How do you defeat the Mongols?

[Privateerkev]

The problem is that they have hundreds of stacks, all with 6-9 experience and 8-10 dread/command generals. It's bloody impossible to contend with that.

I kept training armies of knights, armored swordsmen, and longbowmen and sending them out under my best generals. I would attack the Mongols and kill as many as possible before doing the same thing again. It just got old after a while. Virtually all the tactics mentioned above require DEFENDING, but no matter how many stacks I sent out and placed right in the path of the Mongols, they would never bite. They would besiege settlements but never attack. Because of this, I had to attack, and there is simply no way I can beat them when attacking. Plus, I couldn't call a crusade on the Mongols (and get some assistance from fellow Catholics) because they didn't have any provinces. The nearby Turkish provinces weren't a choice on the list, heck, there weren't any Muslim on the nations, just Catholic nations. His holiness went and excommunicated half of bloody Christendom!

So I quit my campaign. I'm trying a Spanish campaign now, it's lots of fun! When the Mongols take Antioch, I'm going to request a crusade there and send all of Christendom's might down upon those barbarians. My Spaniards will revenge my Englishmen...hopefully.

Really? They attack me all the time. They assault my settlements constantly and I'm always able to chew up at least 2 of their stacks every time they do it. I once ate up all 3 waves in one turn because they kept coming across the river crossing one stack at a time. (I'm not bragging or anything because it's just a matter of laying stakes. It's just to show that I find them to be very aggressive which helps me because I find them easy to defend against.)

What patch are you running?

[Ramses II CP]

Even if you're technically the attacker as long as you have somewhere around 1.2 times as many ranged units as they have, they will come after you once the battle begins. Even at river crossings. So attack away, make your stake fort per my suggestion, and tear them apart.

[Old Geezer]

I found one thing you do not want to do. Do not attack the Timurids with an all cavalry army and autoresolve. I suffered my worst defeat ever; 450 some to 54 for the Timurids. (I bet an all peasant army would do better even without a general.) Then the Timurids attacked a small stack of mine which had a mix of unit types and they did much better - but still got trashed.

[PBI]

I find the AI is much more willing to attack river crossings than cities, especially with a full stack defending, and for some reason it always does attack one stack at a time a Privateerkev mentioned. If you have at least 4-5 stake-laying archers holding a river crossing against the Mongols is easy, but even without stakes I much prefer defending a bridge to defending a castle.

[Eikon the Magistrate]

Like most ppl, Ill try to get the Mongols to attack a settlement or bridge.
Other than castles bridge defense is the easiest form in MTW2 at least compared to MTW1 w/ multiple crossings available. Plus you can position siege engines and missle troops to maximum effect as opposed to stringing them out over a series of walls.I have trouble placing stakes on the roads though,(and rarely seem to play a faction with stakes available)so Ill usually try to block the entrance with a siege engine on 1 side which works pretty much the same if you have pikemen to throw in the hole.

If you have a upgraded citadel or fortress it is rare the AI will EVER be able to take it over, even with 3 stacks against 1 and the 1st walls taken it is highly unlikely that any AI force would suceed. They are simply to incompetent. Simply withdraw most of your forces to the 2nd/3rd layer and wait for your towers and missles to slowly destroy em all.

I have also tried to wear down the stacks as they appear b4 they all have entered the campaign map, attacking is abit easier against multiple stacks than defense because the AI usually dosent charge at you straight away, so you can wear em down with large missle stacks and withdraw them once missle-less or threatened. In all honesty tho, the Mongols never give me much of a headache... in any of the preset defensive scenarios listed above victory is nearly certain. The Mongols for all their bluster and fancy horses are entirely useless when it comes to sieging a city and their inf are a bad joke, so long as you are not trying to defend against them on open ground you should be ok.

[Privateerkev]

I find the AI is much more willing to attack river crossings than cities, especially with a full stack defending, and for some reason it always does attack one stack at a time a Privateerkev mentioned. If you have at least 4-5 stake-laying archers holding a river crossing against the Mongols is easy, but even without stakes I much prefer defending a bridge to defending a castle.

The only catch is that some Mongol stacks have rocket launchers and trebuchets so you need some trebuchets of your own for counter-battery fire. If you have no artillery, and are attacked by one of these stacks, you need to do something else. Which is, lay stakes at the crossing, but then put your archers on loose formation and along the banks of the river. Also, pull the rest of the army way back so they don't get bombarded. Your longbows' arrows should reach to the other side of the river. Once you cause enough casulties, the AI finally attacks and impales itself on your stakes. You'll lose a lot of archers doing this but it's safer than charging across the crossing yourself into a barrage of arrows, boulders, and rockets.

[Eikon the Magistrate]

Ive yet to see a Mongol stack with either a trebuchet or cannon unit (or any seige engine for that matter). Assume you mean Timurids?

[FactionHeir]

Mongols have trebuchets and rocketlaunchers in their later stacks.

[Privateerkev]

Ive yet to see a Mongol stack with either a trebuchet or cannon unit (or any seige engine for that matter). Assume you mean Timurids?

Nah, as FH said, the later waves of Mongols have artillery in some of the stacks.

The Timurids are another matter. I have a much harder time taking them as the English because;

a.) They have long range artillery (Panzerphaunts)

b.) I've seen Elephants trample stakes. (though the stakes might still be there, the image dissapears. Regardless, the Elephants don't seem effected.)

So, I try to take them by building Cannon towers in every settlement and just wait for them to assault me.

I can take them in the field (especially if I have cannons and merc Panzerphaunts for counter-battery fire) but I take major casulties.