I need tactical tips.

[Random_Havoc]

When conducting a campaign on H/H, in battles, whether siege or open field, I typically win the fights, however I usually sustain above a 50% casualty rate in doing so, I need tactical advice on how to lower this attrition rate, I can't build up a army with any decent experience if I lose more then half my force on every battle.

Thanks in advance for any insight you might give me!!!

[Espionage]

Perhaps it would help if you tell us your usual plans when you battle? Then people can criticize or suggest other methods?

[Shaun]

When conducting a campaign on H/H, in battles, whether siege or open field, I typically win the fights, however I usually sustain above a 50% casualty rate in doing so, I need tactical advice on how to lower this attrition rate, I can't build up a army with any decent experience if I lose more then half my force on every battle.

Thanks in advance for any insight you might give me!!!

No, thats just because of the high kill speed and rate that CA made the units have, unless you use mainly missile troops, you are gonna substain large casualties in a hand to hand, even with Knights vs peasants.

[Legione]

if I feel outnumbered or disadvantaged I will choose a wall without any men waiting on it for my siege towers or ladders, then I will wait for all or 3/4 of my men to be on the wall before marching to meet the enemy waiting on the other end of the wall, this is so that they will have strength in numbers instead of being picked off easily as they get off the siege tower or ladder and suffer heavy casualties.

Also if the enemy is concentrated on one part of the wall try to get a pincer attack going by attacking on both sides where the enemy will be trapped on the wall between your units giving you a huge advantage.

[Tankfriend]

Hm, I usually don't reach 50% so that can't be the only reason (although fighting close combat-heavy). I think, Espionage is right, one needs to know more about your usual tactics.

[HMMcKamikaze]

I find the most important thing is to pick off any units that are straggling, or apart from the main forces. You just send twice as much units to attack it, or maybe some ranged units also and then delay fighting the enemy with your main forces until you have attacked all the vulnerable batallions. Then I usually send some units with arches to try and flank the enemy since from behind they can be quite deadly and effect morale quite a bit.

[jw1089]

basically, you have to flank the enemy. though you can win battles by merely charging headlong into the enemy, flanking them, which is attacking from the sides, or better yet, from the rear, gives you several advantages. one, the enemy is more vulnerable and thus takes a higher casualty rate, and two, it causes severe morale damage, which makes it more likely that you will trigger a rout. The next most important thing to to specifically target the enemy general, as killing him will also cause a severe drop in moral. lastly, you should reguraly send your own general/captain into battle, as him being near his men raises your own morale. As far as your troop selection goes, can and inf are most important, with missles being least important. use your cav to do the flanking that i mentioned above, and the inf to hold the enemy in place while you do this. use missles as you see fit, but be sure to tell them to stop firing when melee begins as theyll hit alot of your guys.

[Tankfriend]

Ranged infantry can be extremely effective and very important, because you can severely damage the enemies troops and morale... something not to be underestimated.

Factions with even more powerful special ranged units can partly rely massively on them. For example, an English army with 50% longbows sited on a hill and employed wooden stakes can be an extremely dangerous force.

[Collis Dux]

Well, I can't say that I lose 50% every battle. More like 10-20%, and that is mostly cheap spearmen and archers.

Generally, I start a battle (if I am the attacker) with taking a good look at the terrain during the deployment fase. The goal is trying to predict where the enemy will be. I then deploy my men facing where I expect the enemy to be in a three line formation, with ranged troops in front, spearmen in a line behind them, swordsmen on both flanks and slightly to the back of the spearmen (so they don't get charged by enemy cavalry), and cavalry behind the swordsmen.

I move the whole force toward the enemy, closing just enough to get within range of my ranged troops. I then unload all my ammo into them. I always concentrate all fire on 1 unit until it has less than half of its men left, then fire on another, working down the line. I avoid troops in heavy armour, unless I can fire in their back or right (unshielded) flank.
At this point the AI does one of two things. Either he tries to charge my ranged troops, or (especially pre-patch) just sits there and takes the missiles.

If he charges, I move my missiles to the rear of my spearmen before he gets to them. I wait until he hits my spearmen. I then move my swordsmen and cavalry around both flanks. I then charge my swordsmen into his flanks and my cavalry into his rear. My swordsmen I leave in the melee, while I manually withdraw and charge again and again with my cavalry until he routs. Usually two charges are enough. If he has a lot of elite troops, it takes three or four.

If he does not charge, I keep shooting until I have unloaded all my arrows into him. I then move my archers to the rear, while I move my cavalry around both his flanks, while staying out of range of any of his ranged troops. When my cavalry are fully behind him, facing him and are in a nice steady formation, I move my line of spearmen forward and my swordsmen to both his flanks. Seconds before my infantry start their charge I order my cavalry to attack. I always make sure that my spearmen and swordsmen hit the enemy first, before my cavalry do, so that my cavalry get to charge into the back of the enemy. I manually withdraw my cavalry and continue charging him until he routs.

If, however, I am the defender (which happens only very very rarely), I choose a good hill with no other hills to its sides to deploy my army. Spears in a semi-circle, archers behind, swordsmen on the ends of the circle and slightly behind the spearmen, cavalry inside the semi circle. Usually my archers take out a large number of men before he even gets to me. He attacks my spearmen, I move my swordsmen to his flanks and attack. I move my cavalry to his rear and attack. I withdraw my cavalry and attack again.

If you feel particularly cheesy, you could move all your men to the corner of your deployment zone, and when the battle starts, run to the corner of the map. There deploy your men as mentioned above, safe in the knowledge that your flanks are covered by the red line. However, I consider this cheating and would rather suffer more casualties standing more in the centre of the map.

I have never lost a land battle in either Rome or Medieval II, apart from one. I got cocky (playing RTR-PE) and attacked a 13 unit army in the Alps with an army composed out of 2 hastati, 2 funditores (slingers) and 1 equites. I lost, but I made damn sure that the enemy army was no longer a threat.

[Romanos]

Sent to the Battle Planning Thread.

[Attila_16]

I think those videos, and blog might help you. http://total-war-campaign-chronicles...edieval-2.html

[Sir Launcelot]

Brand new to M2TW, but I did play RTW for a while on my old computer ( which could barely handle it )...

So far still working on my 2nd campaign, but I usually end up with somewhere around 30-40% losses most of which are garbage units though ( like peasents, militia, etc... )... A lot of this depends on the initial 2 armies engaging though... 50% losses sounds good if you are outnumbered 3 to 1 from the start...

As mentioned, flanking is the best way to ensure minimal losses...

One neat trick I've used is to flank with archers... and order then to fire into the battle from the enemies side or rear... archers can MAUL when firing at close range into the enemies backs. In battles where I've pulled this off I end up with a kill ratio of something sick like 1 to 6

[Stalins_Elite]

If your using archers. Then never underestimate the value of fire arrows. They cause fear and panick among the enemy troops and will cause a rout much quicker if an advancing or defending force is being peppered with fire projectiles. The addition of fire by CA to RTW and ME2TW is possibally one of the most valuable weapons now at a players disposal. You don't need to flank with them and it doesn't matter if it is an elite unite or not, it has the same effect regardless. Hope this helps a little. SE.

[Canesfan]

Hmm, that helped, actually. I rarely use fire arrows- the only time I do being when i'm firing at siege engines, or at peasants, who I figure will rout almost just from that. I really need to work on enemy morale instead of just enemy troops. Hmm.

[Spothisto]

Using archers against hevy infantry, like knights, which is more effective, whether fire or usual arrows? It takes several usual arrows to take down one knight, but just one flaming arrow, just that it is more inaccurate. What you think, which is more effective?

[Sitarus Originalus PM-30+]

here is what i think are the most important thing to know when doing battle:

1) dont attack if you know you can lose too many men, lose battle or if your are not forced to fight (you have to choose your battles properly and the best generals know when they can fight or not)
2) in battle you can win withought killing every man in anemy army! make them lose morale and run! (this is my basic goal in battle) - that way you lose less men then forcing anemy to fight till bitter end
3) when collection a group of units into army... make sure you have a mix of every tipe of units (misile, cavalry, infantry, artilery ..) so you are prepared for everything
4) use therain and try to predict what the anemy will do next - think what you would do in his place and try to hide your weaknesses.
5) use mobility of your cavalry and fast moving units to flank anemy
6) retreat if you see you will lose too many men and save their lifes if you will need them later in compaign

[morble]

If you are doing the flanking and everything mentioned above and still losing 50% or more, then your units are simply too crappy for the job you have assigned them.

Early militia troops are about the same quality for every faction, so you should expect to lose the number of men about equal to your kills in any melee action. In this case, blacksmiths and armourers make a huge difference in defense quality. Everything else being equal, a couple of armor points on a unit assures a much lower casualty rate, and thus better morale and a victory.

The other thing to do is upgrade your castles and towns to get to where you can field the better quality units (which also come with higher armor already included).

Finally, a tactical approach is to try to maximize your shock values during the battle. You don't need to do much fighting if you can get 3 enemy units to rout at the same time, because their whole army will then likely melt away, and you need only give chase and collect prisoners. Two cav charges from opposite sides is enough to kill just about any unit. A full charge from the side or rear into a unit already engaged in fighting is also usually enough to rout it. Try to set up your engagement pattern so that you can rout 2 or more enemy units at a time, and your casualty rate will drop--because your men will spend less time in bloody scrum trading blows to the head with the enemy.