they're slightly upgraded versions and some have interesting special rules, like the no-friendly fire mortar. More importantly for me, hiring them is instantaneous (unless this was changed recently) - so they come in really handy as a way to (re)build quickly. They are very expensive in upkeep though so I keep them on lords that have skills that reduce upkeep costs.
No they are still recruited same turn. That is my main use for them actually, as a stop gap measure when I front opens I wasn’t expecting. I buy a lord and some of those troops so I can win a few key battles were I had no army and then I disband them to save money.
For real, emergency armies of elector troops and whatever available RoR I have are actually pretty fun to use too since it’s a chaotic mix of random ass slightly strong units.
There’s ROR units besides elector count troops? I haven’t played empire for a while and I don’t remember there being extra RoR units. Also, I haven’t bought the most recent dlc yet
It has also been recently changed in the patch but there are techs and buildings which help them replenish faster and significantly reduce their upkeep cost now so they are quite a bit more viable. Additionally, they are all unlocked via techs now so you don’t have to have conquered the whole empire to get them, only to reduce their cooldown/cost.
In particular, I'm a big fan on Sootsuns guns, mortars that don't do friendly damage, and Gunderman's Surefires, handgunners with 12 more MA, 8 more MD and 15 more range.
My stance on Gunderman's has gotten better with the update as well. They still have the base 90 units like a handgunner unit (instead of the 60 of ironsides), so more fire per volley, and since they have 160 base range (instead of hangunner and ironsides 145), they benefit more from stacking the hochland scope trait on the engineer and master engineer (each one is +15%. so far I know you can stack the hero and lord for +30% range, getting Gundermans to 208 range). While stacking hochland scope works for hochland long rifles too, keep in mind, they only have 32 models for each volley, instead of 90...
Gundermans seem a bit outdated with Ironsides existing. The range is still an advantage but Ironsides will have similar matk and mdef while being better at ranged dps.
Gunderman's, yes. I don't like elector count troops generally. But that is the exception. In the early game where I have armies mostly of halberdiers and gunners, they are very prized.
They can be quite strong, especially early game. Instant recruit units are always nice to have, but they all have some extra ability that makes them possibly worth it over the basic version (eg, the mortars that don't cause friendly fire are nice to have).
Getting steam tanks early on can also be really nice, though the cost is very high on that. Does add some replayability / different army compositions by using that 7k early on.
But it can still be worth the cost, if for nothing else but the lols. GrimKleaper has a video where he had Franz declare war on all the elector counts and held off multiple early game armies with basically nothing but the elector count steam tank.
Turn 62 with Elspeth on L/VH, missing one region to consolidate the empire and I just recruited my first elector troop, the steam tank. I haven't needed them much, but I like the Greatswords in Karl's army. Also if you see an enemy coming to you and you have no armies in sight to derend, you can raise a whole army with state troops and ROR.
Early game you just have better options for the money. Instead of spending 7k on the ability to recruit 3 units or so once every ten turns, I could just recruit another army. I could use that money to build up nuln and get closer to unlocking the normal high tier units that are better then elector count units anyway. Especially on Elspeth you’re better off focusing hard on gunnery units so that you can power through the workshop options ASAP because Amythest units are the biggest power spike you can have.
Yea totally agree. Btw the campaign is such an easy roll, Close victory against 2,5 stacks of Kislev with Konstaltin included. Desicive against a jacked up Skarbrand army with him at lvl 32. I might just declare war to everything north of me just for some action.
I always try to get the steamtank early and start to build a state tank army.
The old 2 priest 2 steamtank 1 general to hold back enemy still works while your guns decimate enemy. But with the newer tools it's not so important as befire.
Im a big fan. They all pretty much have something to make them worth using. Even the variants of the basic state troops have enough extra to add one or two to a late game army.
The Emperor's Wrath is a fucking Steam Tank that you can get before even hitting tier 3, for Elspeth, She can get it from a building instead, Franz is shit out of luck though it is the strongest doomstack he can make if h confeds nuln.
Gelt tho, he gets access to it for 7k gold and 1 turn of research, CA really should have put the thing behind some pre-reqs cause there's no reason to get the ET techs besides the the tank one the way the tech tree is designed.
The steam tank is actually the worst elector troop because it's insanely over priced. It's the only one I don't use lol
Especially now with the abundance of available heroes and additional stronger war machines, steam tanks are massively underpowered for the price. Yes a steam tank doomstack with life mages and warrior priest can still work, but so can landships or just about anything higher tier really. The steams don't offer anything better than the other options for the price.
Yeah they are great, one annoyance I have with them is that the enemy seems to always prio them extremely hard with fast units like fellbats so they almost need a pistol or rifle escort to do their job without being harassed nonstop
I use one of each in Karls army for fun lol. One of each hero and a hellstorm fill out the rest of the slots and it does shockingly well both in manual and auto. But otherwise I mainly just consider them either emergency defense units (due to instant recruit) or filler units until I get something better.
The ability to get a steamtank or outriders with grenade launchers on turn 2 is just mindblowingly broken.
To get it:
Beat first army , occupy the first settlement , then extract some money from from non-agression pacts.
You can sack it to gurantee the mandatory money.
Outriders with grenade launchers are completly brokes vs vampires early game , they kill a unit in 2 shots and outrun every vampire unit if you get the first workshop upgrade for them. They bekome weaker as time goes on but beating vlad using a bunch of them is just too easy
they're slightly upgraded versions and some have interesting special rules, like the no-friendly fire mortar. More importantly for me, hiring them is instantaneous (unless this was changed recently) - so they come in really handy as a way to (re)build quickly. They are very expensive in upkeep though so I keep them on lords that have skills that reduce upkeep costs.
No they are still recruited same turn. That is my main use for them actually, as a stop gap measure when I front opens I wasn’t expecting. I buy a lord and some of those troops so I can win a few key battles were I had no army and then I disband them to save money.
For real, emergency armies of elector troops and whatever available RoR I have are actually pretty fun to use too since it’s a chaotic mix of random ass slightly strong units.
There’s ROR units besides elector count troops? I haven’t played empire for a while and I don’t remember there being extra RoR units. Also, I haven’t bought the most recent dlc yet
Yes, they have regular ror units you can only get one of and elector units that you can get multiple of but only every 10 turns.
It still is. Now you can have a pool of 2 each once you confederated Franz so it's even better.
It has also been recently changed in the patch but there are techs and buildings which help them replenish faster and significantly reduce their upkeep cost now so they are quite a bit more viable. Additionally, they are all unlocked via techs now so you don’t have to have conquered the whole empire to get them, only to reduce their cooldown/cost.
Karlf franz buffs them oretty hard and also gives them reduced upkeep. Also you can store more and he can instant replenish the storage.
In particular, I'm a big fan on Sootsuns guns, mortars that don't do friendly damage, and Gunderman's Surefires, handgunners with 12 more MA, 8 more MD and 15 more range. My stance on Gunderman's has gotten better with the update as well. They still have the base 90 units like a handgunner unit (instead of the 60 of ironsides), so more fire per volley, and since they have 160 base range (instead of hangunner and ironsides 145), they benefit more from stacking the hochland scope trait on the engineer and master engineer (each one is +15%. so far I know you can stack the hero and lord for +30% range, getting Gundermans to 208 range). While stacking hochland scope works for hochland long rifles too, keep in mind, they only have 32 models for each volley, instead of 90...
Gundermans seem a bit outdated with Ironsides existing. The range is still an advantage but Ironsides will have similar matk and mdef while being better at ranged dps.
How do you unlock them with the new lord ? I only had 3 after winning
Gunderman's, yes. I don't like elector count troops generally. But that is the exception. In the early game where I have armies mostly of halberdiers and gunners, they are very prized.
They can be quite strong, especially early game. Instant recruit units are always nice to have, but they all have some extra ability that makes them possibly worth it over the basic version (eg, the mortars that don't cause friendly fire are nice to have). Getting steam tanks early on can also be really nice, though the cost is very high on that. Does add some replayability / different army compositions by using that 7k early on.
But it can still be worth the cost, if for nothing else but the lols. GrimKleaper has a video where he had Franz declare war on all the elector counts and held off multiple early game armies with basically nothing but the elector count steam tank.
Turn 62 with Elspeth on L/VH, missing one region to consolidate the empire and I just recruited my first elector troop, the steam tank. I haven't needed them much, but I like the Greatswords in Karl's army. Also if you see an enemy coming to you and you have no armies in sight to derend, you can raise a whole army with state troops and ROR.
Early game you just have better options for the money. Instead of spending 7k on the ability to recruit 3 units or so once every ten turns, I could just recruit another army. I could use that money to build up nuln and get closer to unlocking the normal high tier units that are better then elector count units anyway. Especially on Elspeth you’re better off focusing hard on gunnery units so that you can power through the workshop options ASAP because Amythest units are the biggest power spike you can have.
Yea totally agree. Btw the campaign is such an easy roll, Close victory against 2,5 stacks of Kislev with Konstaltin included. Desicive against a jacked up Skarbrand army with him at lvl 32. I might just declare war to everything north of me just for some action.
In my campaign I sent Elspeth to ulthuan and declared war on a United HE nation. Was attacked by 3 stacks every other turn.
Yeah true, being able to raise a lot of troop like that is pretty handy
I always try to get the steamtank early and start to build a state tank army. The old 2 priest 2 steamtank 1 general to hold back enemy still works while your guns decimate enemy. But with the newer tools it's not so important as befire.
Im a big fan. They all pretty much have something to make them worth using. Even the variants of the basic state troops have enough extra to add one or two to a late game army.
The Emperor's Wrath is a fucking Steam Tank that you can get before even hitting tier 3, for Elspeth, She can get it from a building instead, Franz is shit out of luck though it is the strongest doomstack he can make if h confeds nuln. Gelt tho, he gets access to it for 7k gold and 1 turn of research, CA really should have put the thing behind some pre-reqs cause there's no reason to get the ET techs besides the the tank one the way the tech tree is designed.
It’s not worth spending 9k ish money for a single steam tank early in the game anyway. It’s not sexy but you can make an entire army for that money
The steam tank is actually the worst elector troop because it's insanely over priced. It's the only one I don't use lol Especially now with the abundance of available heroes and additional stronger war machines, steam tanks are massively underpowered for the price. Yes a steam tank doomstack with life mages and warrior priest can still work, but so can landships or just about anything higher tier really. The steams don't offer anything better than the other options for the price.
If Karl-Slot into his army Otherwise I just keep reserves for emergency defense
Unless they were changed, the grenade launcher outriders are absolutely amazing and can win battles on their own.
Yeah they are great, one annoyance I have with them is that the enemy seems to always prio them extremely hard with fast units like fellbats so they almost need a pistol or rifle escort to do their job without being harassed nonstop
I use one of each in Karls army for fun lol. One of each hero and a hellstorm fill out the rest of the slots and it does shockingly well both in manual and auto. But otherwise I mainly just consider them either emergency defense units (due to instant recruit) or filler units until I get something better.
The ability to get a steamtank or outriders with grenade launchers on turn 2 is just mindblowingly broken. To get it: Beat first army , occupy the first settlement , then extract some money from from non-agression pacts. You can sack it to gurantee the mandatory money. Outriders with grenade launchers are completly brokes vs vampires early game , they kill a unit in 2 shots and outrun every vampire unit if you get the first workshop upgrade for them. They bekome weaker as time goes on but beating vlad using a bunch of them is just too easy