Hard battle difficulty

**PunchDrunk** · August 26, 2011, 01:42 PM

So I decide to bump up from medium battle difficulty to hard.... and i'm finding it well.... hard. I'm playing as France and I decide to capture Rennes with a 5 units of spear/ levy archers. I got my ass beat pretty bad. Once I got to the town center on the hill a unit of mailed knights made my 5 units of spear militia rout 5 seconds after charging.

Any tips?

**recentiy03** · August 26, 2011, 01:44 PM

Don't fight unless you're better prepared. You need to compensate for the AI's morale boost by playing better, using stronger armies and better tactics.

**Judeman266** · August 26, 2011, 02:01 PM

Fight with a genera/family member, and keep him close the heat of battle. If he has at least 2-3 command stars you will see a marked improvement over just a captain general.

**Homeros** · August 26, 2011, 05:50 PM

On (Very) Hard difficulty, you cannot win in a 'fair' fight. You need to use overwhelming force to take out enemy units quickly. Try using multiple units to (flank) attack those of the enemy. Siege battles are difficult due to the serious lack of flanking options. It's much easier to take settlements in the first couple of turns by laying siege with a couple cavalry units (body guards, knights and mounted sergeants when playing France). The rebels will sally out the next turn so you can take them out in the field (using the cav's superior mobility to take out the rebel units one by one). The fastest and easiest way to capture settlements, and those Heroic Victories are nice for your generals command ratings too.

**Maltacus** · August 26, 2011, 08:50 PM

Wait a moment, going from medium to hard does not affect the morale of your own soldiers, does it? It was too long since I played on it but I have always thought that only the enemy morale was affected. Unless I'm mistaken your unit would have routed on medium too. Did such low-level units like the ones you described beat mailed knights on medium difficulty?

Tips?
Well, levy archers are too weak to make an impression on armoured units like knights. I recommend mercenary crossbowmen, being effective and retrainable in many places. Put the spearmen in schiltrom or other compact formations near the walls of building to protect their backs. Then an area will be open for your crossbowmen to fire in. Once the knights have engaged the spearmen, they expose their sides to your crossbows and can be shot down effectively.
Generally, early spear militia is so weak it's not worth bringing if you can get better troops. If they have improved armor and good commanders, it may be different.

@Homeros
No, the fastest way to capture a settlement is storming with siege artillery and capturing the settlement in the same turn. Or using spies if you are lucky.

**PunchDrunk** · August 26, 2011, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by Maltacus

Wait a moment, going from medium to hard does not affect the morale of your own soldiers, does it? It was too long since I played on it but I have always thought that only the enemy morale was affected. Unless I'm mistaken your unit would have routed on medium too. Did such low-level units like the ones you described beat mailed knights on medium difficulty?

Tips?
Well, levy archers are too weak to make an impression on armoured units like knights. I recommend mercenary crossbowmen, being effective and retrainable in many places. Put the spearmen in schiltrom or other compact formations near the walls of building to protect their backs. Then an area will be open for your crossbowmen to fire in. Once the knights have engaged the spearmen, they expose their sides to your crossbows and can be shot down effectively.
Generally, early spear militia is so weak it's not worth bringing if you can get better troops. If they have improved armor and good commanders, it may be different.

@Homeros
No, the fastest way to capture a settlement is storming with siege artillery and capturing the settlement in the same turn. Or using spies if you are lucky.

Well, I guess it was because of the crappy units you get at the start of the game. I attacked the settlement on turn 2 with about 6 units of spear militia and 5 units of levy archers. They had no upgrades at all. I returned 10 turns later and took the city.

**Homeros** · August 27, 2011, 07:31 AM

@ Maltacus

Assaulting settlements with a large force, spies and/or siege equipment is not an option during the first couple turns. You don't have spies to open the gates, you don't have large armies, you don't have siege equipment and even if you had some, it would take multiple turns to get them to the settlement in question. You also are going to lose a lot more men and therefore it will be a more expensive undertaking.

The strategy I put forth will allow me to take 3 or 4 settlements in the same number of turns required to take one using your approach. You're right when one has the resources, troops and spies available though, but that's not the case at the start of a campaign.