How to beat
Byzantineas Sengoku Daimyo
Matchup tips
Starting with Yari Cavalry, transitioning to Yumi Archers works quickly. Having the additional attack speed with the Daimyo is worth so much when you're playing up against Limitanei because you need a lot of volleys very quickly. Attack speed is one of the most valuable stats for the range units.
Mounted samurai versus cataphracts is not something you really want to be taking.
Combine that with the trample possibility. Cataphracts can easily trap units. Plus they have the speed of a regular knight. The mounted samurai is still faster.
Against Sengoku, mass spearmen get destroyed by mass cavalry; they don't even need archers to counter them.
The Shinobi is probably the biggest game changer in the game. The damage debuff is 40%. Mounted Samurai do about 30 damage; an additional 40% on that is crazy. The slow means your opponent has a hard time escaping. Imagine you have shield wall on the Limitanei so they're already slow, and you add an additional slow on top. They're not getting away.
The Ashigaru, they're just not strong enough. It feels like they barely even tickle the Cataphracts. They're meant to be like a crossbow replacement, but they're just not trading cost effectively.
You can't just go one-to-one with mounted samurai against Cataphracts.
Yumi Ashigaru are one of the best units to make against Limitanei. You have a lot more movement speed and Limitanei are quite slow by comparison and Yumi are very easy to mess up. Against a civilization like the Byzantines which also love spamming a ton of spearmen out like the Limitanei, just having the Yumi as an option makes them really strong.
Once the painted shield upgrade comes in, Limitanei can start somewhat keeping up with mounted samurai.
Byzantine Unique Units
Byzantine Landmarks
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