Hey guys Spirit of the law here, this video is about two long-lost twins: the Frank Throwing Axeman
Which has been around since the release of Age of Kings
And the Malian Gbeto which is a relative newcomer in the African kingdoms Expansion
I'll be in looking at their stats, hidden attributes, and how they do in some different situations..
Let's check them out!
The reason I say they're long-lost twins is they're both unique in the sense that they are
ranged infantry units. They both attack from a distance
but do melee damage almost as if they were swordsmen up close, that means they're affected by upgrades at the barracks like Squires and Arson
As well as the infantry technologies at the blacksmith, the fact that they're not actually archers
means they're unaffected by thumb ring, fletching, chemistry, ballistics
or any other technology normally associated with archers
The ranged infantry thing really messes with people's expectations
and often their first instinct is to go for anti-Archer units like skirmishers or Rams
But those have high pierce armor, which does nothing to help against Gbetos or throwing axemen
Now they aren't the only examples of units like this, the Mameluke and Kamayuk also do melee damage from range
But they feel like pretty different units to me with different roles
Whereas the throwing axemen and gbetos are very similar to the I test the question is who does it better well?
Let's just have them fight each other. With equal numbers the throwing Axeman wins
DONE! Thanks for watching guys and don't forget to Like and subscribe
One of these videos take me two weeks to make!
Just kidding, that's an interesting result
But let's take a closer look before drawing any conclusions
If we compare their stats side-by-side we see the HP of the throwing Axeman is much higher
It's double in the Castle age and 56% more in
Imperial age that automatically makes it the tankier unit and when you don't need to worry about quite as much
The Malian attack on the other hand looks quite a bit higher initially. Unfortunately though
they miss out on the final attack upgrade so once all the upgrades are factored in it's only 25% more
Their armor is pretty comparable with throwing Axeman having 1 more against melee and the gbeto has 1 more range
with the elite Throwing axman's unique tech bring them up to a total of 5
That's a lot of give-and-take with the stats and you might assume it balances out
Interestingly the developers at least seem to be implying the Gbeto is better since it cost 60% more gold per unit
and 13% more overall. That might not make a lot of sense based on the stats so far
But consider the Throwing Axeman has a more expensive Elite upgrade cost as well as a unique tech for its +1 range
You'll also need blast furnace, which the Malians don't have
altogether that means fully upgrading your elite Throwing Axeman
cost 775 food and gold more, that's the equivalent of about 17 Gbetos
I think they are higher cost stats to make a bit of sense to dig a bit deeper in their hidden attributes
They both have an identical creation time of 17 seconds, identical fire rates
And they're both pretty light on secret bonus damage the throwing Axman gets slightly more against buildings
and Eagle warriors in Imperial Age
But overall there isn't too much under the hood of either unit
One big difference though is their movement rate
Gbetos are very fast for infantry whereas the throwing Axman is fairly average
when you combine that with what we saw about their HP and attack you start to get a sense
They're not as similar as they first appear and can play very different roles
I think of the Gbeto is more of a cavalry Archer hit-and-run sort of unit helped out with higher attack, more range and
faster movement. They work well in small groups and can hit and run nearly every other infantry unit
while also being able to escape from archers. Even cavalry can have a hard time chasing them down
The cheaper upgrades also complement that style and you can feel more comfortable
getting the elite upgrade even if you only intend to make a small number of them
The only issue I have with their rating potential is the relatively long delay between your commands and when they actually
fire it makes them a little bit annoying to use sometimes and means you can lose efficiency with too much micromanagement
And while I'm on the topic of things. I don't like about them. I also don't like that
I think I'm losing villagers every time one of them dies
Now compare all that hit-and-run to the Throwing Axeman, which will have a much harder time chasing down villagers
I see them potentially as the bulk of an army, expensive to tech into but giving you good value over the long run
Of course these units are also operating within their
civilizations tech trees and the throwing Axman is supported by beefy Frank paladins
whereas the Malians have a much wider range of viable units. Now just to help you guys get
a reasonable intuition of what you can expect from each unit,
I thought I'd run some tests on a variety of situations and see which one has the edge
Of course in any fight the Gbeto has the added advantage of speed meaning
It's easier to micro and can generally avoid unfavorable fights. Ignoring that important point for the moment, let's see how they perform
I'll start off by testing them against the trash units
Against halberdiers from a distance the gbeto does 12 damage instead of the throwing axman's 9 that means as long as you have something to
protect them in front the gbeto is the better support unit taking down halberdiers faster
Now because that's true against every unit I'm gonna stop pointing it out. If we remove the barriers though the gabato is lower HP
means they go down significantly faster both are okay against halberdiers even up close
But the Throwing Axemen are definitely better
And I would argue that gbetos gold cost makes it ineffective in the long term in their case
I think you have to use some micromanagement or
have units in front if you want a good exchange in the long run. Looking at skirmishers now
they're both incredibly efficient against them even
outnumbered two to one if there's one takeaway of this video
It's that it's not a great idea to counter the Gbetos and throwing axemen with
skirmishers the throwing axe men do take 24 hits instead of the Gbetos' 15 to go down
But the trade-off is gbetos takedown skirmishers in three hits instead of the axeman's four
Overall, Axemen have the advantage, but they're both good choices
To finish off the triumvirate of trash against Hussars,
Gbetos do 33% more damage once the Hussars get close though Gbetos can't fight off an equal number, while throwing axemen can
Personally I was impressed that both held up as well as did
Another unit they're fairly good against is the Eagle warrior and even up close they end up trading very well with Incas though
they lose to the Mayans once. They're up close
They also tend to do quite well against the Elite Huskarl, the last one there at least sort of good against is Champions
The champions barely survive in up close melee fights, which means if you're using your range at all
It's probably going to be a good exchange for the gbetos and axemen based on the test though
I wouldn't say any of those units has a big advantage over another now something that a player very
unfamiliar with Gbetos might try is Rams
Thinking about how good they are against other ranged units for soaking up arrows
That would be a very bad choice in this case though
Considering those two units are doing melee damage in addition the fact that these are unique units is an extra added bonus
Because they can be created at a castle that's being attacked by Rams, so those are more or less the two unit strengths
But what about their weaknesses? I'd say they're pretty similar in respect to those as well
They're definitely both weak against onagers in large numbers, though
I'd take the Gbeto over the Axeman because of the faster speed and higher attack
even if you're keeping a close eye on them though it's still dangerous if
Your opponent is massing at Gbetos or throwing axemen I would say Onagers are a good choice
Another pretty good unit that isn't mutually exclusive is the Arbalest,
Open field tests like this don't really capture how good they are, especially if you can make use of their extra range,
they also don't require castles, which means they're much easier to mass up in the long run if you can put some units in front of the archers for the
Gbetos and Axemen to aim at and make use of the archers extra range it can be a pretty good counter
in this particular situation the throwing Axeman's HP makes them more resistant
though again I think Gbetos have an edge for being able to escape if need
but one of their biggest differences I've found is against hand cannoneers
Gbetos' low HP and the hand cannoneers +10 bonus against infantry
means they go down in two hits, a throwing axemen on the other hand takes a slightly more impressive 4
As you can see that leads to a huge difference in their effectiveness
The last one here could go either way
and it's the scorpion, on small scales the melee damage deals with them very quickly, on the other hand with enough scorpions
It's impossible for them to get close enough for that so you really have to use your own discretion on that one
So those were the main units I was curious about
I think there's a little bit of hype around the Gbeto right now because they're relatively new
And in melee fights the tests show the throwing axemen generally holds up better th extra eattack
doesn't make up for less HP when you have close sustained combat. That's not a knock on the gbeto
but it means you should be actively looking for ways to use their extra speed and attack to your advantage and be more careful about
leaving them in the middle of a fight for any extended period. I think that's sort of common sense
but it's nice to see that the numbers support that
The times I've seen the Gbeto used most effectively was in smaller groups as an annoying harassment unit
Baiting units out of position or picking off villagers. In that case the normal counters like archers and onagers
And even cavalry just can't force a proper engagement
So hopefully that helps you out next time you're using or playing against either of those units
Thanks for watching guys, and I'll see you next time :D
-Subtitles by Yousef Wahbeh-