Rtw Tactics Guide

[The Stranger]

https://img381.imageshack.us/img381/1606/ststg3d0ca.jpg

RTW FACTIONS
-Gaul
-Britons
-Germania
-Spain
-Dacia
-Scythia
-Thrace
-Macedon
-Greek Cities
-Pontus
-Armenia
-Parthia
-Seleucia
-Egypt
-Numidia
-Carthage
-Julii
-Brutii
-Scipii
BI FACTIONS
-Sassanid Empire
-Franks
-Saxons
HINTS AND TIPS
-When Sieging
-Swimming
-Units Limited To Certain Areas
-Advantages Of Religion
-Emerging Factions
-Protectorates
-Bridge Battles
-Reinforcements And Night Battles
-Use Of Cavalry
-Relics In BI
Historical Tactics
-Hammer And Anvil
-Double Envelopment


RTW FACTIONS


Gaul:
Strong, balanced military. best unit: Foresters.
best way to survive early game: boot the britons out of europe before they get nasty ally to germania and spain and start kicking the julii out of italy. be wary of the senate army though

Britons
Strong infantry, weak cavalry. best unit (when not counting headhurlers) prolly heavy chariots or chosen swordsmen. best way to survive early game: keep you hold in europe at all costs and expand from there

Germania
Strong, offensive military, weak defense units. best unit: Berserkers. best way to survive early game: get rich provinces, get money and you'll do just fine.

Spain
Strong infantry, medium cavalry. best unit: bull warriors. best way to survive early game: kick everybody from the peninsula and look whether you north or south from there.

Dacia
strong balanced military. best unit: a good trained Falxman is deadly, noble cavalry. best way to survive early game: ??? i never played Dacia.

Scythia
strong cavalry, weak infantry. best unit: noble horsearchers. best way to survive early game: get income, and best way to do that is charge into trace and macedon, be careful of their phalanx though.

Thrace
strong balanced army. best unit: a good trained falxman is deadly. best way to survive early game: ally with dacia, scythia and macedon, then get Byzantium as fast as possible and try to get provinces on the turkish coast.

Macedon
very strong balanced military. best unit: companions or royal pikemen. best way to survive early game: kill the greeks, get byzantium and holdings on the turkish coast and make sure the Brutii doest get to much power in greece

Greek cities
strong infantry, weak cavalry. best unit: spartan hoplites. Best way to survive early game: ally to macedon and keep the brutii and scipii at bay. when you gain upperhand in those wars you can see and do what you want

Pontus
balanced military. best unit: bronze shields. best way to survive early game: ally with armenia, get byzantium as fast as possible so you have a hold in europe.

Armenia
strong cavalry, medium infantry. best unit: cataphract archers. bst way to survive early game: to get income and then or kill the parthians as fast as possible or kill the pontics as fast as possible...i recommend to ally to parthia and execute pontus so you can stroll in to turkey.

Parthia
very strong cavalry, weak infantry. best unit: cataphracts and eles. best way to survive early game: eliminate armenia and pontus so you can get free play in Turkey, or eliminate seleucia and go into turkey or egypt from there.

Seleucia
very strong, balanced military (though you must get high in the techtree). best unit: silver shield legionaries and armoured eles. best way to survive early game: get alliances with everyone. just keep the cashflow positive and build up huge funds. get to pikephalanx as fast as possible and youre ready for the confrontation.

Egypt
very strong, balanced military. best unit: pharaoh's guards. best way to survive early game: kick the the seleucids out of the game as fast as possible, your military is way better in the early game than that of the seleucids, after that you can choos to go west in to Nafrica or north into turkey.

Numidia
weak military. best unit: general ~D. best way to survive early game: no friggin clue, never played them. not attractiv enough

Carthage
strong, balanced military. best unit: armoured eles and both sacred band units. best way to survive early game: kick everyone out sicily. then choose to build up your military and invade: SPain, Numida, Italy, Egypt or greece. or gain naval superiority and block everybodies ports.

The Julii
very strong infantry, and strong cavalry (but expensive and it shouldnt be soo strong). best unit: Urban Cohort. best way to survive early game: drive the gauls behind the alps, build forts or station armies in the passes. from there you can go whereever you want. into greece, germania, dacia, Nafrica, gaul etc

The Brutii
same as julii. best way to survive early game: get all rebel cities in greece. then choose to attack macedon or greece. or ally to them and go for dacia and thrace. or go up and invade gaul or south and invade egypt and carthage.

The Scipii
same as julii. best way to survive early game: kick everybody from sicily and the world is there for you to grab.

BI FACTIONS


Sassanid Empire
strong cavalry, weak infantry (though the sughdians are good but limited to a few provinces. Best unit: Cataphracts and GENERAL (aka Clibarnii Immortals)...best way to survive early game: NO NEED TOO, JUST CHARGE YOUR LITERALLY ALMOST IMMORTAL CLIBARNII IMMORTALS HOME, THESE GUYS CAN OWN ENTIRE BATTLEFIELDS ON THEIR OWN, HAVE FUN CRUSHING EVERYONE ON YOUR PATH.

The Franks
good balanced army: best unit are the Paladins...best way to survive early game: There are two options. One: expand into the roman empire by or changing into a horde and settle somewhere or just rapidly blitz every bordercity. or Two: ally to the romans and leave some rebel cities left for the romans to expand there so they wont be to tempted to attack you, while you expand east into barbarian territory. but either way be up for some very hard fighting.

The Saxons
strong infantry, weak cavalry: best unit is saxon hearth troops..theyre pretty hard. and their situation is similar to the Danes in MTW. there are 2 rebel cities you can take early on and after that youll be bordered with many factions. from there U can expand further inwards or cross the sea and land in England.

HINTS AND TIPS


When sieging
when attacking
Dont attack with only only one ram when the enemy has archer or stone walls. the chance that the ram will be burned and youll loose the battle is to big.
when defending
its best to place archers and missile units on the walls but get them outa there before the enemy reaches the wall. put your infantry in the streets, esspecialy do it when your outnumbered, the numbers of the enemy cant be used at full advantage there. also try to get your cavalry around and charge the enemy in the back while youre infantry pins them down. :charge: :duel: :hanged:

Swimming (only BI)
be careful with ordering units to swim, they get exhausted very fast and theyll drown even faster. never order your general to swim cuz he can drown too and he will. a good strategy is to pin units down on the riverbank but be sure that your unit will not chase them or charge into the water.

Units Limited to Certain Provinces
Sughdian Warriors (Sassanids BI): limited to Atropatene, Armenia, Media, Assyria, Babylonia and Arabia Inferior (thanx to Antagonist
Elephants and Camels: only to provinces that have a elephant or camel rescourse. if they have that rescourse youll see a camel or elephant icon on the 3D stratmap.
Spartan Hoplites: limited to Sparta and in vanilla also to Syracuse.

Advantages of Religion (BI)
Christian Religion: It will enable alot of units for factions. not only priests wich are generally weak but also topclass cavalry like Paladins for the Franks and Lancers for the Burgundii and likewise factions. It will also benefit law, relics, retinues and traits and other stuff.
Zoroastrianism: It will mostly benefit Law and retinues and traits.
Pagan: Pagan religion is very diverse but it generally will add morale, experience or weapon bonusses.

Ancillaries
Ancillaries can be very useful. They can gain a general commandstars, boost morale and acumen. Only generals can get ancilleries (and Admirals, i believe). Ancillaries can be passed on from general to general, just put them in the same army or settlement and drag the ancillary from one general to the other. Each general can have up to 8 ancillaries. I advice to pass on every good ancillary to another (young) general when a general turns 60, because they now easier die of natural cause. Also pass bad ancilleries that some generals posses to those old generals, this way the bad ancillary dies with the general. Some ancillaries rule each other out. You can't have a doctor and a surgeon, or 2 kind of priests per example.
Some ancillaries require certain buildings to be build before they can occur. Like you need a temple to get a priest ancillary. But drunkards are more likely to occur when you have a Tavern (only for barbarian factions/cultures)
Some other ancillaries can only occur if the general has the right culture. Warlords only occur in barbarian factions while playwrights only occur in civilised cultures (roman, greek, eastern and carthaginian i believed). However you can pass those ancillaries from one culture to another. Per example you are Gaul and you bribed a roman general, you can pass his ancillaries to your generals, even the Roman ones (though i'm not sure, and i know that this can not be done in BI).

Migration and population growth
Small cities only grow very slow. A way to boost their population is to train peasants in cities that have high growing rate (doing this only makes them grow faster), vast amount of citizens or are squalored. Then migrate those peasants to the province you want to boost and disband them. This will add population equal to the amount of disbanded soldiers. I advice to use peasants because they are cheap, big and are no good anyway. Though any unit will do for this trick.

Emerging Factions (BI)
Romano British: Theyll emerge if you take Londinium and Eburacum. from my own experience you dont have to hold both provinces.
Slavs: Time Related, theyll emerge in 410 AD
Ostrogoths: The Ostrogoths will emerge when a gothic city rebels.
Roman Rebels: These will appear when a roman rebellion emerges. youll see this factions quite often. if you supply them with a light/heavy fund these factions can get quit succesful.

Protectorates
getting protectorates in 1.2v or higher is very lucrative. i recommend getting one or more as fast as possible.
pros:
1 Their provinces also count as yours in getting the 50 provinces + Rome (so you have 10 and they have 5...it says that you have 15 provinces)
2 They'll pay you allot of money every turn.
3 They cant break the protectorate allience only you can...however if you attack their ally they might not choose your side.
bug/cons: they wont expand theyre empire anymore. in my game they just sat and did nothing. i dont know if it is a bug or if it is becuz they pay nearly all their income to you
4 Protectorates are also lucrative since they don't give you any trouble concerning from being too far form capital, which is a major pro. especially if your playing as say the Julii and your having trouble with the newly conquered parthian towns...

Bridge Battles
Under Construction

Reinforcements and Night Battles
Under Construction

The Use Of Cavalry
FIRST, NEVER FRONTALLY CHARGE SPEARMAN. Cavalry in the roman era was never intended to play the same role as in the medieval ages. it was meant to scout and screen the flanks. the best way to use cavalry is to pin the enemy down with infantry and charge your cavalry in the flank or rear. you can also lure the enemy out formation with a cavalry unit, when the enemy follows that one you charge another cavalry unit in the lured units rear make sure both of your units hit the lured unit at the same time. when doing this your timing must be perfect (especially when charging heavy infantry) it can be the difference between your units routing or theirs.
Horse Archers
these are a special chapter within cavalry. Horse archers are fast, prolly among the fasted units youll encounter. their deadly advantage lies in the fact that they can shoot their arrows while keeping themselves out of enemies hands. some HA are even capable of melee vs light/medium troops, dont rely on them however to break any medium/heavy unit frontally.
Factions with good HA: Parthia/Armenia/Sarmatia in RTW. Huns/Sarmatians/Roxolanii/Sassanids in BI

Relics in BI
more coming soon about this

Historical Tactics


The Hammer and Anvil
Used effectively by by macedonian kings this tactic became famous under the rule of Alexander the Great. He used his pezhetairoi (pikemen) as the anvil. they held the enemy at bay while his Companions and other cavalry tried to get around and crush the enemy from behind and the flanks. So they as the hammer squashed the the enemy against the anvil. (ill make a diagram soon till then...here's a link (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=58566) to a diagram made by ARCADE81 showing the tactic with shogun units)
more tactics coming soon

Double Envelopment, thanx to Ludens
Single envelopment is essentially that one flank of an army wraps around the opposing flank of the enemy army. Double envelopment means that both flanks wrap around the opposing enemy flanks.

I think Cannae is the first time where it was planned manouvre. The Romans played perfectly to Hannibal's plan by throwing their entire army at his weak centre. The centre fell back but did not rout (which is a testament to the soldiers' discipline and trust in their commander), drawing the Romans in and thus exposing the Roman flanks to Hannibal's Libyan infantry. Arround that time, Hannibal's elite cavalry had finished trampling over their Roman opponents and returned to seal of the trap (yet another example of their strong discipline, as victorious cavalry usually went on pursuing their opponents or started plundering the enemy camp). The result was the biggest slaughter of a Roman army ever. This is the classic example of a double envelopment, and of how a experienced, well-led army can defeat far greater forces.

My Tactics
https://img482.imageshack.us/img482/7996/dia12gr.th.jpg (https://img482.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dia12gr.jpg)
https://img482.imageshack.us/img482/1686/dia16ek.th.jpg (https://img482.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dia16ek.jpg)
https://img482.imageshack.us/img482/697/dia13gk.th.jpg (https://img482.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dia13gk.jpg)
https://img482.imageshack.us/img482/1871/dia10oz.th.jpg (https://img482.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dia10oz.jpg)
https://img482.imageshack.us/img482/10/dia16pp.th.jpg (https://img482.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dia16pp.jpg)

LINK TO A SEEMINGLY ANNOYING BUG
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=55510 (THREAD)
QUIETUS TOTAL WAR GUIDE
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=45315 (QUIETUS''S TW GUIDE)
HERE ARE LINKS TO FACTION GUIDES, WHERE YOU CAN ASK QUESTIONS
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=36843 (GUIDES TABLE)
A link to another Battle Guide of WoadWarrior, very useful
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=63532

[The Stranger]

not that anyone cares but updated

[Kraxis]

I do think people care, but I think that most people who are here might be a little more veteran, so they likely know all this.

The Entrance Hall or the Guides forum might be a better place.

[The Stranger]

i cant post threads in the guides forum, i tried but it refused. i'm not allowed it said. maybe nelson wants to move it to the entrance hall or guide forum...makes no difference for me

[The Stranger]

edited some mistakes out of it...and again requestiong for this thread to be moved...i'll pm nelson about it

[Nelson]

Ask, and ye shall receive...

[Papewaio]

Its a good primer for players. Even if you have played it before, it is good to see factions you might not have tried.

[The Stranger]

ill update it soon with some attack tacics. and does sumone want to do the BI factions

[The Stranger]

updated

[Dutch_guy]

to which provinces are the Slughdian warriors limited ?

I noticed this in my recent Sassanid campaign, thought it was a bug, but it clearly isn't.

:balloon2:

[Antagonist]

As far as I can see, Sughdian Warriors are only available for recruitment at these
settlements: Atropatene, Armenia, Media, Assyria, Babylonia and Arabia Inferior. The Sassanid home provinces, pretty much.

Antagonist

[The Stranger]

updated with Regiion Limited Units and Religion Bonusses. more coming today

[Dutch_guy]

BTW , in my Frankish campaign, the Slavs emerged at 410AD, not at around 400 . :bow:

:balloon2:

[The Stranger]

thats pretty close to 400 but they wont appear before 400

[Dutch_guy]

yes , the won't

:balloon2:

[Craterus]

Slavs emerge 410 AD every time, no matter what.. It's the trigger.

[The Stranger]

updated

[The Stranger]

this wont be updated till i have my edit button back...thats round 11 november

[Papewaio]

Or you could post it here and with directions I can past it in the correct section... :bow:

[The Stranger]

oke
i'll update it friday cuz i have exams first, i might do some minor updates if it isnt too much work for you :bow: thanx greet babywaio for me

[Drisos]

Nice work m8! looks good for new players ~:)

anyways good to see this solved in such good way... nice work Pape! :bow:

[Papewaio]

Well if you must know it is the first thread I have ever stickied. ~D :bow:

[Drisos]

really? ~:) that took long then ~D but I meant that you'd edit his post because he can't anymore~;) ~:)

[Quietus]

:::clap clap clap:::. Nice show Umeu!! ~:pat:

[Drisos]

Hey Quietus!

Good to see you again m8!! ~:)~:cheers:

[The Stranger]

https://img387.imageshack.us/img387/6999/sts3a0vt.jpg
Made by Quietus, thanx mate....Pape would you put this in my post...above i want etc...just totally on the top...thanx :bow:

[The Stranger]

The Use Of Cavalry
FIRST, NEVER FRONTALLY CHARGE SPEARMAN. Cavalry in the roman era was never intended to play the same role as in the medieval ages. it was meant to scout and screen the flanks. the best way to use cavalry is to pin the enemy down with infantry and charge your cavalry in the flank or rear. you can also lure the enemy out formation with a cavalry unit, when the enemy follows that one you charge another cavalry unit in the lured units rear make sure both of your units hit the lured unit at the same time. when doing this your timing must be perfect (especially when charging heavy infantry) it can be the difference between your units routing or theirs.
Horse Archers
these are a special chapter within cavalry. Horse archers are fast, prolly among the fasted units youll encounter. their deadly advantage lies in the fact that they can shoot their arrows while keeping themselves out of enemies hands. some HA are even capable of melee vs light/medium troops, dont rely on them however to break any medium/heavy unit frontally.
Factions with good HA: Parthia/Armenia/Sarmatia in RTW. Huns/Sarmatians/Roxolanii/Sassanids in BI

[The Stranger]

eh put that beneath Protectorates

i need to friggin wait 10 minutes to post another post

[Dutch_guy]

I have another suggestion, for the protectorate section:

It may be wise to also say that protectorates are lucrative since they don't give you any trouble concerning from being too far form capital, which is a major pro. especially if your playing as say the Julii and your having trouble with the newly conquered parthian towns...

:balloon2:

[The Stranger]

i agree, this can be added under 3 from protectorate pro

4 protectorates are also lucrative since they don't give you any trouble concerning from being too far form capital, which is a major pro. especially if your playing as say the Julii and your having trouble with the newly conquered parthian towns...

[Random_butter]

Nice guide, i was just wondering how you go about getting proctorates and anyone i have asked (in official forums) says that they are of no use because they take all ur money, is this fixed in 1.3? or is completly false?

[The Stranger]

its fixed...it was already fixed in 1.2...this thread will be updated soon but im quite busy right now...in 3 weeks ill have vacation and i plan to finish the thread then

[Guns N Roses]

Nice Guide~:)

[NOOBMASTER]

i love the guide :san_cheesy:

ill nominate you in the hof awards for this :san_grin:

:san_smiley: :san_smiley: :san_smiley: i love the smileys too :san_smiley: :san_smiley:

[The Stranger]

thanx...but i dont think its neccesary to nominate me for that...and come to think of it...can juniors vote???

[SomeNick]

Excellent effort The Stranger. :2thumbsup:

I especially like the tactical diagrams too!

[The Stranger]

Excellent effort The Stranger. :2thumbsup:

I especially like the tactical diagrams too!

thanx...my edit button will be back soon and im planning to update it with some new factions and new tactics

HUH ITS BACK AND I DIDNT NOTICED

GUYS one of these days it will be Updated ;D

[The Stranger]

UPDATED but my msn horny cousin wants on the pc so i couldnt do more

[Monarch]

Very nice (I'm still in only my second campaign, so the info about all different factions is useful.)

One thing you could say though is that the best way to survive early game varies on difficulty level. For instance you said about how Greeks should ally with Macedon, well on easy its...well pretty easy to kill off Macedon early game.

[The Stranger]

umh yes thhats quite right. but its my experience and this is the way i found it most useful and not all players know and are so experienced that they can take a country so early on...but yur right indeed that it varies from difficulty but also from player to player

[The Stranger]

updated with Franks, Saxons and Historical tactics

[SirGrotius]

Interesting stuff, thanks.

[Antagonist]

Yes, it's becoming a really useful compilation. Do you consider it your project, or are you accepting community contributions? I know I have a bunch of infostuff on the religions/religious buildings in BI somewhere.

Antagonist

[The Stranger]

i already asked a few times if people could do some BI factions but nobody reacted. i guess it also goes for religion. no problem ill be happy to put it in if its good and ill also say that its thanx to you and not me. just look at historical tactics...though i kinda stole that without ludens permission :P

[Monarch]

I guess I could start a new topic with this, but perhaps it's a little something you could add to your guide.

How do you change your faction leaders religion in BI?I'm still early on in my Vandal campaign, and Rome is close to rebelling because I'm pagan. I know it relies on faction leaders and governors, but how do you get those guys to change religions?

[The Stranger]

ehmm...i think you have to start with the heir...i dont know if U can change the faction leaders religion just like that. its a long process. first u make the city the religion u want. second u keep yur faction leader in it and make sure the heir comes out there. and etc or just bribe christian general and make him heir...but im not the expert on this matter

[Romulas]

During a campaign as the Saxons I got a christian leader (note to self always check religion no matter the number of stars). It seemed before I new it I had three christian generals causing characters in region and faction leader religion problems. I put all christian generals/faction leader into to one small fast moving army. They almost wiped out a mid size Celtic army by them selves.

Or...

If the problem is severe the generals with the wrong religion could go for a boat ride. It won't gain you anything but it is quicker.

[Leonin Khan]

I post for The Stranger

and i have some news to share. The Stranger is banned (again) due his own stupidity and the finish of this thread has been postponded for another 30 days. though he also says that he will finish most on his pc and then paste it in a big update

thank you for your patience :bow:

[BHCWarman88]

this guide is cool :-) :-)

[BelgradeWar]

Very nice guide, pretty much covers everything a new player should know.

And a good account on hammer and anvil...I especially like to catch a enemy phalanx between two of my own...I like to call it a "meat grinder":)

[The Stranger]

thank U for all your nice comments...though im failing u...it was supposed to be finished a month ago :P

[Avicenna]

Cannae would be a great tactic, but I think the AI would probably try to face all my infantry at once instead of do what the Romans did. A nice statistic you should add is the one fifth of all romans died on that day, and the number of deaths in one day was never as high until the battle of the Somme (in WWI!!)

[Dutch_guy]

An off topic remark here :

What will happend to this thread while TS is away, it wouln't be nice to just let it remain un updated and let it wither away...

:balloon2:

[Avicenna]

Wait, Sarmatia is in RTW Vanilla? I thought it was Scythians...

[Diurpaneus]

Very intresting tactics The Stranger:bow:

[Dutch_guy]

Wait, Sarmatia is in RTW Vanilla? I thought it was Scythians...

yes you're right, though I think TS meant the Scythians when he said Sarmatians - if it indeed concerned Vanilla Rome.

:balloon2:

[Telys]

Something else i noticed with protectorates is, most of the time, if you try to make a deal with a protectorate ie map information for map information etc. usually they respond by cancelling your alliance.

[Dutch_guy]

yes, as you've probably noticed TTC, protectorates are very bugged in Rome.

After the latest patch they behaved a little better, though not nearly as good as we'd hope they would function.

:balloon2:

[ArnoldLol]

my protectorates behaved very well...though they stopped expanding and maybe stopped producing units as well

[Dutch_guy]

One could argue if that should be seen as very well :beam:

:balloon2:

[ArnoldLol]

hmmm maybe. do you think there is a spot for me left in the org Gah-zette...i like to write stories, but i could do other things as well

[Dutch_guy]

I'm sure If you'd PM Ian, he'll answer any question for you - concerning the Gah zette and other thing s you might want to know.

And I'm sure he be glad to take you abord we need all the help we can get !

Though if you'd like, I''ll tell Ian you'd like to do some work - just let me know

:balloon2:

[Tellos Athenaios]

A very short question: doesn't a protectorate equal a client state?
If yes: then doesn't that mean you grant it military protection, so they don't have to fight for themselves? That would explain why the faction quit's building armies. (It doesn't have to be a bug, it could be meant that way.)

[Telys]

A very short question: doesn't a protectorate equal a client state?
If yes: then doesn't that mean you grant it military protection, so they don't have to fight for themselves? That would explain why the faction quit's building armies. (It doesn't have to be a bug, it could be meant that way.)
That usually how I play it out. If one of my protectorates begins to lose a war I'll step in, defeat their enemy, and give the conquered lands to them.

[ArnoldLol]

i'd prefer that you would ask him actually...but if you dont have time...i'll ask him

[Dutch_guy]

I'm on it Sun Glass, you'll hear from me soon.

:balloon2:

[The Stranger]

This Thread will be updated SOON

[The Stranger]

updated,

with Migration and Ancillaries

[Dutch_guy]

Good to see this thread up and running again !

Continue the good work TS

:balloon2:

[The Stranger]

thank you

[Quietus]

Wb Umeu,

A little siggy update.

https://img235.imageshack.us/img235/6171/suvh7cn.jpg

[The Stranger]

thanx mate, long time no see. how are you...got msn?


btw the sig rocks

[The Stranger]

if there are any suggestions i'd like to here them. contributions are also welcome

[][GERUDO][Mojoman]

to become good u have to first find out which units can beat which units 1v1....then just carry on practicing and working out advance strategies...remember, never charge too quickly if there is another option like going around and flank/rearing the enemy, or an oppurtunity to charge somewhere weaker and more routable....

jsut my little snippet of basic strategy, now u gusy can all laugh at it :laugh4:

[The Stranger]

well though it is basic. it is good advice and when you dont know the basics youll never get good. so i dont see no reason to laugh.

Welcome to the .Org btw

[The Spartan (Returns)]

does this men The Stranger is back?

[Andres]

Well, this is a tactic I use frequently while playing the Huns (only on "open" field, not while sieging):

My Hunnic armies consists of cavalry mainly (Hunnic horse archers and Hunnic heavy cavalry). I always make two groups of Hunnic Horse Archers and two groups of Hunnic Heavy Cavalry.

I send one group of HHA to the right flank of the enemy and the other to the left flank. One group HHC follows the "Right" HHA group, the others follows the Left HHA Group.

My HHA's start firing missiles at the enemy (I leave them on "fire at will"). If the army doesn't move, I let the HHA's fire all their missiles until they have nothing left. If the enemy does move, I 'll try to tear them apart and my HHC groups come in, attacking one unit at a time, normally in the rear or the flank. If the unit is broken I immediately pull back to attack another enemy unit with the whole HHC group.

Battles become pretty chaotic but if you pay carefully attention and if you react quickly, you'll do just fine. Sometimes one of the HHC groups gets to fight multiple units. In that case, have the other HHC group leave wichever fight they're into and try to attack the units that keep the other HHC group busy in the rear or flank.

This tactic is all about speed and reacting very quickly. Batlles are pretty chaotic but (especially when used against "infantry-factions") it is oh so effective and you'll beat the enemy with a minimum of losses.

Hope this will help anyone out there.

[Andres]

Ok, here comes another one.

While playing the Saxons, my newly forged empire got invaded by the Vandals (in current Germany). I had a serious cash problem at the time, and most of my armies were busy in France.

As garrisons I had Levy Spearman, loads of hunter bowmen and a few Saxon Raiders (light cavalry).

I merged +/- 6 units of Levy Spearman, +/- 6 units of hunter bowmen, 3 units of Saxon Raiders and a 0-star family member.

I moved my army to mountaineous terrain and as I expected, the Vandals couldn't resist to attack me.

I made a line of Levy Spearman on to off a hill. I made two Hunter bowmen groups and two cavalry groups.

Bowmen on the flanks, behind them the cavalry.

When the Vandals came, they sent their HA to my flanks while the rest of their army marched slowly towards my position.

I pulled out the archers and let them fire missiles from the top of my hill on the Horse Archers. I always let the three units of bowmen shoot at one unit of HA. Most of the time two units of HA (one by each group of hunter bowmen) were completely killed before they had fired one arrow to my troops.

The rest of the HA-units got destroyed or seriously weakend before the rest of the Vandal army got near my Spearman. The levy, if you they have some experience bonus, really rock: the pillae they throw are really devastating. Meanwhile I reatreated my archers behind the infantry lines so they could shoot their remaining missiles at the enemy. Whatever unit that didn't rout after the javelins where thrown, I attacked in the flank with one of my two cavalry groups.

This proved to be an awesome defensive strategy being outnumbered with "low quality" troops against a Horde. Or is it only because AI is pretty stupid?

[The Stranger]

does this men The Stranger is back?

I guess it does :) i have vacation so i have time to update the thread. Any help will be appreciated. I'm currently occupied with The Writing Contest, but i expect to be finished with that tomorrow. So ill guess that ill update friday or saturday.

[The Stranger]

Andres

als je er tijd voor hebt wil je die laatste formatie uitbeelden in een plaatje. dat zou erg handig zijn. bedankt alvast.

[Andres]

I'd love to post images concerning my tactis, but...

How?

I can draw them on paper, scan them in, but then... I noticed if I click on the images, I'm referred to something called "imageshack".

:help:

In case there's a whole explanation about this is some of your FAQ's or something, I apologize for this post :oops:

[The Stranger]

do you have a pc? i mean at home... if not maybe you can do it at work.

you use microsoft powerpoint.and draw just the formation, not the tactic. ill type the tactic next to it. in my faq on the bottom you can find linked images. you can use them as example.

[Ludens]

I can draw them on paper, scan them in, but then... I noticed if I click on the images, I'm referred to something called "imageshack".
You need to host them somewhere. There are several sites where you can do this. The most popular are Imageshack (www.imageshack.us) and Photobucket. I haven't used Photobucket, but Imageshack is quite easy to use. Just follow the instructions for uploading and than copy the text for either a thumbnail or a full picture and paste it into your post (I recommend thumbnails when you also want to add text to the post: a full picture will stretch the post box beyond the limits of my monitor). The Org also has got its own hosting facilities (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=26606), but they are not as easy to use and you have to wait until the staff moves the pictures to the right folder.

Welcome to the Org, BTW ~:wave: .

[Andres]

Powerpoint? PC's?

Grumph! *swings his sword, shows his fists* :furious3:

I'm a barbarian warlord, I only crash skulls and shout some commands to my brave warriors! :viking:

Images, drawing?! Humph! Who do you think I am? A bloody artist? You mean I have to leave the field of honor and stop crushing those petty Romanboys with their fancy Armani-uniforms?

Oh well then, I'll get to it.

*shakes his head*


Thnx for the advise guys (and for the warm welcome). :2thumbsup:

[The Stranger]

when youre a full member drob by in the frontroom. check the talk your own language thread ;)

[Andres]

I already checked it out. It's quite funny.

Can't wait to unleash my sophisticated dutch... Not to mention my french.

Mais bon, évidemment il faut attendre le "full membership"...

[The Stranger]

yeah...right... Barbarian :no:

[Andres]

Ok, I speak more then one language.

So I'm a smart Barbarian, but nevertheless a barbarian: I have a beard, red hear, I'm dirty, I stink, I have loads of hair on my chest and in my armpit, I have filthy teeth, I don't wash my clothes, at 10 ° Celsius I already start sweating...

Did I mention I stink? And I only bow for those whose smell is at least 5 times worse then mine.

And I don't use toiletpaper!

Convinced, you little clean fake-Batavian barbarian? Bah! Guess you take a shower everyday

*disgusted*

[The Stranger]

twice a day *proudly adds*

[The Stranger]

sorry guys. ive been very busy and i havent got any time to work on the Tactics Thread. ill try to get to it as fast as i can.

oh and Andres, your story was very funny :D

[Moros]

you speak french? Please say you're Belgian. ANother dutch is just what we need...sigh. ~;)

btw: was that stroy about aoks don't jump yours?

[The Stranger]

yeah it was, but enough off topic now. well im off to wathc BLACKBEARD

[Andres]

Yep, I'm Belgian.

We are the bravest of all Gauls, Mister Caesar said so himself (i.t.t. onze Nederlandse vrienden, die veeleer het predicaat "de gierigsten van alle Germanen" verdienen :laugh4: )

And the story about jumping oaks was mine idd. If one's English simply isn't good enough to compete with all those Shakespeareske stories, one is obliged to draw some attention to him with an absurd one...

[The Stranger]

damn... its destickied... of to ask why?

[Andres]

https://img307.imageshack.us/img307/2462/saxonvsvandalszj2.jpg (https://imageshack.us)

Ok, first time ever I use imageshack, hopefully, you'll see the picture...

This is the formation as described in my previous post about my Saxon army against the Vandals.

As I said, my bowmen decimated the Horse Archers before the rest of the Vandal army could reach my line of Levy Spears. At that time, most of the Horse Archers were history and my archers where firing their remaining missiles on the enemy infantry. The units that didn't rout, got peppered with pillae and flanked by the cavalry units. I recommend having your cavalry always "escort" your archers as long as the Horse Archers keep coming, just to keep the horse archers from coming too close to your lines.

I think in general, this tactic will work against any enemy army that contains lots of horse archers.

(Sorry for the drawing, as I said, I'm no artist)

[Andres]

:furious3:

Very annoying that I can't edit my posts as a Junior Member...

Forgot to mention that this tactic is perfect if you can't afford to lose many soldiers. I won 4 battles, each time against a full stack, and lost 25 men, most of them killed by my own archers :oops:

Key element is to find a piece of land on the campaign map with mountaineous terrain. And I'm not talking about a hill. I mean a serious mountain.

I think the Vandals were very foolish to attack me four times :wall: . They should have ignored my army and continued their raids on my land...

[Moros]

Yep, I'm Belgian.

We are the bravest of all Gauls, Mister Caesar said so himself (i.t.t. onze Nederlandse vrienden, die veeleer het predicaat "de gierigsten van alle Germanen" verdienen :laugh4: )

And the story about jumping oaks was mine idd. If one's English simply isn't good enough to compete with all those Shakespeareske stories, one is obliged to draw some attention to him with an absurd one...
Thank god! (kisses the earth) Ah yes... Horum omnium Belgae fortisimi sunt.
Liked it tough it was rather absurd but then again quite entertaining.

Edit: I have an edit button, I have an edit button. Oh well just wait a bit and you'll have one you can enjoy all the time. Unless you spam a bit like our freind. ~;)

[WarMachine420]

:furious3:

Very annoying that I can't edit my posts as a Junior Member...

Forgot to mention that this tactic is perfect if you can't afford to lose many soldiers. I won 4 battles, each time against a full stack, and lost 25 men, most of them killed by my own archers :oops:

Key element is to find a piece of land on the campaign map with mountaineous terrain. And I'm not talking about a hill. I mean a serious mountain.

I think the Vandals were very foolish to attack me four times :wall: . They should have ignored my army and continued their raids on my land...

oh is THAT why I can't edit a post?

Now I'm a pretty bright guy, but have yet to figure out what correlation member status and editing posts has to do with one another.

30+ posts. 3+ weeks since registering. I'm still a Junior Member as well. Maybe at 10,000 posts I'll be able to edit :2thumbsup:

:wall: sorry...just a little tired of technicalities today after spending the last half hour trying to get imageshack to work (sheer garbage)

[The Stranger]

Hey GG watch your tongue, i have edit button now ;)

Andres thanx for posting, did you really meant 25 men, because that is not much to loose, on what settings do you play?

[Moros]

Hey I have the right to tease you once in a while. And you have the same right.






You may tease yourselve once in a while too.

[Andres]

Well, since it was my first campaign on BI, I played M/M, just to give it a try.

Yet another post to add to my account ... :cheerleader:

[The Stranger]

naar de stembus, ik voer een campagne.

[Andres]

Since I participate myself in the Writing Contest, I feel it's inappropriate to vote myself.

Sorry Stranger...

[The Stranger]

ahahhaha np, but anyways, you should... ah never mind im not going to win from principles

[Moros]

Since I participate myself in the Writing Contest, I feel it's inappropriate to vote myself.

Sorry Stranger...
A belgian with principles? You certainly aren't from Flanders are you? ~;)

[Andres]

Indeed I am, although one would doubt that, with all those French speaking people living here in Flemish-Brabant who refuse to learn Dutch.

Their souls shall burn in hell!

But I got this feeling nobody here is intrested in Belgian politics. Guess it's way too far off topic (or should I say "off forum"?) I guess.

Sorry :oops:

Won't do it again. :sorry:

[The Stranger]

For the mods that read this, could someone please tell me why this is destickied, and maybe thy care to re-sticky it again. Thanx

[Moros]

Indeed I am, although one would doubt that, with all those French speaking people living here in Flemish-Brabant who refuse to learn Dutch.

Their souls shall burn in hell!

But I got this feeling nobody here is intrested in Belgian politics. Guess it's way too far off topic (or should I say "off forum"?) I guess.

Sorry :oops:

Won't do it again. :sorry:
Well I am! (bloody french speaking community...I bet they work together with the Chinese...bloody chinese...~;))

[Andres]

I'll start a new thread then:

"Discussion about Belgian politics"

[The Stranger]

i just discovered a new tactic while playing EB, ill post it soon

[The Stranger]

where are the mods,,?

[Moros]

What's your tactic?

[The Stranger]

i want it stickied first.

[Moros]

lol.

[Bombasticus Maximus]

If this has been wrote yet or not who knows.

The best way to suvrive with dacia is head into asia minor or germany so you have something fall back on when the romans come. :2thumbsup:

[Orb]

Bombasticus, where are you for 12th century glory?

[Bombasticus Maximus]

That RPG? I don't understand it and no one helped.

[The Stranger]

the factiob tactics are described in my first post ;)

[The Spartan (Returns)]

motion to sticky... (like Electic's thread)

[The Stranger]

it was stickied but now its not... and there are no mods around... i pm one but still no answer...

[Moros]

You know they're to lazy to pm you.

But if you forget to type ****** instead of a word starting with an F you'll have a pm within seconds. Pff lozy moderators...~;)

Hehehe...I was just kidding divine moderators. You guys can appreciate a little joke, no? hehe.
























...I'm dead.

[Andres]

Maybe you should try to type: will you sticky this?

But then without the ***

But I'm too scared to do it.

I know, I'm a coward.

Mithrandir : edited language

[The Stranger]

theyre just on a holiday...

[The Spartan (Returns)]

i wonder why they unstickied it. it was a good thread.

[The Stranger]

they unstickied all stickies except these 4 that are left...

[The Stranger]

Mithrandir, would you please like to sticky this or otherwise tell me why it is not going to be stickied again.

Thanks in advance.

[Mithrandir]

i wonder why they unstickied it. it was a good thread.
It still is, except for the spam.

It's unstickied because all of the stickies cluttered the forum. Now only the ones which are important for all new patrons (so not just the RTW players) are on top.

So please continue with this thread and once 'finished' I'll copy it to the Colloseum. Spamming makes it harder to read so isn't constructive and will hence be deleted.

-Mithrandir

[The Stranger]

eh... the entire thread or just the spam?

and what you need is in the first post... whats important is pasted there... you dont have to read the other posts

[Mithrandir]

Only the spam. So if everything is in the first post, the other ones can be deleted ?

This forum is to answer the questions of new members,show them what the Org is all about and show them what conduct is expected from them. It is not a place to increase your post count, there are some threads in the front room for that I believe.

:bow:

[The Stranger]

well yeah. the other posts can be deleted i guess.

but the reason it was moved to the entrancehall was because most people in the colloseum already knew this. and since the juniors can only post to ask questions here... we all guessed this was the right place.

[The Stranger]

check it out

[The Wandering Scholar]

Glad I stumbled upon this

[wumpus]

Nice guide this... I don't know why I discovered this only now. Any contribution to better tactics would be very welcome to me. Great job, akeh!
Hawooh.

[The Wandering Scholar]

A shameless bump by me could have been the answer, it was dead and buried. I know! a gem like this :beam:

[The Stranger]

:O look at the amount of spelling mistakes :P

[coalition]

:O look at the amount of spelling mistakes :P
This is some ancient topic.

[Monk]

This is some ancient topic.

Why yes, it is.

Please do not bump old threads if you have nothing useful to add to them. Such actions constitute spam.

[Celtic_Punk]

Legit question, not just spam or bump


Why do you only mention sassanids franks and saxons in the BI factions?

Celts are also a new faction, so are romano british ect.

[Youngie]

Some great info there Stranger thanks very much. I use your first defensive formation offten and it works extremly well, i would recomend it to anyone who's in a tight spot.