Dev's Commentary/The Finnish War

This is the developer's commentary on Units in *The Finnish War.*

## Infantry

#### Musketeer

Core unit for most armies. Can mow down any and all opposition in large enough numbers, which they usually come in since they're so cheap. Can attack in melee with bayonet like all firearm infantry. Use them!

#### Jaeger

Budget Musketeer. Cheaper and quicker, but weaker. Keep in mind that since units can rout below about 50% HP, these guys will run away easily since they have such few hitpoints to begin with so it doesn't take long for them to drop below said threshold.

#### Forlorn Hope

Interesting unit that likely sees less use in most armies. Essentially a reskinned Jaeger, but with a twist. If a Forlorn Hope is the first unit to cause damage in a game, all that faction's Forlorns gain massive melee and range attack buffs. Hard to use right, but if successful, a small group can mow down near anything thrown at them.

#### Drummer

Support unit but classifies as infantry in-game, following infantry commands. Drummers are weak and expensive, but prevent units inside their aura from routing. Especially important for the French who have the poorest morale infantry. Keep them safe as they die if anyone looks at them funny.

## Cavalry

#### Hussar

Your basic melee cavalry. Good hitpoints, morale, and speed all for a modest price. As with all melee cavalry they have a Charge bonus meaning they do extra damage when they first collide with an enemy unit.

#### Dragoon

Basic ranged cavalry. Good for skirmishing and harassing, not much else. Swedish ones are some of the speediest units in the game.

#### Bodyguard

Hussars +1. They gain an extra Charge Bonus, plus a powerful bonus where they gain extra attack near their own Leader. This makes them absolute killing machines, especially as the French whose Bodyguards are unroutable. Overall the Bodyguard is a solid choice but they are also very expensive, the way to use them is to take a few and have them follow your Leader around.

## Artillery

#### Cannon

Standard artillery. Can fire both roundshots (against buildings and other artillery) and grapeshot (against masses of units). They are unroutable, but also slow, expensive, and die to a breeze. Honestly it's often best to save gold for Field Guns which bring more to the table.

#### Field Gun

Cannons plus one. A bit tougher, and more importantly with more range which is essential to artillery obviously. If you're not too tight on budget then bring these instead of Cannons.

## Unique units

#### Raitar (Swedish)

Dragoons but better. Some of the speediest units in the game. They have more HP than (Swedish) Dragoons and also fire faster in addition to moving quick. The perfect skirmisher.

#### Bashkir (Russians)

The competitor for the perfect skirmisher's title. It does some things way better than Raitar, some not. They are horse archers, meaning instead of firing guns they shoot arrows, so they do less damage. The arrows are on fire however so they do bonus damage vs. buildings, making Bashkirs extra capable base destroyers. They also have an attack bonus vs. support units for good measure.

#### Cossack (Russians)

Sniper infantry and some of the game's best units. They are hardy with good morale, range, and benefiting from the Russian infantry melee bonus. They come with a price tag to match however. A handful of Cossacks combined with Imperial Discipline-buffed Leader can wipe out nearly any opposition they face.

#### Finnhorse Cavalry (Finns)

An extremely speedy melee light cavalry. Has a bonus vs. buildings so they work very well as a raiding unit. Essentially they're glass cannons so you need to make sure they don't stay in prolonged combat. They hit very hard so they kill infantry and artillery easily if they manage to reach them. This shouldn't be a problem since they're very fast. They're also crazy cheap so you can in some cases even outnumber enemy infantry.

#### Partisan (Finns)

An interesting unit. It's a free infantry that's spawned from destroyed Finn buildings if the Finnish superability (Partisans) is enabled. They spawn from Camps and Outposts and come in random numbers. Statwise what you get is essentially a reskinned Jaeger with minor stat changes, but they're good in a pinch.

#### Cuirassier (French)

Massed muskets generally do well at countering cavalry. But this unit plays around the rules. The Cuirassier is a heavy cavalry unit that attacks in melee and has a +5 bonus defense against firearms. This means it only takes half the damage muskets normally cause. Having good hitpoints, morale, and Charge Bonus as well these units can pretty much counter anything. Their only real bane is massed artillery, especially considering they're on the slower side in cavalry standards.

## Superunits

#### Royal Horse Artillery (Swedish)

So this is essentially mobile artillery, which pretty much covers the one main weakness of artillery that is speed. The RHA can race across the map with other cavalry (and your Leader) and actually keeps up pretty well. It's unroutable, and has high hitpoints, but its slow attack rate (being artillery) means it'll melt quickly nonetheless when overwhelmed.

#### Tsar Cannon (Russians)

The single scariest unit in the game perhaps alongside the Gribeauval Mortier. Whenever you're playing against the Russians and get a notification they spawned their superunit you know it's hard times ahead. The Tsar Cannon, while slow and massive (making it a large target due to its hitbox) is an extremely destructive unit. High hitpoints, unroutable, massive range, and special extra-powerful ammunition all combined make it a nightmare especially against infantry-heavy armies. Thank god there can only be one per battle.

#### Pori Drummer Regiment (Finns)

The only superunit that's not artillery. Pori Drummer Regiment is essentially three Drummers packed into a single unit. It has triple range for its morale aura, and more than triple the hitpoints, making it an invaluable infantry buffer. Place it inside a large enough group of infantry, and you'll have a true deathball.

#### Gribeauval Mortier (French)

Thought the Tsar Cannon was scary? Well yes, it sure as hell is, but so is the Gribeauval Mortier. Packed with the longest range of all units in the game (outranging even the Tsar Cannon!) and firing the extra-destructive variant of cannonballs instead of standard ones, this is the perfect base defender. Its one downside is the fact it's immobile, meaning it can't be moved from where it spawns. But who cares, that would make it OP, and as a defensive unit it still manages to pretty much be just that.

## Abilities

#### Carolean Death March (Swedish)

A handy little ability that helps maintain the central theme in the Swedish army that is mobility. It increases speed for infantry and artillery and makes them quite quick. Has many uses, but one oft-ignored is that it helps artillery get to the safety of Camps faster when attrition damage hits.

#### Landwehr (Swedish, Superability)

Spawns 6 random units for free. These can be Musketeers, Jaegers, or Dragoons. If you get six Jaegers you won't get your money's worth since Superabilities cost 150 gold, but in the rare case you would get six Dragoons you would more than get the value for paying for the ability. It's a good ability to buy if you know your army will be more expensive and thus smaller.

#### Imperial Discipline (Russians)

Gives your Leader a morale aura as with support units, allowing him to keep nearby units from routing. A very handy ability. Combine with a bunch of Cossacks and some artillery and you'll become nigh unbeatable.

#### General Winter (Russians, Superability)

Allows your units to completely ignore speed penalties from snowstorms, and drastically decrease the penalty from rivers. Handy depending on the map. On random maps you won't know beforehand if there will be rivers or not, but it will still help with snowstorms which more often than not descend on your troops in the worst possible time.

#### Sisu (Finns)

Increases morale of units with 3 morale by +1. This affects your infantry in general. It helps make your frontline sturdier, especially in the face of artillery fire which usually puts infantry routing.

#### Partisans (Finns, Superability)

Camps and Outposts spawn unique Partisan infantry when destroyed. These guys are essentially reskinned Jaegers with little other difference but since they are spawned in addition to the usual Jaegers from Outposts this makes the Finns a lot more potent base defenders.

#### Jean Larry Medical Reforms (French)

Camps heal 33% faster. Your number one reason as to why the French are perhaps the best defensive faction in the game.

#### Year XI System (French, Superability)

This works both defensively and offensively, increasing the speed and fire rate of all standard artillery. Against infantry-heavy factions (like Finns or Russians) this can be a game-changer.