General beginners help

[theglenlivet12]

Ive scoured the forums looking for hopeful answers, but really havent found any. I have a few questions that hopefully some people will be able to answer.

First off, I find myself not really needing cavalry or cannons for any other reason except to keep an enemy routing or to chase down a routing enemy. Is this really all that its for?

Second, sometimes I kill an army on the campaign map outright, and seemingly not allowing them to regroup. Yet, Im still not quite sure what causes this. I had thought it was killing an enemy general, but it doesnt seem to be the case. Id really like to keep them from regrouping.

Third, Ive read that you want to identify chokepoints, but on some parts of the campaign map, it doesnt seem possible to keep an enemy from trolloping into your lands and raping your villages behind you. That means I have to split a stack to go deal with them, leaving me with my pants down in the city I am trying to defend. I guess I dont know when and how to effectively split my stacks.

Next is diplomacy. In the RTI, the lady tells me to gain an alliance with France, so I do. They spit in my face. Then Spain wants to ally with me. Im fine with that. Then they want to go to war with me. I do everything I can to gain favor with France, they are friendly, yet dont care to form an alliance. Any tips there?

It just seems that I cant afford to carry an army big enough to take out the neighboring territory in RTI after the Bunker Hill battle. I get an army together, they attack my ports, I put some ships together, theyve now got four armies guarding Maine. I wait, they come in and rape my farms. I send out my stagnant army in Boston to deal with them, they run away and regroup. I regroup and they send in the next stack. And round it goes. Maybe I should just stick to easymode?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. And remember, pictures are worth a thousand words.

[fishfood]

What difficulty setting are you playing first off?

For the alliance, try offering military access and some cash or something along with it. Can't hurt.

Cannons - put them in your line (not behind it) and try to create situations where you can use canister shot. Horse artillery is good because you can gallop it around and use it offensively. Canister is very effective.

As for cavalry, try to avoid head on attacks. Put your cavalry on the flanks, wear down a unit with a few volleys, and then do a bayonet charge. Once the enemy unit is engaged in melee, hit them from the back with the cavalry and they'll fold like nothing. Also, if you see a unit waver once or twice, send your cavalry into them. Cavalry isn't much good for just taking on a line infantry unit 1 on 1, but in combination with other morale shocks to their troops cavalry can tip the balance.

Also try threatening the AI into squares using your cavalry. This will give them less frontage and make their firepower very small compared to yours. You can then take out the squares with your infantry or with cannons, as a cannon ball can bounce through the squares and kill alotta guys with one ball. Canister is also effective.

As for splitting stacks, this is rough. Try and spread a few units around in the outlying villages. Their zones of interception will stop the enemy from proceeding, although these units will get massacred if they can't retreat for some reason. This will halt the enemy army though so you can take it out.

[theglenlivet12]

Heh I'm only playing on N/N. What about the naval part though? Any videos of people playing on YouTube maybe that might be a good learning tool? I'm watching a guy right now play as Prussia and if waiting until about turn 20 before firing a single shot is correct, I've been doing it wrong.

[xcorps]

Ignore the raiders and go for the regional capitals. Raiders exist to harrass you. If you are sending troops after them, they are working effectively. If you ignore them and grab a region, then they are much less of a problem. Just a little expensive, but the income from the new region will offset the expense of rebuilding.

[Lumina]

Use None Combat Units for Spies and Scouts if possible every early on. Like Gentlman. If you spot an early weakness then going on offense early on if you have the advantage anyways can wield a winning result.

If you're new to the game which you seem to be always have some Cannon Foddier Units in your army, like milita something to send against the enemy to soften them up but yet is very cheap to have in your army, while the milita is engaged you can get your other units into a better position to engage if not engage while the Militia is still engaged. Early in a campaign before you really start getting and can afford better and more average units like Line Infantry, having Cannon Foddier Troops can save you money and a bullet is a bullet for example. Milita you avoid getting into a melee fight with Line INfantry for example they last a lot longer in a shoot out. Spreding them out two ranks deep helps a lot with their rate of fire as well almost making them shoot as fast as three rank deep formations that AI uses until rank fire is gotten of course, then Line Infantry become far deadlier in a shoot out, and Milita start to lose any advantage that their cost gave them.

[TheFirstONeill]

Moved to Gameplay and strategy

[TheBlobThing]

Dunno if this can help you, but they're pretty good.
Index of guides.

[happycynic]

Ive scoured the forums looking for hopeful answers, but really havent found any. I have a few questions that hopefully some people will be able to answer.

First off, I find myself not really needing cavalry or cannons for any other reason except to keep an enemy routing or to chase down a routing enemy. Is this really all that its for?

Early demi-cannons are kind of useless. But when you start getting foot artillery with cannister shot they can decimate enemy formations. Cannons are also useful for shooting buildings (easier than storming with infantry) and shooting holes in forts during sieges. Cavalry are useful for going behind enemy lines and killing their artillery. They can also chew through anything lacking bayonets like light infantry. They are especially powerful against natives.

Second, sometimes I kill an army on the campaign map outright, and seemingly not allowing them to regroup. Yet, Im still not quite sure what causes this. I had thought it was killing an enemy general, but it doesnt seem to be the case. Id really like to keep them from regrouping.

I believe it depends on how decimated the unit was when it routed. If there are enough troops left, even if it routes, then it will still exist on the campaign map and retreat.

Third, Ive read that you want to identify chokepoints, but on some parts of the campaign map, it doesnt seem possible to keep an enemy from trolloping into your lands and raping your villages behind you. That means I have to split a stack to go deal with them, leaving me with my pants down in the city I am trying to defend. I guess I dont know when and how to effectively split my stacks.

Keep your army intact in the city. The AI will raid the towns around the target city. Wait until the move close enough to the city that you can kill them and move back into the city in one turn.

Next is diplomacy. In the RTI, the lady tells me to gain an alliance with France, so I do. They spit in my face. Then Spain wants to ally with me. Im fine with that. Then they want to go to war with me. I do everything I can to gain favor with France, they are friendly, yet dont care to form an alliance. Any tips there?

The AI rarely likes "fair" bargains. You usually have to sweeten the deal. The AI really likes things like military access and technologies. Try sweetening the deal with those. Also, getting a trade agreement first often helps.

It just seems that I cant afford to carry an army big enough to take out the neighboring territory in RTI after the Bunker Hill battle. I get an army together, they attack my ports, I put some ships together, theyve now got four armies guarding Maine. I wait, they come in and rape my farms. I send out my stagnant army in Boston to deal with them, they run away and regroup. I regroup and they send in the next stack. And round it goes. Maybe I should just stick to easymode?

Don't feel bad. You are in a particularly hard tactical position in RTI. The key is to blitz. Build a decent stack and march on upper/lower Canada. This will kill their ability to produce armies and allow you to steamroll North America.

[theglenlivet12]

That was most helpful, cynic. Thanks!