Help on The greatest Faction..Spain

[SpanishDancer]

I've started playing Rome total war online. Plan on making Spain my number 1 faction. Just well I need tips for them and a good noob 15k army for myself. Any help on this one? Since Spain is considered a crap faction, which I don't think so. I think they can be the most deadliest in the hands of a good general. Which I'm trying to be.

So any help with Spain? Tips etc.?

[Willowran]

Herm. I'll speak generically (not limiting it to the 15k mark).

The way i see it is spain IS a bad faction to play in a p-v-p battle, if it is one on one. Their best unit (bull warriors) cost too much to be of much use (especially in your 15 k scenario), and their medium/cheap units are far from spectacular. Spain is like Numidia. With the right general they will be fantastic. But spain is a faction ALL about the general. The units will not help you at all. Scutarii cannot stand off against heavy infantry, Spain has NO cavalry defense, and weak cavalry in general. If you win, it will be ALL on you.

Some suggestions.

1: go very heavy on general units. They are by FAR your strongest cavalry and the small unit size helps with manoeverability.
2: Minimal infantry. Spanish infantry is bad. There is no way around that. If youre up against a inf-heavy faction then feel free to use lots of infantry, and manoever them 'till the sun comes up, but if you go infantry and your opponent goes cavalry you are doomed.
3: Avoid prolonged combat.
4: HEAVILY micro-manage your units. This will be the ONLY thing that will let you win against any semi-competant human.

Spanish units are, quite simply, terrible. I can discuss various strategies you come up with if you like, pros and cons and all that stuff, but there is no final "Grand Army" of spanish units that will equal stronger factions and ensure victory.

[Antonidas]

I have to agree with the above post. I'm doing a Spain campaign right now, and it's all well and good in singleplayer versus the AI. But in multiplayer it's a lot harder. You have no viable anti-cavalry units and the units are just bad in general. But with smart maneuvering you can achieve victory.

[TheFoolOnTheHill]

I see it like this you have numidia, spain, and gaul and maybe one or two others and then it is even.

[Willowran]

A possibility: You could have a MONEY equal battle, and try to overwhelm them with numbers. If it's 15k dennari, and you get three armies and the enemy only one... i don't remember enough about the cost of spanish units, but you may be able to out number your opponent and try to use that to your advantage.

[caesar_37th]

Willowran is completely wrong on the general units part. In fact, on under 20k the general unit is entirely useless. It costs way more than it is worth. For Spain the army answer is simple. 8 Slingers, 8 Cavalry. Those longshields are fast enough to get around the enemy cavalry and is decent in melee. Also, jav cav can be deadly. On the infantry front, you have 2 options. Skirmishers can be good simply because they can whittle away with javelins. The other option is the lighter infantry so long as you use both javelin volleys and attempt to avoid melee. The key with spain is to use all your missiles while not letting your opponent use theirs.

[Varus12]

Yes, Spain is more of a fun/joke faction. You can beat unexperienced players with it of course, but against a player of the same level there is no point most of the time. Spain is fine against gaul, thrace and germania for 15k cwb normal.

Spain's main problem is the lack of archers (no fire arrows), strong heavy cav and decent heavy infantry. Dont bother with bull warriors they are waaaaay overpriced. (they should be 600 -700 denii) instead of >10000.
The fun things about Spain, though, are the cheap wardogs and scutarii. Also, since Spain has such cheap units you can easily afford 6 balearic 3/0.

Heavy on general bodyguards is not a very good idea. They lose anyway and they dont have wedge charge. If you have a good micro and understand wedge charge you can pull off miracles and even beat much stronger cav units.

[Willowran]

I bow to your guy's superior multiplayer experience. I answer based usually on theory, and singleplayer experimentation.

[EdmireDragonbane]

So anyone else want to say anything? I've beaten Rome Urbans 5 Urbans g/g 4 prae cav g/g 2 triarii g/- of course..i beat that with Spain xD..But really is there anyway other than super micromanaging and heavy infantry builds to win with Spain?

[Lancy]

I doubt it Edmire. Spain is largely considered the second worst faction on 15k cwb, and with good reason. It's heavy inf is too expensive, it has slingers, rather than archers, no pikes, only light cavalry. Basically it loses on too many fronts to too many factions

Only other way is to play crap players. Any average player should annihilate Spain

[EdmireDragonbane]

Well ive been forced to play like Viriathus..surround the enemy, with a bunch of woods..Aah perfect.