Posting/Sending Replays?

Hey guys- Without digging into things just yet:

Major battle with the French...lots of questions etc...1147...I lost a major attack on one front, gained significant land on the other...

Here's the battle I'm referring to (that I lost)

Player Name:: The French
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Player Type:: CPU
Stance:: Defender
Florins Allocated:: 0
Florins Spent:: 0
Number of Units:: 20
Total Troop Count:: 2400
Total Men Killed:: 1219
Total Men Captured:: 189
Total Men Routed:: 137
Total Enemy Killed:: 1875
Total Enemy Captured:: 598
General's Rank:: 7


Player Name:: The Italians
--------------------------
Player Type:: HUMAN
Stance:: Attacker
Florins Allocated:: 0
Florins Spent:: 0
Number of Units:: 27
Total Troop Count:: 3240
Total Men Killed:: 1907
Total Men Captured:: 598
Total Men Routed:: 146
Total Enemy Killed:: 1182
Total Enemy Captured:: 189
General's Rank:: 6

I don't know exactly how to feel about it...the attack had several objectives.

It had been in real time, a good 2 or so years since I had launched an attack of this size in MTW and my battlefield "speed/reflexes" are definitely a bit rusty compared to how I was at my peak of playing for ages... but overall, still not bad...

I also read in one of my other threads (I'll get to it...heh) about command stars and their influence on battles being tremendous...I was attacking a 7 star with a 6 star. I didn't know exactly what to expect here and I still don't know how much of an effect it had on the battle. I had far superior troops (I could post the specific units too).

I basically either want to be able to post the replay, or just send it to someone who would be interested in viewing/assessing this replay. Again, I did have a few (nothing tremendous) issues with controlling that many units on an attack, and I had a horrible uphill attack to command. I think I might have had to be PERFECT with my point/click to win this one. I just want someone who has been playing longer/more to take a look at this and tell me what they think.

At the very least: It's a hell of a nasty battle to watch...I mean, just a total butting of heads at the beginning.

I also had issues with weather...started out raining and I figured good..this will render their archers weak: While I'm picking my attacking formation it stops raining...I didn't realize that the prebattle was real time on an attack as well. Although I do recall that being something I dealt with back in the day as well.

Further, I thought I was attacking 1300 troops...then it was 1600, then in the end of battle log it turns out it was 2400. There was this like 4 unit row of cavalry behind their infantry up on a hill top that was not supposed to be there.

I also had their general holding the left flank virtually by himself (down to a 1 man unit...just him) while 70-80 of my horseman and 45 feudal sergeants were in the "winning" state but they just kept dropping.

I also found their troops as a whole, to be lightening fast. My entire right flank, with a huge numbers advantage in cavalry, collapsed and before I knew it I had enemy cavalry just FLYING around behind my front line spearman. Their archers were much faster than mine as well...and I had Genoese sailors.

As a whole, I was expected the enemy infantry to just break down against my backbone infantry in the middle. It didn't at all...

Before I write 8 pages here...Who wants to take a look, and how can I transfer my replay?

Thanks

p.s. I could have committed, literally 2800 more troops to this battle. I just didn't see it requiring that many and instead spent hours balancing units between two fronts, for a two front offensive. Since I'm out of the loop a bit for advanced stuff- I mean jesus, how many troops did I need for this? lol...At least I caused 1200+ French casualties. It definitely put a big dent in any steamrolling they would have been doing in western europe etc.

i'm always interested in other peoples battle strategy, so I'd be keen to see your battle!

The quality of units is more important than the number of them, but most important of all are two factors:

1. Unit matchups. Having the right units fight the right enemies is very important. For this reason a balanced force is very important. enemy has lots of attacking cavalry? make sure you're packing polearm troops, or spears and axemen to pin and flank them. You can also use fast Horse Archers to attack heavy cavalry like Knights. The Knights will never catch them, but will get very tired chasing them around the map and ...into your spears. Along the way your HA's will pick some of them off.

2. Positions. getting units into a position where they can do the most harm is the single biggest factor in winning battles. If you can get a unit, any unit(s) into a position where they can flank or rear attack another unit, you are on the road to victory. cavalry are especially good at this, but even archery units can perform a useful task if they can be used to rear attack someone.


Morale normally decides the battle, and Cavalry at your rear is a recipe for disaster.

Some general points:

Vs spears defending a hill: If they are decent spears like Chiv. Sergeants, send your own spears against them. They will hold them in place, but do little damage to each other. this is fine as you want to be using your attacking infantry elsewhere on flanks anyway and if they are stuck fighting uphill against spears they will take losses and get very tired. The spears will break once they get to about 50% men or less.

Re: generals:
Can make a big difference, but not in this case when they are so close together.