N3O Age Of Empires and Starcraft 2 Clan

As the subject already says, is anybody using samurai when playing Japanese?

I think it is a powerful and cool looking unit. However, my experience is that they die very fast against skirmishers, they use 2 pop and cost a lot. Therefore I use them very rarely, mostly when I need some siege power very fast, my next castle is far away and I only have a Daymio and no Shogun in the vicinity.

They are very effective against cavalry, however, Ashigaru can do this job just as well. They don't die as fast as samurai when encountering skirmishers, I also think they are faster and just more versatile in general. And I don't think the "nerf" they get in the next patch will change that much.

Rudy started to play Germany and Spain. So I maybe will try the samurai to counter his Uhlans or Lancers. But then, he also uses a lot of skirmishers.

Yeah I use em when trying to fight of cuirs or scare away Sioux axe riders trying to lame with siege dance. They can also be effective when spammed into the back of someones base via Diamyo and building 10-15 and keeping them in reserve to defend an allies cannon is always a good idea. But mostly I use them because I think they are cool and can only afford to start making them in age 3 after my ecos strong enough.

Never. Ashigaru are FAR better. Think of samurai as doppels, except even worse. Ashigaru get better cards, have a ranged attack (that's huge), and better HP for their cost. A far better unit overall.

The only time I use samurai are the Hatamoto from the consulate, but they are mega expensive and cost 4 pop spots. Then again you have to get pretty late game, but whew 1000 hp and 230 seige..

Thanks for all the answers. You confirmed what I was thinking myself. Harley, what do you use against French cuirs? Are the fully upgraded Ashigaru enough?

Yeah, the Hatamoto rock! A friend once tried to attack 10 hatamotos with 20 hussars, that was a sight I will never forget
Well, in the same game about 50 freshly recruited halberdiers of the same guy tried ran into about 15 or so flamers of my teammate... ::/ Another great sight.

I rarely use them too, but it goes without saying that they're very effective siege units if one can sneak a little army of them into the enemys base.

A samurai costing the same as a naginata is enough to not use them. If you need to counter cav you just ship the close combat card.

If you are staying in age 2 and not planning on aging up any time soon, then the 3 samurai card is worth keeping in as a late addition to your army. You should play 2*ashi,2*yumi, ashi combat,2*settler cards first though, so only on a tp map will it be of use!

I think that to say you should never samurai's will get you into bad habits, there is going to be situations where a few samurai are simply better than Ashigaru. These situations may be rare in 1v1s but in larger team games they are plentiful. The best use of samurai is to stop cav raiding you, when they see a handful of Samurai at your base they quickly run away and bother someone else. Japan are hard enough to raid anyway but just throw in some Samurai as well and the enemy will pretty much leave you alone.

When advancing to colonial with Torii gates, I usually use the samurai for treasure hunting along with the Monks.

Against cuirs, ashigaru work just fine. Cuirs aren't OP unless it's really late-game and they're being spammed.

[quote=""Navarone_Guy""]Against cuirs, ashigaru work just fine. Cuirs aren't OP unless it's really late-game and they're being spammed.[/quote]

By which point ashi are OP too :-P

I use samurais as much as I use doppels. Nothing beats a surprising 10-20 doppels/samurais suddenly "showing up" in ur base when ur busy fighting at the frontline.

OUT

PS i also like having some sams/doppels protecting my siege when I build it.

[quote=""LaZy""]I use samurais as much as I use doppels. Nothing beats a surprising 10-20 doppels/samurais suddenly "showing up" in ur base when ur busy fighting at the frontline.

OUT

PS i also like having some sams/doppels protecting my siege when I build it.[/quote]

Don't you mean 50 doppels from a boat right into your backyard when they weren't expecting it ?

Too bad the game wasn't long enough for them to actually see them...

They are like doppels but in a different case, rather they're multiplier vs cavalry is less but they have more attack vs every other unit than a doppel, also samurai have the same speed of an ashigaru considering the description for ashi is a fast musketeer,

samurai can kill RI if u micro and ur opponent doesn't >_<