Pikeman
These are a basic foot solider armed with a long pike, they are only good at defeating cavalry; they will lose against all types of infantry. They are rather slow so don’t waste your time trying to chase down cavalry, let them come to you.

Halberdier
The Halberdier is an upgraded version of the Pikeman. They move slowly and are good at defeating cavalry and destroying buildings, and I can not stress this enough they move very slowly so don’t chase down the cavalry.

Rodelero
A unique unit of the Spanish civilization, they are good against cavalry and are much faster than Pikeman and Halberdier’s. Even though they armed with a sword and buckler they are weak against light infantry and artillery will destroy them.

Doppelsoldner
This is an infantry unit unique to the German civilization. They are an all around infantry unit, they are at good at deafeating all types of hand infantry and have a attack bonus against cavalry like Pikeman do. They have a high siege damage so use them in large groups to take out buildings.

Janissary
This is an infantry unit unique to the Ottoman civilization. Janissaries are strong against cavalry, but are weak against light infantry and artillery. They are a very powerful Musketeer, they do the same amount of ranged damage as regular Musketeers do, but their siege damage and hand damage are more, and they have almost twice as much life as the British Musketeer.

Musketeer
These are the standard infantry unit, they are not very accurate and have a slow rate of fire but they are cheap and powerful in large numbers. The British have some of the strongest Musketeers, with exceptions to the Janissary. Much like the Janissary the Musketeer lose to light infantry and artillery, they are armed with a bayonet that makes them strong against cavalry.

Minuteman
These soldiers lose hit points very quickly, they are available from your town center, and you should only use them as an emergency for your town.

Crossbowman
These are a light infantry unit, they are good at defeating infantry and especially hand infantry, but they are very weak against cavalry and artillery. Crossbowman in large groups are good against infantry, but a large group of musketeers can still beat a group of Crossbowmen, the advantage is Musketeers have twice the life and damage of Crossbowman.

Longbowman
The Longbowman is a infantry unit unique to the British civilization. Longbowman are much like Crossbowman, they have low hit points and are strong against infantry, but a large group of infantry can still beat Longbowman if they get in close. The key is not to let the infantry get in close, if you can’t keep the hand infantry at a distance run away, don’t try to hold your ground against hand infantry with Longbowman or Crossbowman.

Strelet
The Strelet is a infantry unit unique to the Russian Civilization. This is one of the weakest infantry units in the game; they can only be trained in groups. I wouldn’t recommend using this unit unless you are under attack and need immediate soldiers in your region. Even fully upgraded they are still very weak. They act just like Crossbowman and Skirmishers, they are good against other infantry like Musketeers, but are weak against cavalry and artillery.

Skirmisher
The Skirmisher is the basic light anti infantry unit. They are much more powerful than the Strelet. Nearly all civilizations have Skirmishers, for a good strategy pair up Skirmishers and Musketeers, when in formation put the Musketeers in front of the Skirmishers because the Skirmishers have a longer range. Just like the Strelet the Skirmishers lose to cavalry and artillery.

Cassador
This is a infantry unit unique to the Portuguese. They are like the middle class Skirmishers. They are more powerful than the Strelet but not as powerful as the Skirmisher. They excel at defeating infantry but lose against cavalry and artillery. I don’t advise using the Cassdors, even when upgraded they are not strong enough to make much of a difference. The Portuguese have good enough Musketeers that you probably won’t need to use any of the Cassdors.