Crusader Kings II Thread IV: Time to Create a New Title

[Nerd-o-rama]

Bought base game, while buy DLC later. Installing. Will do some practice runs, maybe post up some Summaries of gameplay done.

How do I change the color of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to always be white in the game? Where exactly do I find that to change?

Update: Nevermind, already looks like it is white. Playing in Jerusalem, with no limits on demense, vassels, and direct action for assassinations. Will play another game as Ireland. Probably later.

Update 2: Baudy (I change the names around for the kingdom somehow, Can anybody help with this?) died defending the realm, but managed to sire an heir. Also winning at 75% against a Jihad.

Jerusalem is white when independent or the color of the primary title of the person who rules it or has its ruler vassalized (so, if the King of England is the King of Jerusalem, Jerusalem's territory is red. If he switches his primary title to King of Jerusalem, both Jerusalem and England will be white. Of course, this is just on the Realm view - Jerusalem and its duchies are always shades of white on the de jure views)

So I noticed. I've messed with both Satanists and the Hermes science/magic guys, and in both cases I got some very extreme benefits for very little risk, and ended up leading the society in about 20ish years. I'm not opposed to supernatural events, per se, but they did seem a little much at times.

As of right now, I'm just trying out the mechanics I've hitherto missed out on. When I try for an actual game I, like Nerd-o-rama, favor old homelands of my ancestors that I have no modern connection to. So I play in Norway and Spain a lot. Though I sprinkle in just some of the cultures/peoples/nations from history that I just plain love. Like steppe nomads and anything Rome. And the more I learn about history, the more I actually admire the French. It looks like they've drastically changed how non-feudal lords work, so I'm shying away from them at the moment.

Maybe a nice simple game about family and money is in order. Republics are great fun. History question: I don't suppose anyone knows if there were any cities in Iberia or Norway that were particularly wealthy due to trade?

Edit: Looks like Bergen or Kaupang would be fine for Norway. I can't seem to find wealthy Iberian cities during the medieval era. Only in the age of discovery.

All the really awesome cities in Iberia are Muslim-owned in most CK2 starts but logically, you can't go wrong with Seville, Valencia, Grenada, or whatever the name of Lisboa's duchy is I forget. Just be careful with Seville as the actual county of Seville is inland in CK2, and thus not suitable for a Merchant capital.

One of these days after actually buying the Republic I want to start as a Norse king in 867 and go MR when I switch away from tribalism. Raid and Trade, man.


Also: today in fun stuff in my incessant 1066 restarting: William the Bastard loses his invasion, but survives. 34 years later he comes back at England with a Claim War and wins, then two months later dies of depression. Somehow a Welsh guy gets elected king and his brother immediately declares a civil war for his own claim, while I popcorn and try to figure out if I have any dynastic folks with claims (I don't yet, sadly). After that all gets hashed out, somehow the Godwins get back on the throne and I begin to suspect divine intervention. Fun to watch though.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Edit: Looks like Bergen or Kaupang would be fine for Norway. I can't seem to find wealthy Iberian cities during the medieval era. Only in the age of discovery.

Granada was, after the decline of Cordoba in the game period, one of the largest cities in Europe before the Reconquista depopulated it. Christian Spain didn't have very hugely powerful cities, but the Muslim Taifa's were basically city-states.

Edit: As for the CK2 folder, there are also some files kept in My Documents/Paradox Interactive/Crusader Kings 2, notably the mod files, save files, preferences, and similar.

[Greymane]

All the really awesome cities in Iberia are Muslim-owned in most CK2 starts but logically, you can't go wrong with Seville, Valencia, Grenada, or whatever the name of Lisboa's duchy is I forget. Just be careful with Seville as the actual county of Seville is inland in CK2, and thus not suitable for a Merchant capital.

I'm actually okay with starting Muslim, and seeing if the Reconquista happens. Muslim Merchant Republics are also really funny. "I can own all the temples, forts and cities in my province? Don't mind if I do!"

One of these days after actually buying the Republic I want to start as a Norse king in 867 and go MR when I switch away from tribalism. Raid and Trade, man.

If you've never done it, you will quickly see that raiding, trading, and having a wife and three concubines is easily the most powerful setup in the game under patrician inheritance.

Also: today in fun stuff in my incessant 1066 restarting: William the Bastard loses his invasion, but survives. 34 years later he comes back at England with a Claim War and wins, then two months later dies of depression. Somehow a Welsh guy gets elected king and his brother immediately declares a civil war for his own claim, while I popcorn and try to figure out if I have any dynastic folks with claims (I don't yet, sadly). After that all gets hashed out, somehow the Godwins get back on the throne and I begin to suspect divine intervention. Fun to watch though.

Stamford Bridge 1066 start usually creates bonkers England unmodded. Even with mods I like to start with the William the Conqueror start, as England is relatively stable, then. Whenever I see the Godwins back on the throne, I cackle at the repercussions. No French-meddling in the English language! But will Britannia rule the waves later?

Granada was, after the decline of Cordoba in the game period, one of the largest cities in Europe before the Reconquista depopulated it. Christian Spain didn't have very hugely powerful cities, but the Muslim Taifa's were basically city-states.

Like I said with Nerd-o-rama, I'm fine with going Muslim. They had a strong grip on the Mediterranean trade back then. I'll just be ready to put shekels first and convert to Christianity if the Jimenas come knocking. In my experience, the Muslims really do well at holding their own in most games, though.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Logically, Muslim MRs would be just as broken as Pagan ones, because you can have the same number of legitimate mothers. I believe you cannot efficiently control all three holding types though, since you are a Republic rather than Iqta government.

And yeah England going nuts is one of my favorite parts of the early game honestly. If I wanted historicity I'd start at the Alexiad, really. Eternal Doukas ERE makes even less sense than Norse Brirannia.

[Artanis]

Logically, Muslim MRs would be just as broken as Pagan ones, because you can have the same number of legitimate mothers. I believe you cannot efficiently control all three holding types though, since you are a Republic rather than Iqta government.

It isn't just the concubines that makes Pagans MRs powerful, but the raiding as well. A Merchant Republic's power is limited primarily by how much money you have available (much more so than the other government types), and being able to raid pretty much removes that limit. Norse double down on this advantage with river travel letting them raid juicy inland targets like Paris.

[Greymane]

Logically, Muslim MRs would be just as broken as Pagan ones, because you can have the same number of legitimate mothers. I believe you cannot efficiently control all three holding types though, since you are a Republic rather than Iqta government.

Back when I used to play, a Muslim being able to own a temple holding was because of his religion. If that changed with Horselords and the government overhaul, I will be very sad. But Pagan MRs are crazy for all the reasons Artanis laid out. I think everyone should do that game at least once, because everyone should have that one game. The one where Europe lives in fear, because they never know if those nice Scandinavians on the boats will be bringing goods or axes.

And yeah England going nuts is one of my favorite parts of the early game honestly. If I wanted historicity I'd start at the Alexiad, really. Eternal Doukas ERE makes even less sense than Norse Brirannia.

For some reason I really enjoy it when a game stays on history's track. Not that I hate it otherwise, (because every game would give me an ulcer, no doubt) but when I see constant flipping of kingdoms, with some balkanization, I don't like it as much. Sometimes it's hilarious. For England specifically, I so rarely see Norway win it that I'm fine with it happening. Though, Hardrada can't usually hold onto it.

I think I just like pretty borders, really.

[Leecros]

For some reason I really enjoy it when a game stays on history's track. Not that I hate it otherwise, (because every game would give me an ulcer, no doubt) but when I see constant flipping of kingdoms, with some balkanization, I don't like it as much. Sometimes it's hilarious. For England specifically, I so rarely see Norway win it that I'm fine with it happening. Though, Hardrada can't usually hold onto it.

I think I just like pretty borders, really.

this is going to sound a bit counterintuitive to things that i've said in the past. Mainly in reference to things such as the fact that the Russian and Wendish Empire regions rarely consolidate pre-1066 start and I wish the AI did a better job at it.

However I do find it interesting when traditionally large stable nations collapse. It sort of shakes up the meta if say France or the HRE has a large scale rebellion where most of their vassals get independence. However it rarely happens in any permanent fashion.

In fact, I can only thing of a few times where a nation actually shattered completely. One of the most clear events in my memory was when i was playing in Scandinavia and looked over to see Scotland collapse completely(As in there was no holder of the Kingdom of Scotland title). Eventually they reunited under the flag of a completely unrelated dynasty. Then they collapsed again about half a century later. It was an interesting drama to see unfold from the outside.


Also Crusader Kings II isn't really the most appropriate game to go to to find pretty borders...

[Greymane]

Also Crusader Kings II isn't really the most appropriate game to go to to find pretty borders...

Ain't that the truth? I'm afraid I'm not autistic enough to really get into Vicky 2. And I like the emphasis an individual lord CK2 gives. I don't enjoy being the phantom-like will of a nation quite as much.

But yes, part of the charm of the game is that borders do get nutso, due to inheritances being a really funny thing at times.

[Leecros]

Well, my current ambition is to create a Great and Powerful Nestorian Empire. I did it once...kind of as Hungary in a multiplayer game, but that game was never continued so I decided to do it again.


Of course, my real ambition is Messalian, but baby steps. Currently it's going well. I've dealt with the high chief of Moray...the biggest obsticle for a Pictish king at the earliest starting date and I have managed to convert myself to Nestorian....Although I have become a little bit Levantine...That will be dealt with as generations pass.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Pretty borders are for EU4, where you can actually choose what territory you're taking in a war and the concept of nation-states is an actual thing that exists. This is the Middle Ages, where the rules are made up and it's all down to individual landholders.

I have seen things implode pretty impressively in the 867 start due to the Umayyads being overpowered and extremely ornery though. France was pretty much Paris.

[Greymane]

Yeah. EU4 is definitely a better map painting simulator.

So I began doing a setup for a Muslim MR, and my fears were realized. The ability for a Muslim to own Temple holdings is based on the Iqta government, and not on their religion anymore. I will miss the days when I had every holding in a province. The amount of income you could get from tossing your Steward on it to collect taxes was crazy.

[Malimar]

Maybe I'll try a republic again sometime. Never gotten through a complete MR game. Last time I played one, I got several rulers in, then lost an election, then the next time I won an election I got a mystifying "you're a merchant republic now, so game over" message and lost the game. Buggiest part of the game, merchant republics.

[Leecros]

Maybe I'll try a republic again sometime. Never gotten through a complete MR game. Last time I played one, I got several rulers in, then lost an election, then the next time I won an election I got a mystifying "you're a merchant republic now, so game over" message and lost the game. Buggiest part of the game, merchant republics.

Merchant Republics are and have always been pretty buggy. I remember one game i played as Amalfi aiming for the 80 trade ports and a few other MR achievements. There's one for like the Silk Road and India....Anyway, I got into the 1100's, had a massive trade empire, but not a huge amount of land in any one Empire. I held Sicily, Africa, and Egypt so I decided to just create my own empire title using the feature introduced in Charlemagne.

Well, It all seemed to work out fine until my ruler died and i suddenly became feudal, lost all of my trade ports, and was basically screwed out of several achievements that I was fairly close to.

[Rockphed]

I'm really beginning to think these religious cult mechanics are a little out of whack. The only way I've stopped the Warriors of Perun from flipping my country every generation is by joining and deliberately sabotaging them. Also, the entire Byzantine Empire just flipped Catholic so goodbye forever Orthodox MA. Maybe everyone will revolt and I can just pick off whatever Doux owns the Hagia Sophia.

Mayve this is just the 867 start being itself though.

The Byzantine empire is swinging back and forth between catholic and orthodox. The arabian empire was orthodox, but they just lost a couple jihads. And Amafi keeps getting a bunch of old tengri in a cult.

Oh, yes, the Mongols and the Aztecs have both invaded and taken large swaths of the map. They both ran out of steam, however, to the point that I just won a crusade against the Mongols and the two crusades before that were taking land from the Aztecs.

This is !!fun!!.

[Wardog]

Finally!

Spoiler

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All hail Hrolfr the Lame, Emperor of Russia!

(And also King of Ruthenia, which I had to create in order to get a CB to capture the last territory I needed to make the empire).

Spoiler: I think I've got the largest dynastic empire too.

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Spoiler: Religious unity. What's that?

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My empire is quite multi-ethnic, too.

Spoiler

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(I've half a mind to make here Queen of Perm).


Meanwhile:

Spoiler: Samanids take all of East-Central Asia.

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(And appear to have completely exterminated the Mongol culture, as I can't find anyone with it in Find Characters).

Spoiler: Orthodox Island!

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Spoiler: Oxford is still tribal

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[Flickerdart]

I've started a new game as 769 Vestisland with the goal of creating a mighty unpronounceable Norse Merchant Republic. I immediately ran into issues:

• I used the ruler designer to min-max my ruler for warfare, but he still couldn't muster nearly enough men to knock over Austisland's lone castle. I had to wait until the ruler died, and was lucky in his choice of heir (underage and ineffectual).
• As soon as I conquered Austisland, my men got angry at me for no longer having any more targets to raid. I accidentally betrothed my son to Ragnar Lothbrok's daughter though, so as soon as we are wed there will be war to spare.
• Even united, Island is miserably poor. The only way to make any kind of money (including the gold necessary to make a duchy) is Business focus (debasing coins and organizing trade expeditions).
• Pandemic lied to me - everyone in my court including my Quick wife died of the flu.
• In order to settle into a Merchant Republic, the faith must be reformed. That will be tough to do from all the way in Iceland... Easier once I get boats.

[Nerd-o-rama]

The Byzantine empire is swinging back and forth between catholic and orthodox. The arabian empire was orthodox, but they just lost a couple jihads. And Amafi keeps getting a bunch of old tengri in a cult.

Oh, yes, the Mongols and the Aztecs have both invaded and taken large swaths of the map. They both ran out of steam, however, to the point that I just won a crusade against the Mongols and the two crusades before that were taking land from the Aztecs.

This is !!fun!!.

Honestly the second paragraph is normal. And I've discovered that I can just...turn off secret religious cults without even affecting achievements, so I've been doing that now.

[Rockphed]

Honestly the second paragraph is normal. And I've discovered that I can just...turn off secret religious cults without even affecting achievements, so I've been doing that now.

I thought I had done that this play-through. I will be doing it in future games. They are annoying to say the least.

[russdm]

Tweaked the Muslim crusade weight targets so they would go after France, rather than Jerusalem. It will make events more interesting.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Yeah honestly the worst thing about Crusades in this game is that if you win the first one for Jerusalem you're pretty muxh guaranteed to eat both a Sunni and a Shia Jihad in return. You might consider swapping in Anatolia rather than France for the Shia though, if they have different weights. The AI doesn't always go after Byzantium in a historically aggressive manner which can lead to large purple blobs.

[russdm]

Yeah honestly the worst thing about Crusades in this game is that if you win the first one for Jerusalem you're pretty muxh guaranteed to eat both a Sunni and a Shia Jihad in return. You might consider swapping in Anatolia rather than France for the Shia though, if they have different weights. The AI doesn't always go after Byzantium in a historically aggressive manner which can lead to large purple blobs.

I might have left in Anatolia, but made France a big one. There is no reason not to mess around. I, of course, did some removal of Jerusalem concerns, like removing it as a muslim holy site. Then made changes in religion text file to get it not checked if owned. I have thought about making some India places rate pretty high and make the Muslims go on Jihad there. Maybe include Sweden, and Ireland for Jihad, just to screw with them.

What I really want to do is put in high revolt risk for Islam, and make it have gavelkind inheritance as a religion. I want to roll with alternate history here. (I may need to add in some weights to get crusades rolling on Byzantium since I lowered all of the Muslim crusade weights)

[Malimar]

The things I'm currently thinking about adding to my mod:

• If you own a holy site, and have a religious head, a decision that gives the holy site to the religious head. (Not sure if I'd have it do the entire county like the decision Catholics have to give Rome to the Pope, or just the barony like Orthodoxes have to give Constantinople to the Ecumenical Patriarch.)
• If you have a religious head and neither you nor they own a holy site, a casus belli to take a holy site (and its county, probably) and give it to your religious head.

The latter is probably the harder of the two; I've never successfully modded casus belli.

[Corvus]

I keep hearing about people having problems with secret religious cults and thought that surely they can't be as bad as all that. I'd made it around 400 years into my game with nothing notable going on beyond the usual nomadic religious upheavals - the current dominant religion out on the steppes currently is Paulician. Catholic countries were staying Catholic, Muslim nations were staying Muslim, India was staying Hindu and the mighty Gotland Merchant Republic was staying Germanic.

Them, bam, out of nowhere, huge numbers suddenly started converting to Sunni, including numerous sons of the Flykir, a number of vassals and even three of the rival patricians. They weird thing is that Sunni is a crippled religion as it has lost all of its Middle East holdings to either the Abyssinians, the Shia or, mostly, to me. They are handing on, just, in Spain, but only cause I'm letting them hoping that the Aztecs land there.

I guess too many concubines were taken from captured Sunni women....

Had to do a lot of revoking of titles and a few murders as well to nip it in the bud.

Do the secret religious cults influence marriage offers as well? All of a sudden I'm getting requests from all over the world from rulers of different faiths who want to marry my daughters. Have they secretly become Germanic or is it that they are after NAPs and are looking past the usual reluctance to marry those of infidel faiths?

[SZbNAhL]

So remember when I said that multiple Lollard cults were massively altering the religious landscape of my game? It got massively worse. The Jewish king of Lotharingia* just fought off a Crusade for Cologne and is now poised to seize the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire. The best part is there were no society shenanigans, he just got educated by one of the hyper-competent Jewish courtiers who sometimes pop up by random event.

Oh, and thanks to his destroying Catholic MA, Lollardism is the new mainstream in Western Christianity, so I have some shiny new Holy Orders to fight ... absolutely nobody because all my neighbours are either Lollard or the aforementioned Jewish and Muslim superpowers.

*Which, due to a combination of the Umayyads eating West Francia and Germanic paganism refusing to die out, is actually the dominant Catholic power. Or, uh, was.

[Rockphed]

So remember when I said that multiple Lollard cults were massively altering the religious landscape of my game? It got massively worse. The Jewish king of Lotharingia* just fought off a Crusade for Cologne and is now poised to seize the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire. The best part is there were no society shenanigans, he just got educated by one of the hyper-competent Jewish courtiers who sometimes pop up by random event.

Oh, and thanks to his destroying Catholic MA, Lollardism is the new mainstream in Western Christianity, so I have some shiny new Holy Orders to fight ... absolutely nobody because all my neighbours are either Lollard or the aforementioned Jewish and Muslim superpowers.

*Which, due to a combination of the Umayyads eating West Francia and Germanic paganism refusing to die out, is actually the dominant Catholic power. Or, uh, was.

So, let me see if I can track the progress of religions in my game:

There have been 5 crusades, all successful. One for Acquitaine, one for Bavaria, one for Hungary, one for Jerusalem, and one for Finland. On the other hand, the Tengri reformed and had a successful crusade for Bulgaria and lots of failed crusades for Khiva. I think they are up to like 5 now. The muslims have had successful jihads for Egypt, Africa, and Arabia and failed Jihads for Anatolia and Jerusalem. Muslim Spain and the Empire of Arabia both became Orthodox, though Arabian Empire is back to Muslim. The Aztecs invaded, but the only place still Aztec religion is Western Iceland. Even the Aztec Empire is Germanic Pagan (which might make them the only Germanic Pagans, the rest having converted to Reformed Tengri). The Pope is fighting off the Tengri Byzantine Empire's attempts to take Rome. The Serene Doge of Jerusalem has Vassalized, I think, the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaler, but I don't know since I got kicked out of the empire and the republic after an independence war ended inconclusively. We were winning too. Oh, and I am a republic, but my capital is a castle, not a city. Never Fear! I plan to take the capital county of finland from the Swedes and make the cities in it the capital. Then I just need to conquer all the dang other trade republics that popped up the same time I was granted independence and take back Jerusalem. I don't think I am going to blob out of control this game.

[russdm]

Got Legacy of Rome, Ruler Designer, Customization pack, and Military orders unit pack. So now can make Retinues. Should all retinues be picked up? Is that the best way to do it?

[Malimar]

Got Legacy of Rome, Ruler Designer, Customization pack, and Military orders unit pack. So now can make Retinues. Should all retinues be picked up? Is that the best way to do it?

I only do retinues if I have a butt-ton of spare cash lying around. Limited cash is better spent on upgrading your demesne (and the money-generating buildings of baronies you don't control in your demesne provinces -- once all the walls, church towns, castle towns, markets, and ports are built and upgraded, your barons/priests/mayors will have enough income to do the rest).

And even if I have them, I don't actually use my retinues, except to fend off looters (or as backup for my levies if I'm doing really poorly in a war), because it's so expensive to replenish them if you waste half the stack in a war.

I buy pretty much only the cavalry unit, unless my cultural unit is better. Cavalry is the most expensive unit, but the others aren't worth even their reduced cost.

Other people say things like "I don't even bother with levies once I get going, I do all my warmaking using my retinue exclusively", but that doesn't match up with my play experience at all.

[tyckspoon]

Got Legacy of Rome, Ruler Designer, Customization pack, and Military orders unit pack. So now can make Retinues. Should all retinues be picked up? Is that the best way to do it?

The way army combat works in this game encourages armies made of a majority of one type of unit. Basically, when they join combat, the army picks a tactic. That tactic will usually give significant bonuses to one category of troops (broadly split as light troops being Archers and Light Infantry, heavy troops being Heavy Infantry and Pikemen, and Cavalry being, well, Cavalry) and penalties to one or both of the others. The more troops of one category you have and the more skilled their general is, the more likely that army is to pick a tactic that favors their majority troop. Retinues are the only real practical way the game offers to control the composition of an army, so the retinue you want depends on what phase of combat you want to excel at, since you can control the composition of the troops and try to appoint a commander with a matching specialty. The most generally useful ones are the Shock (Heavy Infantry + Archers) or Defense (Pikemen + Archers) retinues, since those let you dominate the Melee phase while still having decent options for the Skirmish phase (either defensive tactics that preserve your heavy troops for Melee or offensive Archer tactics to get early damage in.)

I'll usually mix in a Cavalry unit or two once I have enough retinue cap to support them, because Light Cavalry does by far the most damage in Pursuit, and that's where you get your best opportunity to really chew chunks out of defeated armies. (Also I hate having to reengage a beaten army five more times just to actually kill them down to the point I don't have to worry about them joining up with enough other dudes to threaten me.) Light Skirmish is rubbish in an actual fight, but has some uses in situations where the game only considers the amount of bodies you have available; most commonly that's besieging things (not assaulting, that's considered a Melee fight and you want heavy infantry types there) or trying to intimidate factions where your vassals are checking against how many heads you have under arms rather than whether they could potentially actually beat them.

[Nerd-o-rama]

i usually buy to my retinue cap just to make sure I have a strong core army that can smash things well while taking less losses than my levies (and I've been playing mostly Irish, Russian, and Norse games, all of whom happen to get Heavy Infantry cultural retinues, which as stated are good for doing a lot of murder in the melee phase).

Basically, putting all your Retinues in one flank of your main army alongside nothing else (once you get your numbers up) can give you a tactical silver bullet that can break an enemy army very well - as long as your retinues are majority Heavy Infantry or Pikes, which means Shock, Defense, or appropriate cultural retinues. It's also possible to do very well with Horse Archer retinues, although those are seriously helped by picking Altaic commanders who get a special tactic with them (as are Pikes helped by Scottish or Italian commanders for the same reason).

The math's all here but honestly I think the general idea can be summed up as "get as many pikes or heavy infantry in one flank as possible and use them as a hammer to crush enemy armies and castles, or be the Mongols."

Other retinues (heavy cavalry specifically) can be good, but are generally much, much less cost effective when evaluated against their retinue cap cost.

EDIT I may be mixing up Horse Archer and Light Cavalry here. I guess either have been viable depending on patch?

Or, as stated, you can also use it to absolutely spam light infantry as a numbers game for either sieges or intimidation.

[tyckspoon]

EDIT I may be mixing up Horse Archer and Light Cavalry here. I guess either have been viable depending on patch?

Or, as stated, you can also use it to absolutely spam light infantry as a numbers game for either sieges or intimidation.

Skirmish units (Light Infantry, Archers, Light Cav, Horse Archers) get nerfed in general a while back, specifically because all-Light-Infantry was way too good for how cheap and accessible it was and Horse Archers were far and away the best kind of retinue. Combine that with Horse Archer tactics just not being that great (as Skirmish type units they don't have good Melee tactics, and their Skirmish phase tactics aren't anything special compared to the ones you get for just using Archers) and their high cost/low quantity as a retinue and Horse Archers fell way, wayyyyy down. Archers and Light Cavalry are still ok, you just don't want to mix too many of them into a predominantly heavy infantry army. And the English/Welsh Longbow Retinue is still capable of obliterating fights in the Skirmish phase, but that's a super high risk/high reward choice, since they fall apart near instantly if something survives to get into Melee with them.