Tactics change for playing darthmod

[Peasant Phill]

Last week I've finaly (successfully) ended my campaign as the Ottomans. In the meantime I heard a lot of positive opinions about darthmod. So I downloaded it and plan on starting a new campaign as the French. darthmod made an enourmous laundrylist of changes to vanilla ETW. So here's my question:

What does this mean in regards to strategy and tactics? What should I be aware of when playing darthmod?

[Hooahguy]

hmmm this is a tough question.
for me, it meant during the campaign, be aware for more full stacks going against you (ive had five in the last 10 years!) and a more friendly AI in terms of diplomacy.
in battle, remember to get closer with the enemy. the range of line infantry is 110, which is huge, but at that range, infantry are almost useless. close to at least 50 before you open fire.
oh, by the way arty is better.
the rest is for you to discover!

[loony]

well, I might not be a guru, but here goes:
1. DO NOT BLITZ! Darthmod spawns militia and even line infantry in cities when you attack.
2. Beware of militia and armed citizenry before you get fire by rank. really. there are a lot of those buggers and the can really hurt your line inf. actually, in the very beginning i had pikemen and militia armies sucessfully fighting line inf.
3. PROTECT YOUR TRADE ROUTES. THe AI knows you like all that cash from trade. If you play french, the british will come and will sink your ships.
4. NO BULLSHIT DOWs.This does not mean your ally won't declare. It means they won't declare if they have nothing to back it up with. A DOWing AI usually means business. Seriuosly.
5. Naval invasions are a real threat. Not too common, but timely executed. Do leave a unit in your ports so that the disembarked armies have to waste a turn. Don't leave a port near your capital unoccupied. Ever.
6. Allianaces generally hold. Exception: when you are overextended and your allies are supposed to be covering your back. They might stab instead.
7. Artillery rules; with the arty mods where it fires faster and more accurately, artillery, even the round shot, hurts. However, the enemy would sacrifice a whole unit of lancers just to get at it. If you do not have fire by rank and the enemy has lots of cav - hide your arty. Don't bet on canister shot, you can do enough damage with round being alive for the whole battle.
8. Do not overextend your line in battles. The AI attacks a single or several spots on your line. If you are overextended and have little reinforcements, they will break through. And then you've got a problem.
9. Troops return to battle. In Vanilla once routed, a unit would run away and not look back. Not in darthmod. The buggers rout, you leave them alone. They reform behind your lines and come back guns blazing. Keep some light cav to make sure the units are shattered, not just routing.
10. GET CLOSE to them. IF you shoot from something like 10 paces, you have deadly volleys, if you shoot form 70 - it is your average vanilla volley. If you shoot from 110 - you are wasting ammo. If the enemy engages you at extreme range, either charge with cav, close in with your line, kill them off with arty or snipers. Do not waste line infantry ammo.
11. Some snipers units are deadly. Like long riflemen (US, 170 range, 75% accuracy). I had a lot of trouble storming a town, when there were 2 units of those buggers in the buildings, I had no arty and there was no way to get to the snipers but meleeing lots of militia around those buildings.
12. There finally is some tactics and strat in naval battles. Ships are slower, less maneouverable. Therefore, a) smaller ships now have their uses, b) you can effectively ambush your enemy, c) get closer to kill more, same as inf.


those are my observations. I am playing a prestige "DM Ultimate Campaign" as the british, having lots of fun. it is around 1745 and it seems we're getting to several power blocks forming; there will be some grand engagements as we near the end of the game, I am sure.

[Hooahguy]

i fully back everything Loony said.
even when on defense, move your infantry forward to meet the enemy. this way you can get in close to a range you like.

[antisocialmunky]

Fire a volley, charge.

[Hooahguy]

Fire a volley, charge.

only if you dont have fire by rank researched.

[antisocialmunky]

True. Unless you run a unit of light horse past the lines first which borks the FBR. -_-'

[Peasant Phill]

Thanks for the replies so far.

It seems I'll have to learn ETW all over again. It's quite exiting.