[Viking Conquest] Angle/Saxon Factions Highlight

The previous post on the Goidelic/Irish troop tree in Viking Conquest in case you missed it.

Historically, the Angles and Saxons are two tribes of the group of peoples the Romans called the Germani. Much like their ancestors who once gave the Romans much trouble across and along the Rhine, they are also capable warriors, possibly the only factions capable of truly competing against the Norse in terms of infantry. The Saxon Noble and Angle Bodyguard are two of only five units in the entire DLC that boast being level 31, making them true top-tier units. They also have access to cavalry AND archers, making them more balanced in terms of army composition compared to the Norse. However, the Anglo-Saxons are not without flaws. While having access to long-range damage in the bowmen and speed in horsemen is nice, in addition to the fact that both archers and cavalry were heavily nerfed in Viking Conquest, neither are good enough in terms of efficiency to recommend using. At Tier 4, the horsemen aren’t really a substitute to equivalent tiers of infantry, especially since they lack Horsemen Javelins. On the other hand, their bowmen are only Tier 2, but being at such a low tier with no possible upgrade they are mostly worthless, since their terrible accuracy means that even against enemies with no shields (which is rare in Viking Conquest’s mid to late game) they aren’t going to do much at range, and they’ll do even less in melee. Still, it’s important to note that heavy infantry is to Viking Conquest what heavy cavalry is to Vanilla Warband, and the Anglo-Saxons certainly don’t lack in that department. As such, their other units should be viewed as support units for a strong contingent of infantry rather than viable substitutes. That being said, let’s first look at the units that will probably make up the aforementioned “strong contingent of infantry”…

Angle/Saxon Warrior (Cempa)^Spearmen [Tier 4 Spear Infantry]

These spear units are most likely going to make up most of any Angle or Saxon army the player will have, as they are affordable and good at what they do. While they have slightly higher polearms proficieciencies than average, they really aren’t too different from any of their fellow Tier 4 spearmen. The difference between the Angle and Saxon Warrior are few and mostly negligible; Angle Warriors have slightly better armour and +5 polearm proficiency, while Saxon Warriors have +5 in both one-handed and throwing proficiencies. The only other difference in terms of numbers I could find was that the Angle Warrior has +5 sling proficiency, which I mention only because I wanted to prove that I’m not just lazily looking at the in-game troop tree for all my information. Other than that little tidbit, they have Skirmish Javelins, which can damage/break a lot of shields provided that you let them expel all their ammunition, and while their spears are good, their sidearm is the anemic seax, so you might want to support them with some…

Angle/Saxon Veteran (Gesith)^Swordsmen [Tier 4 Infantry]

While in theory the Angles have better infantry and the Saxons better spearmen considering their respective top-tier units, the reality of Viking Conquest is that the developers didn’t want to make it simple. For example, the Saxons have access to high-damage one-and-a-half-handed axes and +10 throwing proficiency compared to the Angles, yet the Angles have better armour on average and also better polearm proficiency (for some reason). Other than that, everything is identical, from sling proficiency to health points. You might think that this is strange, and you would be right, but it somehow isn’t as strange as the balancing done to this next unit…

Angle/Saxon Bodyguard (Gedriht)^Swordsmen [Tier 5 Infantry]

The Angle Bodyguard appears at first to be just straight up superior to the Saxon Bodyguard, with +1 Power Strike, +2 health points and a significant advantage in weapon proficiencies overall (+45 one-handed, +20 throwing), but much like the Veterans, it’s not quite that simple. The Angles can only spawn with the plain sword, aptly named “Sword” in-game (23c swing, 18p thrust), while the Saxons spawn with the much superior “Ulfberth Sword” (31c swing, 22p thrust) and “Rich Sword” (28-30c swing, 18-20p thrust). This means that even with the statistically superior Angle Bodyguard, you’ll still get similar amounts of damage dealt as the inferior Saxon Bodyguard, which sort of undermines the idea that Angles = Infantry, Saxons = Spear Infantry. Keeping in pattern with defying expectations is the next unit, the…

Angle/Saxon Noble (Thegn)^Spearmen [Tier 5 Spear Infantry]

The Saxon Noble is to the Saxons what the Angle Bodyguard is to the Angles. They are superior in terms of stats by a large margin (+60 one-handed, +1 Power Strike, +2 health points), but they suffer from inferior equipment, although admittedly not nearly as bad as the Angle Bodyguard. The “Elite Saxon Lorica” that the Saxon Noble can spawn with has 44 body armour as opposed to the halsbergs, which have 46-50 body armour. While seemingly minor, this little difference is numbers is absurd once you consider how the Angle Noble can spawn from 4 different halsbergs, all of which have more 46 or more body armour, whereas the Saxon Noble, despite being better all-around stats-wise, can spawn with three halsbergs and one lonely lorica. In the battlefield, however, while a difference of 2 less armour may be the difference between life or death, it is not quite as fatal as having poor leg armour, and unfortunately the Noble has both. Still, given that they’ll likely only get hit by a projectile once their shield is broken in the first place, their Achille’s heel is less of a concern than the Picts and Irish with their tiny shields.

To conclude this Faction Highlight, the Angles and Saxons are some of the best warriors in all of Viking Conquest, but suffer from a lack of good design in a way that makes me wonder if the developers wanted to disprove Intelligent Design. (I'm kidding, of course.) If anyone wanted to know about the bowmen and horsemen I mentioned in the introduction, all you need to know is that the Angle variant of either is probably better. The Saxon Bowman can spawn naked, which is nice but not in the context of battle, and the Saxon Horseman is better with one-handed weapons, but since horse-back fighting relies mostly on range and they only spawn with broadseaxes, I would recommend the Angle Horseman, which is better with polearms and throwing weapons.

So that’s it for the second Faction Highlight, Anglo-Saxon edition! Writing this post took a lot of time for many reasons, not the least of which was the difficulty of explaining the complexity of the stats and equipment. I had to write this over from scratch FIVE times because I couldn’t find a way to “naturally” incorporate everything until I came across this hybrid of informational writing and critical analysis. Overall, I’m pleased with the result, although I somewhat wish I had done something slightly more productive with my life.

This should probably be the part where I mention that I made a Patreon and I need financial support or whatever, instead I’ll promote this cool new mod by u/VoicesAncientChina. Among the many things the mod does is that it gives Angle Bodyguard better swords, and it already feels like the definitive version of Viking Conquest. It just might keep you occupied until the second coming of Christ release of Bannerlord!

Submitted January 17, 2018 at 12:27PM by Qidder http://ift.tt/2DsrTNb