What should be the perfect 20 unit army when fighting .... ?

[IndianWarElephant]

Hey Guys ,
Im quite a newbie , and wanna know what are the 20 unit army to tackle european barbarians (only gauls , dacians , spain , and germans )
How can u fight heavy infantry ( of the barbarians ) , with light cavalry ( of the romans ) ... plz advice

[John I Tzimisces]

Well, since Roman infantry in unmodded total war is easily the best in the game, I'd suggest using Roman infantry and kinda ignoring cavalry until you have access to legionnary and praetorian cavalry. Roman infantry simply own barbarian infantry, period.

[Hader]

Yup, use the Roman infantry to their fullest, they will easily defeat many barbarian infantry in melee and are maneuverable enough to flank the enemy if needed. Just keep maybe 1 unit of cav in reserve to chase down the routers.

[IndianWarElephant]

And what about their cavalry ???

[Hader]

And what about their cavalry ???

Well usualyl I dont see the barbarians with a ton of cavalry, on average 5-6 max, but usually they have at least 2. For this you will need to use any cav you have and your general wisely. You will also have to make good use of the Triarii to guard the flanks.

[Daovonnaex]

20 units of elephants.
Well worth the expense.

[Hader]

20 units of elephants.
Well worth the expense.

20 elephants isnt really Roman you know....

and for one it is not worth the expense, since barbarian archers are pretty damn good and have a good chance of making those elephants rout early on. Plus it costs way too much money and will take up too much time

[+Convert+]

BEST ARMY

Greek can form a defensive box and hold off any army top moral and pike formation will tackel all against


GREEK

6 Armoured hops
4 Spartans
4 Paltasts
2 Archers
two Greek Cal

Formation as below
~ ~
~ * * * * * * ~
& & & &
^ ^

KEY * Arm hop
& Spartan
~ Paltasts
^ archers

[Daovonnaex]

20 elephants isnt really Roman you know....

and for one it is not worth the expense, since barbarian archers are pretty damn good and have a good chance of making those elephants rout early on. Plus it costs way too much money and will take up too much time

I'll have you trampled.

[Hader]

I'll have you trampled.

If your silly little elephants can get near my horse archers that is

But really, I stand by what I said before.

[Otherside]

a few units of peltists or archers are good against barb's cause of low armour should take a few down but if playing romans jsut haev a large force of men really.. and 20 elephants oh please....

[Daovonnaex]

If you're playing vanilla (no Darth mods), I'd invest in a large number of archers, with some infantry for protection and cavalry for screening and pursuing routed units. Vanilla AI for some reason enjoys being peppered by arrows, and if you want to increase your cavalry quotient, fire arrows make units rout faster. My typical combat stack will include six archer units, four legionary units two spear auxiliaries (deal with cavalry charges), four cavalry units and two auxiliary cavalry units (missile cavalry--excellent for harassing their cavalry). My style of play works better with Greek factions as a defensive phalanx box is impenetrable. RTW does a bad job of simulating the severe weakness of the phalanx: keeping the formation on uneven terrain. I have no problems marching phalangites into forests...

Those emphasizing a legionary heavy army aren't given bad advice either--legionares (sp?) will massacre barbarian infantry, but I prefer to win battles with nearly zero casualties. That said, I'm usually too impatient to build stacks. I just send generals out with what I have and hire lots of mercenaries. If they get massacred, I hire more mercenaries.

[IndianWarElephant]

And what if i wanna take on the scythians ???

[Otherside]

scythians ??? Just spam horse's like a mad man then use Spearmen to siege towns done and done :-D

[Hader]

scythians ??? Just spam horse's like a mad man then use Spearmen to siege towns done and done :-D

Scythia has good horse archers and spears are not gonna do anything to them. Unless you are Armenia you have no chance of keeping up with those Scythians.

[Daovonnaex]

Scythia has good horse archers and spears are not gonna do anything to them. Unless you are Armenia you have no chance of keeping up with those Scythians.

Agreed. I usually just throw mercenaries all over them and autocalc.

[John I Tzimisces]

Scythia has good horse archers and spears are not gonna do anything to them. Unless you are Armenia you have no chance of keeping up with those Scythians.

Hehe.
Although even *I* have to say Parthia too,

[Hader]

Hehe.
Although even *I* have to say Parthia too,

Well yes, Parthia, but why Partia when there is Armenia? Plus Armenia has Cataphract archers...hehehe.....

And Hitman, that really isnt a good answer, not being hostile here but "a mixture of all kinds of units" doesnt really help...

[Otherside]

Roman Spearmen i would say the name but i can spell it usally dont lose many men to horse archers for me its just a case of trapping them or waiting for the comp to make a stupid move like charge maybe use some heavier armoured units so the horse archer waste ammo on them.

[Hader]

Roman Spearmen i would say the name but i can spell it usally dont lose many men to horse archers for me its just a case of trapping them or waiting for the comp to make a stupid move like charge maybe use some heavier armoured units so the horse archer waste ammo on them.

No, just get some of the cohorts to form testudo and your good. Though I have seen the AI stop wasting missiles once they see you in testudo-guess it depends on difficulty setting though.