Strategies?

[helpwithSS3mod!!]

Hello, I would like to procure some new strategies from members of the forum in regards to battles. Only in regards to full banner siege and direct battles though, I can handle defensive battles.

Some economic/management strategies would be valued as well . I had one game where I played as the HRE and did fairly well on Medium/Medium, I conquered basically everything except England (was too busy clicking on individual settlements and building things for them that I forgot a lot about my military ventures) by turn 80. From Lisbon up to Moscow. But then the Mongols came. I had only one weak unit per city in my entire empire, and although I had the economy to build a huge ass army, I quit and deleted my save game due to my lack of battle strategy. I literally use auto save like 90% of the time.

So yes, please impart yer knowledge.

[In3x]

I would advise becoming familiar with the operation of the most powerful forces in the game, crusades and jihads. Once you can use these effectively it will make the game very much more exciting as you will be able to conquer at a speed you never even conceived of.

If I had to give one piece of economic advice it would be this; capturing and sacking a settlement yields far more money and adds to your population at a increased rate compared to the effects you could get from the same money spent on economic buildings. However, many people prefer not to play like this.

As for battle tactics? Well, line your archers in loose formation in front of your infantry with your cavalry on the flanks, try to kill his archers with your cavalry. Once your infantry engages his line try to charge the rear of his units with cavalry, pretty simple really.

[Silverheart]

As for battle tips, my favorite strategy is something like this:
Set up stormtroop/heavy infantry as a core and deploy defensive/spearmen on the flanks with lighter infantry on the rear for extra weight and missile troops in front of them.
Deploy the whole thing on a hill, or at least at some distance away from the enemy.
Since you have this heap of footmen standing there, the enemy will most likely go after them, at which point you send your cavalry to harass the enemy by outflanking them (preferably kill their general if you can manage to get two or three units to charge from different directions simultaneously)

Also, you can improve on this strategy by using more charger cavalry or by adding artillery to your footmen (catapults, mortars and trebuchets can even be placed behind your infantry lines for protection, since they´ll just fire over your own men)

Speaking of artillery in the field brings me to one of my own personal favorites - the Battery!
It is simply an army consisting of mostly artillery (preferably cannons) with only small amounts of other troops - long-range archers for flank protection, infantry for handling any too-close enemies and charging into gaps when laying siege, and cavalry for routing enemy cavalry and riding down fleeing enemies.
Now, a Battery - what with cannons being fairly inaccurate and slow to reload - is a pretty advanced thing to use, since the support troops you choose to recruit for it will be crucial to its´ success. Also, you´ll need really large numbers of cannons/artillery pieces to make it effective, which is why Batteries are always very costly.
But if you get the army composition right, with maybe 5 Serpentines + 3 Trebuchets and 2 Catapults behind them + 2 Ribaults and 2 Musketeers on the flanks and the rest just heavy infantry and heavy charger cavalry, the devastation such an army can create upon your foes is remarkable!
You just need a small hill or flat field, deploy your Battery, send out your cavalry to harass the enemy a little, and watch them being blown to smithereens!

[Königsberger Klops]

Kill their General, and break their morale (attack on flank, use gunpowder weapons ) and try to attack one site of their army from both sites. trebuchets are also usefull with rotten cows

[Aeratus]

1. It's good to have a lot of archers. This is not because archers do any substantial damage, but because if the AI perceives that you have the archer advantage, it will attack you rather than sit there and have you attack it. This is crucial if you're fighting in rough terrain, because you don't want the AI to sit on top of a tall mountain.

2. If you're playing vanilla, use a lot of heavy cavalry.

[Willowran]

my strategy... dont fight offensive battles you have even the slightest chance of losing. stick to defensive battles...pereferably defensive seiges. hit em where theyre undefended and just let them break themselves trying to take back their own walls... get spies so you dont get stuck outside besieging someone... stick to larger numbers of militia forces over smaller numbers of heavy troops. militia is good enough to defend almost any city against overwhelming odds. this way you completely control the where the battles are fought. if youre gonna lose a city destroy every building before its captured. that way you get to spam extra gold, and the city hurts them more then helps. even the mogols can only expand so far... set up a seriese of frontiers. if the first is breached fall back to the second...etcetc. treat your empire like a citadel!

[reefervonkush]

Protect your Left and Right Flanks, Move forward with melee, combat units behind. Pressure is the key.

[Double A]

Crazy ass offense is the key to beating the AI. Spam cavalry and spearmen like there's no tomorrow. Spearmen are a good and, more importantly, cheap anvil and cavalry are the best hammers in the game (make sure you trample their archers first). If you find yourself short on everything but cavalry, try to isolate enemy units and then charge 'em from 3-4 sides. This will absolutely massacre them, especially if they aren't braced.

Mongols are freakin' easy if you fight on defense. Just make like 3 spearmen, stick them in schiltrons in a triange around the gate, and once their rams bust your gate, their cavalry will come running in like cows to a slaughter. Mongolian infantry is mediocre at best, so your own infantry will be able to hold the walls against waves and waves of enemies.

If you actually follow my advice: Charge, withdraw, and repeat. That's the best way to use cavalry. Also, never, ever autoresolve if your army consists of anything other than the following
1) General
2) 3-19 melee infantry

Infantry are the most cost-effective units in AR. Archers and cavalry fight with their melee skill, which translates to "they fight like crap." They also usually have man count per unit, which makes them even more crap.