Effective missile unit formations

[PaleBlueDot]

I love using missile units, because I can win a battle against AI with hardly any loss at all. And the arrow rain is simply beautiful. Problems arises when the enemy has an army of about the same size and quality as mine, but with more melee units.

The problem is that in usual battles, with no advantageous hills, no bridges and no castle, the enemy lines usually reach me rather quickly. Early and high (also late) missile units will not have dealt much damage by this time, and I will loose a lot of units in melee fights.
The attached picture illustrates how an open field battle based on missile units is doomed to fail against an equally large army of melee units, and shows a few ways around it.

My question is: What other ways are there to get something like the last scenario? Will they f.eg always go after a specific unit, like the strongest one, or the general? If i split my army in two, how can I make the AI go after the one without missile units? How do you deal with this?

[Inflatable]

Well, it's almost impossible without the use of forests or bridges or hills/mountains.
Try to lure the enemy towards your main force of infantry units by putting them closer to the enemy force. Light cavalry should be perfect for this, as they are usually cheap and quick.
Though, it is very hard without the use of forests or bridges. If you are defending a territory, (because you don't want to expand that way) try to keep your defending army at a hill, or even better let them hide in the woods for an ambush. (of course near the path that the enemy will go)
If you are attacking, this is harder.
You can either go by sea, or if you are France and want to attack HRE (only possible through land) use a spy to watch for any armies in that area, and if you see one, try to put your army in their territory, but when they try to attack you, they will be fighting uphill. this can sometimes be impossible, and perhaps then it is just better to attack it head-on if they are in a small valley.
You can, of course, also just wait for the army to leave so that you can besiege the settlement at once.

Hope this helps

EDIT

P.S. What faction are you playing? Then perhaps I can give advice on units too, and I will know what areas you'll be fighting.

[PaleBlueDot]

Im playing as Spain right now, but I am looking for strategies that are more general, not so faction-specific. Thanks a lot though, i guess the conclusion is that archers are pretty useless in a field battle. Or at least not very cost effective, unless you have stronger forces than the enemies, in which case they are good support.

[micheljq]

Im playing as Spain right now, but I am looking for strategies that are more general, not so faction-specific. Thanks a lot though, i guess the conclusion is that archers are pretty useless in a field battle. Or at least not very cost effective, unless you have stronger forces than the enemies, in which case they are good support.

Spain have some cavalry-archers troops very interesting. Have you tried England with their longbowmen or France with the Scots Guards. I think strategy must adapt with the units available, just my 2 cents.

[LonelyWolf]

I used to micro alot with 1 or 2 unit of light calvary! lure them around and let's the archers do their job. The archer with fire at will on, skirmish off, use the light calvary to make the enemy turn the back on yours archer to minimize casualty. Well, i used to use that tactic and it help alot

[Agent Miles]

Unless you are using crossbows, I always put the archers behind the line of infantry. This way they can fire from safety all the way through the battle. Don’t put them on skirmish mode in this case, because they do not need to run away.
Also if your force is something like 9 infantry units, 6 archers and 4 cavalry with a general, then you can put 2 lines of infantry up front, one line with 5 units and a second line immediately behind them with 4 units, then 2 lines of 3 archers on loose formation behind them and the cav on the flanks. The AI force takes a morale hit for losing casualties to your archers as they approach (fire arrows make this even better), waver due to enemy numbers from the depth of your units and then get flanked by your general leading the cav. The AI force chain routs and you can run them down. So you destroy their morale first and then their army.

[thursgun]

First, Im gonna rep you for both this great thread you made and that nice picture you attached

Now, I believe sinergy is the key so I wouldn't split them (the archer units)

That being said, I would put the archers alone on one side of the map and use the rest of my army to lure.

But you must hold fire until the rest of your army lures them, otherwise they will charged against the archers first, and that would be a GG for you.

I would attach a picture but im not with my PC right now (although I think i'm being pretty clear )

What do you think about this strategy?

[mbeller83]

I could be wrong but, if you have hordes of cavalry charging, such as Mongols, I would think relying on missles would be futile.

[PaleBlueDot]

When Mongols become a problem (They have arrived but I haven´t met them yet) I will find a bridge or castle and do some camping. If I leave them doing whatever they like (Im no further west than france) will they continue growing? Is there any chance they will be beaten by the turks or whatever? I play on medium as a matter of principle, and miss having a real threat, one huge enemy to face. Will they eventually move to western Europe?

[Stolet]

When Mongols become a problem (They have arrived but I haven´t met them yet) I will find a bridge or castle and do some camping. If I leave them doing whatever they like (Im no further west than france) will they continue growing? Is there any chance they will be beaten by the turks or whatever? I play on medium as a matter of principle, and miss having a real threat, one huge enemy to face. Will they eventually move to western Europe?

Probably But maybe they won't have time to get to western Europe cause the Timurids come and ruin the Mongols' plans. Then they fight each other and whoever wins might get to the west. So you'll probably have to press end turn many times until that happens.

[JusTheory]

I try to concentrate my archers on my left flank behind my last few infantry units. Throw a spear unit in there for anti cav support and they usually do a decent amount of damage especially if I force the AI to break up his formation by either luring him to my left flank or charging my right flank units first. If you have a couple horse archer units you can definitely jumble the AI's army up and having your foot archers spread behind your main lines with give someone an opportunity for some good shots into flanks or the enemy's right side.