The Stakes of Doom

[Nazgûl Killer]

I am currently playing as England and I have reached a point in my game that I have Retinue Longbowmen, whilst they may rock, their stakes are... Annoying sometimes.
Whilst the defensive capabilities of those stakes are staggering (I deploy them in front of my cannons or stuff like that, on a hillside), there are downfalls, for instance, my king and prince chased a bunch of light cavalry, into the stakes. Guess what? They both died.
I would like to hear everyone's tactics on how and when to use stakes, please post ahead, oh, and please no dumb remark such as "Lolololol l2micromanage" because that's kinda hard when your brother keeps asking you questions. So, post your strategies here!

[Muagan_ra]

It is very, very unwise to run your cavalry out front if you have stakes deployed. Once they get out there, they're trapped between a stake and a hard place.

I've had some very interesting battles using stakes, one on the Britannia campaign was particularly memorable. I did battle with the English (as Ireland) on the border with Wales, and was mindful enough to pick up some longbowmen on the way. I managed to set the stakes in a forest, right in the way of the enemies advance toward me. My longbowmen where just in range to start firing on them as they reached the stakes, and since they where out in front the English naturally charged the vulnerable archers.

Poor king Henry, didn't see it coming.

Come to think of it, that was one of my most brutal fights ever - outnumbered badly, and they had the Knights Templar as reinforcements...

[Silent Assassin]

I have beaten 4 full stacks of Mongols with one full stack on my Turkish army composed of:

1 General
7 Archers Jannissary
2 Nanaffut
1 catapult and
9 Spearmen.

I have layed stakes in front of the Gate and others in principal roads leading into my City center. I have installed my nanafut on top of the walls (gate) let them throw a couple of exploding balls on there heads as there were bottlenecked. the rest of my troops were in my city center. Spearman in front, Archers after (stakes were layed in front of the spears), catapult and general in the far end of the center.

So final count.

Mongols started with around 4000 men, after the battle they were only 850 left and I lost around 300 men.

[Nazgûl Killer]

Lol, now that sounds like an interesting battle, I have to try using stakes in a siege fight... However, my main question is how to use them properly in an open field, because from what I can tell, using stakes rules out using your cavalry, too much of a risk... And I rely, heavily, on my cavalry, flanking actions and coordinated strikes against generals... So, any advice on how to use both of those together? Stakes are just so useful against enemy generals... So fun, I have actually tried somethign today, I made a "Bait unit", a light cavalry unit and charged at his general, of course, I lost, but just before my units routed I made them run towards the stakes, and the enemy was right on their tail... Both enemy generals died, alongside with most of their bodyguards, I lost my bait unit, but I didn't mourn, for obvious reasons

[Silent Assassin]

Lol, now that sounds like an interesting battle, I have to try using stakes in a siege fight... However, my main question is how to use them properly in an open field, because from what I can tell, using stakes rules out using your cavalry, too much of a risk... And I rely, heavily, on my cavalry, flanking actions and coordinated strikes against generals... So, any advice on how to use both of those together? Stakes are just so useful against enemy generals... So fun, I have actually tried somethign today, I made a "Bait unit", a light cavalry unit and charged at his general, of course, I lost, but just before my units routed I made them run towards the stakes, and the enemy was right on their tail... Both enemy generals died, alongside with most of their bodyguards, I lost my bait unit, but I didn't mourn, for obvious reasons

It depends, yes my Post aboved was about a siege on open field I will used them depending on the terrain and even more of what the other army units are like, if there is alot of cavalery, be sure that I will deply stakes.

IMO the only thing you need to do when using stakes is to watch out for your own cavalery. Maybe this is why I don't really bother with my stakes, I only use generals, rarely I will use horses in battles of any kind.

[Commander5xl]

I use stakes more in ambushes, especially against cavalry heavy armies. Put your longbowmen into the Trees and deploy the stakes, have light infantry/vulnerable infantry in front and in where the stakes were placed, and have more light infantry go towards the enemies cavalry, lure them in and make them charge, then move your infantry back a couple paces reveal the stakes boom the cavalry is gone, mvoe spearmen around to flank to finish the job, and have your archers fire at their infantry while swing your cavalry around to flank and boom, tey shoul all berouted with minimum amount of casualties (just dont get to closse to their cavalry)

[Muagan_ra]

The idea is to lure enemy cavalry into your stakes, and nothing makes them come running faster than your missile's stood out on their lonesome. Alternatively, you could deploy them on your flank, to stop any pesky sneak attacks.

[Viking Prince]

The first time that I had used the stakes was as the English in France. Out numbered 3:1 and facing nearly all cavaly in a forrested area. I could not really see all that happened, but it was bloody. It did not seem like a likely result of a simulation. I have avoided using them except in seige defenses ever since. I even think the seige defense is a bit of a bum idea. The stakes are too powerful against an AI that simply does not learn.

[Commander5xl]

Is their a collision factor in Med2?? Because it seems when I use stakes on a siege defense, when the cavalry gets cut down, it kills all the infantry around it, which makes like 75% of the AI army die right at the gate.. yet when just infantry go through the stakes do nothing, so im thinking when cavalry die they also kill any infantry they fall on.

[Nazgûl Killer]

Never seen that happen.

[Commander5xl]

Hmm, its wierd, because when I see like 300 Cavalry charging my gates followed by about 400 infantry, there ends up being me fighting off about 150 infantry with like no moral so they just run away, but for some reason over half of the infantry got killed with the cavalry, and infantry arent affected by stakes so Its the only explination :|

[TheJoker]

I use stakes to prevent myself getting flanked by cavalry, if I have alot of cavalry I won't use them, but I use mostly infantry armies, and only ever really use cavalry for cleaning up enemy missiles/taking prisoners, and the occasional flank to break morale. Normally my "hammer and anvil" is handled by backbone infantry like swordsmen and spearmen, followed by high attack AP units coming around to break them.

[avion365]

i just use them in defensive battles where i cannot move

[Conquistatore]

Never really use them, effectively at least. Always in an open field so the stakes are easy to avoid. I would like to put some in front of a gate but haven't had the chance just yet.

[Silent Assassin]

Never really use them, effectively at least. Always in an open field so the stakes are easy to avoid. I would like to put some in front of a gate but haven't had the chance just yet.

Stakes are the most effective when placed in front of a gate or in front of a bridge