Useless or redundant units?

[Talleyrand]

Aye, I just checked. You're right.

[Nerfix]

Kailasas sacreds get Awe which is better than armor, and they have high Def from what I remember. And they can get blessed for even higher def or Air shield.

[Twan]

Chariots trample and cost 3 times less gold than wind riders, so I don't see them as useless. Chariots will be used with "attack rear" to kill indep infantry since the first turns, 125g wind riders will be made later in the game and used with "attack archers" it's not exactly the same thing. Icarids may complete a wind rider group (as you need more than 4 units to avoid too frequent morale checks it's good to have some cheaper flying units to add when you start to use the very expensive wind riders). Chariot archers are the only archers of Arcocephale, but too expensive I agree.

Markatas are size 1 when the good melee troops (bandars) are size 3. As each attack gives -2 to defense even if they miss, using markatas in addition to bandars isn't a bad idea. And if you can BE or luck them markatas may become really annoying as your ennemies will waste 2 or 3 attacks to kill totally expandable units.
The only thing not to make with markatas IMO is to use them as arrow catchers. A single arrow will kill one in most cases, they make the ennemies waste far more damage if they reach melee.

Markatas archers... hum... ok nothing to do with them, except to hope they will be targeted by "attack archers" instead of your longbow squad.

PS : the cruel thing for bandar nations is to start with markata archers instead of real ones. They make the starting army not usable before turn 3 (or even 4 if you have a big sloth scale) when most other nations may take a province in turn 2. I'd like to see a pack of atavi or vanaras archers instead.

[Leif_-]

Twan said:
Chariot archers are the only archers of Arcocephale, but too expensive I agree.

Something they share with pretty much all cavalry with bows. The lack of a "skirmish" command pretty much means that infantry archers are always going to be better value than their cavalry counterparts.

[Unwise]

Most of the points I would have made have been made above, but I'll add a few minor ones:

Flying units are not necessarily only used in combat. They patrol much more efficiently than their earth-bound counterparts, they siege more efficiently, and they can be used in raiding parties to strike behind the enemy lines, taking out the comparatively easy provincial defense instead of the main-line armies.

Sacred troops are priced according to their potential effectiveness, not their unblessed stats. As someone above noted, an air blessing on the Guhyaka/Yavana can get them through the rain of arrows to combat where their reasonable defense skill (often much better than protection, especially if you are outnumbered), Awe (!), and high strength can make them effective. There is also the Yavana archer, the only long bow recruitable in the early era as far as I know, with an incredible precision of 12 -- give them a fire-9 bless and you have an astounding artillery capability. Finally, the Guhyaka is recruitable anywhere, not just in the capital, which makes fielding massive, blessed armies possible... and this should also be factored into their cost.

[Nerfix]

*ahem* Fire bless doesn't affect missiles....

...but Quickness does allow them to shoot about twice in a round, and the +affliction chance of death bless affects missiles also.

Flying units, those with superhuman stats excluded, need microing to be effective.

[Endoperez]

Fire 9 doesn't affect missiles. Water 9 and Quickness does, though, and as even Yavana Archers have Awe and decent defense, they have some survivability in melee, and their high strength offsets their low-damage attacks.

Death 9 is also interesting in that the 350% affliction chance also works for missiles.

Kailasa can also summon better sacred units later. Gandharvas are armored. The unarmored ones are still a nice addition to those forces.

[Unwise]

Fire bless doesn't affect missiles....

Well, you learn something new every week or two.

[Evil Dave]

Leif_- said:
The lack of a "skirmish" command pretty much means that infantry archers are always going to be better value than their cavalry counterparts.

Yup. Also, Dominions assigns the other traditional light cavalry roles -- scouting and raiding -- to other units, but leaves the traditional high cost of horses.

[B0rsuk]

Let's just make a mod to remove all light cavalry, perhaps excluding ones with light lances. Would anyone cry ?
Some of them are even available only via magic sites ! Horse brother - wow !