No Experience with Spanish Late Game Units

[Cardinal Bard]

Hi All

Spain would have to be one of my favourite factions, great position and great troops. I have found once i get to mid to late game i tend to stop at such troops like dis.chivalric and mounted chivalric knights with xbows throw in after tech from fuedal armies.

In my H/VH current campaign ive tried to use the awesome city units available to spain. I have recruited 2 shiny new armies consisting of

1 x General
3 x Musketeers
2 x Basilisks
4 x Sword and Buckler Men
4 x Gendarmes
6 x Tercio Pikes

All are upgraded with Sword upgrades and Gunpowder upgrades and i feel confident of some exciting battles ahead. I figure i have gunpowder power for range, good defense and some attack for the flanks and rear.

My Questions are as such:

I haven't had much use from Pikes, so whats the best way to use them as they have seemed brittle to me in the past (have only use militia pikes). I figure the musketeers and Pikes would kind of go together so if i reduce pikes i would reduce muskets and visa versa.

Sword and Bucklers don't seem to be the best units based on stats and they are a top tier unit (remembering i love my knights and don't use much other inf normally). Should i replace them with the easier to get Sword Militia.(Pity S&B Men are not a city unit as well)

I don't use Artillery much as usually storm the walls with knights so how can i use the Basilisks effectively offensively and should i include more at the expense of some other units.

I also feel i would like to have more Gendarmes as they look quite useful and i normally have 6 cav in most of my armies so what would be your ideal setup of a late game spanish army with these types of units

[Jason X]

the pictures are long gone, but you might find some of this twcenter thread interesting
modified tercio formation (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=73413)

the key point is: deploy the musketers fully streched in the space between the pikemen and the end of their pikes. skirmish off. s&b's can walk through the pikes without disrupting their formation and fight any infantry engaging.

it's been ages since i played spain, there's some fiddliness with in M2TW using pikemen to stop them switching to swords - do some searching on "pikes"

[Marauder]

The modified tercio formation is pretty cool. I've been using some Swiss pikeman mercs on a recent crusade and I love what they do to enemy charges: stop them cold. If the pikemen keep the pikes out and don't drop them, it takes an enemy ages to hack through them. If you pair that with archers you can rack up huge kills. I've been using english retinue longbowmen, but the tercio formation would put muskateers in a similar situation.

I love artillery, and the basilisk is the best field artillery. It has huge range and a decent reload rate. Its not as good against troops as the monster ribault or rocket launcher, but it outranges both of those. As for storming the walls, defensive units get a huge bonus on the walls. Its better to knock them down. It also lets you make your own gate, so you can hit a section of castle wall where the enemy isn't defending it or you have a clearer path to the city center.

[PrestigeX]

I think that the best thing you can do to M2tw is mod it with..

Lands to Conquer.

The reason I recommend this mod is because the original 'feel' of the game isn't hampered with, and some units especially Pikemen get a big helping hand.

One thing I will say for pikemen is that you can leave them on Spearwall, but do not keep them on 'hold position'. Another thing is that with any ranged unit, always take them off of Skirmish.

When combining muskets with your pikemen, the best thing to do is keep your pike men readily behind your muskets.. Instead of making the musketeers run a distance behind the pikes when the enemy advances, make the pikemen move forward, so that by the time the enemy is nearly engaged you.. the pike tips are to point out past the muskets. just before the enemy closes, your musketeers should run behind the pikes, which is only a few steps away.
It can be a bit ackward at first because some micro management is required.. but generally if the muskets can have continuous volleys, a good portion of the enemy will probably rout before they close with your line. Once the pikemen engage, you must be patient and wait for the right moment to send your swordsmen / cavalary to flank - wait until most of the enemy's infantry has engaged, and then flank them.

[Cardinal Bard]

Thats is good info on the Pikes and it looks like i have the mix just about right, definately won't add anymore Gendarmes in as i probably need more guns than anything else.

I might have a play test now

[Old Geezer]

I always put my pikemen on hold so that they won't loose thier formation running after routers which they have zero chance of ever catching.

[TheLastPrivate]

Gendermes aren't as hot as they seem. Chivalric or even Santiagos work better due to shields and stat values. I personally always add mounted xbows and Jinetes as screening force for your musket/pike formation.