Archers

[ArcticSoldier]

I can't seem to find an effective way to deal with archers. Occasionally I run into an AI stack that ends up having 8+ units of bow ashigaru (and once even found one with 8 units of bow samurai.. fun ), and the only apparent way to deal with them is to suffer excessive losses . Loose formation helps *slightly* but the more archers there are the less it helps overall. I have really limited access to cavalry at the moment, so is the solution just to sit back and wait for cavalry or deal with the losses and try to press on?

[Slaists]

deal with the losses...

[Grimreapo]

The most effect way to deal with Archers is with Archers, place you units in loose formatation and FOCUS FIRE on the biggest threat, use Inspire on the best archer you have. If you lack Archers stick to wooded battle ground and remeber that Archers do run out of ammo...

[Wismer]

There isn't much you can do about it. To be cost-effective, employ the use of Yari Ashigaru. Some may panic and run but others will succeed. Even if they are badly hit, ashigaru units replenish very quickly compared to samurai units.

[ArcticSoldier]

There isn't much you can do about it. To be cost-effective, employ the use of Yari Ashigaru. Some may panic and run but others will succeed. Even if they are badly hit, ashigaru units replenish very quickly compared to samurai units.

Fair enough. I suppose I tend to underestimate them because they're so cheap.

[Naked Emperor]

Yari ashigaru are a very pincushionable unit. Advance undir the cover of Ashigaru, use them as cannon fodder to get your samurais into melee

[Wismer]

I did as well until after my first few attempts running campaigns. Yari and Bow samurai take twice as long to train and sometimes cost more than twice than their ashigaru counterparts. Focusing on them can seriously hamper your ability to expand at the pace necessary to stay alive. While you might win many battles, you won't have the income to, say, pay off potential opponents from declaring war on you, expand your infrastructure or extend your trade network.

When assaulting a castle and the numbers are roughly equal, I tend to send in the ashigaru spear first followed immediately by samurai warriors. They ashigaru last long enough to distract the garrison, thereby minimizing the losses the samurai take in getting to the walls/gate.

[MrChris]

yeh as Shimazu I have come across this a lot but my armies are always balanced, I actually tend to have less archers than in past games (I intend to sort this out eventually ha)

I basically get my melee troops in there as fast as possible and watch them cut down all the archers in their way, yari and katana cavalry also plow through archers like butter

take some losses sure, sometimes heavy ones if I do something wrong but more often than not it works out good, if there is a forest to hide in, then also use that, terrain can be a big big help

[gamesguy]

I start by engaging his archers with mine, then run cavalry in. When the inevitable spearmen wave comes to fight off my cavalry, I lead them on a merry chase while my archers pincusshion them. Then I dismount and rout them.

Every unit in this game seems very strong at its job yet very weak to its counter. This makes the game a lot more dynamic and fun.

[Blackthorne]

If you're on the defensive try to find a wooded area and put most of your units in it. You can also try hiding your units behind a hill and charge the archers when the come over the top or around the side. On the offensive you can try and wait for rain, and try to advance trhough forests as much as possible.

Light cavalry go great for attacking archers because they're fast and you can use them to disrupt the archers while you bring up your melee troops for the kill. The main thing to remember when your enemy has more archers is to be aggressive even on defence.

[themichaelx]

As I usually dont have any cavalry, I use my archers to attack the enemy archers until my infantry can break their lines.

I always use the loose formation for my archers and it does give you an edge in an archer shootout.

I haven't seen the AI use loose formation at all on normal / normal difficulty (which hard enough for me, lol).

But putting cavalry units on your priority list will probably be the best long term solution.

GL

[dutch81]

Yes all good advice, if you attack you can delay the attack and possibly get favorable weather also picking the right season might increase your chances of getting this "bad" weather. If you can attack by ambush they will be in a line formation and you can deploy on two sides and rush him. Rush him ... open your formations to minimize losses, back up your men with your generals and use their rally and inspire abilities to get your army to close with those archers, once you do you will tear them apart.

[Sir Robin]

Archer heavy armies can be punishing but if you can close the distance they quickly melt away.

[Death_Sheep]

Yari Samurai and their double time ability do wonders against archers.

Otherwise, use a heavy armored infantry. Naginata samurai do well under sustained fire, even in close formation.

Loose formation is even better.

The best way is to not attack piecemeal. Go as one force, or in waves. Since about turn 80 I've been using this tactic to great effect.

1. Charge their line with yari ashigaru in loose formation. This has two uses:

A) It focuses their fire on your 'expendable' troops.
B) It distracts the archers, and sets it up for:

2. A charge by Yari Samurai. Using their double time charge helps close the gap faster, and stops shooting casualties. You may want to keep them in loose formation until they are close to charge range.

3. Have the flanks held by Naginata Samurai. Their heavy armor and high defense mean they can handle most anything barring the entire army.

This is backed up by a healthy dose of Ashigaru Archers. I tend to save my Bow Samurai for castle defense, where their accuracy and reload speed are paramount.

Of course, this doesn't work for every situation, but its working alright for me so far.

Hope this helps man.

[aeoleron9]

Yeah I'm getting annoyed by the AI's obssession with bows too.

Aside from loose formation and waiting for wet weather, I also found night battles to be a good counter. For some reason the AI general became a lot more passive and cautious, maybe because he didn't have a night attack trait. As a result I was able to completely smash his huge glob of bow samurais without taking too much fire.

[GiorgioIII]

Recruit light cavalry and hunt them down or flank them.

The amount of losses is due to the lack of shields ... obviously

[Tepok]

One of my last battles was 9 Ashigaru archers, 4 samurai Archers, 3 generals, 2 yari ashigaru and 2 Yari cavalry. There were so many archers that... I made piecemeal of them.

[Benzo]

I like hiding cav to a flank if i can. And then distract their infantry line with my katana samurai. I hopefully also pin there cav on my yari ashigau and cav on my other flank. Then i send my hiding cav to destroy there archers.

So basically look for the spot in there lines to charge through to assult there archers with cavalry. Just like Alexander would do.

[aeoleron9]

Or just outspam and outtech their archers. Like they say, if you can't beat them...

Once you got the monks out, their superior range and accuracy can rape any archer the AI can throw at you.

[RafaWallace]

i dont see that dificulty to deal with....if AI makes tons of archers....u need to make tons of inf with good morale....or make tons of cav....but dont zerg on a lower ground...