Army composition complexity ? (version II... lol)

[Draksen]

When building your army, do you usually use :
- only 1 type of unit
- 2 types
- 3 types
- 4 types
- 5 types
- 6 types
- 7 types
- 8 types
- more, I like complex and flexible armies.

[rasoforos]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif i know i ll sound annoying AGAIN but i dun think there is a stable number. some use 2-5 some 5-8 etc etc. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif better than the last one though http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Musashi]

I'm still a 2-4 guy.

I can't think of any time I've had more than four types in my army by choice...

-Musashi

[TheViking]

i.e if i use light-, heavy-, archcav, do i use 1 type of unit, cavalery, or do i use 3 types.

or shall i split up my army in footshock, footspear, footarch etc etc.

I use between 2-10 units depend on how you look at it.
If i say i use 2 types then its footunits and cav units, but if i specialize its atleast 10 units.

[Draksen]

seriously, you think that it is a good thing to play with 8 (???) diff. types of units .... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif

mmm...

with that, how can you concentrate yourself on the strengths of each type of unit ?

mmm...
except if you think that 4 diff. types of archer are, all in all, archers, and u use them in the same group... mmm?

[rasoforos]

i suppose an archer and a cav.archer are different types , light and heavy cavalry as well , but an infantry crossbowman and an infantry arbalester are 1 type. for example :
1)light cavalry
2)heavy cavalry
3)spears
4)archers
5)swords

i s how i would distinguish

[Leet Eriksson]

haha i chose 10,cuz turks have a ton of unique units and putting them to use does reduce casualties incrediblyok i may sound dumb but heres my composition(late):

2 x-bows
2 sipahi
1 SOP
4 JHI
2 turcomen
2 janisary infantry
2 Ghazi
1 ottoman infantry

should've chosen 8 units but ahh well http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif,anyways it depends on the factions really,for example the brits i use less than 8 types,and the french i horde chivs sarges and chive knights,while the HRE(you guessed it)gothic knights plus tons of pavise crossbows and arbalests.

[pdoan8]

It's still depending on how you define "different type". For example, will you consider Nubian spearmen is a different type than Feudal Sergeant or you consider them both as spearmen. Same goes for FMAA/CMMA and Gallowglas, AUM, Viking, ... will you cansider them as all melee or they are all different?

If they all different, then I sometimes use up to 10 types in one 16 units army: Spearmen, Feu Sergeant, Chiv Sergeant, FMAA, CMAA, Militia Sergeant/UM, Archers, Crossbow/Pasiive, Arb/Passive Arb, Feudal Knight, Chiv Knight, Royal Knight, Horse Archer/Mount Crossbow/Mount Sergeant and the list goes on...

I only consider the following types: spear/anti-cav, missile/gun, melee/shock, LC/MC/HC. Siege and arty would count as special addons. So, it still comes down to 4 main types. I don't really seperate out the sub-type.

[TenkiSoratoti]

3 types, not too much, not oo little.

[Alrowan]

well i tend to have about 6-8 units

3-4 arbs/archers *depends on era
2-4 maa
2-4 Sergeants
2-4 Heavy cav
2 light cav
2 halbreds


each unit has different uses.. i still get fuedal sergeants when i have chivalric ones, mainly because they have better morale and a charge bonus, and are quite versitile, and its the small differences like these that make me pick my armies

[Rosacrux]

4-5 - and that's with the Byzantines who don't actually have a great variety of units at their disposal.

[rasoforos]

well they dun need a great variety http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Daveybaby]

To my mind, these are the different unit types, defined by the different ways of using them:

1. Artillery (Ballista, Cannons etc)
2. High RoF Archers (Archers, Longbows)
3. Low RoF Archers (Xbows, Arbs, Arquebusiers)
4. Skirmishers (Murabatin, Janissary etc)
5. Peasants
6. Defensive Infantry (Spear/Pike etc)
7. Offensive Infantry (MAA/Foot Knights etc)
8. Shock Troops (Vikings/Clansmen etc)
9. Light Cavalry (Alan Mercs/Hobilars/Sergeants etc)
10. Heavy Cavalry (Royals/Knights/Lancers etc)
11. Cavalry Archers (Berbers/Turcopoles etc)
12. King/General (treat as separate regardless of unit type)
13. 'Others' (Napthas/Hashishin)

[Daveybaby]

Based on the above, i usually like to have:

2-4 Pavise Arbs for long-term ranged defense
1 or 2 Longbows for rapidly wearing down a critical target
4-6 Defensive Infantry to protect the arbs/longbows
2-6 Offensive Infantry
2-4 Heavy Cav
0-2 Light Cav for chasing down routers
1 General

So that makes 7 different types.

The actual numbers will depend on who i'm facing and whether i'm attacking or defending. Sieging a castle requires a completely different setup, of course.

[A.Saturnus]

Quote[/b] ]
2-4 Pavise Arbs for long-term ranged defense
1 or 2 Longbows for rapidly wearing down a critical target
4-6 Defensive Infantry to protect the arbs/longbows
2-6 Offensive Infantry
2-4 Heavy Cav
0-2 Light Cav for chasing down routers
1 General


that`s a reasonable list, but I use skirmishers istead of archers if I have some. Another thing is what`s halberds then? Offensive or defensive? However, 7 types aren`t too much I think, they can still be controlled. Ranged and spears don`t need much micromanagement, offensive inf just has to be send in the right moment. Only cav and skirmishers must be handled right.

[Exile]

Typically:

-catapult(s)
-heavy calvary
-light calvary/horse archers (depends on faction)
-one type archers, best available unit
-spearmen, "" ""
-infantry, "" ""

[Daveybaby]

I tend to look upon units with good melee/charge as offensive units. Billmen and Halbadiers are ok in melee, but their strong defense tends to overshadow this.

i.e. youre going to take billmen and halbs along primarily as defense, and possibly use them for an offensive counter if the situation calls for it. But primarily you want them there to hold the line when defending, while your 'proper' offensive troops (such as MAA) charge the flanks of the attackers while theyre busy with your defenders.

[TenkiSoratoti]

Balance

[DojoRat]

My army of choice will usually have around 5 types. It varies by faction so right now as the English I use:

5 Billmen
4 Longbow
2 Gallowglass/CMAA
4 knights
1 hobby horse

I will use Kerns, Jinettes, and other specialty troops but for the English you can't beat the +1 Billmen and the +1 longbow. I use more light cav against factions with more horse archers but love to send a lone hobilar on a long end around and then smash into those units that chase it with my heavy cav.

[Musashi]

Heh, as the english I field armies made up of 9 units of bills, 6 units of longbows, and one floating unit that's whatever the good general happens to be http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

-Musashi

[FesterShinetop]

Depends. I tend to use around 4-6 types of unit. I just like my armies to look a little bit... eeeh... varied. Just looks nice.

[LordKhaine]

I answered 6, but I think I often do more than that. Often had 10 or so with some armys.

[Katasaki Hirojima]

My army composistion can vary wildly. Normally however I prefer lighter troop types. I also prefer ranged troops and cavalry. So my army composistion is more like:

Ranged-4-8 varying units
Defensive Inf-4
Light/medium Cavalry(including Cavalry Archers)-4-6
2 Artillery

Its a pretty weird army to use, but I do ok at it. Wat an army like this does is incur all kinds of morale penaltys, a heavy hit from ranged losses, more from Cavalry, even more from Artillery. Ligt armys can get a good valour boost, and before they break my cavalry usually can take posistion and break the enemy. Then its just wholesale captureing after that.

[Cazbol]

I voted for 8, but I don't group units in the categories mentioned above.

My standardised army now consists of:
4 vikings (cheap, and available everywhere to the Danes)
1 chivalric men-at-arms (to compare them to the vikings (my first game))
3 feudal sergeants (to stop them horseys)
1 unit of crossbowmen (about to change to arbalesters)
3 archers (more widely available, faster rate of fire)
2 units of royal knights (expensive but only require a royal palace)
1 unit of mounted sergeants or similar (primary flankers)
1 unit of Spanish jinettes (superfast and boy have they proven themselves worthy. Clear out the enemy archers in no time when in melee. On a good day a single unit takes a little under 200 prisoners&#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

The composition changes as new units become available, but I like to see different types of units in the same battle to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses. The vikings still impress me when fighting alongside chivalric men-at-arms.

Cazbol

[andrewt]

I only build 3 types of units. I classify everything as melee, missile and cav. I consider skirmishers as half melee/half missile. I use cavalry archers and archers interchangeably. Usually, I substitute cav archers for archers on a 1:1 or 3:2 basis when deciding what to bring. I build my army depending on my faction strength, enemy army composition and the most important thing of all, what I feel like doing at that time.

Based on my experience, you rarely get to field just 16 units. Usually, it's either over or under so it's kinda hard to standardize.

I never bring just 1 of any unit unless it's the general if I can help it. I don't feel like I'm getting the use out of that unit if it's the only one of it's kind.

I usually use:
0-5 archers (either normal, arbs or cav is just the same with me, usually more if cav)
0-8 off inf (includes halberd units which I primarily use as cav killers)
0-8 def inf (includes spear units)
0-6 cav (usually half heavy, half light)

For Almohad I didn't do that and just used:
1 General (usually heir)
2-3 Saharan or Ghulam (didn't have much until I had already killed the French)
0-4 Murabitin (some armies have, some don't)
0-4 Muwahid (some armies have, some don't)
0-2 Archers (only at the beginning)
6-12 AUM (hehe)