Ok, so as far i understand. They have less armour and def but more attack plus and they ignore half of enemy's armour. Looks like it is against heavy inf/cav

they also cost 5 more upkeep per turn, the real advantage of mixed foot is just that you don't need to research the tech that unlocks spear/crossbows, but the Qin already have the power research advantage so thats kinda pointless. but yeah they are essentially just better in melee than regular spear/crossbows, so they're good all rounder infantry for battles and sieges.

Zoom in on them vs regularmixed and you will see the difference. It is based on the Wei's historical reforms, mostly under Bai Qi, which would mix spearmen, crossbows, and ji into a single unit.
So they don't just have "more attack", their attack is mixed, meaning more coverage. They do better against armored units than normal Spear/Crossbow in melee, while still having both spears and crossbows. Essentially, it means they have coverage from just about everything except shock infantry from a flank, though are a little bit easier to kill because they have fewer shields. Still, they can make up primary forces without worrying a lot, unlike most other units, because they have excellent coverage.

It's important to note that Halberds only become as effective as Spears against highly armoured units. Put a unit of Halberds against a unit of Spears and it only becomes a fair fight if both have Gold armour upgrades. In any other case, the Halberds 50% armour-piercing is not as significant as the armour increase provided by the Spears' Shields Therefore, because one rank of Spears is replaced by Halberds, Qin Mixed Foot are rarely in a fight where they will perform better than normal Spear/Crossbows of equal experience.

Against Cav, Halberds get a much smaller bonus than Spears which further diminishes their relative effectiveness.

Finally, with only one rank of shielded troops, Qin Mixed Foot are slightly less protected than normal Spears/Crossbows against missile troops.

I've always felt that the current troop values and unit organisations don't quite do justice to the Qin Mixed Foot. Presumably, the Qin historically found them to be most effective but the game doesn't quite manage to reflect this. The only time in the game that Halberd figures really outshine Spears is when they come in from a flank or behind. With few figures fighting back at them, their faster killing rate gets a chance to shine

Originally posted by andybrn:

I've always felt that the current troop values and unit organisations don't quite do justice to the Qin Mixed Foot. Presumably, the Qin historically found them to be most effective but the game doesn't quite manage to reflect this. The only time in the game that Halberd figures really outshine Spears is when they come in from a flank or behind. With few figures fighting back at them, their faster killing rate gets a chance to shine

In the mod I made, and the one mine is based on, all range units get some extra range. This makes the crossbow portion of the mixed units a bit more effective, while it also makes the Qin Mixed show off their difference a bit more, as 1/3 of the force will charge forward past the shields with their ji, and so they fill more of the "jack-of-all-trades" that they did historically.
They also become more useful with any mod that makes enemy factions get more armored units than they do in vanilla. In vanilla, there are so many peasants with pokey sticks running around, the ji aren't nearly as worth it, but once professional units, and especially high-armor ones, are normal on the battlefield the the Qin Mixed shine.

Historically, they came from a series of reforms that were made, culminating with Bai Qi's reforms late in the Warring States Period, and so the mix of crossbows with pikes that could be used to chop as well were incredibly useful, as armor had become far more abundant on the battlefield than earlier periods of Chinese warfare. Some small amount of armor even for levy troops was not unheard of. Also, the Qin were using bronze weapons, not steel like most of the eastern Warring States, so they needed something that could penetrate enemy heavier bronze armor, which the eastern forces could do more easily.

Can you ling or name some of the mods you would recopmend for late game, just so that ai won't just try to peasant spam you

Originally posted by CrimsonGiant:

Can you ling or name some of the mods you would recopmend for late game, just so that ai won't just try to peasant spam you

Oh man I am sorry I didn't check this board for a long time. If you look in my profile, you'll be able to find the mod I made, in which I link the massive overhaul. It is made by a guy who changes his steam name often, right now he is just a bunch of numbers, 656323, so you could also just look him up.

Thanks mate, actually made me come back to this game