Húsar Alado

right The Winged Hussar has the same advantages as the normal Hussar (i.e., high speed, decent pierce armor, high Line of Sight, innate resistance to conversion, and an attack bonus against ), but with a bit better versatility. The upgrade also improves the other non-listed stats the Light Cavalry line has. It has an attack bonus of 14 against Monks, 4 more than Light Cavalry's and 2 more than the Hussar's. In addition, the Winged Hussar also has a +4 attack bonus vs. which none of the other Scout Cavalry line units have. Secondly, Winged Hussars and normal Hussars also have a slightly higher attack speed, attacking once every 1.9 seconds, compared to the Light Cavalry attacking once every 2 seconds. Due to their faster and better attack, a Winged Hussar without Bloodlines can defeat a Light Cavalry with Bloodlines without problem. Winged Hussars also retain the increased conversion resistance of the Light Cavalry line against Monks. They need a minimum of 8 conversion cycles to convert, while other units need 4. Compared to their predecessor (the Light Cavalry) and their alternative (the Hussar), Winged Hussars have: { Total Hit points +20 +5 Melee attack +2 +2 Melee armor +1 +1 Attack bonus vs. +4 +2 Rate of Fire 1.9 -0.1 same Upgrade cost N/A } At first glance, it is easy to dismiss the Scout Cavalry line's usefulness as combat units, but the Winged Hussar's main advantages are its speed and affordability. Winged Hussars can be used to skirmish small towns and small armies before they can become a real threat, they can defend against small attacks from siege weapons, and are adept at destroying small armies of archers, since they move fast and have decent pierce armor. Winged Hussars are also the cavalry mainstays of the Poles and Lithuanians when gold is scarce. As trash units, they become especially important in the late game when players must rely on their wood and food economy. They form a classic tactical rock-paper-scissors with other trash units by countering Elite Skirmishers and being countered by Halberdiers. The Winged Hussar is great when facing gunpowder units due to its small, but useful, attack bonus. Since this unit is only available to the Lithuanians and Poles, there are certain differences that may make its use slightly different. First of all, Polish Winged Hussars have +1 attack vs. due to their team bonus. However, the lack of Plate Barding Armor makes them more vulnerable against arrow-fire. They also benefit from their unique technology Lechitic Legacy which gives them blast damage, making their Winged Hussars highly effective in mass battles. Polish Winged Hussars also have access to Blast Furnace, which makes them shine in hand-to-hand battles. For the Lithuanians, despite lacking Blast Furnace, their Winged Hussars have Plate Barding Armor and Heresy, making them more resilient in general, especially against archers, and better against Monks. The Lithuanian Winged Hussars are much closer to generic Hussars than the Polish or even Mongol Hussars are. Despite the Lithuanians not being a specialized Cavalry Archer civilization, they can still employ a Winged Hussar-Cavalry Archer strategy, since Cavalry Archers cost wood and gold, while Winged Hussars need just food. However, this strategy will be slightly suboptimal, as the Lithuanians lack Parthian Tactics, which will not matter much when the Winged Hussars are used properly as meatshields. This is even weaker for the Poles, since they lack both Parthian Tactics and Ring Archer Armor for their Cavalry Archers, and Plate Barding Armor for their cavalry. For the Poles, Arbalesters can be mixed in with their Winged Hussars to pick off enemy Halberdiers, while for the Lithuanians, Hand Cannoneers can be mixed to fill in the same role, albeit at the cost of food. These are suboptimal compositions, since both these units will slow down the army.