Granadero

The Grenadier serves as a Castle Age alternative to the Hand Cannoneer, having a significant bonus against infantry, but is more gold-intensive. Combined with its low hit points, Grenadiers need to be protected or they will easily suffer costly losses. They also do not do well in small numbers and require being massed to be effective due to their extremely low accuracy and slow attack speed. Compared to the Hand Cannoneer, the blast radius on the Grenadier's attack makes it far more effective at destroying groups of infantry, but it does less single-target damage output. Condotierri and Huskarls are still a threat, as they can negate the Grenadier's damage and deal bonus damage against them, but Grenadiers in large numbers can still win that fight with micromanagement, especially with Thunderclap Bombs. Given Blacksmith technologies, Crossbowmen and Elite Skirmishers will outrange Grenadiers, making for a bad matchup for Grenadiers in theory, especially with the Skirmishers' anti-archer bonus and high pierce armor. That said, if Grenadiers can get close enough to most enemy archers, they can quickly wipe them out thanks to their splash damage. Skirmishers can also be out-damaged due to the Grenadier's high base attack, and with the latter's splash damage will often be outperformed in battle before Ballistics. As such, enemy archers need to keep their distance and wait for upgrades to be effective. Rattan Archers are incredibly effective against Grenadiers, and Genitours will also trade very cost-effectively against them. Elephant Archers and War Wagons are too durable for Grenadiers to face and should be avoided. Against cavalry, Grenadiers are terrible due to their high cost, low durability, and minimum range, so enemy cavalry should be avoided as much as possible, especially Winged Hussars, but a large group of Grenadiers can also be dangerous against cavalry if distance is kept with Thunderclap Bombs researched. Against siege units, Grenadiers are generally a poor choice, though they have some bonus damage against rams. Mangonels can kill them with one shot and outrange them, and Scorpions are also very dangerous, so they should be avoided if possible. Thunderclap Bombs is an incredibly important upgrade for Grenadiers due to their lack of an Elite upgrade, giving them a drastic (if somewhat unpredictable) improvement in damage output. It makes them much more effective against various unit types and makes attacking them in melee range riskier, since they will explode on death, potentially taking their attackers with them. The splash damage of Grenadiers can harm allied units, but this is somewhat mitigated by the Jurchens' bonus which reduces friendly fire damage by half. This does not extend to the Jurchen teammates, however, so they will take full damage from allied Grenadiers (unless they are also Jurchens). If faced with enemy Grenadiers, putting units in staggered formation is highly advised to minimize their splash damage. Despite being gunpowder units, Grenadiers benefit from Ballistics. This means that exploiting their projectiles by using a fast unit to "distract" them is far less effective compared to Hand Cannoneers. Grenadiers can cover the weaknesses of Iron Pagodas, Halberdiers, and Fire Lancers against infantry, while the other units help at dealing with the units that Grenadiers can struggle to fight against. A very potent army can be assembled with Hussars (that attack faster) and Bombard Cannons.