Like the title asks... I don't usually see scorpions in any kind of high level gameplay. Are they just not good units? Are they just very special purpose? Is there ever a situation where a player in Tyrant would choose to go for them at all?
Like the title asks... I don't usually see scorpions in any kind of high level gameplay. Are they just not good units? Are they just very special purpose? Is there ever a situation where a player in Tyrant would choose to go for them at all?
In lmperial massed Scorpions will own any massed infantary, except Huskarls. You forces enemy to make Onagers, he'll spend a lot of gold on them in the end.
Scorpions do deal pierce damage, but due to their high attack still deal nice damage to huskarls.
I think that normal scorps are not as strong in the castle age as heavy scorps are in Imp.
My tests have shown that scorpions deal half damage against half armor of the target when inflicting passing damage after the first unit.
Against an elite huskarl, that means a heavy scorpion deals 16-10=6 damage to the first ehusk, and (16-10)/2 = 16/2 - 10/2 = 8-5 = 3 damage to any elite huskarl behind.
To clarify, and in support of John_The_Late's comment, Scorpion's pass-through damage is half that of the nominal damage. Every bolt has a target. If it hits this target, it deals it the full damage. Any other targets it hits, regardless of whether it has hit its main target or not, it deals half damage. The pass-through damage does not apply to buildings.
The same formula (half damage) is the Elite War Elephant's trample damage, as well as the missed hand cannoneers' bullets. The fixed 5 damage per hit is the Logistica Cataphracts' trample damage (and the AOFE Slavic infantry trample damage after Druzhina).
Scorpions in castle age are indeed not the best idea usually. However they can be very decisive against feudal armies if a flank goes FC or in 1v1 if he hits castle age first. They don't cost so much for nothing. It is true that in castle age they are rarely seen, but they are stronger against crossbowmen than Heavy Scorpions are against Arbalests in imperial... and yet people don't use them in castle age mainly because they need good numbers to show their power (and also because in castle age the enemy is not massed enough to justify scorpions, and infantry in castle age are not very common either).
In Imperial age the HScorpion is a key unit that should be used in many situations. It is for instance a strong weapon for Goths against Byzantines (it kills cataphracts pretty well) or for Japanese (with the super trebuchets behind they can live longer against onagers). In fact it was so strong in AOK that they had to nerf it. Still it is a fearsome weapon and that not only for Celts. Even Mayans can use it despite their good ranged arsenal.
HScorpions with good meatshield (like Paladins or... elephants) and cover against the fearsome onagers (like stronger onagers, bombard cannons or Japanese trebs) are deadly. As mentioned above, since Huns have neither of the 3 scorpion killers and also their own scorpions are not competitive, it is a generally strong weapon for against Huns.