Multiplayer stragey : What am I not getting?

I'm an average player. I usually do OK against people online. Usually I can tell from my mistakes and my opponent's mistake why I lost or won. But last night, I played against this guy and I have no idea how he managed to win.

I played twice against him. He used GB with the same setup. 5-6 lights, 4 light cav, 2 dragoons, a ton of infantry and 1 foot guard as general.

On the first match I played Russia. The rules were no rockets so I thought, hey, let's use 20lbs unicorns for fun. I had two of them (1 upgrade), 2 lancers, 2 light cav (both upgraded), 4 lights (upgraded), 5 line and one guard.

My unicorns opened up on him and his right flank was ready to fold already. Having a ton of infantry he tried to surround my flanks, but before that he sent his entire cav in a frontal assault. I pulled back my lights and let the squares destroy his attack. Then reform my line and started firing. I sent my entire cav against his left flank, which killed his infantry general and routed a couple of units. I sent my guard in melee on that flank as well. All the while, my noob unicorns were doing ridiculous damage from short range.

Well, despite all of that, he won. His men kept coming back from routing and eventually made my infantry route in no time, despite the fact that brits have lower moral than russians and that I had a general in support.



I asked for a rematch and he obliged. This time I use my favorite faction, the Ottoman. He had the same exact setup. I had 3 light cav (upgraded), 1 range cav (upgraded), 1 elite heavy cav, 1 rifle and 3 lights (upgraded), 5 line janissaries (upgraded once), 3 cemat janissaries (upgraded 3 times) and two bachi bouzouks. This setup might not be exact but that's about it.

The match starts. I rush my two of my light cav behind him. He tries to stop it with his infantry. My rifles open up on his center. And I send my cav behind his center, angled against his lights. My cav routed but did some good damage, while the rifles were still shooting. At the same time, I attack his left flank with lights and infantry then launch my cemat janissaries + my heavy cav, killing his general guard unit. My swordsmen and cav unit route one Brit unit after the other, cuttiing their way through his line from his left flank almost to his center! He launched half his cav against this attack, which quickly routed and he launched the other half against squares on my right flank. My attack on his left flank eventually ran out of air but he was obviously disorganized and my lights and infantry were shooting up his center while he was trying to reform a line so I thought, this is over. I attacked his right flank with line as well, and then send my bachi bouzouks to do some damage. I had one unit of light cav left as well which attacked from behind. This attack went OK.

He looked like he was about to fold, and then magically, a bunch of his units came back from routing and 2 minutes later, I'm surrounded and getting shot up to pieces and my men all ran instantly, with their general alive and well,trying to rally them.



I know this is a long story, but can someone explain me what happened there? Isn't this game mostly about morale? How did he came back twice from several blows? Is it because he had so much line? I don't get it and I wished this game had hax so I could use that as an excuse

Are you sure they weren't just tactical retreats?

Originally Posted by Jezza93

Are you sure they weren't just tactical retreats?

When I see flags flashing, I assume they are routing.

I'm under the impression that if you have a large amount of infantry, they will eventuallyu come back from routing one by one if they didn't take too much casualties, even if their army's morale has been defeated.

Is that the case? Because if it is, it's not very realistic. I mean, I doubt single units during Napoleonic Wars independantly decided to go back to war against an entire army and other units nowhere near their vicinity magically decided to do the same.

There's something I'm not getting here.

Originally Posted by DoucheMinister

When I see flags flashing, I assume they are routing.

I'm under the impression that if you have a large amount of infantry, they will eventuallyu come back from routing one by one if they didn't take too much casualties, even if their army's morale has been defeated.

Is that the case? Because if it is, it's not very realistic. I mean, I doubt single units during Napoleonic Wars independantly decided to go back to war against an entire army and other units nowhere near their vicinity magically decided to do the same.

There's something I'm not getting here.

Well if a unit was hit hard by cavalry and lost say 40 out of a hundred men very quickly it's more of a shock route,a panic. Just check to see if it says wavering or broken when they are routing,if they are broken they'll go,wavering they will probably decide to turn back and won't take much to route them again initially.

Anything other than broken or wavering and they will be a problem.

Might do you good to keep a reserve in future,say three infantry units or two infantry and one cavalry.

Replays would help, in case you have them.

Originally Posted by Karlovacko

Replays would help, in case you have them.

I don't.

Originally Posted by Jezza93

Just check to see if it says wavering or broken when they are routing,if they are broken they'll go,wavering they will probably decide to turn back and won't take much to route them again initially.

If they're wavering they're not routing yet. He said he saw the flashing flags, which means they were already routing. Anyway, from my experience given enough time most routing units will eventually reform and come back. Only when their status says "shattered" can you be certain they won't be coming back.

i would recomend keeping an extra cav back to chase down the routers

I'm not that great of a player, but generally speaking, with a little luck i can win.
I think you need to chase down routers a bit more-when the flag of a unit flashes white, they are routing, but can still come back to fight. However, when the flag dissapears, they have been shattered, meaning that they will never come back to fight. Always try and shatter the enemy rather than rout them. However, don't chase the unit too far or you'll get shot up.
Also, how are you using light infantry? They can be difficult to use but are extremely decisive if used right. Light infantry have larger ranges that line infantry, which allows them to fire without risking getting shot back at. Keep the light infantry together and not very far from your line infantry, otherwise the lights will be isolated and useless. Light infantry only works in well-supported groups.
Also, you are focusing too much on cavalry. Cavalry are very important, but in NTW, battles revolve around infantry. If you win the infantry part of the battle, no matter how much cavalry your enemy has, you are almost guaranteed to win. Thanks to the square formation, cavalry are basically useless if the other player has the brains to hit the square formation button in time.
Try and stay away from artillery-it is rather useless if you are an offensive player. It's expensive and not very effective.

I think this thread might be better placed in the multi player forum where you'll get advice from some very experienced online players. While i don't use that particular build for GB (i normally take 4 light dragoons and 5 lights and the rest line) a simple fact is that GB are the best regular foot in the game. Sure their morale is only 6 but they do tend to come back if they have only suffered moderate losses. its hard to guess where you might be going wrong without a replay, but there is some skill in finishing an opponent off. A good player will recover from a poor start and not just give up. In the latter phase of a game units can get spread out widely. He may be making good use of flanking fire (which is deadly) and taking advantage of your tiring troops to pull you around. Just because you have a good start doesn't make victory a cert. Try watching some videos on youtube (i recommend twreplays) and that will give you some good tips. Its interesting that you are starting well and being aggresive which is more potent on NTW. I assume you're playing on Grassy Flats and so terrain plays no part. Be careful about chasing a retreating opponent, they can wear you down and then hit you hard whn your men are exhausted.

I agree with Asterix. Artillery is often a waste of time and money.

Originally Posted by DoucheMinister

I'm an average player. I usually do OK against people online. Usually I can tell from my mistakes and my opponent's mistake why I lost or won. But last night, I played against this guy and I have no idea how he managed to win.

I played twice against him. He used GB with the same setup. 5-6 lights, 4 light cav, 2 dragoons, a ton of infantry and 1 foot guard as general.

On the first match I played Russia. The rules were no rockets so I thought, hey, let's use 20lbs unicorns for fun. I had two of them (1 upgrade), 2 lancers, 2 light cav (both upgraded), 4 lights (upgraded), 5 line and one guard.

My unicorns opened up on him and his right flank was ready to fold already. Having a ton of infantry he tried to surround my flanks, but before that he sent his entire cav in a frontal assault. I pulled back my lights and let the squares destroy his attack. Then reform my line and started firing. I sent my entire cav against his left flank, which killed his infantry general and routed a couple of units. I sent my guard in melee on that flank as well. All the while, my noob unicorns were doing ridiculous damage from short range.

Well, despite all of that, he won. His men kept coming back from routing and eventually made my infantry route in no time, despite the fact that brits have lower moral than russians and that I had a general in support.



I asked for a rematch and he obliged. This time I use my favorite faction, the Ottoman. He had the same exact setup. I had 3 light cav (upgraded), 1 range cav (upgraded), 1 elite heavy cav, 1 rifle and 3 lights (upgraded), 5 line janissaries (upgraded once), 3 cemat janissaries (upgraded 3 times) and two bachi bouzouks. This setup might not be exact but that's about it.

The match starts. I rush my two of my light cav behind him. He tries to stop it with his infantry. My rifles open up on his center. And I send my cav behind his center, angled against his lights. My cav routed but did some good damage, while the rifles were still shooting. At the same time, I attack his left flank with lights and infantry then launch my cemat janissaries + my heavy cav, killing his general guard unit. My swordsmen and cav unit route one Brit unit after the other, cuttiing their way through his line from his left flank almost to his center! He launched half his cav against this attack, which quickly routed and he launched the other half against squares on my right flank. My attack on his left flank eventually ran out of air but he was obviously disorganized and my lights and infantry were shooting up his center while he was trying to reform a line so I thought, this is over. I attacked his right flank with line as well, and then send my bachi bouzouks to do some damage. I had one unit of light cav left as well which attacked from behind. This attack went OK.

He looked like he was about to fold, and then magically, a bunch of his units came back from routing and 2 minutes later, I'm surrounded and getting shot up to pieces and my men all ran instantly, with their general alive and well,trying to rally them.



I know this is a long story, but can someone explain me what happened there? Isn't this game mostly about morale? How did he came back twice from several blows? Is it because he had so much line? I don't get it and I wished this game had hax so I could use that as an excuse

quite simple actually, he doesn't have a general unit so his men rout at minimal losses, but this is a double edged sword, you may think you have him done but his 80 man unit will rally and return.

Originally Posted by underworld965

quite simple actually, he doesn't have a general unit so his men rout at minimal losses, but this is a double edged sword, you may think you have him done but his 80 man unit will rally and return.

So simple, yet so obvious. I don'tknow why I didn't think about it. Thx!

Originally Posted by DoucheMinister

So simple, yet so obvious. I don'tknow why I didn't think about it. Thx!

No problem, just + rep me