Scouting

[AggonyKing]

Hello Everybody! ^^

I'm here with a friendly tip and thats that scouting is very important in this game. I hardly see people scout but there are many advantages to scouting. One of the easiest way to scout is use a light cav or one cav unit thats not a vet. Scouting is important as you can avoid nasty surprises like flank assault by cav or hidden artillery. Or you can scout and deal with the hidden units once you find them before you move on to your opponents main army, giving you a significant advantage.

So how often do you guys scout on MP matches? and by that I mean actively look for hidden units (should be obvious what I mean)

and if you don't scout then why?

If you have no idea what I'm talking about though, here's a replay that shows you how important it is to scout. (my opponent sucked but you get the idea of scouting on this replay)

[KittySN]

I don't even bother anymore unless I know I'm moving directly into a dangerous position. So many people hide part/all of their cavalry in the same general places, nothing really surprises me anymore. In fact, I sometimes use this to my advantage, acting all stupid as if I couldn't possibly expect a hidden unit, then suddenly focusing all my cavalry on a patch of woods, trapping the unsupported ambush.

[AggonyKing]

I don't even bother anymore unless I know I'm moving directly into a dangerous position. So many people hide part/all of their cavalry in the same general places, nothing really surprises me anymore. In fact, I sometimes use this to my advantage, acting all stupid as if I couldn't possibly expect a hidden unit, then suddenly focusing all my cavalry on a patch of woods, trapping the unsupported ambush.

I'm paranoid so when I count units and look at the opponents army and notice lots of funds missing...yeah I'm expecting an ambush from somewhere and so I immediately look for it

[StormtrooperDan]

I've only scouted in a game where the other player was behaving really suspicious. We only sortied with bowmen but he would constant shift his entire line back and to the side. He did this like 4 times. I match him with my line adjustments, but I had to send yari ashigaru and cavalry to the nearby forests just to make sure he wasn't hiding units there. It turned out he wasn't hiding anything. So I'm not sure why he kept shifting his line.

[AggonyKing]

I've only scouted in a game where the other player was behaving really suspicious. We only sortied with bowmen but he would constant shift his entire line back and to the side. He did this like 4 times. I match him with my line adjustments, but I had to send yari ashigaru and cavalry to the nearby forests just to make sure he wasn't hiding units there. It turned out he wasn't hiding anything. So I'm not sure why he kept shifting his line.

my 2nd MM match was against this guy that brought general only. I didn't believe him so I scouted the whole map! There was just no way that someone forgot to bring an army! Turns out he did bring only his general lol

[xccam]

my 2nd MM match was against this guy that brought general only. I didn't believe him so I scouted the whole map! There was just no way that someone forgot to bring an army! Turns out he did bring only his general lol

Theres a bug which sometimes pl;unges people into battle with just their generals.

[KittySN]

Yeah happened to me once. Instant loss.

[AggonyKing]

O_o maybe its a way to balance the game hehe >_>

I think it has to do with the campaign drop in battles being checked.

[GambleFish]

I almost never scout with units. However, I do recommend always taking a few seconds to calculate the costs of the units you can see. Even a rough estimate is enough to ensure you won't be caught off guard.

[vanadis]

I don't think scouting is that important in this game. It's pretty obvious that people have 2 great guards + some more cav hiding in the woods if the rest of their army isn't that big.
The only thing that annoys me is a unit of matchlocks suddenly jumping out of the trees.

I don't think pulling of a surprise attack has that much, if any, effect on enemy morale.

[bangell99]

You can guarantee that the enemy will have cavalry in the woods, and considering there's only a couple of places it could be, it's easy enough to protect yourself against them.

[Thefallenhun]

If I see too few units on the btatlefields, I'll assume woods near his deployment are filled with units, and I'll be more careful. I'm never out of formation so I don't worry unless I'm moving right into it.

[RTKBarrett]

Hello Everybody! ^^

I'm here with a friendly tip and thats that scouting is very important in this game. I hardly see people scout but there are many advantages to scouting. One of the easiest way to scout is use a light cav or one cav unit thats not a vet. Scouting is important as you can avoid nasty surprises like flank assault by cav or hidden artillery. Or you can scout and deal with the hidden units once you find them before you move on to your opponents main army, giving you a significant advantage.

So how often do you guys scout on MP matches? and by that I mean actively look for hidden units (should be obvious what I mean)

and if you don't scout then why?

If you have no idea what I'm talking about though, here's a replay that shows you how important it is to scout. (my opponent sucked but you get the idea of scouting on this replay)

I usually do the math... in any case i very rarely attack head on unless the maps features demand it. Angling off has the same effect as scouting as your whole army cuts up one area where he can hide and moves further away from the other...

[bushranger]

There is a few maps where there is tree lines going up the entire side of the map,i always just hover the cam those areas looking for birds flying,you can basically move cav right behind the enemy with them and snipe the gen from behind in the heat of battle when the opponent is to busy in battle.

[YourHeadOnSpork]

Scouting isn't necessary in this game.

1) Remember your budget 5/10/14/22k or whatever it is

2) Add opponents visible army cost up in your head

If your brain don't work so good you can use a calculator and regardless of him using certain retainers you should have a good idea whether hes hiding something or not. If you do this right you know if hes hiding anything bigger than light cavalry immediately.

[AggonyKing]

based on all these responses, I'll definitely be hiding units from now on

[The Bobba-Job]

I dont bother scouting. I normaly asses the size of my opponants army and the rough cost (of course though thats hard as they may have un upgraded veteren units and cheapening retainers), then judge whether or not they are likely to have hidden units. Most of the time they will plant them within the vacinity of capture points, i simply send a cav, dismount it, and keep a dam close eye on it. When he springs his trap i remount and quickly scurry away under the cover of bow cav.

[AggonyKing]

I dont bother scouting. I normaly asses the size of my opponants army and the rough cost (of course though thats hard as they may have un upgraded veteren units and cheapening retainers), then judge whether or not they are likely to have hidden units. Most of the time they will plant them within the vacinity of capture points, i simply send a cav, dismount it, and keep a dam close eye on it. When he springs his trap i remount and quickly scurry away under the cover of bow cav.

tehee

speaking of sending cav to capture points, how effective is it? Whenever I see a player doing that to me I just rush his main army and kill it since his/hers cav is all the way out there dismounted taking a point.

[The Bobba-Job]

tehee

speaking of sending cav to capture points, how effective is it? Whenever I see a player doing that to me I just rush his main army and kill it since his/hers cav is all the way out there dismounted taking a point.

You have to be realistic. If your sending your cav far away there is an element of risk since it can be easily cut off and destoryed.

As a side not, after the recent patch, i have found that a mounted cav can expell an enemy's control over capture points, but they still have to dismount to actualy capture them.

[AggonyKing]

You have to be realistic. If your sending your cav far away there is an element of risk since it can be easily cut off and destoryed.

As a side not, after the recent patch, i have found that a mounted cav can expell an enemy's control over capture points, but they still have to dismount to actualy capture them.

I'll remember that last part

there's also a bug btw where your dismounted cav will get stuck, so make sure you don't dismount them very close to the building or else they might get stuck on an object.