HI

Just some food for thought - Movement of your Army is now uberly important especially as some of the threads I've been reading have people taking massive mortar only armies to fight with.

I have been doing experiments and have rapidly come to the conclusion that Infantry are incredibly important in this game and (unlike MTW2) that it's a bad idea to have an all Cavalry, Artillery or Infantry army.

The reason for this is simply that (in true rock, paper, scissors fashion) -

Cavalry run rings around Infantry and kill Artillery easily but are themselves killed by anyone firing at them or more usually by other cavalry. My tactic is to keep cavalry out on the wings and have them mark other cavalry. I usually keep them moving to avoid arty fire and keep them well away from any enemy until it is time to commit them.

Artillery shoot the hell out of anyone and steadily kill the enemy especially if the enemy has wimped out and is waiting for you to attack. They are usually killed by Cavalry or they get involved in an Arty shooting battle. If charged by cavalry I usually retreat them into Infantry Squares and wait until the cavalry are gone before running them back to their arty pieces. I never fire at enemy arty and usually place them on the flanks.

Infantry are invaluable because without them the others get owned. Unless you have uber-cavalry no horse unit is going to kill a Line unit especially if they're in a Square. They also provide cover for the Arty who in a perfect battle do most of the killing. Generally by the time the Infantry come to the fore you are probably facing a harassed enemy who has been softened up by Lights and Dragoons and then bombed by explosive howitzer shot or (worse) shrapnel rounds. The Lines form, usually fire a couple of volleys and then the enemy runs home (or gets bayonet charged).

Lots of people talk about the V formation as being the perfect killing formation but I believe that it is too passive. The V is a defensive formation used to lure players who should know better (AI) into a killing ground. The beauty of Empire is that troops are quicker than before and it is very easy to move large amounts of troops quickly. Victory usually comes after one unit routing causes others to rout. That one unit routing is usually because someone hit from behind or from the side. That hit from behind came due to Movement.

In summing Movement is majorly important in Empire now. Knowing where to put your artyy as well as where your Lines will shoot best is key and having Heavy Cav hit where no-one is looking doesnt hurt either.

Peace