Well it wouldn't hurt to have at least one discusion about the actual thing we are grouping around I always wanted to know, what are your guys strategy in TW when you are in battle commanding troops, not on the Strategy map. Do you guys preffer calvary, archers, infantry or mix? How do you develop your attack/defence?
When defending a city or fortress i need a lot of archers and a lot of infantry, but in open field battle i only nead 2 or 3 archer units and the rest are cavlary and infantry (a bit more infantry than cavlary). Although i must admit that i dont really enjoy fighting battles. I usually auto resolve. Campain map is my passion...
I tend to group my cavalry into a "task force" and attack the enemy'y cavalry piecemeal, and then it's all ramming into the enemy's behind with a cavalry charge. AI is to stupid to react to your cavalry massing.
Well sometimes, when I'm small in numbers and/or have weaker units than enemy I lose in auto resolve, so I step in as a commander of the troops. Ok let me tell you my strategy. What I do first, is waste as much arrows into enemy ranks as possible (And this is branded by game as unhonorable way to fight). Then brace my infantry for an incoming attack. And while their infantry is engaged by my infantry I use calvary to smash the engaged enemy from the back, or the flanks And I really HATE chasing enemy light calvary (usualy archer calvary) all over the map... But in the end calvary from the flanks or back, just brakes the enemy. (Offcourse if your infantry brakes and run, braking the line i could mean the quick surrounding end for my troops)
All classic stuff. When I play campaign I constantly draw damaged units back to retrain. It's time consuming but eventually they become so powerful than when in battle I just smash my line of infantry into the enemy, and in 2 min. they are all running. Then I mop up entire enemy army with cavalry. You can get over 2000 prisoners that way.
Well this is the reason why I dont like to command my army in battle - if you have 1.heavy cavalry and 2.heavy infantry you are just unstopable. My favourite type of units is the heavy infantry because they have universal role on the battlefield plus they can hold the battle lines .
WEll of course I love to tend my men into 3 golden rank killing machines. But whan I played Sicilian Vespers with Serbia you can barely scrape monay to buy hevy infantry, and when you do they are half the size then most enemy units (around 30 men) and when 30 men get surounded by 200, it's not pretty, so I had to manage quality and quantaty.
Mental note: Must start playing mods
Haha I just played that one with Serbia and third age (based on Lord of the rings) But onece this mod is finished, it will be all the mods I'll ever need...
I pretty much use all threee.... But i Love calvary.... I use my infantry in a offset formation(allowing reserves)... and hold the line... meanwhile my archers will aid them my firing fire arrows lowering their morale.... If i have archer calvary ill surround them and fire... My calvery will either split and distract other enemy calvary while the others drive the wedge in.... and i wreak havoc.... In a way its of like Alexander's the Great strategy in one of the his famous battles... Dont remember the name......... The Main goal of my strategy.... Surrounding the enemy!
Phalanx formation is the name .
@Slavic The battle of Issus? The whole phalanx holds, cavalry moves to flank, was Alexanders trademark really.
I use to have my infantry in the middle, forming the main part of the army. I use few archers, which I put on the first line. Then, with the cavalry, I provoke the enemy to attack, retreating when I start to have loses. That breaks their morale, if you attack several times this way.
Well Kind of like phalanxes... Just not long Spears and Swords
Yea I usualy have a battalion or two behind the line (usualy the hevy infantry) just in case someone turns tail and run. But I think that cavalry charge from the back of an already engaged enemy, brakes even the best troops. On the other note. Do you guys like more to command a large army or an agerage one? I personaly don't like commanding large armies, the battles tend to be confusing and too many variables... Of course in ROme TW NOTHING beats phlanaxs and calvary from the flanks. And I do mean no leagonare can hold a candle to it.
D'oh, now you got me. Could speak on this subject from morning to evening, and then again. As DobroVece said - just a classic staff. It is pretty much enemy who dictates battle development. In most situations I am waiting for them to make a move before I decide how to answer and gain crucial advantage. Back-bone of almost any army that I compose is mixture of archers, spear-men and cavalry. If possible, add to that infantry and two units of horse-archers (feels like cheating if I have more than two) and I am an extra-happy camper. Main tasks: - Archers go ahead of main line to decimate foes as much as possible before we clash in melee. - Spear-men hold the line with infantry close behind for counter-charge. - Cavalry on sides for flanking/supporting/counter-charging. This only changes when one of my "Task Armies" get into the fray. To explain this, I divide my armies into: - Settlement Garrisons (mostly mixture of militia units) charged with defending settlements and extinguishing rebellions within domestic province. - Fort Garrisons (mixture of the best units available) for extra punch when needed and serving as extra protection on frontiers. - Naval Armies ("professional" medium-quality units) for invading opposition. - Task Armies (composed exclusively of the best cavalry and horse-archer units available) tasked to counter invaders, execute traitors, and support settlements or Naval Armies. That would be "short" description of my battle tactic and military organization. VIP
Nice, nice, the best topic so far I like large armies as they give you that sense of epic. You can control them easily with grouping and pausing. I usually set up my infantry into two lines and then group them together. That way when you point them by dragging they don't disturb their formation. If you pause and point each unit to charge a single unit the charge becomes irresistible. You can do this against human player also but you have to charge sooner to have time to click and point each unit with no pause. Smaller armies give you the chance to show off your tactical knowledge, so I like them too.
Yes large armies give you that sence of "Epic", but even thou it's just virtual lives, I hate loseing to much man Testerday I tried a Sicilian VEspers on a custom battle, I picked my troops and random the enemy Ottomans. And I noticed that they broke relativly quick, even thou I set it on Very hard. The armies numbered around 1500 each, I lost ~250 and he barely made escape with a hundred. I mean sure I used Serbian Velmoze as a hevy calvary and Serbian Gusars as light, and one batalion of dismounted velmoze and dismounted vlastela, and 2 halberds and 3 voyunks, but I'm sure computer gave him quality units too. And they compleatly lacked strategy, I mean they warent even attacking in a line, or waves or something just like they were individual mob and not an army. I think that on very hard they should have been harder to beat....
Maybe it's something about the mod. Still, original AI is dumb anyway.
Propably a "loop in codeing"
