Hey! I've been playing quite a lot in the MP with archery specialization. Slowly but steadily I've gone over to what is an almost exclusive spear build however, with Warrior Monks making up the bulk of it in medium battles. This has worked incredibly well- I don't know if it is because I've gotten better at the game and my new formations and strategies work, or if it's simply because Monk Warriors are a bit nuts but... Since I've specialized in archery, I wont be able to boost the Warrior Monks as much as I'd like to. Since there's no way to change specialization, I thought I'd try to get an archery army working again. But how do they work? More often then not it just seems to me that I get crushed beneath a weight of infantry and cavalry, since if I have archery the opponent goes "Aha, he has archery! That means less points spent on melee infantry" and basically just bumrushes me which leads to me inevitable demise because I did indeed have a lot less melee infantry.
In essence, I'd like to know what the special trick with archery based armies is.
What is best to have? Lots of cheap Ashigaru bowmen, or lots of Samurai ones?
Perhaps even Monks (even though they seem overpriced)?
Perhaps only a few bowmen units?
Am I supposed to skirmish my way to victory?
What sort of units would support archery well?
Would spearmen to counter cavalry charges be a good idea, or cavalry to counter (or intercept) enemy cavalry?
What about Siege units? I consider them part of an archery unit, putting pressure on the opponent and whatnot.
Is firing into melees a good idea? Do you hit your own units a lot/is it dependant on terrain? I've seen enemies do this to my Monk/Naginata army with varied success, but it's always hard to tell in the middle of battle.
Perhaps someone would be kind enough to link to a replay, or a thread?
Edit: This was meant for MP by the way, but I wasn't sure if I ought to place it in the MP section or the strategy section!