How do you defeat the Mongols?

[TWFanatic]

The Mongols will go after Antioch when they spawn in the Levant, but first they have to gather their Horde. Since there are three waves, and the AI is rather stupid, that involves a lot of wandering back and forth doing pretty much nothing in between the arrival of waves.

Since you're the English you have the easiest time crushing the Mongols of any other faction. All you need are longbowmen of any flavor. Bring a full stack of Longbows, build a stake fort with a protected line of retreat, and sit back to watch the carnage. The AI always attacks if you have something like 1.2 times as many archers has it has, so they'll always come to you. Mongol melee cavalry can't get through the stakes, so they just sit there and die. Mongol horse archers get owned by your foot archers. Your foot archers outnumber and outrange theirs. Your Yeomen and Retinue longbows are better in a melee than any of the Mongol infantry, while your regular longbowmen are about even but they'll have numbers on their side.

You literally cannot lose. Worst case scenario you run out of arrows and have to retreat, but since you didn't bring a general, who cares? No bad traits will accrue, and as long as your line of retreat is secure you just march off the field in complete safety after pinning a few hundred losses on the Mongols. Rinse and repeat. You can reinforce, they can't.

You absolutely do not need spearmen, which are just a poor man's replacement for stakes. Having some light cavalry might help if you want to chase when the Mongols retreat, but I'd rather have more hands on bows, plus you run the risk of smacking your own cavalry into your own stake line.

Lmao, that sounds like a rather cheap--but effective--tactic.

[Rhyfelwyr]

You just need to beat them at their own game...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[-Amon-]

You just need to beat them at their own game...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Iavorios]

You can try this, https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=79195 it is a prety god post on the topic. Also search the forums, there is a countless amount of posts about the mongols. But if you are going to fight the mongols you have to conquer entire Palestine AND Egipth before that. O and you need god spears. A lot of them. An dwith England you dont have them. So it is going to be fun.

[Privateerkev]

I'm doing an SP game as the English right now and the Mongols are pathetically easy.

Put a few longbows in every settlement in their path. When they assault, set up the longbows down by the gate and set up stakes. When the battle starts, run the longbows up to the walls. The mongols will break the gate and charge in. And you will then see a huge pile of horsey-kabobs form.

You can do the same at river crossings.

You can try it on the open field if you have 8-10 longbows but watch your flank. I was surprised to see that the AI was smart enough to try and flank me and I had to quickly bolster one side before they rolled me up.

[FactionHeir]

In unmodded M2TW, you can usually crush them by overwhelming force, say 10+ stacks with cavalry etc thrown at them.

In modded M2TW, its usually more difficult.

Either way, as England, you are probably playing one of the easiest factions to beat the Mongols with.
Your army composition should be as follows:

1 General
7 Retinue Longbowmen
6 Mercenary Spearmen (the best spears you can get as England)
4 Dismounted English Knights
2 Mailed Knights

What you basically want to do is entrench your position with a ring (not wall) of stakes and have your spearmen right behind your longbows in a thin row. DEK at the flanks behind the spearmen.
Mailed Knights behind your DEK and your general at the very center back.

You shouldn't be able to lose in a field battle like ths unless you place yourself at the bottom of a canyon.

If you don't mind exploiting the AI, lay the stakes in a wall / row a far way ahead of your intended position with the rest of your army already placed. Then start battle and move your longbows back to your army. The AI does not consider undefended stakes (stakes without troops nearby) and tends to run into them if your longbows can fire at them.

If you don't like field battles, ford (not bridge) battles are to your advantage and citadel battles obviously because the AI generally doesn't manage to storm further than wall 2 due to bad coding that even us modders cannot fully fix.

[PBI]

Why not bridges? They work pretty well for me.