[Viking Conquest] Goidelic (Irish) Faction Highlight

The Goidels hold a special place in my heart as my favourite faction in Viking Conquest. They bring the image of the quirky and slightly less talented younger sibling of the Picts, in particular a younger sibling that takes inspiration from their elder while trying to form an identity of its own. The result of this angsty imitation-slash-innovation is a faction that is distinct and unique, even while sharing much of the same equipment. Being similarly equipped to the Picts means that the Goidels also share strengths and weaknesses in armour and arms. Their shields are small, which when combined with the fact that they generally have poor leg armour, means that enemy fire that goes low will probably hit and do a lot of damage. Additionally, their elite units lack the very heavy armour that the Norse, Angle, and Saxon elites have. As for strengths, the Goidels have decent swords and the Picts have good axes, and while the shield may be smaller than others, it actually has more health. The Goidels and Picts have the distinction of being two of the only factions to commonly use two-handed weapons other than a banner, which is cool but not always necessarily good or useful, considering that many units have javelins and throwing spears that love finding a home in the bodies of unshielded units. Thankfully, these two-handed axes and swords all have an alternate one-handed grip to be used with a shield. While so far all I’ve mentioned was what the Goidels had in similar to the Picts, now I’ll start mentioning the units that make them the unique faction I said they were at the start of this post, starting with…

Irish Veteran Skirmisher (Ceithernach)^Slingers [Tier 3 Skirmisher]

The Goidels have access to the best slingers in the game, which is a distinction that is dubious at best because other slinger units are almost exclusively common bandits and recruits. Additionally, most of the units that you're going to face off in the game have shields, which means that you won't typically be getting the best effect out of the very small ammunition pool of sling lead (20 to be exact). Still, I think that the Irish Veteran Skirmisher is worthy of some serious thought if you're looking for a long-range option for a couple of reasons. First of all, 35 blunt damage with the military sling and sling lead is not insignificant, and that damage can go all the way up to 39 if they spawn with the military fustibalus. That's almost 40 damage of armour-avoiding damage, and with the highest sling proficiency of all slingers at 190, every single shot that hits will do an awful lot of damage. They also have a chance to spawn with 8 Heavy Javelins, each with a base of 20 piercing damage, and axes, which make them slightly better in melee than most other skirmishers and archers, although their light armour means they’ll die very quickly. If you were looking for a skirmisher more capable in melee combat, you might be interested in promoting some of these slingers into…

Irish Elite Skirmisher (Fainaige)^Javelinmen [Tier 4 Skirmisher]

Probably the best javelinmen in the game, the Irish Elite Skirmisher sacrifices the sling for better weapons, tougher armour, and shields. At range, these Skirmishers all come with Heavy Javelins, and with 5 points in power throw and 220 points in throwing weapon proficiency, they can easily destroy the enemy frontline’s shields before you engage them. Additionally, they come with Goidelic Shortswords, which have 32 base piercing thrust damage, which mean that they can take care of themselves in melee. In fact, their stats are just a bit higher than the Norse Warrior Archer (+5 one-handed), but with worse armour and a smaller and weaker shield, they’re probably no match for the Warrior Archers. Regardless of those shortcomings, these javelimen are a great tool in the Goidelic arsenal, capable of both shield-breaking and helping out in a tough melee. As to who they’ll be helping in that melee, the answer is quite obvious once you read about the next featured unit…

Irish Champion (Caur)^Swordsmen [Tier 4 Infantry]

For the second time in the list we have a unit that's not top-tier and yet worthy of notice! The Irish Champion has great heavy armour in the Goidelic Lorica and an even greater weapon in the one-and-a-half handed Goidelic Champion Sword (38 cutting swing damage!!!), which is impressive to say the least of a unit of its tier. 73 health, 290 points in one-handed weapon proficiency, 200 points in two-handed weapon proficiency just in case their shield breaks, and 6 Skirmish Javelins (that’s a Bingo!) makes the Irish Champion a very cost-effective unit. This would have easily made them one of the best infantry units in the game if it weren’t for the penalty the Champion Sword inflicts to damage and swing speed when used one-handed*. However, this penalty doesn’t completely cripple this unit’s viability because they’re quicker to train and cheaper than top-tier infantry, which means you could field larger numbers at a faster rate, not to mention the added bonus of being able to upgrade into…

Irish Bodyguard (Riglach)^MeleeCavalry [Tier 5 Infantry]

Second only to the Pictish Nobles, the Irish Bodyguard isn’t quite as good for one major reason. While the Nobles always spawn with a Goidelic Lorica, and are therefore guaranteed to have at least 40 body armour, the Irish Bodyguard spawn with either Goidelic Lorica or Goidelic Gambeson, making them less reliable (although the lighter armour means less skill penalties, the tradeoff in durability isn’t worth it). In terms of weaponry, the they are no less heavily armed than the Nobles, and come with a spear, a Goidelic Longsword (30-33 base cutting damage on a swing) and twelve Horsemen Javelins (18 base piercing damage). The two units have comparable stats, with the Bodyguard having more polearms proficiency (305 v. 280), but falling behind in one-handed (295 v. 310) and throwing (265 v. 270). One small but important detail is that the Irish Bodyguard have the same poor leg armour as the Pictish Nobles, meaning that the part that they’re most likely to get hit on while mounted is some of the least protected. Still, they are definitely a capable cavalry unit, and an important unit in the Goidelic roster. It should be noted that the Irish Bodyguard is expensive both to train and in wages, so a more budget-minded leader might want something like the...

Irish Horseman (Marchach)^{SkirmishCavalry} [Tier 4 Skirmisher Alternative]

When it comes to light cavalry, the choice is really between the factions of Goidel and Briton. In some ways, the two choices are very similar; both of them have a base power strike of four, a base power throw of 6, and a riding skill of 8, and both of them have twelve Horsemen Javelins. But much like how biological twins can be drastically different, there are some very important differences between them. The Irish Horseman has a very small advantage in the torso armour and a much bigger advantage in melee weaponry, having axes rather than hunting knives. However, the Briton Horseman has better leg armour, a much better shield, a chance to spawn with a horse rather than a pony, and higher weapon proficiencies. Additionally, the Britons have one huge advantage against the Irish, which is that their Horseman is a tier three unit, whereas the Irish is a tier four unit, meaning the Britons can get much more with less time and money for promotion**. Simply put, the Briton Horseman is probably the better pick for a mounted skirmisher unit, while the Irish Horseman, with the cost of being harder to train, fills the niche of light melee cavalry, a role that basically makes them a mini Irish Bodyguard or an Irish Bodyguard lite.

And with that I conclude the Goidelic Units Highlight, which I hope was worth the hour or two of research and many more hours of writing. If you were wondering why I left the Irish Noble out, it’s because I can’t imagine why you would ever want it over an Irish Champion, since the advantage in armour and weapon proficiencies is so small it’s meaningless. The only way in which the Irish Noble is good even when compared to other elite spearmen is their Goidelic Longsword, which while definitely better than axes and seaxes, changes neither the fact that their armour is weak for a top-tier unit nor the fact that they are supposed to be spearmen, not swordsmen.

While I’ve already collected the data to do a Units Highlight for every other faction, I haven’t written any yet, so I’m open to any suggestion as to what the next faction should be. The list of potential factions is: Britons/Picts/Angle/Saxon/Norse/Friese & Mercenaries/Vikings & Young Warriors/Farmers & Peasant Women & Bandits

*The little tidbit about the penalty for using the Champion Sword with one-hand was contributed by u/VoicesAncientChina, who was possibly the only person except for myself who read my previous post on the same topic, which has since been deleted because an automated mod mistook me for a spammer.

**Also provided by u/VoicesAncientChina, as can be seen in the comments.

Submitted December 21, 2017 at 11:43AM by Qidder http://ift.tt/2kCnE6K