Bridge battles : Larger bridges, different tactics ?

[Draksen]

Konnichi wa

Bridges in STW exp are now larger.
Has the "general strategy" for bridge battles changed ?
Is the attack now easier ?

[jodmeister]

Yes......I too noticed the bridges had changed shape and width.

The principal remains the same though.......
although I believe units which fire weapons can now fire from the bridge whilst they are waiting to get off.

Fight the JOD!

[Chiyonofuji]

Yes, a full scale charge with all units will normally do the trick. I think it has taken alot of the skill and fun out of an across river attack. Things can turn against you however when reinforcements come on....but thats another thread.

[Tsumi]

Most definitely! Big bridges = big battles.

[Nelson]

I think bridge defense is basically the same. Chiyonofuji is right though. Wider bridges do let you cross more quickly and that facilitates a rush by the attacker that may not have worked so well before.

[UglyElmo]

It depends if you are talking about multiplay bridge battles or single player. The single player bridge battles seem to be a tad more easy than the old stw, but in multiplay I haven't noticed much of a difference in difficulty. There are good ways to go about attacking bridges though, that work well for either SP or MP. The object of the attacker is to try and eliminate the threat of the missile troops before attacking with all of your foot troops. In multiplay, send some low honor troops with armor upgrades to get across the bridge and absorb some arrows and musketfire. Line up a few missile troops on your side of the bridge to shoot at the defender's foot troops as they approach to stop you from taking a position on their side of the bridge. After your low honor troops are used up, then hit them with your higher honor troops and support them with missile fire of your own. It is still very difficult to win as attacker, but it makes you feel like you have accomplished something when you do. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif Another tactic to use against a defender if he sets back too far is to run a few low honor foot troops across the bridge and before the enemy can engage them, run them to the side as fast as you can. The enemy will normally chase them with some higher honor units and an archer musket or two, so it makes your attack on the bridge a little easier, because you have sacrificed only cheap low honor troops and now have a stronger army than your opponent when making the final assault. These tactics work a lot better against the AI in custom battle mode and also in single play, veterans of bridge battles will know how to avoid these feints and you will be hard pressed to win.

[theforce]

If the enemy has a decent projectile line up you are dead!

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Don't use only honour, use theforce, too.
http://lod.fateback.com

[Kiwi]

If they have decent projectile units and they know to put some of them on hold - you are really in deep shit.
There are ways and those are not the ones to use against anyone who knows anything. It is very dependant on if it is early game/late game, weather, troops etc. Fighting Takeda is very different than if you are going up against Uesugi.
In other words there is no one simple way, you need to be flexible and pick the units/tactics to suit the situation.
Just my two cents worth.

[Divine Wind]

I always attack bridges with rain and snow as the ranged units have problems firing their weapons effectively. As elmo said i use low honor troops 2 soak up the remaining arrows they do have and then charge my whole army (with high honor troops at the front...even maybe a kensai) across the bridge and the enemy if low honor usually rout on site http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

[Divine Wind]

If high honor though..u may be in for a tough fight http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

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The Wind is with you
Divinewind
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"The World is a fine place and well worth fighting for"

[theforce]

Also in multiplayer games. An enemy with 4 high honor guns could easily rout most of your men before crossing the map.

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Don't use only honour, use theforce, too.
http://lod.fateback.com

[Obake]

Early game SP isn't that much different that it was in the original game. Same tactics apply.

Once you've tech'd up to the point where you can build Battlefield Ninja however, it's a whole new ballgame.

Battlefield Ninja are outstanding units to quickly take bridge provinces with few casualties and absolutely without having to fight your way across.

Here's how it works;

Take your unit of BN's and quickly run them across the bridge and off to the side. The AI for whatever reason doesn't attack your unit. Step 2 is to circle your Ninja's around to the rear/flank of choice while you set up the rest of your army to charge across (yes that's right, charge en masse). Step 3, have your Ninja start using ranged attacks on a rear/flank unit. The AI will peel several units off to deal with the Ninja. The longer you elude H2H with the Ninja, the better off you are. As soon as the AI starts turning to face your Ninja, launch the bridge assault. Even if the AI is able to turn around to face you, they will be so disorganized that they are easy to dismember. I've taken 3 bridges this way with fewer than 200 casualties while inflicting upwards of 4-500 (unheard of in old bridge battles).

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Obake

I warned you, but did you listen? Ohh, no...it's just a harmless little bunny, isn't it?

[solypsist]

hmmmm, so that's what BFN are good for. I'll give it a try though I am loathe to put aside my tried and true ashi-pincushion-archer-rush/feint tactic.

[KumaRatta Yamamoto]

Thanks Obake, i will try this.

I guess it's the same type of tactic that we use in the beginning of the game by sending a cav unit (usually the daimyo) quicly to the other side to attrack all the AI attention, permitting an easy crossing for our main army + a flank attack.

[Tsumi]

I usally send a high honor YA across and have then run parallel to the river, so the YS that engage them are hit with my archers. At the same time I send in a few YS to flank or attack the pursuing YS from the rear. This gives me time to get my Daimyo across to attack the archers, thus my remaining army can get across and "mop" up.