Help with a seemingly invincible enemy.

[Canesfan]

Well, I started playing online today, and was expecting a good start. The problem is, there's ONE guy, who keeps following me around (seemingly) and beating me with the same tactic everytime.

First off, the idea of this thread is a strategy to beat it. So post labeled paint pics, or something.

Here's how he generally arranges.



He usually waits for me to attack, but when I make any sign of movement, he somehow keeps his whole army in formation and goes around to an angle. When I attempt to match him, my army goes all outta wack. Anyway, when I try to attack, flaming rocks from his trebs scare my infantry half to death, so they fight for maybe a few seconds and then run after a very short time. After my whole infantry line runs, it's pretty much over.

So yea, help.

In case you're interested, he plays as the Papal States, and his name is 'PromiseGem'

[Bayard]

with how much money do you play?
no period limits?

[Canesfan]

Usually 15k gold, no time limit. I usually play as England/Scotland/France.

[jw1089]

play me. my msn name is jw_1089@hotmail.com, or, if you have AIM, my name there is jw10589. give me a shout, id be willing to play against you

[Canesfan]

Alright, added you. I'm canesfan951.

Also, someone post some help.

[removeduser_426582376423734]

Its a tricky one, the guy's clever. Theres a reason Alexander was never beaten, and partly its because of his spearmen. Archers in loose formation would be a good idea, flaming arrows perhaps? And horse archers/javelineers to harry the line. If they make any movement, get ready to take advantage of the gap.

So, basically, get lots of cavalry (melee and non) and just enough infantry. This is a bit of a sink or swim strategy, but its all I got atm.

BTW, Sorry if this is inaccurate, cos M2TW comes through my post in a few days. I.E. I dont have it yet, this is assumption.

[Canesfan]

Tried flaming arrows, but by the time I got close enough to fire at his trebs, I can't afford to stand still or my troops will start taking heavy hits.

I've attempted catapults/ballistas, but they didn't work either. Also, on my server I usually ban gunpowder/elephants/missilecav, so horse archers are out of the question. Although usually I'll allow musketeers/arqubusiers.

My front line is usually 5 units of heavy swordsmen, flanked by spearmen, with archers in the back, with some more spearmen on the rear flanks.

The guy is clever, he never flanks me, but manages to win every battle just through the huge morale hits that accompany those flaming rocks.

I usually send around 4 units of heavy cavalry around behind, to try and get through whatever gaps I can find, but he has a unit or two of archers tucked in there somewhere. One of the biggest hits i've taken before was taking the bait to a trap of his. He wheeled his trebuchets and archers a good distance away from his spearmen on his front line. I thought it was a far enough distance to be safe, and charged them. Unfortunately, he started the retreat when he realized I had bitten, and my fighting cavalry got shoved right onto his spears. It was bad, especially seeing as my own cavalry broke the lines of my advancing swordsmen.

[the Eternal Cocoon]

the problem seems to be, form what you descrbed, that your units rout to fast becuase of his trebuchets.

There are thre solutions-
1) get higher quality soldiers ( knights wont rout from a few flaming rocks)
2) have more experianced soliders ( spearmen with silver chevrons are less likely to rout than with no chevrons)
3) get your own trebuchets and pound away right back at him.

from his formation it seems he is setting it up for a big flanking maneuver ( the heavy infantry go around the sides of the spearmen). It is possible to counter in 2 ways;
1) attack his center. With most of his men on the flanks, his center is weak. Use one or 2 good archers or a catapult to jab away some men from the lone center spearmen regimetn and send your heavy infantry intothat spot, with your supporting on the flanks ( keep 2 units in reserve in case he still sends a flank attack). If you rout his center he will probobly send his reserves to the center, which would allow you to send your reserves around and encircle him.

2) meet his flanking attack. Place your supproting troops in the center, a few heavy infantry on one flank, and the rest of your heavy units ( including your general) on the other flank. The flank with th few HI (heavy infantry) will be able to hold off anything while the other stronger flank out-flanks his flank. To do this, match every flanking unit he sends with another unit, and then attack from behind with whatever units you have left ( the general unit is great for this).




or there is one other strategy that I use alott. Get an army of mostly defensive units, units that can stand a long beating without doling out much ( its the difference between fuedal knights and English knights). To support them, get alot of heavy cavalry. Meet all of his units one for one ( and keep 2 in reserve for the flanks), and send your cavalry way around his formation and attack his general unit. He will be forced to either abandon his formation for his genreal, which would allow you to flank him with your reserves, or let general die. If he tries to get his general out of there, let him. your cavalry would be dead-center behind his infantry.

lastly, you could use popat's stratagy- horse archers. Play an eastern faction like the turks and get only good horse arhcers ( I would recommend siphas, as they are also decent melee fighers).

[Cadmium77]

The way I see it is that he's vulnerable in that he's overweighted in spearmen. Very effective against horsemen but can be trumped by good swordsmen. So bring in swordsmen/axemen to melee with them. They'll parry their cruddy spears and do away with them if they're any good and have decent armour...

But bring some spearmen of your own along to stand nearby and protect your swordsmen from a flanking attack by his cavalry..
It's about combined arms...paper rock scissors...and so if he comes to you with scissors you must bring rocks, but don't forget to bring scissors and paper too..though generally speaking if you're the attacker you won't want to bring too many missile troops along...they're more of a defensive force...

[Internazionale]

Crossbowmen(if you are allowed to have them in) Can be used as a attacking force..
Their bolts are more effective against the spearmens armour than average bowmen, try it...
Have some units to guard the crossbowmen too.
And make sure to have your best units guarding your general.
Make sure your main priority is his center since his flanks are secured.

Use your secondary best men to keep his spearmen occupied, and 1 unit of spearmen at each side of his flanks to counter those cavalry.
I think he is covardly to always fight defensivly, it is ALWAYS a advantage to go on the defence...
I am getting Medieval 2 Total War today!^^

[HunKiller]

mirror him until eh gets frustrated and cracks his strategy. try tog et an identical army and attack unti on unit as he does

[Internazionale]

mirror him until eh gets frustrated and cracks his strategy. try tog et an identical army and attack unti on unit as he does

And in english? I cant read this, its totally mixed

[Censor]

He keeps his army in position by grouping. Once grouped you can click and drag the entire "formation" out for position and facing. The formation is locked once grouped, so it won't stretch out.

It's a pity you don't like Horse Archers, they are truly a perfect antithesis to that kind of army. Hmm....No gunpowder except arque. and musketeers? Seems like a strange restriction as I find musketeers the most annoying (practically 18th century riflemen they way they perform); however, it suits your purpose just fine. Load up on muskets (5-6), loosen up the formation, and drag them out so almost half of each unit can fire at once. The musketeers' range and power make them ideal for either forcing him to attack or ripping him apart as he stands. They should shred up his front line quite effectively. Keep rallying with your general to keep up morale. Then send in cavalry to rout the devastated spearmen, retreat immediately, and draw up your musketeers again to fire on his remaining infantry as he moves them up. His weakness is in his lack of skirmishers and complete lack of cavalry. You could also try this with mass longbowmen.

Another option would be a heavy cav heavy army (funny eh). Spearmen are less effective than they seem at resisting a cav charge, as long as it is properly formed (we're strictly talking spearmen, pikemen are another matter of course). The charge may be a shoot and miss affair though, if the charge is disrupted you'll have to pull back and try again. If he countercharges and bogs down your cavalry, you'll have another loss on your hands because you won't have enough horse to trample all his infantry.

I could make some diagrams with the handy MSPaint, but I'm off to sleep.

Tell me how it goes! I've just started playing multi too but I have enough experience (read: experienced crushing defeats) to say that musketeers will definitely work. Maybe...

[subedei the great]

You should get Crossbowmen and good Swordsmen. His killer weakness is he has zero mobility because he relies on his trebs/spearmen in a static formation.

Split up your army into like 3 groups with both Swords and Bows in each group, and manuever each group individually in order to surround his army, since he has to stay in the same spot.

Once you get good positioning you should be able to shoot the backs of all his soldiers. If he breaks formation and tries to attack one of your groups he will lose because A. Your troops are superior in melee with infantry and B. You can hit him from the back with another group of men.

Also splitting up your army helps decrease the chance of getting hit by Trebs.

[HunKiller]

haha sorry trying to multi task kills my typing. i meant to say something to the effect of start the battle with an army identical to his and do exactly what he does. he attacks your infantry with trebuchets attack his right back. he tries to use his spearmen, coutner with yours. get him to switch his strategy or continue to mirror until you can get a mismatch like his cavalry agaisnt yours and rush in with spears

[Internazionale]

To Censor:
Hehe, maybe me and you can play some time?
both against eachothers, and at teams

And i got much experience in playing Rome Total War, so i think it will work out fine....

I heard that the MTW2 AI is better, but even if not, i would just dl a mod such as the DARTH_FORMATION.

Btw, where are you from? i would like to get to know you better, heres my msn and e-mail: science_breivik@hotmail.com C u l8r i hope...

[severdhope]

Get the most accurate cannons you can if allowed, if you can hit his trebs with them, they will break.

Outflanking him is out of the question.
From the drawing, it appears as if he doesn't use a lot of cavalry or archers of any sort.

If you can hit his trebs with cannon that will be all the better. I suggest using horse archers to harrass his spears. If he is foolish, he will offer chase and weaken his flanks, and weaken his center even more in the process. If he does not chase, then take your time weakening his spears. I suggest loose formation and circling to avoid the trebs.

As for the attack, I would use a three-prong attack. On the sides, cheaper support infantry with good morale to hold his spears long enough. Make sure you go a little wide, as you want him to come to you. This will make it harder for him to reinforce his center. Try to keep his wings isolated from the center. Next, lead up the middle with heavy cavalry. Even though he is using spears, as long as they are not pikes you will do some major damage quickly. Speed is the key. Immediately withdraw the cavalry as soon as they have finished the charge, follow up with heavy infantry. At this bring your horse archers around the rear and hit him hard if he commits his reserves to the front.

Make sure your original formation hides your plans. ie, for the cavalry charge, start them on your flanks and charge at an inwards 'V'.

[jaklei]

dude....

You should be a little ashamed.... all eras? just go for 1 cannon and camel gunners.

[{nF}remix]

Experience points is the key. Every infantry unit in your army should atleast have 1/2 points into it whenever you battle.

If his missiles/trebs are bombarding you and if your missiles are not a match for his, then you should just straight up engage him. Don't do an outright charge. Line up your troops, march and engage. Keep units (Cavalry or Crack infantry) in reserve in order to flank or counter his flanks. Chances are because he has alot of missiles...he won't have enough infantry/cavalry to beat you in hand-to-hand combat.

[Canesfan]

For some reason, I can never get experience or weapons levels past bronze. Is there a reason for this?