Beginners Question

[kenki]

I am fighting with the French; They happens to have about 4000+ troops (combined) and a 4 star general near my border. I have 2.5 units (full 16 slot - roughly about 4000~5000 soldiers) of combined knights, some spear type units and sword type; no bow with some siege units. I was thinking of letting one of my 8 star general in to a massive battle.

I never fight battles with reinforcement. Should I put in the siege units to scare off those French? Or it'll take too many slot and I can not call for a reinforcement in time. What is the battle tactics for attacker in case you don't have range units? The battle might be quite large, I don't think I can sneak some of my knights to their back, should I let them charge in front?

I'm playing at easy mode. Thanks

[ichi]

I'm biased against arty on the attack, as they are immobile and may possbly be out of range. others will tell you take em, shoot em dry, then replace.

I think that you need some missile units - maybe pick up some mercenaries?

If not, then walk your troops up to just outside enemy archer range. Let em rest a second, then put your worst troops in front, all on loose formation. Start walking toward the enemy position. At some point (depends on season, map, troop type, etc) rush the enemy, switching to close formation before you hit.

If the units in front that took a lot of arrows (I call em pincushions) took a lot of casulaties, do not let them be in on the early contact. They will have very low morale (from the casualties and due to archer fire) and so use them to flank or hold em back and use em last.

If you have a light cav unit you can use it to rush the enemy archer line, disrupting them while your troops are approaching.

If the enemy is going to have lots of reinforcement, don't be afraid to fall back to your edge of the map. The AI does a pretty poor job of staying organized, and you can pick off pursuing enemy units with your cav.

If you do stay close to the enemy edge and reinforcements are coming on, hit em right as they enter the map.

ichi

ichi

[Aelwyn]

It depends on what units they have in front, where they attempt to defend, what units you have, how many men in each unit, etc. If you don't have any missles, then try to get on higher terrain and simply charge. Try to get your cavs to the flanks, if not behind. Don't charge cavs into spears, or anti-cavs like pikes etc. I'm sure you know all of this, but its worth mentioning. Most of your sword units will beat general spears, but don't let them get caught up by enemy cavs. If you have armour piercing units like Militia Sergeants, then try to match them up with high armoured units. I personally never use artillery, as its not as effective as many other units, especially when attacking, as the AI usually tries to deploy as far back as possible. If you're attacking, just charge, the AI never seems to deal properly with an all out charge, as long as your morale is high enough.

I guess thats as specific I can get without knowing more about your situation.

[katar]

i wouldn`t bother with arty on the offencive unless i was forcing a bridge crossing, and even then using anything larger than a catapult is usually wasted when the enemy move out of it`s firing arc.

take a few archers, always handy if you want to provoke an enemy attack on your lines, kill the enemy general, lower enemy morale and thin down their more dangerous units before an assault.

if the enemy charge at you remember to have your spear units charge them as well (spearunits get a charge bonus for the first few seconds of contact), outflank where possible and if you have archers keep them off fire at will and off skirmish (better for you to pick the targets that you want to kill).

[Gregoshi]

Hello kenki and welcome. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

I'd leave the artillery at home and let them continue practicing hitting the broadside of a barn so they are ready when you've got a siege on your hands. But that is just me.

[The Wizard]

That won't help much if that piece of artillery you're trying to get to shoot barns is an organ gun, Gregoshi.. horribly effective vs infantry but horribly ineffective when pitted against castle walls http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[The_Emperor]

Attacking with few ranged troops against an army with many, I say Attack in bad weather

Siege weapons are not very good unless you get to the later cannon units and organ guns.

You will want to rush the enemy head on with infantry and do a big cavalry charge into the flanks, and try to isolate and run down the enemy archers before they make things too difficult for you.

Artillery is only really effective in assaults and chokepoint defence such as bridges. They are fairly ineffective in field battles unless they score a very lucky hit on the enemy General.

Hope this helps http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif