tailoring armies to preferred tactics

[tirgor]

ok we've all heard about the balanced armies bit and the swordsmen rush type armies but how many people sit down and base an army on a certain style and stick to it?

i'm just curious, my last factions were the polish and the danes

for the danes i tended to ignore missile troops altogether and go for 2 melee units per spearmen unit and it worked fine (horse archers a major pain though)

with the poles i went 2 cavalry per melee unit and that too worked (of course a few occasional hiccups)

currently playing english and im going 2 missile units per spearmen and despite all the fuss about the weakness of missiles im doing okay so far (sample army in single player would typically be 2 light cav, 3 spearmen and 6 archers in early period)

just wondering in anyone else bases armies on troop ratios according to preferred tactics? and if so what ratios do you aim for...

[deejayvee]

My standard tactic for the English is to have about 6 Halberdier/Billmen/Pikemen units in a line out front, 4 longbowmen behind them and my other "Attack" units (including gallowglasses, clansmen, maa's, knights and other cavalry) on the edges.

And then it's just a case of getting the longbowmen into range and using them as much as possible. Defend the bowmen with the 6 spear units and attack from either flanks with the others.

Like I said, this is my standard tactic, but often the terrain allows you to try something different.

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There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.

[ltj]

yeah, i tend to use a base "all-around" army, too. although i did enjoy running amok with a 2-spearman 14-chiv night army once :-)

hit them in the back and they're done

arbalester hordes are pretty cool for defense, too...get six of them lined up and hit a cav unit and watch em scatter like ants..

[gothicform]

my typical army will be strong infantry of six units at the front, as strong as i can get. i dont rush forwards but instead draw the enemy towards me. behind the infantry are longbowmen, four units are fine. then i have six units of royal knights. the generals unit goes at the back, one unit either side and the rest freelance. i tend to send the freelancers off to get around behind the enemy when he is in the melee to pick off his missile units. plenty of royal knights and you always win http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

[ltj]

i actually never send offensive armies with ranged units. maybe one or two arbs just to keep the AI defensive (if thats what i want), but all infantry and cav.

ranged units tend to be a pain to control on offense, and you're typically better off just using another foot unit to attack & flank.

[de la Valette]

Tend to agree with Itj. Missle troops just don't fit the bill when it comes to the offensive as they never get more than a few shots off before the HtH fighting starts up. Even on the defenisve i find that a couple of catapults are more useful than 2-4 sets of archers (of any type).

[tirgor]

with missile units i suppose it kinda depends on whether your prepared to fire into melee like i am

2 archers firing at a spear unit engaged by my spear unit will rout the enemy spears pretty quickly and then i send light cav to mop up routers and turn attention to next oncoming unit

working pretty well so far even against the 9+ spearmen armies im currently running into

mind you the light cav are seriously racking up the valour http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

[Sepiche]

I never send an offensive army out without ranged support.

When the enemy is defending and has his men lined up nice and proper on a hill, I just form my troops nearby and then send the archers forward. He then has the option to assault my archers or just take the damage. 9 times out of 10 they come down to kill my archers and then my troops advance and face them on even ground.

To each his own http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

Sepiche

[Jaret]

http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

I usually go for 2-3 Units of Archers and 2 units of Pavise Arbalestman. I deploy them in front of my Army and march to a good position facing the enemy (in offense). Basicaly I use Sepiches tactic of using them to draw the enemy defenders to even ground, then I have my Infanterie move through the ranks of the Archers to stop the enemy assault, while my cavelerie takes the Flanks.

In defense I usually add a few siege engines ... not to inflict damage but to scare the enemy so my infanterie will route them faster.

[de la Valette]

I'm still part of the "why waste time shooting small sticks at them when you can be stabbing them with big ones" school of thought. Archers were very effective in STW, but i am very disappointed with them in MTW, especailly the longbow troops who i think should kill for fun but take longer to train (4 turns?) and cost more florins (upto 100% more)

16 HtH units allow much greater use of flanking which i find routs an army very quickly.

[Yoko Kono]

i nevcer send in an offensive army with no ranged troops because the defenders can just sit on excellant ground and pepper you on the approach
i usually take archers or if possible horse archers and spend the first half of a battle trying to force the ai into doing something silly like leaving missle troops unguarded or moving uphill towards me

[tirgor]

the problem i always find with huge melee armies is moving them

typically the units get in one anothers way or the enemy unit has routed before you can bring the others to bear

this effectively means you have "useless" units on the battlefield as they dont get the opportunity to do anything

using missiles to support or attack means you can bring firepower to bear at a point which you use to break and rout enemy as more units can engage

[de la Valette]

I tend to use waves of troops, so you have 4 spear units who engage and hold followed by four high attack units (clansmen, MAA etc) (flanking where possible), then a reserve of spear units/flanking units who i throw in once a gap in the line opens up. Throw in some heavy and light cav to chase down/take out missile troops and it seems to work fine. The AI only gets off one or two arrows before the spear troops engage keeping loses low.

Whenever i put missile troops out front they get cut up by the AI's (i don't play MP) missile troops who just hold the high ground. Same result once the HtH starts, but costs me archers.

[Crimson Castle]

Quote Originally posted by tirgor:
the problem i always find with huge melee armies is moving them.typically the units get in one anothers way ...
[/QUOTE]

You need to try to learn how to control your army using the group formation mode.

I usually group the infantry units into one nice formation and then get them to move forward toward the enemy line as opposed to getting them to attack individual units. This helps to keep cohesion in the army's ranks and prevents troops from wandering off somewhere.

[tirgor]

heres an odd army type ive been messing about with

peasant army with nobility

we are all aware of much peasants suck in melee and how expansive later european armies are so heres an alternative

for each noble unit add a peasant unit

the reason is the nobles ignore peasant routers but you can stretch out your opponent and hammer them with swordsmen and cavalry when they chase after them

if the peasants dont rout (yeah right!) then it pins the unit in place for flank attacks

considering most of us only take spear units to pin other units till we get a flank attack with a swordsmen unit this army composition is actually feasible

currently doing this with the french and its working okay so far...

[ltj]

Quote Originally posted by Sepiche:
I never send an offensive army out without ranged support.

When the enemy is defending and has his men lined up nice and proper on a hill, I just form my troops nearby and then send the archers forward. He then has the option to assault my archers or just take the damage. 9 times out of 10 they come down to kill my archers and then my troops advance and face them on even ground.

To each his own http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

Sepiche[/QUOTE]

the problem with this is...the enemy usually has ranged units as well. so i'd take larger casualities than him and deal little damage. not to mention what if the AI takes a steep hill position? you have to get really close to get in range, and the AI could charge you and you're SOL.

as in shogun, the AI plays much more defensively when you have archers. when i dont take any ranged units, the computer will sometimes actually assault me even if im the attacking faction.

i'd rather use those slots the archers would take up for fighting men.

[Cheetah]

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