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Thread: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

  1. #61

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    I have just read pretty much all of the posts here and I have certainly seen some interesting things, but i have also found that there are a lot of easy strategies missing. since i don't have a lot of time at the moment, ill name just a few for starters.

    first off the fact that the formations, the units, that is, do not disperse. hereby i mean that in no situation do they move out as invidual characters, and stay together all along. this brings some adventages when defending.

    if defending a breached gate, or a breached wall ofcourse, the enemy units are forced through a space which can be held by one or two units of yourself. to kill of a huge number of oncoming units, you can do the following;

    place a single or when facing great numbers two heavy infantry units (preferrably something with defence 21 or higher) to hold them at the spot, just 2 normal units withs from the breach. by doing this, they are inable to go past those 2 units, just because of the fact that they have to hold together.

    because of the space between the breach and the defending unit/units, you can kill them all doing the following; place 2-4 groups of archers (in case of england or france, 2 will do) at both sides of the defending units, at probably a units length, so they can fire into the flanks of the already engaged enemy.

    and trust me, this works, even against cavalry.

    second, i have (again a defender's) note for defending castles up to citadels in rocky or mountainous area's. in most cases, u'll find those castles build upon a hill (duhh, height works your way). ofcourse it helps that your archers can fire further, but the point is that the roads in the castle itself exist of horizontal pieces and those that go up a slope.

    since i specialise in defending (well, open field battles aren't that hard, swarm than cav, always works, and i rarely assault an enemy's castle) I thought out some idea's for holding the enemy out, but also some for letting them bleed as hard as they can. this is one of the latter. you can place several groups of units (1-2 spearmen(but ofcource preferrably something stronger), 1-2 archers) to defend the roads they will most likely take to go up to the square. here, you let the spearmen collide with the enemy, and the archers rain hell down upon them from above, this way you can kill many, without using your best troops.

    well... this was it, ill be posting more in a while, hope you find it useful

  2. #62

    Icon11 Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    Heh, great topic

    A typical lineup of mine would be

    LC_LC__________M_M_M_M
    _____(Space between Missiles and Infantry/Spears)
    _______________I S I S I S
    ________________HC G HC

    LC = Light Cavalry (Either lancers or horse archers) on left flank - most of the time

    I normally position myself on high ground no matter the cost (even if I have superior troops too bad they're climbing lol) To give my men time to manuever I use light cavalry to harass the enemy, they work almost as good as horse archers - only problem is the micromanagement

    With missile troops in front I can
    annoy the hell outta the enemy and try to lead him into a rash attack against my organized and well-supported infantry. Since I almost always have the high ground unless they've got pavise crossbowmen against my peasant archers I should normally win the missile exchange. Most enemy missiles would not touch my more valuable troops, but if it does I generally move my forces back - which means they'll start to advance - PERFECT lol Heavy cavalry are never positioned pre-melee so the enemy will not know which flank I would attack until it's too late.

  3. #63

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    To elaborate on bread and butter's comments i'd like to say that archers spread out, in guard mode, with skirmish off, and auto fire on is a great way to battle. you draw your infantry line up just behind the arcs and if the enemy cavalry harasses then use your own cavalry to block their charges and whatnot. once the enemy infantry gets close you move your own infantry up , through the loosly formed archers to engage. this allows you to get the most out of your archers especially if you consider the bug where archers go through the firing sequence (but don't fire) before they retreat. the trade off is that archers are more exposed and if you don't move up your own infantry fast enough the front ranks of archers are sure to be chewed up by enemy melee. The whole idea for me when using ranged units is for them never to move once in range. They create a constant field of fire within which my cavalry and infantry can manuver with support

  4. #64

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    My tactics are simple and typically French.

    Try and set up the fight on an open field, more or less.

    Army primarily of Heavy cavalry regiments (Gendarmes, Lancers, etc) , supported by smaller amounts of heavy sword infantry, crossbows, and light cavalry.

    If you the enemy force is small or technologically unadvanced enough I will simply form up my Heavy Horse in a long, deep, line (I usually bring about 8-10 regiments of heavies), and simply line up and frontally charge the enemy, repeatedly, until I overun them.

    If I feel a their force is too large or stout then I will form up my heavy cavalry on my right wing, my infantry on my left, rush my infantry foward to engage their line (maybe 4 regiments of heavy inf, maximum), sweep my light cavalry way around the flank to chase down archers and such, and do a less drastic flank with my Heavy horse to be able to do a mass charge on the engaged infantry - if need be I'll engage their cavalry with my own before going after the infantry.

    For sieges, attacking or defending, have a force of mostly Crossbows, artillery, and heavy inf.


  5. #65

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    I am always archer heavy( crossbows and gunpowder) usually in a wide loose line behind 3 or 4 units of heavy foot troops and 4 or 5 units of cavalry to spot stop the line ( the main goal is to hold the enemy still and group him up as to rain death on him)

    if I perform the grouping well enough I switch to flaming arrows to encourage a mass route then I run them down with the horse units.

    this doesnt always work of course if the enemy has alot of horse troops or archers themselves---- either way its how I enjoy fighting.

  6. #66

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    I guess that different situations require different approaches, but some things can be quite standard. Being numeric superiority ALWAYS one of them... This is only my second time playing MTW2, the first was with the spanish (and i didnt make it...), now im playing with the moors, conquered all the way to england, germany, going down to the rest of italy below the papal city and hungary. Needless to say that im at war with too many foes, but wth... what choice do i have? hehe.
    There arent gunpowder units yet. Just got past thomas aquino event, dun know if im close or not, and not too worried. My main armies soldiers are still berber spearmen, adding urban militia atm, desert archers (and some mercenary crossbows) and berber cavalry. Not much to choose from, actually. As for armies, one general bodyguard, one berber cavalry (theyre quite weak, so i dont use them much except for raiding armies with loads of siege equipment), 6 archers (or mercenary crossbows if available, a couple ballistas and the rest infantry. Archers on the front, never shooting at will, ballistas in the middle shooting at will, infantry ready to attack behind (on guard stance, else they always scatter...)and cavalry to flank/distract. may work well on open terrain, noticing i avoid fights on the open logistics are becoming difficult right now, and retraining many units is not practical, so its imperative to cut the losses.

    C A A A B B A A A C
    I I I I I I I I
    So this brings me to assaulting cities and stuff, as a way of living. Thats where the archers and ballistas have a huge role. of course having a trebuchet to punch holes and destroy towers is essential.
    Till now this seems to be the best assaulting stategy i used so far:
    -Get the army on a safe distance but not too far, doesnt really matter how theyre distributed, so the enemy will have arches on the walls.

    W wall, T tower, G gate

    WWWWTWWWWTWWWWTGTWWWTWWWTWWWT

    ARMY HERE

    -if theres any archers on the walls, fire a few shots to make them retreat, but not to destroy, just weaken the walls. a few may be killed, and if they come back up there it will be the last time , they will go down with the walls.
    -plan which is the best spot to destroy the towers and punch a few holes on the walls; the less towers to be destroyed, yet still keeping the men out of their fire on the next stage, to save ammo. the towers should be the first thing to go down, so the enemy wont rush. in the case they rush out of the gate, its wise to place the ballistas and archers at a safe but effective range to massacre them there. best to leave the gate alone.
    -after the towers are destroyed, destroy a spot on the wall where theres enemies behind. this will allow for the archer/ballista tactic to be used.
    -place a ballista in front of the hole as close as possible to be very accurate. if placed correctly, it will shoot through the hole and do a very nice job. after the enemy division is down to like 30 men, use one division of archers in a range where they can shoot ahead instead of over the walls to bring down some more. if theres enough infantry behind the shooters, the enemy wont rush.
    doing this in 3 or 4 holes will easily kill half or more of the enemies armies, even if taking some time, with great value for the ammo spent. the enemy will then eventually retreat to the main square, and thats a good chance to get some more with the cavalry as theyre running. usually theres still plenty of arrows left, so they can be softened even more before the final assault (if theres any left).
    as for defending, i never let the enemy take the inniciative. i leave only a few units inside as decoy and the rest out, but at range to come in as reinforcements. when countering a siege, the enemy will retreat to a safe distance, leaving the siege equipment behind. a couple cavalry units to kill ballista/catapult/trebuche crew, a couple archers to shoot at them and keep them at bay, a couple infantry and 2 or 3 ballistas (or more, they will kill the enemy later) is enough to keep them back untill the reinforcements are in place. then its just using the ballistas to kill them, having the archers and infantry behind in case the enemy charges. when theres no more ammo, an infantry rush will scatter them for sure, and thats one less army to worry about, with little losses, as convenient.

    other tips:

    -for armies which have ranged cavalry, guerilla warfare is fun, just go in, kill some and retreat if you cant retreat, make they chase you around to tire the crap outta them then charge.
    -guarding river crosses/bridges is also an excellent way to kill armies, as theres a good chance they will rush and get massacred quickly by archer and ballista fire. if they have siege equipment, they will probably use it first before attacking, if they are at range, so use a disposable unit to draw fire till they run out of ammo. forming it in a wide line or moving them around should do the trick.
    -when moving armies in 2/3 turns to attack, leaving them in high ground is always a good idea. or finding a good spot where they will become invisible in the woods.
    -when attacking coastal cities, use a small army by land to draw any reinforcements from the target city or even some of the units stationed there, and the main army there by boat, keeping it out of sight.
    -when fighting armies with superior numbers in cavalry, which will try flanking to kill the archers, boxing the archers inside a square-placed infantry and ordering both to stand ground may help
    sorry for my bad english, hope this is useful
    Last edited by Xenomorph; July 31, 2007 at 08:42 PM.

  7. #67

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    When assaulting an enemy city (more so then a castle) I like to load up my army with bombard units.

    Early – 2 Catapults 2 Trebuchet

    Late – 2 Cannon 2 Mortar

    When taking a city you can make great use of these units in such a manner that lowers your losses significantly. Using the early age Idea for this example you punch two holes in the front wall using your trebuchet on either side of the gate, leaving the gate alone this is easy cause hitting the wall is a lot easier at long range then hitting the gates. With two holes punched through in this manner the AI will always fall back from the front wall and gates usually re forming in the town square, or a ways down the most direct road to the square. Let them fall back, at this point your trebuchet should have been the only unit engaged and well out of range of enemy archers. Proceed to knock out any threatening towers, which have auto ballistae. Move your trebuchet forward a little and fire ammo bombard the enemy units inside the city with your remaining treb. Ammo you might not hit much but even one hit helps. Let them go ahead and fire their dead cows also. Once the ammo is gone If the enemy has fallen units back to a road and not completely to the square these enemy units should be missile troops. Advance your catapults each supported by a unit of archers. Roll your catapults into a clear line (as far away as you can and not shooting over buildings) of fire against these road blockers and open fire you will hurt these units…allot if your line of fire is cleared. (later this is even more devastating with straight fire cannon) Once you have knocked them down significantly move in a unit of archers and finish them off. Now inch your army slightly closer to the abandoned enemy walls place heavy cavalry, and archers (longbowmen, Muslim archers, or good quality crossbowmen, but preferably long ranged archers who can fire over things well.) Just inside the walls, the rest of your army at your two holes ready to move into the city but still outside so the enemy AI doesn’t rush a counter attack. Look at the map and try to find long line of fire for your catapults if they have any ammo left with which to fire into the enemy units now in the square (once again without trying to fire over buildings). Do this if possible and watch the devestation they enemy as long as your cat. Keep their distance should just keep re-forming in the square. Once your catapults are out of ammo look at the map again. Move your archers to a place where they can fire straight (not at an angle) over one row of buildings into the square. Move all of them there and do this using fire ammo until they run out of arrows. By this point the enemy units should be weakened and demoralized and 50% of the time their general will be dead take your heavy cavalry and charge the square from one side while bringing in infantry to charge the square from the other, they will mop up quite nicely and your causualties should be below 50.

    When defending a city keep two catapults or cannon inside the city, find the most direct route to the square from the front gates. 9/10 times this is the route the enemy will take when they breach your walls place your catapults at the end of this road near the square with a clear line of fire down the road. Place archers behind them when the enemy breaks through don’t fight them at the gates, let them come down the road into your catapult and archer fire. They will keep charging and getting decimated, when the time is right cease fire and counter charge down the road with your heavy cavalry and the enemy should break and route. I always go by the theory that long city streets are better then walls when defending a city.

  8. #68

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    Open battleWhen in open battle I always use a lot of shooting units (up to half a stack); usually I try to have 50% archers and 50% xbows for the first are quicker and latter shot harder. When it's not possible to use the terrain, shooting troops form the very first line. They're followed by melee troops and spears at the wings. A few units of heavy cavalry flank one of the wings. I try to break the line if possible, to get the AI confused. I.e. - I don't form a straight line, but rather place some troops forward to flank the enemy which - supposedly - is going to attack my centre (check out the battle of Plataea or Leutzen). When the battle begins I try to engage enemy with light cav, force him to charge and then decimate using my arrows. Meantime my heavy cav outflank him and engage in decisive charge.

  9. #69
    Casius Cherea's Avatar Libertus
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    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    Open field:
    I'm currently playing HRE but this could be used for most factions

    4 mercenary crossbow (or any crosbow with 12 or better attack) x
    4 med to good sperman (mercenary sper, armored sergants, italian spera militia etc) |
    2 archers (any) (
    2 balistas { (optional)
    2 knights <
    1 general


    ____________________| x{x x{x |
    _____________________| ( ( |
    __________________<______<

    This army is very easy to recruit and I think this is one of its strongest points. You can mostly make it from mercs you need only gen with balistas and archers (no need for advanced city castle).
    It is defensive formation, if you are expecting stronger enemy you may ad 2 more spearman and balistas and crosbows.
    When you are deploying chose top of the hill or wood (spear and crosbows have bonuses fighting in woods, cav is handicaped).
    Spearman flanking crosbows are in shiltorm, missile units are on guard and with disabled skirmish, fire arrows on. Crosbows and archers autofire off balistas on. Wait for enemy to aproach (balistas start fireing). When unit in the center of the enemy formation is in range of ALL crossbows then start firing em. Archers firing same target. The point is to fire all of you missile unit at same target at time. After 2 or 3 volleys half or more of the unit is off and you can change target to another one. Archers and balistas causing cripled units to break. In final phase just move your cav and general to break remaining units and chase routers (remember to hold your missile unit).

    When enemy engage your crosbows


    _____________________EEEEEEE
    ____________________| x{x x{x |
    _____________________| ( ( |
    __________________<______<

    just move second line spears to support, flank with shilthorm, cav and gen

    _______________________________
    ___________________<_________<
    ____________________|EEEEEEE|
    _____________________x{|xx|{x
    _______________________( (

    archers still firing fire arrows at back of the enemy lines

    I'm playing on VH\H and it's working. Also this is good army to siege and defend cities (I haven't try it on castles). I had only some problems with poles (AI was using missile cav + catapults)
    With time you upgrade miss to firearms and spears to pikes.
    Last edited by Casius Cherea; September 13, 2007 at 07:00 AM.

  10. #70

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    alright, I just loved the English, first person I won a gmae with so hear goes with them.
    I think that armoured billmen take almost too long to get to, but they are great if you got them, but billmen do just fine. I suggest about 4 of them along with armoured swordmen or dismounted knights, about 3 of them as well. I then go with about 4-5 yeomen archers, which, trust me, is perfect for any european army. Then you got to have at least 2-3 light horsemen for a)dispersing archers, and b)chasing rooters. also you need about 2 more heavy knights in addition to your general, whim I hate to use except when it is a given he will survive or I have to. I then fill in the rest with cannons, artilary in general, and sherwood archers when they come.
    there are the pieces, but they are no more an army than a house a a stack of lumber. Here goes the formation
    ++++++A A A A A++++++++++
    +L++++H I I H I I H++++L L+++
    +++++++HC G HC++++++++++
    that is having all the archers out front, stakes out,with auto fire offf, skirmish off, and special off. I then wiat for them to come closer(defense) or march to max bow length, and then just shell the shell outa them. If I move towards them, the archers may have a 100 foot gap between the infantry, to reduce aggro.
    When the computer comes forward the archers keep shooting until hte last moment and hte infanty does a regular march up, then the archers make a short run, let the infantry fight it out, max arrows into the center, or where ever the enemy is strongest.I use the heavy calvary when the anemy tries to skirmish and then just do an infintry charge, but they are mostly used to nullify the enemy generals calvary.
    that is my main strategy in the field, if I get positive feedback on this most basic strategy, I might go into more depth. btw, cannons are worth the reduced movement in my books.

  11. #71

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    HA HA HA HA CAV GEN CAV HA HA HA HA


    start of the fight: Flank with horse archers, spread cav to sides, move gen back. Tunnel is complete

    Then pepper enemy with arrows, charge his missile troops with CAV and other basic slaughter fun. Never charge head on, change on one side, break change just before you connect once you see enemy committing forces against it, then hit from behind with other unit to minimize your losses. Once you take out all the missile units he has and surround enemy with missile cavalry, he is really done, its only matter of time before his units start routing.

  12. #72
    Panzerbear's Avatar Praeses
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    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    my favourite unit formation for the open field:

    --------ENEMY------------
    IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII


    ---[multiple units of archers]--------
    ------------------------------------
    --[Spearmen, in the even of a charge]-
    --[heavy infantry, to hold the lines]----
    --(Cavarly)--------------(Cavalry)----


    So if the enemy is closing in slowly, they will be devastaged by archers with flame arrows. If the enemy decides to charge my archers with cavalry, he will meet a wall of rushing spearmen. if there is a full frontal attack, the heavy infantry will hold the lines in the center.

    the cavalry guards the flanks OR rushes enemy artillery/catapults... either way, the retreating cavarly should go back through the middle. in case the enemy cavalry decides to chase them - once again, they will meet a wall of spears.

    Throw away all your newspapers!
    Most of you are Libertarians, you just havent figured it out yet.

  13. #73

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    On completely flat level ground with no trees and without a specified faction, a standard deployment is as follows in mp

    A-passive bow/musketeers/longbows
    K-mounted skirmishers jinetes/siphai/camel gunners
    S-shock absorbing dis.lancers/pike/adventuros/dfk/dck
    O-offensive infantry dis.christian guard/jhi
    C-Heavy cav Knights/Lancers/Conq
    U-support naffatun/more offensive infantry/mounted skirmish units
    G-general

    -------------------------A--A--A--A----------------------------
    K--K-----------------------------------------------K---------K---
    -------------OOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOO--------------------
    -----CCCCC-----------------------------------CCCCCC------------
    -----------------------UUU----G----------------------------------


    Note: the deployments depend on the stats of the relative faction
    for example mongol deployment vs. English deployment is very different
    but this is a standard deployment for port/spain

    the general idea is to open with a missle dual while the quicker mounted ha's/jav cav harrasses enemy heavy cav or performs repeated charges on the opponents loosely deployed missle front. retreat behind protected lines, repeat. requires micromanagement but if you are able to drive the enemy's support you can now concentrate drawing the enemy's heavy cav into chasing your missle cav while keeping their dis. archers/gunpowder engaged with your own. tire and reduce their heavy cav, engage with your own heavy cav, with support from skirmishing cav, advance main line or recieve their charge. swing support units to infantry flanks, run their heavy cav off the field, swing your own to bear down on their inf flank and engage mounted skirm with their rear guard or missle units, should be over by then
    Last edited by ulrien; November 09, 2007 at 11:04 AM.
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  14. #74
    Kahn's Avatar Civis
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    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    Quote Originally Posted by Decimus Atreides View Post
    since i specialise in defending (well, open field battles aren't that hard, swarm than cav, always works, and i rarely assault an enemy's castle) I thought out some idea's for holding the enemy out, but also some for letting them bleed as hard as they can. this is one of the latter. you can place several groups of units (1-2 spearmen(but ofcource preferrably something stronger), 1-2 archers) to defend the roads they will most likely take to go up to the square. here, you let the spearmen collide with the enemy, and the archers rain hell down upon them from above, this way you can kill many, without using your best troops.
    What happens when these infantry eventually break and come running home to mommy? They'll open the gates and let the enemy stroll right on in. I've done this. It sucks hardcore.


    To Hell we Ride...

  15. #75
    Mithrantir's Avatar Civis
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    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    In general i try always to use the terrain to my advantage.
    If i am getting attacked in open field, i always deploy the units as far as possible (or predictable) from the enemy. Don't move and wait for them to come to me. In this case i use the fatigue factor on them. Also on mountains/hills etc, where i can create choke points, and get the advantage from height i use it. Archers are placed in front of infantry with skirmish mode on, and the moment they run behind the infantry line i turn skirmish mode off.
    Cavalry is always positioned on the flanks, and the moment i see that the enemy is heading straight forward my infantry, i direct them behind the enemy lines, and start charging at the back of my enemies. Usually i keep the general behind infantry and close to the hardest battles to avoid any loss of heart.

    I don't use much artillery.

    When i am defending a bridge, i always make a choke point on the side i am on. Having archers pounding with arrows all the way to the choke point.

    In sieges when defending i rarely if ever sally, i usually wait for the attack and let their ram to come to the gate, while at the same time i have archers on the walls to thin down the numbers of enemy infantry. I put 3 at least infantry units (spearmen are a must) behind the gate. And create a choke point where the enemy gets slaughtered.

    X=Walls
    G=Gate
    I=Infantry I

    In this i manage to have sufficient protection from enemy arrows, while my own people manage to confront a limited number of enemies. This is also highly demoralizing for the enemy troops, i have seen units whitening their flag, the moment they step in that small welcoming committee.

  16. #76

    Default Re: Your favorite unit formations and strategies in different situations

    1. open field battle
    2. defending seige
    3. taking a city (offense)
    4. taking a castle (offense)

    1. Open field - The main portion of my line involves a close relationship between missile troops and their covering spearmen. The archers fire off some damage and fall back behind the spears before they can be engaged. Javalins (on foot @ least) can be pretty fragile, but if I have them, they usually precede the archers or take positions directly behine the spears where they can damage the enemy as the archers pull back. When possible, I try to bring some reserves to replace skirmishers after they exhaust their ammo. The entire object of course is to cause a drop in enemy morale at the point of contact. With the commander directly behind the archers fall back position, you can cause significant damage near the enemy center. For the all important flanks, I like to keep my reserves of swords/spears to the rear and to the left on the left flank and the right on the right flank. They are not actually part of the first line, but they will have room there to fill in gaps, even up odds, and at this distance they can charge a flanking unit from the side or make their own flank attack. Cavalry take position again behind and to the left and right depending on flank and I feel this gives them the most freedom of movement as a charge is affected greatly if your cav have to charge through your formations. The overall look is a large arrowhead that can morph into bulls horns on contact, absorbing the shock of the enemy charge and engulfing/surrounding it. The computer does not often keep a reserve, which is what you should do to counter the same type of defense.





    As a side note, if you manuever a large cavalry force to the the enemy left, they might turn to face the cavalry and remove their shields from blocking your archers.

    2. Defending Siege - This is more a tactical doctrine than formation set. Before the battle begins, it's important to check the types of enemy troops you will face. If I have access to archers with stakes, I deploy these either @ the threatened gate or along the path enemies will have to take to the town center to slow or damage cavalry units. I don't normally put archers on the walls unless I intend to hold the first line of defense or die trying. Units are too slow to get off of walls for my taste, and archers can still activate towers and fire at enemies from the ground. The damaged caused is too similar to worry about pulling out my archers once the gate is breached. At the gate, I normally put a spear unit on guard with two flanking facing the gate, also on guard. Alternate formation could include 3 schildroms @ the gate if the enemy is cav heavy. A reserve will be nearby, usually swords. If the enemy can only breach your gate, he will attempt to force into the settlement/castle at this breach and try to overrun your defenses. This is where the reserve comes in with charge attacks to what is always a flank when the enemy is in this position. At the same time, I will release the two flanking spear units from guard position and this combination usually breaks up the units that are attacking. Keep the pressure on and you can cascade the morale loss and take most of the enemy army prisoner. Additionally, you may wish to place a skirmisher (javalin) unit on the gate after the start so that you can hold it longer (and to drop burning oil in Kingdoms). Also, if you have used stakes, enemy cavalry will be decimated entering the settlement at these points. Great strategy against Mongols by the way. Stakes are also useful for slowing/channeling infantry and allows your infantry to gain numeric superiority at the point of contact in some cases. Gotta love stakes.

    As a side note, keeping your commander just outside of the combat can really help out the defenses, morale-wise.



    If you cant hold the first line, or the enemy creates multiple breaches, fall back in stages to the next line. As the gate starts to buckle, I usually pull back my archers (they have been activating defensive towers and basically just reducing enemy numbers) to the next line and use the reserves previously mentioned to keep the towers active. If you ARE holding this line, your archers can stay and pepper any enemy that scale your walls, just move your reserves back to cover them. Cavalry does this very well as most of these areas are long straight stretches that cavalry can exploit. Just watch out for any of your own stakes. Be prepared to sacrifice a unit to hold the enemy back so that a majority of your forces can withdraw to the next wall (if available) or the town center (if necessary). If you fall back behind another wall, don't order men straight to the walls, as they are prone to get stuck in the gate and block it open. Just take the time to order men into formation on the other side of the wall. You might also wish to put the archers on the walls here as they are more effective at this point, besides, where are they going to fall back too? Rest your melee troops here and keep the towers active and form a quick reaction force that can charge out and take out siege equipment trying to snake through the streets. Also, you could send a commando group out to grab enemy ladders from the walls while the enemy is busy with the assault. Morale for troops climbing ladders and ascending siege towers can be easily broken sometimes.

    3. City Offense - City offense usually consists of 2 rams (one in reserve and moving toward the same gate behind the first in case it is destroyed). If I have good sword units and the enemy has enough men to man the walls, they will attack in run mode with ladders to lessen losses and I order the unit to attack once they reach the top (seems to make a difference to me for some reason). Once the walls to either side of the gate are mine and the gate itself is knocked down, I move my wall units into the courtyard to force back enemy from the entrance and push the mass of my units through the breach. Overwhelming enemy defenses inside a settlement can be hard to do as your forces tend to stretch out for archer targets, so I normally tell them to form BEHIND the enemy or ON the enemy in the center, this will overrun defenders and allow you to open up for flank attacks, thus shortening the fight and reducing your loses. I usually accept 25% loses during this type of fight. I will bring in my general for morale boosting if necessary, but Im careful to keep him out of direct combat (believe me, he doesn't like it, so keep an eye on him). Of course, this is a hack-n-slash attack (which I prefer) and if anybody feels that this is not "fair" to the computer, just pay attention how the computer attempts to force his units through your lines, it's the same tactic of attempting to remove the need for one on one animation at the point of contact.

    4. Castle Offense - Castle attacks differ in that I like to use siege weapons on castles. Sit back and breach the wall closest to the next wall in the chain of defense and then move in with heavy infantry (forcing past defenders just like in the center assault). Its really important here to maintain a goodly reserve as these first troops (and the defenders) will quickly become exhausted, the fresh troops will speed the fall of the castle amazingly as the defenders will attack less than your new fresh troops. Once again, once the final assault is taking place, you may wish to bring in your general to boost morale (chivalry) or lower enemy morale (dread), but in either case, he can do nothing but help morale of your troops as long as he stays alive.

    *An alternate FINAL ASSAULT is not an assault at all. Form a perimeter around the town center with spear units on guard and pepper the enemy to death with arrows or siege equipment until they are reduced enough for the final push or your troops have rested, barring reserves. Of course, with all the latest patches, the enemy will attempt to attack you, his morale will break, and when he stops attacking you for shooting arrows, its time to charge in.
    Last edited by cipher88101; November 20, 2007 at 05:41 PM.

  17. #77

    Default Best Formations

    I use a normal English style of battle line.
    Meaning:
    1st row-spearmen/bill men
    2nd row-sword or weaker spear militia
    3rd row-preferably longbowmen or archer militia
    4th row-artillery perferably trebeuchets

    NOTE* I`m still trying to perfect this strategy but archers seem to run on immediate sight of enemies so there farther back and I`m still testing where to place calvary.

    I`d love to know how your formations work and what works and what doesn`t .

    Any critiquing of mine will be welcomed .

  18. #78
    big_feef's Avatar Ordinarius
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    Nov 2004
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    Blanco, Texas
    Posts
    798

    Default Re: Best Formations

    My formations that has worked quite well for me in MTW, RTW and now M2TW look like this:

    Open field formation


    HAHA------------------SSSSS-SSSSS-SSSSS------------------HAHA
    -------HCHC-HCHC-----AAAAAAA-AAAAAAA-----HCHC-HCHC-------
    ------------------GGGG---HIHIHI----HIHIHI---------------------------


    Sieging formation

    -------------------------AAAAAAA-AAAAAAA--------------------------
    HAHA------------------SSSSS-SSSSS-SSSSS------------------HAHA
    -------HCHC-HCHC-------HIHIHI---HIHIHI-------HCHC-HCHC-------
    ------------------GGGG-----SESE--SESE------------------------------

    Legend:
    HAHA - 1 unit of horse archers (if applicable)
    SSSSS - 1 unit of spearmen/pikemen
    HCHC - 1 unit of heavy cavalry
    HIHIHI - 1 unit of heavy infantry
    AAAAAAA - 1 unit of archers/crossbowmen/gunners
    GGGG - bodyguard unit (if applicable)
    SESE - 1 unit of siege equipment (trebuchet, cannons, etc)

    I always keep cavalry on the wings... and horse archers way out on the wings to shoot from a flanking position. I never start with ranged units out in front of spearmen when I'm in the open field... I always wait until the battle starts to see if I should move them up or not. I keep heavy infantry in reserve so that they can run out behind my spearmen to flank or to protect my flank if necessary.

    It takes quite a bit of practice to perfect it; but when you do, it works like a charm and can be easily adapted to almost any situation. Very handy in MP situations when you really don't know what you're going to face.
    "The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools" - Thucydides



  19. #79
    Snizel's Avatar Semisalis
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    415

    Default Re: Best Formations

    I have all my infantry lined up in a solid row with the stronger or more experienced units at the wings, or spear men at the wings with sword men in middle if up against a lot of cavalry.

    I position my cavalry to the side and behind the main body of infantry to defend against enemy cavalry and to flank enemy infantry engaging my main body.

    Archers go behind infantry and serve as reinforcements to hold off enemy if main body is losing until more of my units are able to flank enemy rear. Archers in me lee only serve to stop the enemy from breaking my main body.

    Horse archers go at the front of my army and cut down as many enemies as possible before returning to my flanks where they spend all their arrows before acting as normal cavalry to support infantry.

    Artillery is positioned behind my archers.

    My General is position behind my artillery at the the centre because the AI is naturally drawn to kill generals to lower moral and so they attack the centre of my infantry to reach my general. General acts as normal cavalry if my main body is in need.

    This tactic works most of the time if i have strong infantry units and enough cavalry to support them. Artillery and ranged units are no so much important in my style of frighting.
    Last edited by Snizel; January 07, 2008 at 10:33 PM.
    I saw, I bought, I played

  20. #80
    Indefinitely Banned
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    21,467

    Default Re: Best Formations

    depending on wat faction i play, for eg, as norman sicily:

    Front:

    --------------HIHI-HIHI-HIHI-HIHI-HIHI-HIHI-----------------------
    -----------------MA-MA-MA-MA-MA-MA-------------------------
    ------------------------T/C---T/C--------------------------------
    ----------------------------------------------GB-HC-HC-------HC-HC-HC------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Legend:

    HIHI=1 unit of heavy infantry, preferably dismounted norman knights
    MA= 1 unit of muslim archers
    T/C= 1 unit of trebuchets or cannons
    GB= General's bodyguard
    HC= heavy cavalry, preferably norman knights

    i always try to go for factions whereby this composition can be achieved.
    i'm lazy and tend not to change my tactics
    true it's mostly a missile oriented army but this army composition served me well in my roman camapigns in Rome:TW.
    when faced with cavalry archers i orer my HI to stand firm, while my archers unleash death bythe hundreds and my cavalry outflank and close in on the ewnmy
    the turks fear me because of this...

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