Army composition

[kRUZH]

What should a cookie cutter army composition look like? For example 4 cavalry etc

[diez]

5-7 Cavalry
6-10 Infantry(If u have phalanx infantry,take 2/6,2/8,2or4/10 heavy infantry to cover flanks/outflank,but u can take all phalanx too)
4-6 Archers(Maybe you could replace 1 unit of them with javelins.They deal more damaged,faster,but dont have large range,and not too much ammo.
This is mainly what a balanced army consists of.It can encounter most of the enemies.Of course if,you encounter "extreme" factions that have no infantry like Scythia,or No cavalry like the gauls you can adapt your army to encounter theirs.

[kRUZH]

If playing as an extreme faction as Parthians what would a army comp look like then? :O

[ninjabanana]

If playing as an extreme faction as Parthians what would a army comp look like then? :O

Cavalry, cavaly, cavalry...

[kRUZH]

So like 4 horse archers and rest cataphracts?

[Genius of the Restoration]

So like 4 horse archers and rest cataphracts?

Take a couple of units of regular archers too for flaming missiles, and some Eastern Infantry for other duties. Just about all cavalry though.

[loseless]

It really depends on what you're fighting and who you're using. As romans, for example, when fighting barbarians, I use 11 heavy infantry units, 6 archers and 2 horse units. Roman cavalry sucked (it actually sucked a LOT more in reallity than it does in the game). Barbarians have none to no armor and fight in masses, so a strong infantry line with good archers mows them like peanuts.

When fighting phalanxes, I tend to keep the same method. They move slowly and that leaves a lot of time for the arrows to cut their numbers. The pilla does the rest, and so they're spears become useless. And it's easy to break phalanx lines.

Against the eastern enemies, I rely more on cavalry and less in infantry. I trade 2 units of infantry for 2 units of cavalry.

When using greeks, I still rely heavily on archers, to reduce the enemies numbers and harass them. They either rush to the phalanxes or get cut by half before running away.

The only horses that are useful for attacking and enemy are the cataphracts and the companions. So the seleucids end up being the best faction (no kidding...), with their very flexible roster.

As for barbarians, I never use them, so I can't be of much help.

But cost/efficiency wise, when we know how to play the game, archers pretty much own everything.

[Vindictus]

General Army that is well balanced is ...

6 or 7 cavalry
8 or nine infantry (depends)
4 to five archer units
stick in some javs.

[florin87]

for the roman factions i usually go historical

1 general/roman cavalry/equites)
9 legionary cohorts/5 hastati & 4 principes
2 spearmen/hoplite mercs/triarii
2 cavalry auxilia/equites
3 roman cavalry/javelin cavalry (depending on who i fight)
2 archers/javelins/mercenary slingers (depending on who i fight)

this can handle any situation, from sieges to chariots to all infantry factions.


for the parthians i use: 6-10 horse archers, 2 cataphracts, 4-6 light cavalry, fill the rest with eastern spearmen/infantry mercenaries.

the spearmen are there to operate siege equipment and to allow you to preserve momentum after capturing a town.

[tudor93]

for the roman factions i usually go historical

1 general/roman cavalry/equites)
9 legionary cohorts/5 hastati & 4 principes
2 spearmen/hoplite mercs/triarii
2 cavalry auxilia/equites
3 roman cavalry/javelin cavalry (depending on who i fight)
2 archers/javelins/mercenary slingers (depending on who i fight)

hehe, I use the same type of army

[dude21862004]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned war dogs, yet. They are some of the best units you can have, simply because they never suffer permanent losses and they cause a lot of morale problems with the enemy. And, because units attack the handlers rather than the dogs, they absolutely destroy elephants.

When I'm Roman I like to have lots of infantry, a couple war dog units, at least 4 cavalry units, and one or two archer units. When I'm something else it just depends on the factions strengths.

[Vindictus]

Dogs die to running cavalry. They aren't that great.

[dude21862004]

Dogs die to running cavalry. They aren't that great.

....That's extremely short sighted. It'd be like me saying infantry die to shooting archers, they aren't that great. Everything has a weakness and a strength. One pack of slightly experienced war dogs can completely slaughter at least one unit of slightly experienced archers, several units of peasants, a lot of artillery units, and they do a lot of damage to elephants (Not to mention their effects on morale.) But hey, they aren't that great.

[Stworca]

Dogs can only attack one target per battle, that's an extreme weakness that is very easy to exploit by enemy (non AI).
Their usefulness is limited to ideal situations.

Now don't get me wrong, thanks to them dogs i've won some battles with literally 0 casualties (as the dogs respawn anyway), but that was against poor armies of even poorer AI.

[dude21862004]

Dogs can only attack one target per battle, that's an extreme weakness that is very easy to exploit by enemy (non AI).
Their usefulness is limited to ideal situations.

Now don't get me wrong, thanks to them dogs i've won some battles with literally 0 casualties (as the dogs respawn anyway), but that was against poor armies of even poorer AI.

Tsk, tsk. You can only command them to attack once, but once that unit is destroyed or routs out of bounds the dogs come back and attack the closest unit. Not only that, but dogs tend to lock infantry in place which makes flanking maneuvers pretty easy.



And to the other guy, so what? They can't fight horses. A lot of infantry units have trouble with horses as well (besides phalanx units.) You know what they are good for? When you are down to no horses and the other army is using skirmishing tactics and won't allow you to get close. Guess who can get close? If you guessed wardogs you guessed correctly.

[Maffimuk]

Tsk, tsk. You can only command them to attack once, but once that unit is destroyed or routs out of bounds the dogs come back and attack the closest unit. Not only that, but dogs tend to lock infantry in place which makes flanking maneuvers pretty easy.



And to the other guy, so what? They can't fight horses. A lot of infantry units have trouble with horses as well (besides phalanx units.) You know what they are good for? When you are down to no horses and the other army is using skirmishing tactics and won't allow you to get close. Guess who can get close? If you guessed wardogs you guessed correctly.

Interesting, I'll have to try that - never thought about using wardogs for those "hard to reach places."

[Vindictus]

Tsk, tsk. You can only command them to attack once, but once that unit is destroyed or routs out of bounds the dogs come back and attack the closest unit. Not only that, but dogs tend to lock infantry in place which makes flanking maneuvers pretty easy.



And to the other guy, so what? They can't fight horses. A lot of infantry units have trouble with horses as well (besides phalanx units.) You know what they are good for? When you are down to no horses and the other army is using skirmishing tactics and won't allow you to get close. Guess who can get close? If you guessed wardogs you guessed correctly.

I'd still rather replace the stacks of wardogs with cavalry, as cavalry can win fights much more easier than a pack of dogs can.

[Vindictus]

^ Exactly. And your analogy was completely off. They literally die by running horses. You don't even need to target them. Archers at least have to waste ammo and be commanded to fire upon stacks of troops. Sure, a stack of dogs can take down peasants and/or artillerymen, but that's because artillerymen are peasants manning, well, artillery. I'm not too sure about the elephants, however.

[Vezon]

My usual army as Rome is:
1 General
9 Legionary Cohorts
2 Auxilia spearman
3 Archer Auxilia
2-4 Heavy cav units

Any excess space I fill up with mercenaries I might need. Spearmen if I'm going to fight lots of cavalry, melee if I'm going to fight phalanxes, archers for elaphants/artillery, etc.

[Maffimuk]

If I'm playing AI:
6 - Heavy Infantry
5 - Cavalry
4 - Archers
4 - Heavy Onagers
The archers and onagers are fantastic because AI just sits there in formation when you attack them (but not if they attack you). I pick them apart with flaming arrows and fiery onager missiles. Even if they are attacking it's a good way to take some numbers out of their units.

If I'm playing against another person on the battlefield:
Half - Calvary
Half - Heavy Infantry

If I'm playing against another person and invading their castle:
*All Heavy Infantry (Heavy Infantry doesn't take as many losses to archers, peltasts, slingers or towers - compared to other units) except two onagers (I use the onagers to destroy their towers and destroy their gates if necessary)