USA Marines are better than you think

so i play United States and i love marines, and everyone knows they are incredible units, but i think they are a lot better than people realize, and in fact have some details about them that most people don't know, so in this post, i will say everything i have discovered about marines over the course of me playing them

cost 150 food and 150 coin for a batch of 6, and united states has the unique ability to use this on cooldown instead of once per town center. with the age 4 card minutemen companies, you get 16 for 400 food and coin.
this makes marines cost 25 food and coin each, and makes them worth 50 score. not only does that make these the most cost and pop efficient units in the game, but in mass, you underscore and make the enemy believe your force is much smaller than it really is.

of course, the only thing holding marines back is their difficulty to mass. they act more as a supplementary force until age 4 when you can levy them 16 at a time.
but you can run a build order based around massing marines and doing a timing push at about 9 minutes, which is what i love to run (its like my favorite strategy)

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but now lets get nitty and gritty about the US marines stats. i will be discussing the US army card, but not Springfield armory. Springfield armory will be briefly mentioned once or twice

Minutemen are essentially a veteran musketeer equivalent unit in age2. they have 26 base attack and 200 base HP, the highest base attack of any musketeer, and the second highest HP, second only to the janissary at 210. in any number equivalent musketeer shootout, minutemen completely destroy whoever they are fighting

now lets talk about age 3, because its about to get a whole lot more interesting

the US marines card in age 3 stops the HP degradation (which only goes to half health anyways with united states) and provides multipliers against culverins and ships, as well as increasing the siege of the minutemen

marines do not shadow-tech to age 3, so their age 2 stats are the same as their age 3 stats. however this is perfectly fine, as because of their high bases, marines STILL beat every other veteran musketeer unit in the game in equal number shootouts except for ashigaru and sepoy.

HOWEVER this totally changes when you send the card US army, which increases the attack and hitpoints of the general, minutemen, AND regulars by 15 percent HP and attack. while this doesn't sound particularly incredible and game changing since lots of units have these kinds of upgrades, you need to member that minutemen DO NOT SHADOWTECH into age 3, their veteran equivalent stats, are their base stats, and as such, they get A LOT more benefit out of this upgrade than other musketeers. that 15 percent works out to be 30HP and 4 attack, the equivalent of a normal musketeers veterency upgrade. it gives them 230 HP and 30 attack. this makes them the best age 3 musketeers in the game as well, and are only possibly matched by the british after sending all their cards

now its time to discuss the absolute biggest take away from this post. MARINES DO NOT HAVE A HEAVY INFANTRY TAG. you heard me right, they don't have the tag. this means that SKIRMS DONT get multipliers against them. in fact, the ONLY units that gain multipliers against them are artillery, and weird unique units like the lancer and the sower. however, marines get a multiplier against artillery, and so often trade with cannons rather than just losing straight out. and if the marines are massed, you can very easily 1 shot a falconet before it gets its second shot out. I've mindlessly walked 50 marines into 5 falconets before and just watched as the enemy is totally confused as to why all his falcs are dead and i only lost like 10 dudes

lets talk about skirmishers again real quickly. because they don't get multipliers and are running off their base stats, EVEN WITH their ranged multiplier, they actually lose to marines in equal numbered shootouts just because of their base stats, no US army card needed. the only thing skirms are able to do against marines is kite, and its far less efficient that it normally would be since they don't get their multipliers. Springfield armory can help circumvent this a little with the marching speed upgrade, allowing you to close in on skirms and get into actual combat with them. this is one of the marines only threats really, and its why i normally combine them with hussar in my unit composition (and of course the 3 Gatling guns and 2 Napoleon guns. BTW ya'll should totally look at Napoleon guns again, they are actually really good as a shipment)

now lets look a the marines siege attack. simply put, its off the charts. the marines card increases the minutemen siege from 5 to 55, making it the most siege of any single pop unit in the game (i think) at least in age 3 and are overall, the absolute best AGE 3 siege unit in the entire game except maybe if you sent advanced artillery and made age 3 mortars. I SAY THEY ARE THE BEST AGE 3 SEIGE UNIT NOT BECAUSE THEY DESTROY BUILDINGS FASTEST, BUT BECAUSE THEY ARE SUCH A COMBAT CAPABLE UNIT ON TOP OF THAT (looking at you: halbredier and opri)

now lets talk about age 4 and age 5 upgrades. i mentioned before that minutemen and marines do not shadow-tech to age 3, but marines DO shadow-tech to age 3 and 5. these are fully fledged guard and imperial upgrades as well, with a 30 percent increase in age 4 and a 50 percent increase in age 5, and since once again, their veteren stats are also their base stats, they gain a huge amount of benifit from these shadowtechs. the ONLY THING not amazing in their gains is that although they have 55 siege, their base siege attack is still 5, and at imperial age with the US marines card, they have 59 siege, a 4 attack increase from when you sent the marines card initially (which is still by and away the highest siege attack of any skirm unit, and even as good as dutch's royal guard halbrediers). here are their stats in the undustrial and imperial age with and without the US army card

Fortress age:
- without US Army: 200 HP, 26 attack
- with US Army" 230 HP and 30 attack

industrial age:
- without US Army: 260 HP, 34 attack
- with US Army: 290 HP, 38 attack

imperial age:
- without US army: 360 HP, 47 attack
- with US Army: 390 HP, 51 attack

these are of course compounded by the inspiring flag, which increases attack by 10 percent. its important to note that this aura increase is based of the unites CURRENT stats and not by their base stats, so the more upgrades the units get, the more benefit they gain from the inspiring flag.

Lastly, i want t talk about Zouave, the unique mercenary that only United States has access to through shipments, and only in the 5th age (unless you get lucky and roll them in your tavern/saloon). simply put these units are amazing. for the longest time i thought they were just another skirm type mercenary unit, but i realized recently that what they actually are is mercenary marines!!! they are a musketeer equivalent unit with incredibly high attack, siege, and hitpoints and no multipliers, but the lack of a heavy infantry tag. they also in addition to all this have ranged resistance instead of melee like the marines. if you sent in the long rifles shipment, they get a 2x multiplier against other heavy infantry, which makes them just insane. i don't recommend going to age 5 just for these units unless you are specifically running a US mercenary build. if you ARE running a mercenary build, than ABSOLUTLEY age to 5 with these guys instead of Illinois, as that age up state will also include your mercenary upgrades (50 percent increase after aging up and sending lil bombards)

with all the upgrades in, Zouave have 600 HP, 40 percent ranged resist, a whopping 60 attack and a 2x multiplier against heavy infantry, just to add insult to a VERY deadly injury