Archers of Neith

At a signal from Serramana, the Egyptian bowmen fired at the scattering Nubians. The foot-soldiers advanced and disarmed the war party.

—Christian Jacq, The Temple of a Million Years

In game

Archers of Neith — Vital statistics
Elamite Archers	Medium ranged infantry unit with medium-powered range, able to take out slow-moving melee targets with good hitpoints and armour but slower than normal archers. Strong versus heavy infantry, light ships Weak versus siege weapons, buildings, melee cavalry
Prereq:	Build time	HP	LOS	Attack	Attack speed	Movement speed
Castle Age; Level 2: Mercenaries Military	13.3s (199t)	110	11	25	2s (30t)	24
Cost			Created from	Armour	Weapon range	Specialty
Base	Ramp	Pop
: 60 : 50;	: 5; : 2	1		3	1–16	Strong versus heavy infantry, Patriots, Officers and Agents.

Overall strategy

Archers of Neith are an elite unit of Egyptian Composite Bowmen. As a guard unit, they have better morale, better speed as well as more potent combat abilities - in other words, they are a better Composite Bowman par excellence, save that they do not get any bonuses to attack, armour or hitpoints unlike the Heavy Archers. They don't get the same range as Heavy Archers do upon upgrading, but instead get a rate of fire bonus that makes them extremely dangerous if encountered in large groups.

Aside from counter-archery work, Neith Archers are also ideal for another task: thinning out enemy chariots, especially medium and heavy chariots, owing to their low speed. Although chariots are mighty, especially when they encounter poorly armoured infantry, they are fairly susceptible if attacked with high-powered ranged attacks. Neith Archers, with their deadly composite bows and rate of fire, are thus ideal for countering chariot attacks, and are still useful even in the late game for anti-infantry warfare.

See also

Shukuthlu Archers

Heavy Archers Werryt Nakhtu-Aa

Heavy Axemen Heavy Chariot Guardsmen Greataxe Infantry

Notes

We can use a modified version of HQC skins. They must all have body armour, no brassards or baldrics.

A mod is being developed, as a freebie of sorts, that replaces the more historically accurate male archer with a female variant based on the appearance of Nefertiri, a character from The Mummy Returns.

This promo pack also replaces the icon with a different one: