After getting some good tips on siege assaults in ETW, I thought I would inquire about field battles in NTW. What tactics do people use to win battles?

I've not spent that much time with the game, but noticed a tendency for my battles to be rather attritional. Two opposing lines of infantry firing at each other and even if you win, you come out of it depleted. In ETW, you can rely on numbers, higher quality units or superior techs (fire by rank) to win such stand up fights. But in ETW, the battleground seems more level. So what do people do to get an edge?

How effective are the following?

1) Focus fire - in naval battles, I use Alt-X on a target (typically the admiral's flagship), so all of my units focus on that one. That way you can wreck one unit, rather than merely scarring many. I've noticed the AI doing this sometimes in ETW land battles - often 3 vs 3 regiments, the AI will fire all its regiments on one of yours. (I know killing the enemy general would be a big deal, but would try to avoid such uncivilised tactics. )

2) Concentration of force - an extension of (1), trying to get local numerical superiority to overwhelm one part of the line (typically a flank) and refuse the other. Worked for Napoleon at Austerlitz. If you do this, at what point do you stop firing and enter melee? I tend to wait for the enemy's morale to start to fall from steady - I am not sure if I should melee earlier.

3) Cavalry flank charges - an extension of (2) and probably the killer tactic of most earlier TW games but cavalry is more fragile in ETW/NTW. How are they in NTW?

4) Offensive use of artillery - in ETW, the early foot artillery (12 lbers) seems insipid at range (except vs cavalry), but lethal when switching to cannister. This tends to make it a defensive weapon. Have people had success with using artillery offensively? Is there a point repeating the Napoleonic grand battery to soften up the enemy line before attacking? How is horse artillery? A historical Napoleonic tactic was to use the threat of cavalry to force the enemy infantry into square and then use horse artillery (or your infantry) to devastate the squares. Does this work in game?

5) Exploiting terrain - how useful do people find terrain? Occupying buildings can seem to give a big edge and starting off behind entrenchments gives a modest advantage. I look for a hill for artillery in a defensive battle. But beyond that I tend just to look for a nice flat part of the battlefield on which to fight. Terrain seems more of an obstacle than anything else, preventing neat deployment of your lines. I don't find terrain advantages as important as in some other TW games (where hills added to range and uphill fighting penalities were more significant for melee-based warfare). Am I missing something? Does any one try a reverse slope defense such as Wellington relied on vs the French? (because artillery at range does not seem so powerful, I've not tried it).

6) Fire control - an important Napoleonic tactic was waiting until you see the whites of their eyes before firing, i.e. muskets were lethal close up, so you aimed to get the enemy to fire prematurely and then unleash your fire at closer range. Do people try this or just leave infantry on fire at will? It seems that getting artillery to hold fire just prior to the enemy entering grapeshot range is important: otherwise it can seem like an age for them to finish reloading before they unleash hell on the enemy.

Thanks for any comments and tips!