My First Experience with EB

[Swordmaster]

It's odd that the strat-map soldiers look the same; all of them have been changed.

Also, how exactly do you use chariots? I have always found them difficult to use, even in flanking; I usually reserve them for morale boosters or javelineers. Do you just charge and retreat, like any other cavalry?

I use the chariots to ride through the enemy line from one side to the other (that's from left to right, not front to back). That makes big gaps in their line, through which my swordsmen storm. I put the chariots in a square-like formation for that.

[Senshi]

Tell me if you find a city to the east of Camulosadae on the island or are you searching for Atlantis? ;)

I think you mean west...

Chariots are absolutely useless in frontal assault or close combat encounters.

Use them almost the same way as you use standard cavalry: Hammer and Anvil.

Assault the enemy with infantry head-on, go around with your chariots and smash into them from the rear, better: smash THROUGH them from the rear! Most of the enemies will fall in the moment of impact, given the huge Charge-Bonues of your chariots combined with their mass, and the rest of the formation will be completely messed up as your chariots push them aside and cause giant gaps for your infantry to fall in. But as soon as the enemy starts to defend himself (especially if they are spearmen) your chariots will fall like flies.

If you repeat this tactics for some time or have additional scary-factors like superior numbers, flaming arrows etc. the enemy will rout very quickly when your chariots smash into them.

Cheaper levy troops rout almost immediatly (at least for me) the moment of impact when 10+ soldiers die in less than a split second.

The run-them-through-from-left-to-right tactic is also quite good, by I noticed heavier losses and easier routing if I smash from the rear (but of course that only works if you have the room to surround and not if the enemy fields thousands of men)

[Foot]

Chariots are there to disrupt not to fight. Use them and their javelins to whittle down the opponents infantry but be careful of enemy skirmishers, archers or slingers as they will tear your chariots apart. Chariots are generally good against cavalry. Against light infantry they'll die quickly so don't even approach them. Their uses against heavy infantry are generally to push through the formation, disrupting it and making holes, which you can then fill with lighter troops. Once a unit of heavy infantry is out of formation it loses a lot of its strength.

Generally, melee with chariots is a mistake.

Foot

[The Celtic Viking]

Chariots are there to disrupt not to fight. Use them and their javelins to whittle down the opponents infantry but be careful of enemy skirmishers, archers or slingers as they will tear your chariots apart. Chariots are generally good against cavalry. Against light infantry they'll die quickly so don't even approach them. Their uses against heavy infantry are generally to push through the formation, disrupting it and making holes, which you can then fill with lighter troops. Once a unit of heavy infantry is out of formation it loses a lot of its strength.

Generally, melee with chariots is a mistake.

Foot

What he said. The Celtic chariots, the Cidainh, are easily amongst my favourite units, and that's not solely based on their good looks or general coolness. Any cavalry foolish enough to expose themselves to these guys will be obliterated in a matter of seconds. There's not even a contest: chariots will win you a flank. Once they've done that, they'll be a nightmare for your enemy when they get around their backs.

Of course, in a melee against anything but cavalry, they'll die, just like they will if put against any ranged unit worth it's salt. They're expensive and extremely poor fighters in towns (though they have their uses even there, by giving your own men courage and striking fear into the hearts of your enemy), so they're not without weaknesses. Still worth it, though, if not in too great numbers.

[procopius1980]

I tried exclusively flanking with Chariots this evening and it's quite nice.

I was at Ictus (which takes way too long to reach). I made the mistake of trying to reinforce my army before entering the field. That ended with me being caught in winter and my men's morale suffered thanks to rationing.

I tried a second time by using my boat to transport my army faster. I still tried to bring in more men that I created at my one city, but they didn't make it to the fight before the Ictus garrison sallied forth. My heir was slain in personal combat against the garrison general. He was to have been supported by a unit of Celtic spearmen, but they didn't work up the courage to charge until after the our general was slain. From there, I moved that unit of spearmen back with the Gallic shortswords and the other unit of spears. The Gallics swords took a beating from the spears thrown before the charge, but the remaining general (2 in this army) did so much damage running from right to left that several units of the Ictus garrison routed. I followed up by charging all infantry and allowing the chariots to pursue the routers.

The battle ended when all units on the field routed. I suffered 48% casualties to their 50%, but bear in mind they outnumbered me 2 - 3. I am very happy with chariots, but I miss the glory of the cavalry charge!

Lesson learned: By using chariot flanking tactics, I can defeat the entire Ictus garrison on VH/VH with just my two generals, 2 Celtic Spears, and 1 Gallic sword.

I ran into a little technical problem whose solution I have read on this site, but I've read so many things that I cannot remember where I read it. I made the mistake of loading a save point without activating the EB script. Since doing so, I am passing a year and two turns, and there's no movement penalty in Winter. If someone doesn't mind telling me what to do, I would greatly appreciate the help!

[Ludens]

Lesson learned: By using chariot flanking tactics, I can defeat the entire Ictus garrison on VH/VH with just my two generals, 2 Celtic Spears, and 1 Gallic sword.

Just in case you overlooked it: recommended difficulty for EB is VH campaign, M battles. Any battle difficulty above M will give A.I. troops large stat bonuses. VH doesn't make the A.I. more clever, it just allows their militia to beat up your veterans. Using a frail unit like chariots at VH is always going to be difficult.

Some people argue you should also use H or M campaigns, because then the A.I. factions are more willing to negotiate.

[Bouketsu]

Tell me if you find a city to the east of Camulosadae on the island or are you searching for Atlantis? ;)

I think you mean west...

On the map, East = -> That way
West = <- That way.
To the East would be Gaul, to the West would be water, or Ireland. :P

[Senshi]

On the map, East = -> That way
West = <- That way.
To the East would be Gaul, to the West would be water, or Ireland. :P

Don't get your point. That was exactly what I was getting at. East is no Gaul, there is the Germanicum Mare. And I think everyone is familiar with the magnetic directions on a world map (at least I hope so...)

[part_time_player]

Playing as Casse recently on H/H, I sent the diplomat to Gaul and disbanded the fleet, spent all my cash on building roads and 1 or 2 extra units of men then on turn 2 marched everyone I had to Ratae (North of Camulosadae) and took the town. I lost enough men in the battle to reduce my upkeep to a level which allowed me to spend several turns building up my infrastructure in both settlements, concentrating on roads, farms etc. As this point I had an enormous stroke of luck, my leader Barae was wandering the countryside by himself to avoid the boredom of city living when he was attacked by the half stack rebel army that had been hanging around. Unable to withdraw, I auto-calced the battle and won! He wiped out their entire force and gained several excellent traits. With that threat removed I was free to leave both my settlements with a minimal garrison whilst a newly re-trained half-stack of spearmen, swordsmen and slingers marched around taking each settlement in turn. I concentrated every settlement I took on economic and growth buildings and with only half a stack in the field, and one levy spearmen for each garrison my economy was very strong. By the time I took Ivernis in southern Ireland I had a fleet built in Ictis (Cornwall) ready to ship the army back to Camulosadae for re-training and then across to Gaul to take the one settlement that was still rebel so I could establish a foothold without breaking any alliances. When the Aedui betrayed me and layed siege to the settlement, I fomed an alliance with the Sweboz, who are also allied with the Arveni (we are the anti-Aedui league) to keep my back safe and started to march my now full-stack of troops into the heart of Aedui territory.

Chariots have been very effective in my games also when I have used them correctly and I don't have much to add to whats already been discussed, my only other tip would be to make sure you make full use of your troops javelin throwing ability. I have won many battles with minimal casualties thanks to the enemies tendency to flee when over a quarter of their unit is wiped out in one combined volley from my entire force (especially with chariots nearby). You can then run forwards, finish off the last of the fleeing men before they can re-group and then re-group yourself to deal with the next lot. This is helped by the enemies tendency to attack in waves, just be careful their second wave doesn't catch you with your backs turned when you're finishing off the first.

Good luck, I hope you find it as much fun as I do!

[Hax]

Chariots can indeed be very useful. I use them in my Arche Seleukeia campaigns to slaughter enemy heavy cavalry.

[procopius1980]

Chariots can indeed be very useful. I use them in my Arche Seleukeia campaigns to slaughter enemy heavy cavalry.

I remember playing vanilla RTW as the Gauls back in Fall 2005. Unfortunately, I didn't look deep enough to learn to pit skirmishers agaisnt chariots. Instead, I fought a horribly bitter war against my northern neighbors. Provided they had no chariots, my warband/swordsmen tore into the Briton's infantry, but any battle with chariots went to the enemy. I was amazed at just how bad cavalry lose against chariots.

With all those ports, and an excellent defensive position, it looks like the Casse are going to be able to field a powerful army. The only problem I see is that the army upkeep looks more like BI in terms of cost. At least that gives one the option of choosing lots of levies vs. elite units... something the barbarians didn't deal with in BI. As I recall, there was very little difference in terms of upkeep between the levy spearmen and Franciscan Axemen.

I've heard other people talk about a feature (if even possible) to allow levy units to be raised and active within the same term. I don't know much about the history of this time period, but I know this would have been a historically viable means of calling men to arms in the medieval period, and certainly in the Saxon fyrd system. I imagine this is a hard coded limitation as opposed to a gaming decision. These levies should have minimal movement points (just enough to move in their home territory), and they automatically disband at the end of the seaon.

From what I know of this period, most soldiers were also farmers. It was only the local nobility who had the wealth to pay men to be in their household and train with arms all the time. I know CA knew this, but they elected to rush MTW:II out the door rather than take the time to revamp it.

[procopius1980]

Tell me if you find a city to the east of Camulosadae on the island or are you searching for Atlantis? ;)

I think you mean west...

Chariots are absolutely useless in frontal assault or close combat encounters.

Use them almost the same way as you use standard cavalry: Hammer and Anvil.

Assault the enemy with infantry head-on, go around with your chariots and smash into them from the rear, better: smash THROUGH them from the rear! Most of the enemies will fall in the moment of impact, given the huge Charge-Bonues of your chariots combined with their mass, and the rest of the formation will be completely messed up as your chariots push them aside and cause giant gaps for your infantry to fall in. But as soon as the enemy starts to defend himself (especially if they are spearmen) your chariots will fall like flies.

If you repeat this tactics for some time or have additional scary-factors like superior numbers, flaming arrows etc. the enemy will rout very quickly when your chariots smash into them.

Cheaper levy troops rout almost immediatly (at least for me) the moment of impact when 10+ soldiers die in less than a split second.

The run-them-through-from-left-to-right tactic is also quite good, by I noticed heavier losses and easier routing if I smash from the rear (but of course that only works if you have the room to surround and not if the enemy fields thousands of men)

Hey! I know my directions, I just somethings get them confused in my head when I speak or type them.

Speaking of Altantis, perhaps you should try reading Stephen Lawhead's Taliesin since you subscribe to the theory that Atlantis could have been near Britain... or perhaps that's why you said it!

[Apgad]

Also check out this thread https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104695 for more ideas when playing as Casse.

Welcome, and make yourself comfortable, you'll be playing EB for a while...

[bovi]

If you activate the script again, it should fix what has been wrong. The AI's finances may be broken for a while though.

[procopius1980]

If you activate the script again, it should fix what has been wrong. The AI's finances may be broken for a while though.

I hoped doing so would fix that, and I was early enough to start over, so I did. I'll start over a few times as I get used to some of the adjustments. Anway, I started over, activated the script, and it was Winter every other turn! I've read somewhere that you can mess up a registry setting by failing to activate the script everytime you start a new campaign or load a game.

I'll try it on VH/M if you all say so. I am just thinking, however, that I beat Ictus on VH w/ just 5 units, so why make it easier?

Thanks for the welcome. I can tell you guys love this, and I am loving it too!

[Swordmaster]

One thing you shouldn't do is start the script more than once in one gaming session. So if you quit one campaign and start another, you should restart the game.