How to play Irish in MTW:VI?

[invalidopcode]

I was just wondering if anybody had any hints for playing the Irish in MTW:VI (difficulty=hard)

The dart throwers and spear thrower seem to be useless. Everytime I try to use them they get like 1 volley off and then get rolled over - even when I put them at the top of a very steep hill.

And what units do you use for offense in the hills and/or forests?

About the only good thing is that you can take over the isle pretty quickly and then rule the oceans. I can always get a few provinces but eventually the Saxons come rolling along with their armored dudes and totally wipe my forces out. Ideas and hints are welcome... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

TIA,

[Rocket_Boy]

The Irish skirmish units require quite a bit of micromanagement to be effective. They should be taken off skirmish mode and put into hold formation. Guard them from cav at all costs If they are charged by infantry run them away whilst charging the infantry with anti-infantry infantry of your own such as gallowglasses.

1st step should be the takeover of Ireland. Then build up one or two provinces to start making quality upgraded troops.
Then you can start to dominate the seas. Have groups of 3 or more ships and you should be able to defeat any pesky viking raiders.
Islands such as the Isle of Man (think its called Mannu) should be your next target.

Now you have a base which provides you with good funds and as long as your navy holds cannot be attacked, pick a corner of the mainland either from the top or bottom and work your way down or up from there. Try to attack whichever faction is strongest and ally with the weaker ones. Also you can use your sea dominance to raid/take over your enemy's lightly defended provinces. Take it slowley and don't overextend yourself and you should see success as the Irish. Now turn that map green

[Heraclius]

My advice for fighting with an irish army is realaitvely simple once you get the hang of it-hold the enemy in the front with armored spearmen, hit them in the flanks with gallowglasses, ride your cavalry around them and attack the rear while setting your skrimishers to hold and having some pelt the enemy army while the others to the same from the rear. Once they're out of ammo bonnachts make decent infantry as well.
On the campaign map my advice would be to take the rebel provinces first, switch your troops producing to the southern province (name) which has armor and weapons upgrades and then take the Scottish province in the north. You'll need large garrisons because of the Vikings. Also put about three ships in every sea around you territory and devote one or two prvoinces completely to ship building-you many not win many of the naval battles (or any for that matter) but at least they'll the Vikings will have a hard time invading.
when you've united Ireland you can either invade Wales and then head east and south into the Saxon provinces or start in the south Saxon provinces and make your way up north. Whatever you do playing the Irish is still very fun.

[ichi]

Invalid:

Very similar to the great ideas above.

Group a spear unit and missile (dartmen, bonnacht, or kern) together with the spears in front (4-5 deep) and the missile close behind. Make the missile unit just as wide as your spears.

Put them both on Hold position/Hold Formation. Charge to get the charge bonus. Then send gallows or cav around to the back.

You will probably take some friendly fire, so it helps if your spears have a little valor/morale.

Be patient and use your speed, but avoid head on smashing into heavier armies.

For the strategic part, build up Ireland as much as you can before you go for England. Build up a few ships too.

Use mercs. Buy units that you cannot make, like good cav and some Saxon-type 'armor dudes'

ichi

[Vanya]

GAH

Dartmen are awesome They are the absolute cheapest unit in the game maintenance-wise... 15 florins vs 37 for friggin' peasants

Concentrate dart fire from 3-4 units and they are devastating.

Vanya swept the isles and handed the people clovers and leprechaun cloths as His conquering army of Riverdance folk took the lands for themselves.

GAH

[hrvojej]

I usually put javelinthrowers on engage at will. In hold formation, they stay rigid if somebody crashes into them, and usually go bye-bye immediately. The volley that they manage to throw will kill a significant portion of attackers and demoralize them, and all you have to do after that is kill a few more and they'll run. For that, I use either infantry charging through them or around them, and javelinthrowers themselves can help as well. Now that javelins are much more frequent in the game, they are my prefered method of killing royals, generals, and heavy troops. You lose them, sure, but they are cheap to replenish, and it hurts the enemy much more than it hurts me. And although they die easily, the volley is so devastating that the enemy will usually rout much before my javelinthrowers lose enough men to rout themselves. And if the attacker decides to stall of the attack after the first volley, well, that's even worse for them. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Other useful strategies are already metioned positioning them at flanks or in the back, but that depends on whether you have time and wide enough line for that or not, and whether your frontline can hold long enough for you to manouver them around. Direct approach is more lethal for both sides, but just as effective.

[invalidopcode]

Thanks to everyone for all the great advice. Because of it, I was able to take advantage of the Irish spear/dart throwing units and dominate the battlefield. It takes a little getting used to since your spear/dart guys are so close to the action but once you do, it is a sight to behold...

I have will forever have images in my mind of a volley of spears from the Bonnachs completely mowing down the approaching enemy. Muwhaaaa.

[Portuguese Rebel]

I think the irish are the underdogs in VI (talking about units only). The gallow(something) are supposed to be elite units, but then again after a few casualtys they run away like scared scout girls. I can't believe this was the case. Maybe some irish dude would like to put up a defense for the dark age irish army. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[t1master]

my experience has been that ulster to the north and munster to the south are key provences to hold. the rest of ireland is not so great. but these two provences can pump out a ton of cash and armor/weapon upgrades. peace with the vikings is paramount, lest they sink your navy and leave you stranded. i cannot compete with the viks on the seas, so i try and win their friendship, mostly by bloodying their nose real good on their first few raids into eire. if you can keep them from sinking your ships, you can expand into scottland, and build up a few provences there that will be powerhouses like ulster/munster.

imo, weapon and armor upgrades are manditory for the irish. i even found myself retraining units to get those upgrades.

having no bows puts you at a disadvantage on the field.. i like the spears up front, bonnacts on the wings, gallows behind the spears, and some kerns or dartmen loosely behind the bonnacts. the irish are a fast moving army, pretty much a rush job, you don't wanna stand and take arrow fire... but with proper upgrades the irish javelin men can decimate an enemy formation before they close... bonnacts and kerns are good in melee if they're flanking, and upgraded gallows, imo can chase most viking units off the map. but they are hard to win with, especially in mp, but that's another topic.

gl

[ziphnor]

I can see why it would be hard. I attacked ireland as the picts in my game, and the Irish armies were real push-overs
With all their skirmishers, they have a real problem when you show up with a some long-ranger firepower.
In one particular battle i managed to pull an irish army totally out of its defensive position on a very large hill, by simply shooting a little at them with pic. X-bows.

Good luck http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[ShadesPanther]

I was the Scots and they attacked Ulster but wereno match for my HC with armour upgrades. They attacked every year and lost about 500-700 men each year. this carried on for 5 years. I thn got mercs to hold ulster (carls no less http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif)
and proceeded to cature Meath (well its called something else but it is meath). after 2 years my merc army lost but i managed to get it back by sending troops from western Pictland. overall the Irish get lots of troops but they aren't all that tough to beat so really tactics is what you need and alot of them http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif

[Satyr]

I played as Ireland and mostly built Gallowglasses. Fully upgraded with weapons and armor they even stand up to Huscarles pretty well. Build upgraded Cav and armored Spears and hire all Mercenary Archers you can. I had no trouble taking over the world. Your home base is safe so if you lose a battle or two it doesn't leave you open to counter attack.

Make friends with the Vikings.