Let's share Roman battlefield tactics!

[Ecthelion]

Just some things I’ve picked up, please add your own:
• Heavy infantry is absolutely your core. For me, 6 spears, 4 swords against the Sassanids and steppe nomads. Against the Germanics, 4 spears and 6 swords.
• Most of your opponents enjoy cavalry superiority. Do not try to use cavalry as the decisive arm. Use your cavalry to neutralize the enemy cavalry and archers. Your heavy infantry will always prevail against the enemy if given the chance. Roman heavy infantry is very powerful.
• Shock cavalry is generally less useful than melee cavalry in Attila.
• The AI focuses on light or very light melee cavalry, so medium melee is how you want to go to counter them. Have a tag team of spears and medium melee to catch and annihilate any opposing cavalry, even their general bodyguards. You will gain cavalry superiority quickly this way.
• Use mercenary light cavalry to deal with their archers and your foot archers to deal with their horse archers.
• Sassanid cataphract charges are devastating even from the front against non-spear units, even in testudo. So never have swords in your frontline. Always a screen of spears first, then archers and then swords.
• Phalanx units are worthless, too vulnerable against missiles, and your heavy infantry is already good enough.
• To deal with enemy onagers, use light cavalry in loose formation to bait them and force them to deplete their ammo.
• The only worthwhile horse archers are the Hunnic ones. They can do the Parthian Shot, and are very devastating if you can flank with them. In most other cases, you’re better off taking light melee cavalry mercenaries over horse archers.

[Troubleshooter]

So you recommend multiple battle lines for your infantry? Do you advice putting the infantry in long, thin 2-3 rank formations or the more usual 4-5 rank formations the AI also uses?

[Ritterlichvon86]

So you recommend multiple battle lines for your infantry? Do you advice putting the infantry in long, thin 2-3 rank formations or the more usual 4-5 rank formations the AI also uses?

In a grind, once the lines have hit, yes. When line #1 is tired, engage line #2 from behind of them, after they have pushed in an made contact, you can draw line #1 back. Not before that. Rotation while avoiding casualties

[Cesco]

In a grind, once the lines have hit, yes. When line #1 is tired, engage line #2 from behind of them, after they have pushed in an made contact, you can draw line #1 back. Not before that. Rotation while avoiding casualties

This

[Aenima]

I actually find that Roman infantry seems to be pretty poor, in my battles. They're fights are often even, if not losing, when against even Germanic levvies, 1 on 1, head to head. I'm playing on hard difficulty but I don't know if that's likely to make a big difference. In any case my cohors/legio seem to struggle against even low level barbarian infantry.

[Ecthelion]

So you recommend multiple battle lines for your infantry? Do you advice putting the infantry in long, thin 2-3 rank formations or the more usual 4-5 rank formations the AI also uses?

Against the AI, I recommend depth over width. The BAI has a habit of being pulled into the center of your battle line. So even if they could easily envelope your entire battleline with their longer infantry line, they won't instead they will focus on 3 points in the line: your center, and the two extreme flanks. As long as you are strong in these 3 points, you will be OK.

I say spearmen should always be in the frontline because even if you get charged by falxes or axe infantry, you can still hold fast for some time with spears in Testudo. More than enough time for your Legio swords to come in. Whereas if your Legio swords, even in Testudo, receive a charge from shock cavalry, even in the front, they will die VERY fast. Spearmen reflect charge bonuses back against the attacker, remember that, it's a very important game mechanic people often miss. So you should always be on the receiving end with spears and the charging end with swords.

I actually find that Roman infantry seems to be pretty poor, in my battles. They're fights are often even, if not losing, when against even Germanic levvies, 1 on 1, head to head. I'm playing on hard difficulty but I don't know if that's likely to make a big difference. In any case my cohors/legio seem to struggle against even low level barbarian infantry.

It's cause you're playing on Hard battle. I always do normal, otherwise the bonuses to the AI make the battles very odd with levy units crushing elite ones and spearmen losing to cavalry.
On Normal, the Roman heavy infantry will always annihilate even their Germanic counterparts, especially if you make use of Testudo. Sassanid infantry are simply no match at all.

[Aenima]

It's cause you're playing on Hard battle. I always do normal, otherwise the bonuses to the AI make the battles very odd with levy units crushing elite ones and spearmen losing to cavalry.
On Normal, the Roman heavy infantry will always annihilate even their Germanic counterparts, especially if you make use of Testudo. Sassanid infantry are simply no match at all.

I suppose the solution is just to lower the difficult, then. It's a bit...weird to do it since I've been playing battles on H since RTW/BI to give the AI half a chance, but I guess the time has come to put things back on an equal level, since I've never experienced any real kind of Roman superiority in infantry - hell, even Caledonian and Pictish warriors put up a stiff fight!

Out of curiosity, do you know what stats are affected and by how much on higher difficulties? I always understand it that hard battle difficulty wasn't a huge buff for the AI but that VH made their levies high-tier and their high-tier units unstoppable.

[Ecthelion]

I suppose the solution is just to lower the difficult, then. It's a bit...weird to do it since I've been playing battles on H since RTW/BI to give the AI half a chance, but I guess the time has come to put things back on an equal level, since I've never experienced any real kind of Roman superiority in infantry - hell, even Caledonian and Pictish warriors put up a stiff fight!

Out of curiosity, do you know what stats are affected and by how much on higher difficulties? I always understand it that hard battle difficulty wasn't a huge buff for the AI but that VH made their levies high-tier and their high-tier units unstoppable.

AFAIK, no knows the exact bonuses. But on Normal, intuitively, there should be none for either side. But whenever I try to duel onagers, the enemy onagers always seem to be more accurate. So I really can't say. But on Normal, everything feels right. On Hard, it just feels wrong.

The BAI is significantly improved from previous games. The AI knows what it's doing. It matches counter properly, it repeat charges its cavalry, and it is fast to respond to flanking maneuvers from the player. And since the Campaign AI gets significant bonuses to economy even on Normal and huge bonuses on Hard, you will always be facing multiple stacks with your own stack, meaning you will always be outnumbered many times over.

[Butan]

If its the same as with R2, battle difficulty give blanket +-x melee attack/defense and morale bonus to every units.

[justfun]

Although I did not test it in custom battles, I have a feeling that swordmen in testudo hold out as good against cavalry charges as spearmen. In my VH ERE campaign I don't really see a difference.

I am more reluctant to send infantry into an ongoing melee and pull other units out. They always seem to loose too many men during the withdrawal that.

But in general using testudo works wonders for Roman factions. Let the enemy deplete all its ammo and shatter their cavalry and infantry on your lines, then send in your cavalry to flank them and - more important - mop up the fleeing troops to completely shatter the other army.

[Ecthelion]

Although I did not test it in custom battles, I have a feeling that swordmen in testudo hold out as good against cavalry charges as spearmen. In my VH ERE campaign I don't really see a difference.

I am more reluctant to send infantry into an ongoing melee and pull other units out. They always seem to loose too many men during the withdrawal that.

But in general using testudo works wonders for Roman factions. Let the enemy deplete all its ammo and shatter their cavalry and infantry on your lines, then send in your cavalry to flank them and - more important - mop up the fleeing troops to completely shatter the other army.

I would do some testing in custom battles then.
From my experience, even under ideal circumstances, sword infantry get devastated by a frontal cataphract charge. And in melee, they fare poorly even against light melee cavalry.

The rock paper scissors mechanic is very pronounced in Attila. Victory is 99% about matching the enemy unit with it's counter, regardless of how you do the matching.

[Aenima]

Wow, the difference in battle difficulties since lowering it is quite noticable. Heavy infantry no longer lose to most barbarian infantry in a 1 to 1 and I generally have far more of an advantage than before. I can see why people were always talking about how easy it was for a garrison to decimate enemy stacks, the difference in morale and attack/defence is something serious. Much more enjoyable battles now, actually feels like my heavy infantry are heavy infantry. Thanks, Ecthelion - pretty simple advice, but I didn't think it would have such a big impact!

[gregnaar]

Wow, the difference in battle difficulties since lowering it is quite noticable. Heavy infantry no longer lose to most barbarian infantry in a 1 to 1 and I generally have far more of an advantage than before. I can see why people were always talking about how easy it was for a garrison to decimate enemy stacks, the difference in morale and attack/defence is something serious. Much more enjoyable battles now, actually feels like my heavy infantry are heavy infantry. Thanks, Ecthelion - pretty simple advice, but I didn't think it would have such a big impact!

You could also give the DEI combat overhaul a shot, it makes combat slower, allowing some more tactics, removes most of the magic abilities, like rapid advance and quick reload. (shiled screen, testudo stays ofc.)

[crowe15]

As WRE I prefer for Germans/Celts/Nords and ERE

4 legio comitatensis/Herculani Seniores
3 Elite Palatina
2 Foederati Spears/Cornuti Seniores (I prefer Foederati over comitatensis spears and auxilia because they have javs)

For Easterners and ERE

4 Cornuti Seniores/Foederati Spears (Preferably Cornuti, better quality, and since as the WRE you'll most likely go east in the latter game, you'll have better access to Cornuti)
3Herculani Seniores
2Auxilia Palatina

Both sets formed in Triple Axcess (spelling?)

For missle cav and arty its up to you

I like to bring 2 onagers and 2 exculatores

I haven't annexed the ERE, but I find both Infantry builds Useful.

[Ritterlichvon86]

Add to that that rotation is best when units are tired. Very tired is on the verge of being too late, while exhausted will lead to increasing casualties on the disengagement.

Also, Shock Cavalry is fantastic - as supporting cavalry. Speed, Health, and Charge value is most important to them, in this order.

Avoid using it in a primary head-on anticav engagement, keep it free as long as possible. Charge it only once you have an achor, especially when using in MP. Do not make the fatal mistake of treating it as an anchor, the unit is only supportive! Most people seem to underestimate its effectiveness due to the various Youtubers' comments. Combine it with (cav) troops with good staying power. Try to get melee cavs to engage each other - you will be outnumbered if you bring shock cav and keep that in reserve. That is why a maximum of one or two Shock Cavs are recommendable per deck. If the enemy then charges 2 on 1 melee cav, and you manage to get a single flank/rear charge off using your shock cav, it's basically GG for this part of the engagement.
If he does not dedicate and keeps a counter to your shock in reserve, try to cross to your other flank and rear-charge infantry there. Or surprise him through gaps within the line itself - often little "flanks" will unseemingly open up there. On charge, match infantry width with your Shock Cav, do not overstretch (!), or pulling out will give you losses. When dragging Shock Cav out for another charge, drag a stretched thin line. Be quick about pulling out, because he will try to countercharge them with any reserves he has.

Again, do not treat Shock Cavalry like units that can fight on their own. They can't. They give incredibly good results when only used in a supportive role.