What makes this game so sweet :)

[ziphnor]

MTW(:VI) is definetly having a detrimental effect on both my examn preperations and my my general health http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif But its really all worth it when you are in a battle and everything just *works* just as planned(sort of).

I just fought a battle as the English (SP campaign on Hard) against the Almohad in the northern spain. A few turns before i nearly suffered defeat by lack of cavalry/missile units in a surprise attack. So now i had stocked up plenty on Arbalasts, CMAA, Gallowglasses and mounted fedual sergeants, my general being the only heavy cavalry(16 royal knights), probably 20-25 units in all. Then the Almohad decides it time for another attempt and attacks with an INSANE number of units, 7 entire stacks of reinforcements, filled with pretty good units(only 2-3 units of peasants in all), but slightly heavy on camels.

I positioned myself on a small hill near the edge with the archers in front/CMAA behind them. The enemy started by launching a combined cavalry / skirmisher attack lead by a very brave general. Unfortunately for him, i had just for fun hired a mercenary organ gun, and in its first shot it blew up the enemy general, thats what i call luck http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
With the moral drop and the heavy looses from 6 units of arbalast shots things went very well. At least until i ran out of ammo(im no good at saving ammo,i love it when entire units just drops dead from arrows), and the enemy just kept on coming(archers especially). Even with my brave cavalry running rings around the enemy and attacking archers, i was forced to retire to a nearby forest where the missiles couldnt hurt my soldiers. A few careful raids from my totally exhausted cavalry after ambushing the enemy infantry in the forest saved the day. All in all i only lost 76 men, and routed all the ca. 7*16 reinforcements.

I know it sounds silly, and that the AI isnt really that great, but it still feels cool http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Btw, how come i never see anyone mention the Gallowglass units, i think they are pretty good, as long as you use them as flanking shock troops. I just hate it when they decide to attack all by themselves, not a good idea for hotheads without proper armor http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[ziphnor]

Whoops, i meant Chiv. sergeants not CMAA...

Anyone else has some interesting stories?

[Longasc]

Uh, I like the Woods too, hiding Halberdiers from Mongol Horse Archers there. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif)

Never used an organ gun in battle so far... only serpentines.

You might want to read the main board and give me some hints how to fight the mongols, already had a long lasting battle.

[ziphnor]

Yep, the mongols can be a bit of a problem, since almost everything they have is either tough(Hv. Cav) or can shoot(horse archers, mongol soldiers). I usually hide in forest too, with billmen, sergeants and a few Gallowglass or highlanders. I have had some luck with also hiding 3-4 good cavalry units and then when the mongol hv. cav. is busy being ambushed in the forest, sweep out and destroy the soldiers and sometimes also the horsearchers. Its important not to get carried away and start following them when they route though, i got into alot of trouble on that account http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

If you are good at controlling cav. you can probably also beat them with an army entirely of cavalry(royal knights can beat them easily 1 on 1, but there is a reason they are called the horde http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif , one time i devastated them like this, another time(seemed equivalent armies) i lost all my cavalry http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

Btw, the organ gun is pretty good, as long as you are near the edge of the map so you can quickly replace it, since it has very little ammo. It usually kill 5-15 men per shot, and in my experience, they run away when it happens. Short range, making it poor against archers, but still great against skirmishers and melee units since it has good accuracy.

[squippy]

I whipped the Horde the other day in Syria, although on only Hard difficulty. They had 5 stacks, I had three, but my plan was aimed at attrition. I took a lot of archers and spears and occupied a ridge; I used mounted crossbows to skirmish. It went on while, the Horde tried to encircle me on two occassions, but I sallied against their other flank and forced their heavy cav to do a lot of running about behind their own lines. Then I drove them off the right flank and resumed my position. My archers and arbalesters withdrew once they had exhausted their ammo, an this was the most dangerous moment; but by defending on a hill and restraining my troops we kept an ordered position and were able to bring on fresh reinforcements who could take the fight to the enemy. My light cav started harassing their horse archers and light foot - caught one pressed against the oasis and butchered it to a man.

Eventually they just didn't have the grunt to push on through. Most off their heavy cav had been lost in trying to ambush my skirmishers and getting counter-ambushed, or on brave charges against my spears but up a steep hill. A general advance along the ridge with light cav sweeping the wings broke their morale and drove them off the field, although I didn;t follow up too closely. Casualties were something like 8:10 in my favour; of their 10(&#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif heavy cav units, only 2 made it to the castle.

[ziphnor]

Taking a stand on a hill is always a good idea, but i think its a bit hazardrous against the horde because of their many archers. Anyway, my stand against the Horde is Lithuania(i have England/Ireland, modern france, and everything on the coastline of the baltic sea ), which provides a few forests, buy sadly no hills http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

The good thing about the forest is that the horde doesnt have any troops fit for forest fighting, horse archers/heavy cav/steppe cav. all get butchered in forests, and the mongol soldiers are too weak to do any real damage. The downside is that it take *forever* to resolve a battle when hiding in a forest.

[squippy]

Agreed; I would not have engaged them in Syria by preference, it just had to be done or they were going to rampage over my middle eastern posessions. And I nearly lost it a couple of times http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif It was a good fight, thats why I was pleased with it.

Edit: that said, I had noted their heavy cav are penalised like everyone else in the desert and as above, my strategy revolved around that. So it was not totally cavalier.

[ziphnor]

Pretty clever luring them into the desert, i wouldnt have thought the horde would get that penalty, but i guess they sweat in armor etc. just like everyone else.

Now that we are talking about fun battles, in my game the danes only had denmark itself, and they were becoming an annoyance in the middle of my empire. Their army consisted of 8-10 royal knight units(mostly princes and other royal family) 2 viking units and some landsmenn or whatever they were called.
I didnt really have a quality army to take them on, so i choose just to throw everything i had in the north at them, mostly Viking Thralls, woodmen, and a few feudal sergeants.
The battle was around a lake, i closed on both sides at once( for some reason the AI didnt charge either of the two groups which was pretty stupid). Anyway, just as i was closing on the danish army, they just charge. That was when i learned that just because someone has defens well vs. cav doesnt mean they can handle Royal knights http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif I did manage to win, mostly thanks to one good spear unit and some clever use of woodmen and highlanders, but the looses were horrible

[squippy]

More, More

Come on folks, tell us your glorious victories and magnificent defeats. The world wants to know Or at least this little bit of it.

[ziphnor]

Last night i decided to make a little strike on the Leon province(northern spain). It was late and a i was a bit desperate for some war, i thought the almohad was at war with sicillian ships in the waters around spain. I attacked with 1400 men, chiv. knights lithuanian cav.(pretty good med cav), a cannon and some chiv. sergeants. etc. The almohad retreated to their castle. Somehow i must have missed an almohad ship because they had managed to get a ship into my shipping lane, disrupting my chain of ships. Okay so no reinforcements.
On the next turn i was attacked by 14041 man army That was when i realized that the almohad wasnt at war with the siciliians and so were free to ship troops into leon(btw, they also invaded ireland, but it immediatly rebelled and put me back in charge). I started on the 14041 vs. 1400 battle, but quickly realized that it would take hours and hours to resolve. I gave up and reloaded http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Mithrandir]

if they havent been changed in VI : Gallowglasses ;I don't like them because they have a base morale of 0 (or is it 2 now with VI) and very poor defense stats.

So they'll die very quickly, reducing their already pathetic morale. They cost 200 (in MTW) while fmaa cost only 175, wich have better morale&defensive stats.

But the defense stat isnt that important in Single Player since you actually get to flank with infantry there...

[A.Saturnus]

But Gallows have much higher schock-value than MAA, they have AP and have an upkeep of only 22. They may be vulnerable but can inflict heavy damage (even to knights) for a small price.

[Mithrandir]

Quote[/b] (Mithrandir @ May 30 2003,06:07)]But the defense stat isnt that important in Single Player since you actually get to flank with infantry there...
yes Saturnus.

[jakester]

I was playing the English and had the same problem with the Danes. They only had Denmark, but kept invading the providence south, I think it's Franconia. Anyway, it was usually one army of nothing but royal knights. I really couldn't afford a full army of royal knights at that time, so I ended up using feudal sergeants and gallowglasses.

The providence has a bridge crossing with woods on the friendly side. I parked in the woods and let them cross. Once they locked with the sergeants I had the gallowglasses attack their flanks. They tore the ponies up pretty good and gave them a nice chase after. For me, the low cost of keeping gallowglasses and the decent shock is a bargain. Of course the woods were the key against the royal knights.

But the other night I had a full unit of halberdiers attack the flank of some royal knights in the woods and they got ripped apart. Since they are specifically designed for that sort of thing, I just thought they might be better then the gallowglasses. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif I should have known better. You would think the striped pantaloons and feathered hats would have tipped me off. These guys weren't really all that macho. I'm kidding of course, I just haven't found much use for them. The gallowglasses have saved a few battles for me so far. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[jadast]

I use gallowglasses and highland clansmen heavily but as throw away units. Of course I tend to send them into the center of my opponents line. This gets the AI to wrap around them which opens them up to flank attacks by my cav and other infantry units.

does anyone else use them this way?

[ziphnor]

No, i must say ive never used them like that, i would say that high defense with low attack would be better for that.
Gallowglasses/highlanders take huge loses when attacking headon, so i would hardly think that you would have time to flank the enemy before they destroyed the gg/hl.

[jakester]

Most times I hold them back until the AI starts a calvalry charge or the front lines are locked in battle. Then I shoot for a flank, that's when they really deal some serious hurt. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif Although I won't think twice about throwing them away straight at calvalry or uber unit, if it looks like they may have a flank against my archers or infantry. Yeah sure they may not win, but it stalls the enemy, while doing some good damage as well. I usually try to combine it with my calvalry to flank the battling group or attack it from behind.

I stopped using the highlanders, it seemed like they rout a bit to quick. The gallowglasses seem to hang in long enough to do some damage, before routing or dying. It's great having one or two disposable units though. It usually gives me enough time in a bad situation, to adjust the main line to any changes.

So mine are always on the flanks, just inside of my calvalry and concealed if in the woods. I have to try the middle charge and see how that one works. A delayed second attack like that, could be nasty. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Magraev]

I had a cool battle a couple of days ago as the english against Novgorod in Lithuania (my province).

There was around 1200 Novgorods to my 900 English and I was the defender, so I expected an easy win. That was not to be.

I had a line of 4 longbowmen in front of my feudal sergants and billmen. In hindsight I should have put them behind against the cavalry-intensive novgorods, but I hate taking shots from horse archers and wanted to shoot them (alot). My cav was limited to hobilars. On the forest on my right flank a unit of billmen were hiding.

The enemy had 3-4 units of steppe heavy cavalry who gave me a lot of grief. As the main lines faced each other he tried to flank with one of these through my woods. I sent the billmen after him and a unit of hobilars to the other side of the woods. In the mayhem that followed I kinda forgot about the wood-skirmish until I saw my unit of billmen getting routed. The enemy had skirmished away until we were clear of the wood and then attacked and promptly routed me. I attacked with my hobilars but they routed almost immediately and ran off the field.

At this point I was winning the main battle, but the sight of my panicked billmen fleeing for their lives suddenly ment I had white flags flashing at me from almost all my units - some of them routed immediately after. I charged the (somewhat decimated) steppe hc with all I had in the vicinity (Including longbowmen) and finally managed to relieve and rally the billmen. After a tense ½ minute trying to rally all my troops and bring a semblance of order to my army I managed to rout the last novgorods off the field. The casualties were around 300 to me and 400 to him, so it's not a victory to be especially proud of, but it always feels good to win after a close shave.

I found out after the battle, that my generals only vice was crack-brained... That explains the fickle morale of the troops.

[ziphnor]

Yesterday i fought a very weird battle against the byzantines in Arabia.
I attacked with an army very heavy on cavalry, supported by a 3 f. sergeants. I had chosen this setup because the enemy army was about 80% archers, and the rest seemed to be mostly horse archers. On the battlefield i noticed that there seemed to be a few spearmen units, so i decided to hold back on my cavalry charge. But then the enemy decided to change position and i thought it would be a good chance for a surprise attack, so i started a cavalry charge. I mostly managed to avoid his spearmen etc. until i ran into his general, a unit of cataphracts. The general started fighting on of my sergeant units, and it seemed to be winning, so i flanked him with another sergeant group. That didnt help, so i charged him with a unit of fedual knights. Finally i threw a unit of royal knights at him too. At this time i had neglected some of my spanish jinetes which had gotten mixed up with some spearmen. Needless to say i lost loads of cavalry because my sergeants were tied up fighting the general. But okay, thats how it goes, but when i looked back at their general, he was still there, he was still winning and he had killed the fed. knights, most of the royal knights, and half a unit sergeants I finally got him down to 1 cataphract only, and there it stayed for 15 minutes When he finally died, of what started as 4 units i didnt even have men enough left for a single sergeant unit, and all my heavy cav. except for my general were decimated. Has anyone else experienced anything like that, the general seemed almost invincible?
Luckily MTW crashed after the battle so i was forced to reload, and im definetly gonna be more careful next time.

[Mithrandir]

You got hte patch ?

Thanks to virtues some generals become demi-gods. I think the patch fixed that.

[ziphnor]

Before installing VI i had the 1.1 patch installed, so i suppose it should be okay. Im gonna check out the enemy generals stats when i get home http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif