TOP 6 HOPLITES! - Divide Et Impera (1.2.8) - Total War Rome 2

[@Immersaholic]

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Bactria Yavana Guard - THP = 118 Bosporan Royal Guard - THP = 118 Syracusan Guards - THP = 118 Ardiaei Noble Thureos Spearmen - THP = 117 I didn't include these in the video as I wanted to keep the vid as short as possible. Also please keep in mind that all of these units were required to have the PHALANX ability! NOT shield wall (like many of the Celts do) or any other formation. This vid is all about pure hoplite warfare!

[@ribar4040]

Mate I have been a big supporter of yours ever since your first videos, sharing them to friends, giving feedback etc... I have to say I am quite disappointed in seeing you simply not improving the quality of your videos. Please take this as a constructive criticism... But it is apalling to see you make a rather simplistic video over 15 minutes long! You should have made this video 6-8 min long max, straight to the point, without 457x "Welcome ladies and gentlemen"... I really want your channel to grow, but until you start making more effective and efficient videos I think you will continue to stagnate... Pretty much the same goes for your 75 min long Ptolomy video... There is so much fat you could trim from your videos . Cheers

[@Immersaholic]

@@ribar4040 I appreciate the feedback mate. While I will work on certain things in the future, my channel will always be more laid back and not have a high level of editing at all. I don’t have the time for it nor do I do KZbin to grow my channel. I just do it for fun and to share the stories I experience in games in my let’s plays. Feel free to leave more feedback in the future, but chances are this isn’t the channel for you if your looking for high quality content.

[@dimitrijerankov606]

I would be very interested to see top 6 swordsman unit. Best looking units video idea is amazing as well. Loved the video btw, really enjoy your conter overall keep up the good work man :)

[@Immersaholic]

Thanks so much mate! I appreciate you and everyone else who enjoys the content!

[@longyu9336]

Probably Cimbri Guardsmen or the 400 man strong Eagle Cohort with 60 Morale

[@QibingZero]

Speaking of "HP", the various Spartans actually have slightly more hit points than every other hoplite. Like many other stats, it's not shown in game, but it does make a difference. They also enjoy higher speed (not just run speed but walk/charge speeds too) as well as mass, for what it's worth. The Royal Spartan Bodyguard in fact has yet another HP boost on top of the one all Spartans get, making them perform even better. For instance, if you match them up vs the also-300-strong Macedonian bodyguard you can see that, despite the Spartans' slightly lower armor, they consistently out-trade the Macedonians. The only hoplite unit that trades evenly with them is actually the Carthaginian Sacred Band due to the extra melee defense (which is actually a big deal at 0xp), though it still loses due to unit size. Also, as you mentioned in the video, during a campaign it's unlikely that all units in a battle will be fighting with the same xp values, and at higher ones the couple extra defense is a bit less valuable.

[@Immersaholic]

Thanks very much for the input mate! I knew the Spartans had some kind of HP boost but I wasn’t sure on the specifics. I wish those stats would be shown to us though.

[@nodosa994]

If you were to do a Best looking unit in DEI, hands down, one of the contesters i have to nominate is the Sahiya Hadabara (Late Saka Cataphract) from the Saka Rauka. A good mix of Greek, Nomadic and Indian, all bundled into a heavy Cataphract unit!

[@Immersaholic]

I'll probably do a KZbin and discord post at some point to get nominations, then maybe even some polls for the community to get involved in, would you like that mate? Thanks so much for watching, I hope you enjoyed!

[@bruh7895]

The best looking unit is hayk's nahakar thorax swordsman

[@cass7448]

I feel obligated to recommend checking out some of the units in Europa Barbarorum 2 if anyone's interested. They have comparatively low-poly models over there, but regardless some of the units are absolutely phenomenal-looking. The shield patterns in particular are really eye-catching.

[@pablojesussantanatorres5721]

@Nodosa you'r profile pic is chadicus iranicus maximus😎

[@nodosa994]

@@Immersaholic that would be great. DEI content is always more than welcomed over here.

[@jasonthorn555]

No shock that my boys in red took the win. Pharoah Areus would be proud of his men. I had no idea that sacred band was that freakin tough either. Excellent content as always

[@Immersaholic]

Never forget the Spartan Pharaoh!

[@endrewcoolysh3013]

This absolute madlad did it. As i asked you long ago, you told me, that hoplites a bit differ among each other, so at last, here is a contest ;D

[@Immersaholic]

Indeed mate, I hope it was worth the wait lol 😆 feel free to make more requests in the future!

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

Been really anticipating thise one mate! Thanks bro. Going to make some guesses here: Sparta will be in the top 3. Some small relatively unknown faction will also steal a spot on this list. Honourable mentions will include a lot of lightly armored but offensive hoplites.

[@Immersaholic]

Thanks for watching mate! You were right on the first part of your guess but all of our honorable mentions had good armor, without it they basically will instantly melt and fail at their primary role which is holding a front line.

[@tlg0116]

Would love to see a best looking. Maybe some kind of best melee unit outside of Roman units if possible. Love your videos keep up the great work!

[@Immersaholic]

Thanks so much mate! I’ll look into it!

[@anoptimate]

Most hyped video of my month!

[@Immersaholic]

Thanks mate I hope you enjoyed!

[@anoptimate]

@@Immersaholic was not disappointed, 10/10!

[@gertoise]

thank Zues for these, cant wait for athens review i tried Syracuse but it was impossible without migrating. also top AOR units LETS GO!

[@Immersaholic]

Thanks so much mate! Athens will probably be after the Illyrians I reckon. Top AOR will be insanely hard since there are all types of AOR units, but I could do perhaps the most cost effective or even just a list of what should be some to try and grab? Also, migrating is so fun in DeI! I'd still call that a win as Syracuse if you have to do that ;)

[@gertoise]

@@Immersaholic thats what i figured on the AOR units, so why not rank them best to worst? tier list

[@gertoise]

best AOR Pikemen ECt.

[@Immersaholic]

@@gertoise it’ll probably be something like that in categories, pikes, hoplites, swords, etc. Thanks for the suggestion man!

[@henrykillenger8665]

Was just thinking about the need for a video like this. Anyone else enjoy coffee and early morning Total War games?

[@Immersaholic]

The best way to start any day for sure! Thanks for watching mate!

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

Idk about the Thorax beating the Athenian/Selu's since Armor > Morale in my opinion, higher armor = less morale lost, and as you even mentioned in the video, armor is much harder to upgrade than morale/attack/defense skills, requiring tech + resources + buildings to upgrade. Higher armor = less death to ranged weaponry, less death in general, meaning less morale lost and more men to fight another day. True, if morale breaks then the losses will be much worse and a whole battle might be lost, but I feel like 1~4 points on an already quite high morale stat wont make enough of a difference to matter, especially in battles where you will win handidly, where losses due to ranged or short fights will hurt much more, since morale will never be a problem except in heavily outnumbered and bad situations, while armor is useful all the time and in all situations.

[@Immersaholic]

I certainly see your point mate and going based on that alone I’d agree with you. However for whatever reason the actual game play that I’ve observed shows that the units in this video with higher morale almost always lasted longer and did better. The number 1 unit especially is a perfect example, I’ve posted a few online battles now of it taking insane losses while still getting 2/300 kills and not breaking. It’s very situational I think with both sides holding merit. For this video though I ended up going with my personal taste of preferring high morale.

[@thegermaniccoenus2525]

Pretty surprised that Antigonid Macedon had the second place though. I thought I'd never find them anywhere but on the special mentions list. 😅 But of course, I do remember these guys on your Battle of Pydna video. Incredibly tough as hell b*stards, very hard to break. To be honest, my thoughts and opinions on Macedon's Royal infantry on this mod, (and I have been looking at several research papers for this, including Polybius') is that it has way too many Guard units e.g. Royal Peltasts and its Agema and the Hypaspists. I had concluded the mentions of "Hypaspists" in Polybius book are just another term coined for the Macedonian kings' personal bodyguards or *"Somatophylakes"*. Therefore they weren't really a 200 or 300-strong unit as shown in the video but just 7 to 10 individuals that personally guard the king. The real Royal infantrymen that definitely took part of the active fighting were just the *Royal Peltasts and its Agema* which numbered some 5000-strong according to ancient historians.

[@Immersaholic]

I honestly had no idea about that Macedonian unit before I did research for this vid, I wonder why the DeI team chose to give them 300 men then? It makes a cracking difference, I was surprised they beat other more hoplite focused factions like Athens. Cheers for watching mate!

[@sotiriospeithis6659]

Stamina levels should also be taken into consideration. If I'm not mistaken, Spartans have higher stamina

[@giod6266]

Yeah, spartan general unit! Have seen doing crazy things, alone and on its own..

[@Immersaholic]

Alone and on its own? 😆 But yeah man it does some magical things!

[@kaustubhlunawat7827]

Lol I was just wondering yesterday if you would ever make a hoplite guide. Nice to see the video.

[@Immersaholic]

They do indeed take a long time but these videos will definitely continue. Also the “Supporter” role and channel members got to hear that it was coming early 🤫

[@SonKunSama]

Terrible mistake, there is a special unit often overlooked which is clearly the best hoplite unit in the game. Spartan freed helot hoplites will beat even the most elite Roman legionary 1 on 1. All jokes aside, excellent video. Your production quality just keeps going up and up, and it keeps me hooked. If I could throw in a suggestion for a future "top list", it would definitely have to be slingers. Just kidding, but peltast/javelin units would be cool. In one of my first playthroughs in DeI as Rome I have a fond memory of getting absolutely and completely unexpectedly destroyed by Masaesyli Elite Peltasts. Keep it up!

[@Immersaholic]

Lol thanks very much mate! I really appreciate your continued support! Are you on our discord? If you are I'd love to give you the supporter role for behind the scenes info and more ;) And I was actually wanting to do Slingers although I think we all know how that'd go. Most likely I'll do some kind of cav soon, or maybe a swordsmen champion type of unit? Not sure yet.

[@SonKunSama]

@@Immersaholic I'm not but maybe I'll drop by sometime soon!

[@herostrates80]

Great vid dude. Take care.

[@Immersaholic]

Thanks mate!

[@marcocavaco3150]

Watching this video, I remembered perfectly why I modded the hell out of units in DEI (I still love the mod though.)

[@Immersaholic]

You don't enjoy the models or something mate?

[@marcocavaco3150]

@@Immersaholic the models are awesome. I just don't appreciate what is considered "ballanced". So I always spent lots of time tweaking that myself. Nothing wrong with the models. But the game is more than graphics to me. That is why Medieval 2 and Rome 1 are still my favourite. Both tittles just have the best battle mechanics.

[@Immersaholic]

@@marcocavaco3150 Fair enough mate nothing wrong with tweaking things to your liking :) I often do that in other games like Skyrim and Fallout but never have for Total War games. Although my next major DeI campaign will be heavily modded so I'm excited for that!

[@WashiFTW]

About Phalanx, unit of Chosen spearmen for examen from Getae, and many others barbarian shield wall units, behave exactly like phalanx, identical push to a hoplite. Not sure what Im missing here.

[@sandsword5947]

To be honest with you I thought the list would be saturated with Spartan Hoplites but I was pretty surprise when I saw Macedon and Seleucid Hoplites to be here Though I did get a bit click baited because I saw the same Hoplite guy on the right is the same one on the Massalia video

[@sandsword5947]

So I thought "Is the Massalian Noble will be in this top 6?!"

[@kaustubhlunawat7827]

Sparta never had the best military in this period.

[@Immersaholic]

@@sandsword5947 mwahah 😂😆 my plan worked! Actually you get a internet cookie for realizing that hoplite was Massalian!

[@sandsword5947]

@@Immersaholic Hahahaha thank you man I actually know that's a Massalian Hoplite because my General uses the same armor, helmet, and shield so when I saw it i immediately think "That's a Massalian Hoplite"

[@Immersaholic]

@@sandsword5947 Fair enough, their hoplite was still pretty solid and might've been worthy of a honorable mention but so were a LOT of others. So they didn't really stand out from a stat POV.

[@Manco654]

Judging by the excellence of your thumbnails you would be a pro at doing unit cards!

[@Immersaholic]

I’m not sure if that’s sarcastic or not as my thumbnails are usually really really bad 😂 but I appreciate you either way mate ❤️

[@Manco654]

@@Immersaholic What, no I’m serious! 😄

[@sotiriospeithis6659]

I feel like.they did Sparta dirty. If I'm not mistaken, the hippeis are a general bodyguard unit, so not a truly recruitable one. They already are severely limited in their population, so I feel like their thorax hoplites should really be indisputably better than anyone else's hoplites

[@Immersaholic]

I see your point but I still think the Spartan troops are fantastic overall. The Spartans are lucky to get pikes and great swords after reforms so feel that makes up for their other deficiencies. The population will always be an issue though.

[@picogagula448]

Every hoplite unit is OP in melee coz they have prolly +5 hidden bonus to attack (in phalanx) which makes them better than cohort aquilae or legionari veterani. Dont get me wrong i want the hoplites to be good for price but when i see garrison local militia hoplites beat legionari veterani i am really pissed. AND IN THE GAME DESCRIBED SWORDS GOOD AGAINST SPEARS AND WALLS. I do play on higher difficulty but even on normal diff hoplites are OP in dei.

[@FiBi-cp8tx]

In my last game i had a 1 man unit royal spartan wich i could still control:D

[@juankatotalwar8459]

hey mate i know is a bit late haha but that music on the intro is quite good how is it called!

[@cerdic6586]

How does a phalanx formation differ from a barbarian shieldwall in DEI?

[@Immersaholic]

Combination of animation and statistics changes. Shield walls are very much about simply holding their position, but a phalanx will still hold and also be able to get some good kills. You also have the fact that a shieldwall cannot move whereas a phalanx can move, if you double click attack orders your phalanx unit will literally push the enemy back a step.

[@cerdic6586]

@@Immersaholic Very helpful. Thanks!

[@manos6969]

Sorry to be a party pooper, but hoplites are the warriors who have a "hoplon" shield. This shield has a unique round design and specific grip. The carthaginian sacred band in the video definitely doesn't have a "hoplon" shield and the "thureos" spears you mentioned in your comment are having a "thyra" shield(hence the name thureos) so they are disqualified from being hoplites. The least creative assembly also does this mistake in naming units which shows how much they care for realism. Nice video overall! Keep them dropping!

[@Immersaholic]

Not a party pooper at all mate, I'm well aware of the shield itself being the "hop" aka "hoplon" part of the ensemble. This video is just done in the context of the game and mod, so some historical inaccuracies must be sacrificed :P I appreciate the input mate!

[@kais2345]

Good stuff! I wonder what goes into deciding if a hoplite unit has 38 or 41 armor?

[@SonKunSama]

They looked at ancient scrolls from the library of Pergamon where the stats of different hoplites were recorded

[@Immersaholic]

Well its definitely not from "300" :P Otherwise the Spartans would have zero armor and be naked chads lmao :D

[@JakeBaldwin1]

@@Immersaholic Practically naked spears at that point. Although based on the movie they'd have a melee defense of 50, and a melee attack of 60.

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

I dont know, but I wish the devs of the mod would rebalance amor stats, since In my campaigns I've noticed a ton of visual-stat discrepencies where one unit can have been wearing basically regular clothing with an armor stat of 10 while some levy units with a Linothorax having less, or super heavily armored footmen/horsemen that look like they are wearing the same exact armor as another super heavy unit, only to have half or less than the other unit wearing nearly the same exact armor setup.

[@liquidrock8388]

They're all cool but... how do they stack up against the macedonian style sarrissa phalanx? They seem to have better defensive stats but sarissas just keep them out of effective range. Is it just me or are hoplite units hopelessly outdated since the very beginning of the game?

[@Immersaholic]

Pikes will almost always win against hoplites, so for hoplites to be effective in this mod you have to use them against non-pike factions or they can be pretty helpful in more dedicated roles such as being on the flanks of a pike formation. They have their uses but your right I think, pikes are certainly the way to go.

[@jothegreek]

Without seeing the video I would say spartan bodyguard

[@Immersaholic]

I would say that’s a good guess 😆

[@edelweiss-]

Can you push back the enemy with hoplites like in real life?

[@Immersaholic]

Technically yes, as your men push forward the enemy will be pushed back. You just have to keep giving attack orders with your hoplite unit. A "double click" with your mouse will have them push forward a large step/lunge that will push the enemy.

[@edelweiss-]

@@Immersaholic thanks :)

[@larepublica93]

buen video

[@Immersaholic]

Muchos Gracias mate 👍

[@darthceasar3690]

sparta would be the best looking unit all time if they have same paint shield still don't know why dei dev give them ugly paint among the legendary 300xΛ SPARTA RULEEEE*throw my only one anvil at enemy*

[@JMObyx]

Top 6 non-Greek Mercenary Hoplites!

[@Immersaholic]

I’d have no idea how many non Greek mercenaries there are to be honest. Keep in mind, the units would have to have the phalanx ability in order to be true hoplites and not just spearman

[@JMObyx]

@@Immersaholic Of course, which is why I narrowed it down! 1) Non-Greek 2) Mercenary 3) Hoplites

[@trongnguyenvan9350]

I dont know but defend of Sparta so low :((

[@angryhermit4291]

You'd figure that sparta would have the best hoplites seeing as that's really all they have.

[@Immersaholic]

Kinda yeah, their pike unit isn’t too bad but really their main game is in hoplites

[@mojorisin069]

Sparta better be number 1 >:(

[@mojorisin069]

Hah! Athens need to go back to philosophical stuff 🤣

[@mojorisin069]

Okay Spartans 4 I'm sorry but I must challenge you to a duel sir. I'm guessing Macedonian will be first then. Wait theirs may be pikes? Sparta is in my heart. Moral is better than defense.

[@mojorisin069]

LOL guessed number two, no idea what one will be

[@mojorisin069]

Oh... I was typing why Macedonian gets royal guard but not Sparta. Never mind I take my duel request back. Guessed three. But yeeees Sparta. Great vid.

[@Immersaholic]

@@mojorisin069 LMAO! I always love your comments mate! More people need to give these live comments like yourself XD I'll have to set a video to premiere one day so I can watch it with you all O.o Glad you got your Spartans and enjoyed :D

[@madavarams268]

Lol for some reason I was expecting the pontic hoplites on the list. Duno why. Also, might be a good idea if you refrain from using "ladies and gentlemen" repeatedly. It gets repetitive. at least that's what I thought

[@Immersaholic]

I agree mate 🤣 I’m usually never this bad but for whatever reason when I recorded this it’s just what i ended up with lol. Sorry!

[@ihsanosaurus]

The animation battle looks so boring.

[@simontigerhajen]

Video begins at 6:30. Get to the point