How do you fight a battle when being heavily outnumbered?

[twgamer20197]

In these situations:

- In a terrain with mostly open fields

- In a terrain where there are some choke points

- When being the defender of a town or city

Did you ever manage to defeat numerically superior A.I armies while playing Great Campaign or Historical Campaign mode?

[Alwyn]

Yes, I sometimes defeat larger AI armies, although I don't play on higher difficult levels. Is there a particular kind of enemy you're struggling against? Which faction are you playing and who are you fighting? We need the right tools, as Heir of Carthage says in his Rome II battle videos. For example:

> If you're fighting horse archer armies, then bringing a lot of spear infantry and slingers or archers tends to work. If the horse archers charge, your spearmen kill them. If they shoot your infantry, then your skirmish infantry should defeat them (if you bring enough) because ranged infantry units are larger.

> If you're against a heavy sword infantry faction, artillery can be very effective, as heavy units move slowly. if you have strong defensive infantry (heavy spearmen or pikemen) then you can use them to fix the enemy in place and charge them with cavalry or shoot them with skirmishers. Attacks from the flanks and rear are more effective. Alternatively, when the enemy heavy swordsmen are fighting your infantry, attacking the heavy swordmen with elephants, heavy chariots, heavy melee cavalry or heavy shock cavalry can work well.

> If your opponents fight in the Hellenic style (spears, pikes and peltasts) then axemen tend to do well against spearmen and pikemen. If you don't have axemen, recruit mercenaries or levy units, or use the better agility of your swordsmen to attack the spearmen and pikemen in the flanks and rear.

As you said, it also depends on the terrain. Open fields favour cavalry. Choke points, for example when defending an unwalled settlement, favour defensive infantry such as spearmen and pikemen.

[LuckyPistol]

Alwyn makes great points. I will also add that for any scenario where you are outnumbered it is vital to use any fear inducing unit/weapon/ability/etc. instead of trying to kill every last enemy soldier. Don't go after every unit that routes; wait till the end of the battle to mop up.

- In a terrain with mostly open fields

I will start off and say that it's not recommend to fight outnumbered on open terrain unless there is a hill advantage or your units are Tier III+ and your opponents are Eastern Spearmen or worse.

If your infantry have defensive formations, use them. Try to start out and deploy on higher ground and have javelin units close behind. The spaces between your infantry will be filled with enemy units, have the ranged units fire into them to help support your defending infantry. Spam whatever general abilities you have. Repeat cavalry/shock infantry charges to whittle down the enemy until they break. Cavalry should reign as king on an open field, and if your enemy has left their ranged units undefended then sweep them up once its safe; don't try to take out enemy ranged infantry at the cost of your own cavalry.

- In a terrain where there are some choke points

Like a bridge battle? Treat it the same as with m2tw, IMO: give the enemy a little room once crossing the bridge but keep them enclosed with defensive units and let your ranged units rain hell down upon them. As said before, don't waste your cavalry trying to catch routing units until the battle is over. in the meantime let the enemy come at you over an over until the whole army breaks.

- When being the defender of a town or city

Depends on your faction/culture but generally you'll want your high defense infantry blocking up choke points in towns (pikes are overpowered in this sense) and have a good amount of javelin units. The town center isn't usually in a strategically beneficial place, but you still want to make sure the enemy doesn't take it or it'll be a real blow to morale. Most towns should allow you to trap the enemy in alleys/streets/chokepoints and give you the option of bringing light armored units around to their rears for a good flanking (javelins too). The important thing with being outnumbered is to pin your enemy down in a concentrated area to negative their advantage.

In cities, since gates are rarely attacked, try to do your best to light siege equipment on fire and to put your best troops on the wall to repel incoming units. The cities siege defenses like mounted ballistae and archer towers shouldn't be relied on to do the work on their own, but thought of as supplements. If the enemy has enough artillery to actually break down a wall, then I would avoid putting units up there altogether and just let them through; play the siege as if it were a town and try to halt the enemy at choke points and harass the incoming troops with missiles, etc.

Did you ever manage to defeat numerically superior A.I armies while playing Great Campaign or Historical Campaign mode?

Yes. "Fortified" and "ambush" stances can make or break a campaign when handled properly. Defending settlements as Hellenic factions is also a breeze (Pikes FTW).