Crusader Kings 3: Roads To Power DLC

Crusader Kings 3, the historical strategy game with an interesting mix of RPG elements, allows players to live out fantasies of ruling medieval kingdoms across Europe, North and West Africa, as well as parts of Western Asia. With many ways to customize the game, CK3 offers a huge variety of different religions, religions and cultures for players to choose from, each with their own unique advantages and disadvantages. The Roads to power The DLC kicks it up a notch by adding not only a new government type – that of the administrative empire with its noble families and governor issues – but a whole new way to play in the form of the landless adventurer.

Roads to power also adds a huge one six new types of Men-At-Arms. These powerful military units offer great new bonuses to the cultures that can use them — Greek players are especially lucky given that four of the new Men-At-Arms types are exclusive to Greeks. These new Men-At-Arms types are a huge help in putting together a powerful army.

Akritai (unique Greek skirmishes)

• 41 gold per unit
• Counter Heavy infantry
• 100 soldiers per unit size

The Greek exclusive Akritai units are one upgrade to regular Light Footmenand is cheaper to recruitalso. Akritai are designed to fight heavy infantry and have no adverse terrain effects either, gaining bonuses in multiple terrain types, including hilly, mountainous, and forested terrain.

These are a cheap and easy way to fight heavy infantry, and they can form the backbone of a cheap army. But they have less toughness than the regular Light Footmen, which are already pretty bad, so they're not a strong defensive choice.

Ayrudzi (Unique Armenian Light Cavalry)

• 85 gold per unit
• Counter Archers, Archer Cavalry
• 50 soldiers per unit size

These unique Men-At-Arms regiments have hilly and mountainous terrain bonuses and are uniquely accessible to the Armenian culture. As one cavalry type Man-At-Arms, Ayrudzi are quite expensive compared to some of the other items on offer, but they are absolutely worth it thanks to their bonuses and improved stats compared to standard Light Horsemen.

Although they have less Pursuit than the Light Horsemen unit, Ayrudzi have a massive upgrade to their Damage and Toughness stats making them a good upgrade — and an excellent choice for the Armenian culture or its hybrids/divergent cultures.

Ballistrai (unique Greek exclusive archers)

• 63 gold per unit
• Counter Spearmen, heavy infantry
• 50 soldiers per unit size

These Greek exclusive archers are more expensive than their generic brethren, but the cost is worth it because they are much more powerful. Ballistrai counter Spearmen and Heavy Infantry, making them a stronger choice than even the Greek exclusive Akritai – although they don't have as many terrain bonuses and are more expensive.

Ballistrai also has smaller units than the standard archer, so for players looking for pure numbers to counter factions or enemy declarations of war, Ballistrai may not be the best choice. But they have a huge damage advantage over the regular units, so what they lack in numbers they absolutely make up for in Damagewhich can be further enhanced by placing them.

Conrois (Unique Normal Heavy Cavalry)

• 153 gold per unit
• Counter Archers, light cavalry
• 50 soldiers per unit size

Conrois are an expensive Man-At-Arms option, but they're still cheaper than regular Armored Riders, and they get a stat upgrade to boot. Because of this, they are a formidable option on the battlefield, so they are worth adding to a Norman army just for their heavy counter to Archers.

Unit sizes are small and expensive, so it's not surprising that some players will forego the Conrois in favor of cheaper and larger units, but Conrois are a direct upgrade to the Armored Horsemen units by quite a large margin.

Skoutatoi (Greek Spearmen Men-Ams-Ams)

• 83 gold per unit
• Counter Light Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry, Camel Cavalry, Elephant Cavalry
• 100 soldiers per unit size

Skoutatoi they are perfect dish to the many unique types of cavalry that the Byzantine Empire encountered on its eastern and southern borders. These troops are spearmen and counter all types of cavalry units. Skoutatoi are more expensive than regular Pikemen for only a small increase in damage and toughness, but they have +20 Shield compared to 0 for regular Pikemen.

At 100 soldiers per unit size, Skoutatoi is a good mix between fighting factions with troop numbers and effectiveness in combat. They gain an additional positive terrain that is effective in plains type terrain as well.

Varangian Guards (Byzantine Empire's unique heavy infantry)

• 72 gold per unit
• Counter Spearmen, heavy cavalry
• 100 soldiers per unit size

The Varangian Guard is a man-at-arms type straight out of Byzantine Imperial history: warriors drawn from wild northern Europe, made up of Vikings and other various “barbarian” peoples. Varangian Guard Men-At-Arms units are only available as uniques title squad solely for the Byzantine Empire. They can be a good choice of foot soldier for an attempt to reform the Roman Empire.

These Heavy Infantry units have a powerful force, and as an added bonus, they are not even as expensive as usual heavy infantry type Men-At-Arms. Varangian Guard units are one straight upgrade to the regular heavy infantry typewith increased stats in every single category (along with countering an additional troop type). They also have bonuses for fighting in winter – perfect for a small northern expedition.