How Do You Play Total War?

[Archimonday]

It can be said that almost everyone plays Total War differently, and it is without a doubt that those same standards will be reflected into your gameplay styles as your time with Empire: Total War progresses. So, the question stands, how do you play Total War?


Myself, being the simpleton that I am, tend to try to keep things as simple as possible. From my apparent lack of micromanagement, to my super standardized armies, I play Total War with one thing in mind "simplicity". A lot of people may spend time contemplating what unit will give them the most bang for their buck. I on the other hand pick a unit, that has a fairly cheap price, but with a moderate attack and defense rating, and mass produce that unit. I can't remember when I created an advanced army where each unit balanced the other perfectly, instead my armies consisted of endless ranks of Spearmen that marched in perfect line towards their doom, with only a few units of cavalry (usually the general and his group) to wheel the flanks and keep the enemy from flanking us.

I mass produce this spearmen unit, and always remain in a defensive stance. I find defending ground, much easier than taking ground, but when the time calls for it, I provoke a response and make the enemy come to me. Simplistic, Easy, and Successful. Thats how I play Total War.

In Empire I plan to do a similar approach, with small amounts of artillery and cavalry, and a large main body consisting of light infantry to overwhelm my enemy by numbers.

Now...your turn.

[Krupp]

Auto my cities,except military,Build cavalry stacks and and mixed stacks,rarely go over 2 art pieces per stack(this will change of course for Empire ).Invade anyone who is stupid.

[Meister Sibrand]

Hordes of heavy infantry, pikemen, and heavy cavalry

[Tajir]

I used to do the simple thing and just spam the best heavy cavalry unit in my arsenal.

Lately, I've been creating as much variety as possible, and it depends on the scenario. If its an open battlefield, I field all types of cavalry, heavy infantry, pike men, and artillery. If I'm in a castle/city, I normally I have less than 5 units garrisoned anyway so its usually 1 heavy cavalry, 3 missile, 2 infantry, and 1 artillery unit.

[Carswell]

I like to have a balanced army of skirmishers, swordsmen/spearmen, and cavalry. I don't have too much artillery, but like Krupp said, that will change with E:TW. My Empire army I hope will be mostly infantry, with some artillery support; and of course, dragoons!

[eddy_purpus]

i play every TW game with some coke and chips.
especially pringles cheddar chesse and coca cola or dr pepper.
those are my weekends xD
oh and i put the tv on .
and watch movies sometimes. but mostly soccer.


edit.
well i usually use diferent kind fo units every time.
lets say balanced.
but then it comes to fight a whole stack of enemy rebels who are at militia level .
i tend to have more artillery and some pro soldiers who know how to fight with some light cav to kill fleeing enemies.

[magpie]

Good post eddy, The essentials for gaming,I include loads of coffee and a couple of packs of cigs.
For my army say two batteries of artillery, skirmishers, light infantry with a reserve of heavy infantry and cavalry.
regards magpie.

[Carl von Döbeln]

consisting of light infantry to overwhelm my enemy by numbers.

Aha The Russian "coward tactic"

[Keyser]

Aha The Russian "coward tactic"

I thought it consisted in entrenching yourself behind redoubts

When i play total war, i tend to create balanced army, with shooter, heavy infantry (in reserve), spear/pike to guard the front and cavalry.

My favorite units are the heaviest kind of light cavalry (shooters with relatively good melee stats and armor), but i don't alway play a faction that rely on them.

[DrDogMeat]

A double or single line of Heavy inf(depending how big the battle is) 2 flanking units of spear men to flank them and kill off the cavalry. and 4 units of heavy cavalry to flank them and charge the inf line from the read just after you inf line charges in. Which will make most of the army rout right in to you cavalry and spearmen.

[Chim]

Moved to M2TW battle planning.

[Inferno The Military Genius]

I play by Using High ranking Assassins to take out Prince and King or anyone high enough to Not switch allegiance then I use spy to break into my next target city and send a Saboteur to blow up major Military buildings to help me.
Then I Prepare for the assault by having 3 teams of Archers and 2 teams of spearmen and a calvary charge because No matter if there spearmen or infantry they cannot hold up to waves of horsemen riding at them when the battle is over I make sure I hunt and kill all of them then any prisoners I decide there fate depending on the country there from right now if there scottish for me they are executed because I don't want the scottish scum to survive they are to be killed and extinct so I can take all of the Islands

Right now I am england and I am the richest country in the campain as well as I have exterminated The Holy Empire and Scottland is next!

As well as I am running on Chip,Cereal,Energy Drinks and Green Tea on my conquest!

[TheTrueGreek]

i make crossbow armys with cav and spearmen supporting, if you have 7 crossbows, a unit will go down extremely fast

[Wheelchair]

If I'm english, 12 Units of Archers 3 Dismounted Knights and 3 Dismounted English Knights, 2 units of cavalry.

[Hader]

I like a very classic approach to fighting my battles; spears on flanks, infantry in the middle, archers behind, cavalry for the far flanks. That's almost always how I fight. I don't think I ever fight any differently. But it works for me, so I do it.

I usually tend to rely on the cavalry to do a great job though, because I am always very wary of my archers getting a few FF kills. While some people don't think its a big deal to lose a few men to friendly fire, I always just freak out and keep archers from even firing at closer ranges. Then I really just use them to attack maybe a general or chase down a routing unit, since they are faster than the tired, heavy laden infantrymen.

[Xamt]

for me it depends on the faction, but i generally favor mobility over brute force and range over melee... so my fav unit is.... horse archers !!!!

so when i play an eastern european/muslim faction my early armies are made up mostly (or entirely) of horse archers ...

as time progresses i make more balanced armies to effectivelly assault cities and compliment my HA armies... they typically consist of 2 catapults/trebs, 3-4 spears, 4-5 archers, 4 hv cavalry and the rest a mix of hv infantry/light infantry/light cavalry depending on the enemy-mission of the stack

i try my best to custom-make my armies to fulfill a certain mission, then re-assemble them (by moving units around, recruiting new ones, disbanding old ones) for their next task

[Long John Silver]

I pretty much like to keep everything under direct control.

I manage my cities, check them regulary and look for problems. I build a lot of watchtowers to see who is moving thru my lands.

With the army, I like the defensive way. Try to avoid casualties. My army is made up of heavy infantry, lots of archers/crossbowmen and cannons and light cavalry. I Try to wear the enemy down before he even get to my ranks. And when they do, I'll storm them with my Heavy Infantry an encircle them with my light calvalry. They also mop up the fleeing units.

Works for me.

[mikil100]

Ranged units in front protected by spikes- if no spikes available then a detatchment of Heavy inf or spears- lots of heavy calv with shock troops on the flank supported by heavy calvary and the archers- hammer tactics with my heavy inf and spears locking in after the ranged units do their work- flank units finalizing the deal. Never fails for me- works defensively or offensively. <3 stakes..

Im a blunt and straightforward general


Campaign map wise I usually play passively- avoiding war as much as possible- and when i intend to make war I attack with force, destroying the factions economy within a few turns and picking off its cities as needed- i tend to keep many of my cities low garrisoned and my troops are usually abroad or in camps in strategic areas.

[agent407]

I play my game quite differently than you guys...

I barely get into war, like maybe in the 50'th turn I will defend myself from some stupid attacking nation or something. I mostly just build up my first settlements, get a lot of cash, and then go around buying regions, building alliances, getting popes favor etc.. By the end, I am rich, anybody attacks me I can just send my allies after them, or buy a lot of troops and fight back. But usually I just buy out nations.

Simple as that, no fighting tactics required. Am I the only one?

Oh and, Diplomats FTW!

[Leutnant]

^^I'm starting to play a bit like you. So no, you aren't the only weirdo running around here