Infantry





"Quick and cheap to create." - Excerpt from Militia Definition

The most basic of all units in the series, the Infantry class consists of foot soldiers, primarily melee based, who specialize in weapons such as swords, spears, and axes. They hold a natural predominance against buildings and gain an attack bonus against them, and along with their quick creation speed, they are efficient building destroyers in early ages. However, aside from Unique Units and fully upgraded Infantry, such as Champions and Halberdiers, they are vastly inferior to Archers, Cavalry, and Siege Weapons.

Age of Empires Infantry Units

 * Clubman
 * Axeman
 * Short Swordsman
 * Broad Swordsman
 * Long Swordsman
 * Legion
 * Hoplite
 * Phalanx
 * Centurion

Tactics
The main bonuses of infantry (Axemen to Legion in particular, not Clubmen though) is there cost effectiveness and ease of mass (Resources are better spent on villagers or the Tool age in the Stone age then Clubmen) thus they are good for massed and potentially perilious assaults on enemy fortifications (whilst Siege weapons and Missile troops provide back up).

Hoplites (and its later improvements) are not quite as good for this as they are slow and expensive, although they have a large amount of hitpoints so they can suck up most of the damage that would most likely kill their faster (but weaker) Swordsmen comrades.

Age of Empires II Infantry Units

 * Militia
 * Man-at-Arms
 * Long Swordsman
 * Two-Handed Swordsman
 * Champion
 * Spearman
 * Pikeman
 * Halberdier
 * Eagle Warrior
 * Woad Raider: Celts unique unit
 * Throwing Axeman: Franks unique unit
 * Huskarl: Goths unique unit
 * Samurai: Japanese unique unit
 * Teutonic Knight: Teutons unique unit
 * Berserker: Vikings unique unit
 * Jaguar Warrior: Aztecs unique unit

Tactics
Depending on your civilization, the Infantry could become the primary bulk of your fighting force or a liability. For rushing civilizations, such as the Goths and Huns, using Men-At-Arms and Spearmen could disrupt the enemy economy long enough to advance far enough into the Castle Age. However, by this time, it is recommended you switch to stronger units, such as Crossbowmen, Knights, and Scorpions. However, Long Swordsmen could be a useful unit to implement should you lack the resources or time to train units such as these. Pikemen, and their later versions Halberdiers, retain their usefulness against heavy cavalry and, in conjunction with other archers, can decimate most enemy formations. The Unique Units are no pushovers, either. The Woad Raider is the equivalent of the Hun Tarkan, easily rushing and destroying enemy structures or villagers. Units, such as the Huskarl, Samurai, Teutonic Knight, Berserk, and Jaguar Warrior, make for stronger than usual units and could easily augment your forces, and the Throwing Axeman could easily substitute other French archers. However, to civilizations such as the Persians and Mongols, your attention is best served to your stronger classes.

Age of Empires III Infantry Units

 * Cassador: Portuguese unique unit


 * Crossbowman


 * Doppelsoldner: German unique unit


 * Halberdier


 * Janissary: Ottoman unique unit


 * Longbowman: British unique unit


 * Musketeer


 * Pikeman


 * Rodelero: Spanish unique unit


 * Skirmisher


 * Strelet: Russian unique unit

The units represented in this list are all classified as infantry in Age of Empires III. This is because the traditional split between Archers and regular infantry became less important in the age of gunpowder. As such, the only true infantry units in the list are: Doppelsoldner, Halberdier, Pikemen and Rodelero. Except for the Crossbowman, Longbowman, Macehualtin, Arrow Knight, Eagle Runner Knight, Aenna, Cetan Bow, Chu Ko Nu, Yumi Archer, Japanese monks and certain native warriors, which are traditional archers, ranged infantry is using gunpowder.

Despite the seemingly great variety, all infantry are basically either light or heavy. Light infantry (archers, skirmishers) are good against heavy infantry, while heavy infantry (musketeers, pikemen, halberdiers, swordsmen) are good against cavalry.

Infantry are easily demolished by artillery, especially Falconet and Heavy Cannon types. Light infantry are also countered well with melee cavalry.