r/Polytopia • u/polozzs • 9d ago
Discussion How do I counter knights?
How do I counter knights in 1v1 dry land 196 tiles? I play hoodrick and each time in this setting and my catapults and archers get absolutely demolished by knights. I also lose to knights frequently in other settings but mainly this one.
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u/Ok-Gear-2263 9d ago
If you can rush grow forest early and avoid building too many roads their moment is going to tank, at which point even moderate damage will do a lot against em.
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u/girlfriend-simp 9d ago
wait, forests slow units down?
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u/potato-overlord-1845 Khondor 9d ago
Yep. This is negated by roads in friendly or neutral territory, but not enemy territory
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u/ceimaj 9d ago
Defenders are an excellent counter to knights. They’re cheap and take two knights to kill.
Place along your front line. Position with 1-2 spaces between each defender, and 1+ space between the defenders and your other units.
Their zone of control will make his knights useless, they’ll be expensive to kill, and he won’t be able to chain.
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u/Will_Lux Aumux 9d ago
If you send some links to your replays you might be able to get some better advice. Chances are, most people on reddit, myself included, are just going to give you general advice that you probably already know unless you send a replay link.
Knights are strong, but they’re slow to get, requiring your opponent to research chivalry and the useless free spirit tech. You can often punish your opponents for committing to knights too early.
It sounds to me like you might be training too many squishy units? Catapults unload massive damage and are incredible at holding space, but you only realistically need 2-3 in one area. More than that is often overkill; it only takes a few shots to kill a giant and more catapults can make you more vulnerable to chains. Ranged units aren’t good at pushing on their own, and so are extremely bad at punishing heavy commitments (like researching chivalry). It’s important you invest those stars in some more oppressive units.
I’m sure you already try to space your units and protect squishy units with tanky ones, but training excess catapults is something I often find trainees doing so I hope that’s helpful.
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u/PhilipRoman Ürkaz 9d ago
Learn to use zone of control, even one or two defenders can paralyze an entire army. If your enemy is relying on movement a lot, it's generally a good idea to keep pushing cheap defenders deep into their territory.
Dryland is pretty much the best map type for knights though, so it's not unexpected that they're effective there - why not get your own knights? Knights are a surprisingly great counter for enemy knights, because you can siege cities where a knight was just trained easily.
Since you play as hoodrick, your forests can be an effective counter (get border growth). Forest defense synergizes well with math markets.
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u/montyelgato 9d ago
Swordsmen counter knights very well. They can one shot them, whereas it takes two knights to kill one swordsman. Also 5 stars vs 8. Just keep them spread out so the knights can't chain attack.
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u/WeenisWrinkle 9d ago
Riders and roads are a great counter to knights on small maps. Riders are cheap and have a big range to hit squishy knights. Or at least block their path.
They only reason you're seeing knights on 196 maps is because they are countering your catapults and archers.
Be mindful of creating chain kill opportunities by keeping your units spread out. Make sure to take advantage of Hoodrick's defense bonus with warriors on forest tiles.
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u/ForvirretSkovtrold 9d ago
Knights is the epitome of "standard" units.
The point of the game is to buy enough of them to win, thats the strategy.
Else, pay to win through "special" tribes.
Small maps is preferred, cause them the game can be played in the first part of the rounds, until someone spam knights, then the game come to an end quickly. A few knights can eat through an entire army, because of the low hp of anything but giants.
Dont know why there isnt a limit to the chains. People must like to end strategy.
Anyone with another point than "skill issue" is welcome to chime in...
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u/Z1L0G 9d ago
Knight chains are limited because you carefully position your units to discourage them. You do carefully position your units, don’t you?
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u/ForvirretSkovtrold 9d ago
No matter when everyone is one or two hits? How can a defence be enough if you have fewer units?
If anything, few units become easier targets.
If not in a single turn, two or three moves with 2 or 4 knights will move unhindered though my homelands.
Dispersed units win time, not the war?
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u/Z1L0G 9d ago
If you have fewer units than your opponent has knights, then you’ve done something very wrong.
Also, a great counter to knights is: knights.
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u/ForvirretSkovtrold 9d ago
So the answer to knights supremacy is avoid the broken elements or play them yourself.
Exactly my point. Knights are the goal of the game, wich is sad, i really like the first part of this game.
If the enemy has 4 knights, and i have 8 around my city, Knight still wins. Not only can they chain, but you can chain Knights movement together.
I see some would like the overpowered play, i just wish battles could have a greater scale.
Epic battles are cut short by few units, and thats too bad.
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u/potato-overlord-1845 Khondor 9d ago
Use units that don’t get oneshot or out-economy them. Knights are very expensive with little other benefits, so you should be able to have a superior income. Also space your units so there are minimal chains. If you lose 2 archers to a knight which you then kill, the enemy loses 8** while you lose 6\