Battle Tactics

[Bad213Boy]

I found an awesome website for battle tactics. They all work in the Total War series. This definitely will give new and old players something fun to experiment with.
http://www.theartofbattle.com/tactics-tutorial


Another good website I found for beginners is based on Total War: Medieval 2 but still applies to all Total War games.
http://medieval2.heavengames.com/m2t...gy/index.shtml

[ibigscarymonster]

Interesting read. Thanks!

[mobucks]

nice. Kinda cool to see that I've used some of these without knowing they are real tactics. Makes me want to go back and play some empire.

[Bad213Boy]

Anyone find any interesting battle tactics lately?

[klc123]

I've just started playing shogun 2, and my first campaign I chose the Chosokabe, as I was familiar with them from the campaign tutorial, on Legendary. I've played R:TW and M2:TW before, and completed many campaigns on VH/VH, so I didn't think this would be that big of a deal, but gosh, they really improved the Battle and Campaign AI, I lost that campaign after 30 turns.

I started a new one, and one of the biggest battle tactics that I have begun to implement is the controlled/feigned withdraw. For example, when the enemy in on a hill and has the terrain advantage, particularly if they have plenty of archers, marching my archers forwards and backwards can provoke their infantry to charge down the hill after them. This works even better with the general, as the AI jumps at the opportunity to attack your general, and as long as they don't charge their cavalry down after him, you can have him trot back to your main infantry line, maintaining just enough distance from their infantry to keep them chasing. Not only does this get rid of their hill advantage, but if you withdraw them into a trap by having many units on your flanks to trap them, they often don't realize the danger until it is too late, which leaves your cavalry/general to mop up the routers. Often, this also leads to the remaining AI forces charging down the hill in an attempt to salvage the battle, resulting in even more carnage.

This is something I've found essential in my campaigns, for example, the uprising battle at the beginning of your chosokabe campaign can be done without recruiting any reinforcements, on turn one, losing only a dozen or so men and leaving no survivors.

Besides that I've found the standard military tactics and manoeuvre's that worked in previous games apply. My personal favourite is to have a very wide, thin centre infantry, to cover more front, and then have my strongest infantry on the flanks in deeper formations alongside my cavalry. The thin centre is essential, using this tactic I have been able to take out armies that are far larger than my own, as the wider line means that flanking is much easier, and the presence of the general behind the centre with one or two supporting infantry units if things go sour prevents the weaker middle from routing, whilst the strong flanks are impossible to break and cause mass routing for the enemy in a matter of minutes.

[klc123]

I've just started playing shogun 2, and my first campaign I chose the Chosokabe, as I was familiar with them from the campaign tutorial, on Legendary. I've played R:TW and M2:TW before, and completed many campaigns on VH/VH, so I didn't think this would be that big of a deal, but gosh, they really improved the Battle and Campaign AI, I lost that campaign after 30 turns.

I started a new one, and one of the biggest battle tactics that I have begun to implement is the controlled/feigned withdraw. For example, when the enemy in on a hill and has the terrain advantage, particularly if they have plenty of archers, marching my archers forwards and backwards can provoke their infantry to charge down the hill after them. This works even better with the general, as the AI jumps at the opportunity to attack your general, and as long as they don't charge their cavalry down after him, you can have him trot back to your main infantry line, maintaining just enough distance from their infantry to keep them chasing. Not only does this get rid of their hill advantage, but if you withdraw them into a trap by having many units on your flanks to trap them, they often don't realize the danger until it is too late, which leaves your cavalry/general to mop up the routers. Often, this also leads to the remaining AI forces charging down the hill in an attempt to salvage the battle, resulting in even more carnage.

This is something I've found essential in my campaigns, for example, the uprising battle at the beginning of your chosokabe campaign can be done without recruiting any reinforcements, on turn one, losing only a dozen or so men and leaving no survivors.

Besides that I've found the standard military tactics and manoeuvre's that worked in previous games apply. My personal favourite is to have a very wide, thin centre infantry, to cover more front, and then have my strongest infantry on the flanks in deeper formations alongside my cavalry. The thin centre is essential, using this tactic I have been able to take out armies that are far larger than my own, as the wider line means that flanking is much easier, and the presence of the general behind the centre with one or two supporting infantry units if things go sour prevents the weaker middle from routing, whilst the strong flanks are impossible to break and cause mass routing for the enemy in a matter of minutes.