Casse Gameplay Guide

Printable View

06-26-2009, 23:06
penguinking

Casse Gameplay Guide

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...nner_05cas.jpg

This guide is written for EB 1.2 on the recommended Very Hard/Medium difficulty setting, though much of what is said here will be applicable to other difficulty levels. I have played as many factions, yet the Casse are my clear favorite. Playing as the Casse, you have a unique, isolated starting position, which gives you as much time as you want to build up, as well as some of the most beautiful units in the game. You've also got Barae, in my opinion the best starting character in the game, as your faction leader. He is godly.

As always, the first thing you should do upon starting a new campaign is activating the script. To do this, click on your settlement. An advisor will pop up. Click on the "show me how" button to activate the script and get the full EB experience!
https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-14-11-93.jpg
Now let's look at your starting position. You've got one city, and around you are numerous eleutheroi towns. Note that you start at peace with the eleutheroi, which is unique to the Casse. This peace is unlikely to last, however.
https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-14-24-70.jpg

You're losing quite a bit of money per turn, and much of this is due to your fleet. So, first load your diplomat onto your fleet, drop him off on the mainland, and then return your fleet to the docks and disband it. You won't need a fleet again for quite a while.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-16-08-37.jpg

Now move all of your units into your capital. Disband both units of Gaeroas (spearmen) and one of the Botroas (swordsmen). This should leave you with three family members and one swordsmen unit, which should be sufficient to defend your city.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-16-28-05.jpg

Set taxes to very high and queue up basic roads and a sewage ditch in Camulosadae. Once these are completed, build a basic trading port. Now, around 90% of the time you'll get attacked by a small- but dangerous- eleutheroi army. This shatters your peace with all the eleutheroi and robs you of trade income, but even more dangerously, this army can easily capture your one settlement- and you will lose! Immediately sally out once the enemy beseiges you and fight for your existence!

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-26-35-21.jpg

The enemy army consists of five units of Caledonian skirmishers. They may not seem too threatening- after all, you have three general's bodyguard units. But remember that we're talking about Casse bodyguards here- the skirmishers will massacre them with javelins or spears. So careful planning is necessary.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...26-37-93-1.jpg

March your army out of the city. The enemy army will flee some distance back, like it always does when you sally. The trick to winning this battle is to isolate individual skirmishers units, attack them with your swordsmen, and then hit them from behind with your chariots before the rest of the skirmishers show up. The enemy should route quickly, for chariots, though they suck at hand to hand combat, have a very useful fear causing effect.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-31-27-99.jpg

Keep doing this until only two enemy units are left.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-32-06-30.jpg

You can even route their general with this tactic.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-35-15-58.jpg

Chase him down!

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-36-39-37.jpg

Once the general is gone and only one or two units of skirmishers are left, just charge them with your chariots. They should rout on contact. Losses were heavier than necessary in this battle, because I forgot about some chariots and didn't realize they were being attacked until I had lost quite a few of them. If you won the battle, congratulate yourself! You just beat the hardest part of the entire campaign.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-38-45-11.jpg

Once the port is complete, stop building and start saving money. Once you have around 6,000-7,000 mnai, start building up your army. Exactly what you want in your army will depend on your personal preference, but slingers will be devastating against the enemies you will be facing and are particularly useful in the many upcoming siege battles. You'll also want some shock infantry to help capture settlements. My army consisted of 2 units of slingers (iaosatae), 2 units of shortswordsmen (kluddobro), 1 unit of spearmen (gaeroas), 1 unit of naked spearmen (uirodusios), 3 units of swordsmen (botroas), and 2 generals. This force was more than enough for me. Leave Margorix behind to govern Camulosadae while the rest of your forces attack your first target: Ictis.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-51-22-04.jpg

Ictis, the town to the west of your capital, has a small garrison. But don't march on the city immediately. There is another eleutheroi army to the north of the city, and it will attack your forces from behind if you try to besiege Ictis before dealing with it. So you should seek out this army and destroy it before taking Ictis. Sometimes this army is hiding in the forest, so use your spy to find it and avoid getting ambushed. You have the advantage of numbers, so this battle shouldn't be hard. Soften them up with your slingers before charging in your infantry, then outflank them with your chariots, and they should rout.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-52-15-16.jpg

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-52-21-13.jpg

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-58-02-58.jpg

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...3-59-13-16.jpg

Now besiege Ictis. You'll want at least three rams. The defending army is inferior to your forces, but could inflict significant casualties if you aren't careful.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...4-02-34-86.jpg

Have your slingers fire over the walls at the enemy. They should wreak havoc on the lightly armored soldiers. Two units of slingers could destroy around 20% of the enemy army.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...4-03-55-61.jpg

Use your rams to break down the wall in three places. Send your infantry in and try to outflank the defenders. Your infantry have javelins; use them, they're extremely effective. Also, move your chariots up just in front of the walls to give a big morale penalty to the enemy, but of course keep your chariots out of combat.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...4-08-12-60.jpg

Once the enemy routs, chase them up to the town square. Try to lure the enemy out of the town square, and then make them rout. This will help you avoid unnecessary casualties. Don't worry about the enemy chariots; even levy infantry will make short work of them.

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...4-10-28-66.jpg

https://i476.photobucket.com/albums/...4-11-12-00.jpg

Occupy the settlement and move your army to take Ratae. You can use the exact same tactics, and it should fall easily. You'll probably have fallen into debt at this point, but that's fine. The rest of Britain and Ireland should fall easily- none of the garrisons is particularly intimidating. Remember that you can only build ships in two provinces; Ictis and Ivernis (southern Ireland). You'll want to set up a level 4 government in Ireland, giving you access to amazing Goidilic troops. When you do decide to invade mainland Europe, I recommend landing at either Gaul or Iberia. Stay away from the Sweboz; you'll only end up fighting hordes of enemies and conquering useless, rebellious territory. It's often worth using a Gallic faction as a buffer between you and the Sweboz.

Good luck!
06-26-2009, 23:20
penguinking

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Placeholder.
06-27-2009, 10:30
Ludens

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

I haven't played the Casse in a recent version of EB, but I understand that the Caledonians attack when you finish the road. Placing a couple of units on the way dissuaded them from attacking in my campaigns. Alternatively, you could simply not build roads and they will never attack. This will allow a longer peace and gives you more trading income. Also, I found it helpful to build a teaching grove, to keep my family members occupied while saved for and then recruited an army.
06-27-2009, 10:47
Ravenfeeder

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Also worth mentioning is the wonderful Ynys Mon "Isle of Darkness". Take it and snd all your FM's there to train from ages 16-20. The best training spot in the game.
06-27-2009, 10:48
Reality=Chaos

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravenfeeder

Also worth mentioning is the wonderful Ynys Mon "Isle of Darkness". Take it and snd all your FM's there to train from ages 16-20. The best training spot in the game.

Trained as druids?
06-27-2009, 10:53
Ravenfeeder

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Get lots of Druid ancilliaries including excellent post-battle healers as well as trader and law-maker type traits. The Druid healers stack with other Druids who also provide some healing - the only time I've seen multiple healer ancilliaries on one FM, added to their own healing bonuses from Druidic training traits. At least I presume all the healing stuff stacks, I've never really tested it.

Still Healer + Trader + Law-giver = Win
06-27-2009, 11:37
Reality=Chaos

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravenfeeder

Get lots of Druid ancilliaries including excellent post-battle healers as well as trader and law-maker type traits. The Druid healers stack with other Druids who also provide some healing - the only time I've seen multiple healer ancilliaries on one FM, added to their own healing bonuses from Druidic training traits. At least I presume all the healing stuff stacks, I've never really tested it.

Still Healer + Trader + Law-giver = Win

Indeed... sounds awesome... I suck at fighting with the ' barbarian' facctions tbh, but I might just start a Casse Campaign to learn:2thumbsup:
06-27-2009, 15:05
Fierro

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

I realize "blitzing" is usually looked at negatively around these parts but I've found it much easier to take a settlement or two right away with your starting army. You will be in the green without having to disband anything (I disbanded my ship though)
The battles will be a piece of cake. The enemy will sally forth thinking they will crush your army but a well placed battle line and well timed chariot charge by your FMs will change all that and the settlements will be yours with minimal casualties.
But then again I'd rather play on the offensive than the defensive which seems to be the exception around here. To each their own style I guess.
06-28-2009, 23:46
Exosus

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fierro

I realize "blitzing" is usually looked at negatively around these parts but I've found it much easier to take a settlement or two right away with your starting army. You will be in the green without having to disband anything (I disbanded my ship though)
The battles will be a piece of cake. The enemy will sally forth thinking they will crush your army but a well placed battle line and well timed chariot charge by your FMs will change all that and the settlements will be yours with minimal casualties.
But then again I'd rather play on the offensive than the defensive which seems to be the exception around here. To each their own style I guess.

Yea I tend to agree with him. Going out and besieging a town (my recommendation would be the one with the Isle of Darkness since you get the very nice school in it while you wait for more governerships to open up) leaves your first major battle at a significant advantage over waiting on the enemy and then sallying forth. To start, a victory means that you gain a settlement instead of simply failing to lose your (only) settlement. Secondly, you will have a few turns of besiegment before they attack, meaning that they will have lost a few soldiers to starvation. Thirdly, you will be on defense rather than offense *and* they will typically bring units out to attack in small numbers, for whatever reason, allowing you to destroy them piecemeal rather than having to charge out into a full force. Lastly, you will have saved yourself probably something like 10 turns of sitting behind your walls waiting for the Eleutheroi to grow weary of your existence.

If you suffer excessive casualties in the capture of the first city (I didn't) you can always take your "break time" there instead of at your capital, giving you double the income and a buffer in case a major Eleutheroi incursion occurs. If you don't, simply continue capturing cities until you do run out of people and then take a construction break. This leaves you at a significant advantage when you finish the construction phase and begin full-scale expansion.
11-19-2009, 08:46
Atraphoenix

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

My Casse tactics ;

-never disband your army (even your ships),
-never attack rebels when they outnumber you,
-leave the Britannia, migrate to elsewhere,
-capture a town and then revenge and take the land that was taken from you.
-I land the army mostly on Ireland, the capital mostly falls but I do not care.
-but I hate slow MP (movement points) so I play with my mod.

In fact, that is a good beginning of a good AAR.
I have to finish mine first :laugh4:

P.S. Disbanding armies is not for me, I am a warrior I prefer losing them in battles instead of disbanding.
BTW everybody has different choices.
11-24-2009, 15:03
Titus Marcellus Scato

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Personally I prefer an extremely slow start with the Casse - there's no hurry, since no other faction will seriously try to conquer Britain for at least 100 years.

I start by focusing on defeating the two Elutheroi armies in the open field, and building up my starting town.

Once the two Elutheroi field armies are destroyed, I go raiding the enemy towns in Britain - attacking them just with my family members. An army composed of chariots and absolutely nothing else - no foot soldiers at all! I attack enemy towns with a much smaller force, so they sally out to fight me. Then I attack with my chariots, throwing javelins, charging at any unit that looks vulnerable, and pulling back out of melee when in serious trouble. When I'm out of javelins and have lost about half my chariots, I withdraw from the battlefield so my family members don't get killed. I don't care if I 'lose' the battle, since it's not a 'real' battle, it's only a raid! A 'raid' means 'attack, then run away.' Then on the next turn, I retreat my army back to my home town to recover.

Being all family members, my chariots replenish automatically, free of charge. Then I go raid the enemy town again.

I continue raiding in this way until the enemy town's garrison becomes weak enough that I can get a chariot unit through the main gate (pursuing a routing enemy unit) and reach the town square! Once I can do that, I can actually conquer the town by slaughtering routing enemies. A town conquest, without using rams or foot soldiers!
11-26-2009, 00:08
Atraphoenix

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

BTW I hate those chariots ...........
any levy spearmen can kill them easily after march of time do they get another type of bodyguard unit other than chariots?
11-26-2009, 01:32
athanaric

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atraphoenix

BTW I hate those chariots ...........
any levy spearmen can kill them easily after march of time do they get another type of bodyguard unit other than chariots?

No. Though you could try and use Rycalawre as their MoT reformed Bodyguard. That would make some sense IMO.
11-27-2009, 11:46
Titus Marcellus Scato

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atraphoenix

BTW I hate those chariots ...........
any levy spearmen can kill them easily after march of time do they get another type of bodyguard unit other than chariots?

You're probably trying to use them as heavy cavalry.

They're not heavy cavalry, they are skirmisher cavalry. Designed mainly for throwing missiles rather than melee. Because there aren't many chariots in a unit, and only one man in each chariot actually throws missiles, it takes a long time for them to do a lot of damage that way. But chariots do carry massive amounts of ammunition - they almost never run out of missiles.

If you want to charge with chariots, fine, but pull them out of the melee as soon as they stop charging. Or double-click on the opposite site of the enemy unit so the chariots just charge right though it and out the other side.

Chariots are also very effective en masse - using three or four family members in one gigantic heaving mass of rumbling chariots! Most enemy infantry units will rout immediately on being hit by that lot!
11-27-2009, 12:25
Ludens

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Chariots should indeed not be used as heavy cavalry, but they have two features that skirmisher cavalry do not have. Firstly, they improve the morale of nearby allies and frighten nearby enemies. They are also excellent at disrupting enemy formations. Their defence may be low, but they have multiple hitpoints, so as long as you avoid getting bogged down in a melee you should be OK. Think of them as budget-elephants.
11-27-2009, 15:15
Tollheit

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Do not attack with chariots!

Turn skirmish off, leave auto fire on, and run them right through your enemies!
Again, do not attack!
The chariots' area effect + javelins will take care of the enemies without actually attacking them.

Crush through the enemy line and get some distance asap.

Then turn your chariots around, rinse and repeat!

Even better when you have two FM. Send them through in short succession, or from both sides simultaneously, and the enemy will be driven before you soon enough. Yay fear effect!

This works best with some chevrons, as chariots have little armour, but multiple hit points.(as Ludens said)
Meaning base defense sucks, but every improvement counts double, in a way.
11-27-2009, 15:42
Titus Marcellus Scato

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

The only times chariots should be left in melee is against enemy infantry who are already routing, or if they are fighting enemy chariots. Chariot versus chariot melee is OK.
12-12-2009, 04:45
Aram

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

How can you force chariots to engage in melee? Even if I hit "alt" they still seem to want to fire missiles. :inquisitive:
12-12-2009, 12:45
Ludens

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aram

How can you force chariots to engage in melee? Even if I hit "alt" they still seem to want to fire missiles. :inquisitive:

Pressing alt when ordering the attack does not work? Have you switched-off skirmish-mode?
12-12-2009, 15:36
The Celtic Viking

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

No, I believe it's rather that the javelineer acts like archers do on elephants. Even if the chariot is engaged in melee, he will look for targets for his javelins, provided he has fire at will turned on. Skirmish mode is automatically turned off when you order units into melee.
12-16-2009, 00:11
Aram

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Celtic Viking

No, I believe it's rather that the javelineer acts like archers do on elephants. Even if the chariot is engaged in melee, he will look for targets for his javelins, provided he has fire at will turned on. Skirmish mode is automatically turned off when you order units into melee.

:idea2: Thank you!
12-26-2009, 18:21
-42-

Re: Casse Gameplay Guide

Slingers are great for sieges, as the enemy sallies through the gate you can simply sic five to seven units of slingers on the unit coming out, and it gets cut down, repeat with every unit that sallies out until out of ammo, and by then a quick swordsman blitz will rout the enemy, then you win.

Works for every city.

Plus slingers are cheap, and a practice field ups their attack rating. The Briton Shortswordsmen are also good units to simply throw around in hordes, set them to 'fire at will' and a good quarter of your enemies will be killed of before impact. The axemen are the best for contending with 'civilised' troops, and they can handily kill off the heavier Irish units.