Naval bombardment and melee charge

[Omegazxi]

While playing around with FOTS Satsuma on Legendary I have found a pretty solid tactic for engaging melee infantry with line infantry with low casualties.

Once you get the timing of the naval bombardment down you will enable your melee troops to engage with their line infantry without the line getting its first devastating shots off.

Right before your naval bombardment impacts the enemy AI is in disarray trying to get its troops out of the area, this time here is when to charge your melee infantry in. Once you get the timing down you can have your melee infantry engaging their disorganized infantry 1-2 sec after the naval bombardment ends.

Their infantry in the section where you are attacking will be forced into melee and they will pull units from their flanks to save it, which will give you a chance to advance your flanking units for the surround.

If you can get the timing of the charge with the end of the naval bombardment then you will be able to pull off the charge without their line getting any shots off or being able to reorganize.



I find this method most useful with a focused naval bombardment on the center of their line followed up by the melee charge; this is because attacking the center means they have to pull their flanks in to support the center.

It’s been an effective way for spear levies to fight line infantry, and it knocks the enemy formation in complete chaos.

But getting the timing down is the most important part of this tactic, as you only have a window 3-5 sec to get the full effects of the enemy being in disorder.

This method is inspired by the British introduced WWI timed artillery attacks (infantry hits the enemy line at the moment the artillery bombardment stops.)
Let me know how this works out for you

If you have anything to add to this tactic that will improve it please do.

Good Luck

[wealthmonger]

To add to that

If your the defender and there happens to be a hill on your side of the battlefield then you can have your spear levy just behind the crest of the hill blocking the enemies line of sight. A well timed naval bombardment with charging over the hill at the right moment will see the enemy in chaos and your side having the hill advantage.

[Omegazxi]

To add to that

If your the defender and there happens to be a hill on your side of the battlefield then you can have your spear levy just behind the crest of the hill blocking the enemies line of sight. A well timed naval bombardment with charging over the hill at the right moment will see the enemy in chaos and your side having the hill advantage.

You are 100% correct on this, and the bonus of a down hill charge and the shorten range of the charge will add greatly to this approach.

As before timing is key here, but if you read the details of the naval bombardment the information card will tell you how long it will take for the bombardment to start and how long it will last.

[assistec24]

1. If u play shogunate, melee are a good option, but if you play imperial - its just stupid to enter in melee with rifle infantry vs melee shogunate troops. A decent rifles unit wipe-out any melee unit before they can engage. (scarred by katana units ? research suppression fire- the katana destroyer)
2. Omegazxy, u are wrong: the naval bomb. card are inaccurate about time. Several times I count (on very hard and legendary levels) the time of shells coming - and a card info of 7 sec. to bombardment was in reality 12-13 sec. So, don.t count on that, until CA make a patch.
3. Best way to avoid casualties its to use the terrain and - always ! - have a 3 units of parrot canons or better, armstrong. Sure, ideal are to join 3-4 fleets to support you ( my best was 6 rounds of 48 shells - who wipe-out75% of a 2000 enemy's). But not always you have naval support, so invest on art.
4. Use hills ! A couple of sharp shooters well placed on a hill, with 150 range, can erase easy the enemy. and give fire support if u escalate the walls.
Put your art on hills if u can, and deactivate autofire, bc u only have 20-25 shells; use well any shell: best use, imo, its to get your troops close to walls, but OUT of defenders range, just to provoc the defenders to assume position on walls, and just now open fire with cannons in THAT wall: 3-4 shells can ruin a wall and simply decimate a whole unit! With smart use, 3 cannons can kill 6-7 enemy units PLUS the bonus of destruction of towers AND gates !
5. After u use all ammo of canons, the enemy will have some like 40-50 % (in worst case, in the best case, with naval support, its a decent chance to eliminate all the enemy troops) - in this last stage, split your troops and assault in the same time 3-4 spots: AI will charge 1-2 BUT other 2-3 will free deploy and in short time u can shoot on back the AI troops who charge on melee other units. Also, do not shoot bow cavalry if u have infantry with bonus vs cavalry: a single unit of imperial infantry or red bears can kill easy, on melee 2-3 units of bow cavalry, who are very weak vs infantry.
6. INVEST on gatling canons; If u siege or assault a fortress with extra troops to help the defender, U WILL NEED them ! AI like to deploy the extra troops right behind your units, and they will charge you on back in no time! The only thing who can stop a cavalry charge in seconds are this nice toys, the eraser gatling gun.

[Omegazxi]

@assistec24

I feel your missing the point of my post or misread it, this is a situational tactic and not an all out all problems solved tactic(none are). and I'm talking about open field battles not seiges.

I myself use the sound of the naval guns being fired for determining the time to charge my troops. Spear Levies are cannon fodder, this will enable you to tie up their line infantry in melee which removes alot of fire support from the battle field, which in return gives you the adavantage in the amount of fire you can lay onto the battle field.

What I'm talking about can be used all through the campaign right from the beginning and its is talking about Naval bombardment being used with a melee charge as the trread topic points out, sorry for the confusion.

Also what diffciulty are you playing on to be able to afford that many naval fleets support you in a single battle without having to sacrafice your army, economy or leaving other ports open to attack?

Oh one last thing
"6. INVEST on gatling canons; If u siege or assault a fortress with extra troops to help the defender, U WILL NEED them ! AI like to deploy the extra troops right behind your units, and they will charge you on back in no time! The only thing who can stop a cavalry charge in seconds are this nice toys, the eraser gatling gun. "

That or you can just reposition you army to intercept and engage their reinforcing army which will be fighting uphill or disorganized. Or you can just put one point into covert operations on your generals skill tree and fight a night battle with prevents reinforcements from joining the battle. Both of which can be done long before you have access to gattling guns. Also Cheap spear levies deal with a cavalry charge very effectively and you can get them from the beginning.

[Gaizokubanou]

I abuse naval bombardment from mid to late game when I can afford the 40+ shell bombardment.

It's extremely abusive on castle defense. I had like 4 levies + 3 levies from buildings vs full stack. Won it because AI all clumped up on one side of the castle wall, which I bombarded and the entire army pretty much insta-routed right there with that single bombardment.