Detailed Mariner Unit Analysis/Tier List for Campaign

TL;DR Tier List. These are my personal notes and I acknowledge it is just my opinion, just posted to hopefully help others

S: Imperial Naute

A: Battanian Skipari, Vlandian Nauta, Nord Huscarl,

B: Sturgian Reaver, Nord Berserkr, Aserai Bahriyyah,

C: Corsair Chief, Nord Skjaldbrestir, Nord Chosen of the Sky-God, Sea Raider Chief

D: Various Convoy Guards, Nord Ulfhedinn,

F: Nord Youngling

Testing is done in actual campaign as well as using custom battles and the Retinue mod to look directly at stats/equipment.

General Observations:

Shields are required, otherwise you get shredded by ranged attacks. Skills and ship upgrades can boost shield health massively, with some like the Nord Decorated Shield crossing 2,000 hp! I've seen Huscarls with 20+ Javelins in their unbroken shield at the end of a battle. You can assume the high tier shields will not break in battle, meaning a single high damage hit creeping through is the best means of ranged attack rather than quantity.

For ranged: Throwing Javelin > Throwing Axe > Crossbow >> Bow >>>> Daggers/Stones . Bows/crossbows have more or less unlimited ammo at sea if you buy the upgrade for the crates. Axes lower damage and lower ammo count makes them worse at dealing with shields than Javelins, which should be their specialty, and their cut damage type means you will need 1-2 more to get a kill, but they're still good.

Battles usually devolve into a chokepoint fest once boarding happens. The AI loves boarding even when it is at a disadvantage to do so. It will usually not try to skirmish at a distance even with a majority archer force and ballista.

Mariner troops have worse armor but usually the same weapon tiers. Normal troops have movement and accuracy debuffs at sea but can function fine. However, the Commander's skill trees provide massive buffs to Mariners overtime. Eventually, with a skilled commander (and AI commanders frequently have 150-200+ in each of the 3 naval trees) they will vastly overpower them at sea. Marine archers are also great in melee, unlike regular (non-Fian) archers and will usually beat lower tier regular infantry.

Because I am focused on Campaign Power Level, I have also taken into account the general "path" to get to the unit you want. Since every single Nord is a Mariner, they generally are ranked higher than they would otherwise be for power/ease of use. I consider this also a negative to the Reaver and Nauta, because I find Sturgian/Vlandian basic infantry to be fodder, and the Sturgian Crewmate is a terrible unit.

The more specific breakdowns for Campaign/Sandbox Power:

S:

Imperial Naute: Great armor and 2 sets of Javelins with a strong axe and shield. Just all around amazing, and on land, the extra javelin means he actually does better than the Imperial Legionaire, an already amazing infantry unit. Just no question who belongs on top, they are amazing. They will kill 3+ for each of them that fall with no buffs, no question.

A:

Skipari: Actually a very good unit, though weaker than the Wildling overall. The main problem is for everything they have, the Imperial Naute have a better version of it. Their sword is weaker, they have slightly worse javelins, and they wear worse armor. But they fill the same role, just a tier lower because a clear upgrade exists. This will also be true for the Reaver and Skjaldbrestir.

Vlandian Nauta: I did not give this unit a fair shot at first simply because Vlandia as a whole is terrible at sea and I thought this meant they were too, but this unit is amazing. Its crossbow does massive damage (same as the Veteran Sharpshooter) and can 1 shot on a headshot (100+ piercing damage, same as the javelins) but unlike throwing weapons, they will not run out of ammo. In an extended ranged battle these guys will win every time. It also is great in melee with a good shield, better than the Bahriyyah but worse than Chosen. The best marine archer overall, also very worth it to use on land as archers, they are equal to Vet Sharpshooters in gear/skill.

Huscarls: Best armor overall and best stats by far, as expected of a noble unit. However its overall weapon gear is bad because the AI does not utilize their spear properly for its range, making it a wasted slot and meaning some of their stats are used for Polearms too. Their axes dealing cutting damage and having lower ammo than javelins is a big negative too. But they will win the melee fight if they do not die to ranged first, guaranteed. The best melee unit and absolute tanks. Harder to get a large number of them due to the Noble status and still weaker than Naute. If these were in place of Berserkrs instead of the Noble unit I would place them top of A tier above Skipari, but not the S tier.

B:

Reaver: Best pure shock troop with double stack of throwing ammo. The shield + throwing combo is great for the skirmish, then they charge in with a 2 handed axe to clean up behind the shield wall. Very effective unit, and a cool look/name. Very bad build path though, tough to get a few unlocked. Pure upgrade of the Nord Skjaldbrestir, except for speed.

Nord Berserkr: A great shield wall unit with decent good range, but only 1 stack of axes. They do well in the melee thanks to their great stealth buffed armor (better than the same types you can buy) and stats, but mostly inferior overall to other shield infantry.

Bahriyyah: Weirdly, this unit is one of the best archers in game because of their T4 bow (the only one in the game on a regular unit post DLC nerfs), making their shot-for-shot damage superior to Fian Champions. Their worse skills mean they will still lose to Fians, but they do have a shield and a good sword. Bows are just not great at sea due to Shield HP and accuracy penalties. Performs very well in land battles or against shock troops. Still very worth having lots of these guys for land battles and their good upgrade path.

C:

Corsair Chief: Best bandit mariner, but awful armor. A decent shield and sword and strong throwing options, plus a great upgrade into Bahriyyah once you get the perk. With the Mariner "Arr!" perk, it is decently easy to mass recruit these or Sea Raiders making it a good mid-late option if you lose an entire army.

Skjaldbrestir: Very, VERY fast for some reason, can match low tier cavalry. Great armor but not good enough to save it. No shield and a weak throwing option mean they easily get ground up by ranged options at sea. Requires shield infantry to hide behind, unlike the Reaver who has a shield for skirmishing. Can deal massive damage once the fight begins due to their powerful weaponry.

Chosen of the Sky God: Amazing for Archers in melee with good armor (beats the other 2 if you Hold Fire on both sides and charge at least), a shield, and a good one hander, but bad at being archers with a T3 bow and not amazing Bow stats. A very good all around unit, they just are worse than the other 2 archers at their actual role. But unlike the others, you will have a (bad) marine archer from T2 onward thanks to being a Nord rather than having to wait. A full army of these is actually very good because of their jack of all trades nature, and a Nord-Only Army will want a lot of them. But the player is not restricted in this way so I rank it lower

Sea Raider Chief: You know em, you love em, they'll drink from your skull. A worse Berserkr with same layout in every stat/gear category (but still absolutely fine, just outclassed) that can upgrade into Berserkr or a Druzhinik. Like the Corsair, you can quickly acquire massive amounts via Roguery Bandit recruitment, giving them a good niche as massed cannon fodder post-defeat. They more or less just exist to become a different, better shield infantry or to give yourself some Cavalry options (personally I made Druzhiniks into Mariners with Retinue Mod, because why would they just forget how to swim? And for my own variety of units on land)

D:

Ulfhedinn: Imagine a shock infantry that can't do its job. If they were more akin to a pike unit, I think they would have a place. Loses its throwing option for 1 tier and then gets 1 stack back at its final. Bad stats, a swing weapon that will struggle to get a swing off due to its reach/speed, and they look silly.

Convoy Guards: In a pinch, they can sub in for real Marines if you pick up a few as prisoners. But not reliable to acquire a bunch nor really desired.

F:

Nord Younglings: Honorable mention as the only T1 Marine. They come with shields unlike most Recruits, making them the BEST fodder to throw out in the field. Will beat other T1 Recruits in a 1:1 fight, especially at sea but also on land.

Thoughts? Feel free to debate me, mostly just wanted to share because I feel like people greatly undervalue Nautas and Skipari and overvalue basically the entire Nord tree.

submitted by /u/Treguard
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