.

Two words, two awesome words that really show the potential of a mass surround strategy:

MASS FLIGHT

That high-level spell was designed for the horde-mentality player, I swear Every single enemy unit that can be surrounded will be surrounded each round, so long as you have enough troops.

[Spacepain]

Light infantry serve the core and bulk of a persons army.

Their primary purpose is to die so that other more expensive units don't die. And in turn can focus on hitting while not being hit back.

Also, secondary, they serve to finish games where encumberane would force most other units to stop fighting.

And yes for the hoarde mentality of some players (R'lyeh and Ermor) they may be almost the only thing in your army.

[Thilock_Dominus]

I would not say light Infantry sux. Ex. C'tis light Infantry armed with spear, javalin and shield can be quiet useful. An unit with 30 or more with light infantry can block off a heavy cavalry when its charging.
The light infantry can take out the heavy infantry if it gets its chance to hurling the javalins, the same goes against archers.
That's my experience with C'tis light infantry plus they are cheap


Thilock

[Kel]

The only reason I never use light infantry (other than nations that only have light infantry for missiles, like C'tis) is that while you can produce them en masse in emergencies or for specific applications, maintaining them seems like a really bad idea.

Maintaining a single LI is usually almost as bad as maintaining real HI, per unit and, for the effectiveness, it's not even close (speaking mostly for the non javelin equipped types).

A unit that is rarely useful but occasionally it is a little better than the alternatives isn't useless...but it's not really terribly useful either

- Kel