Effective tactics, who has em?

[Ardri]

After moving to the year 1730 or so in my Prussian campaign on VH/VH, it has become clear to me that I have plenty of lessons to learn on how to keep troops alive in ETW. I had been victorious in capturing the majority of the Baltic coast, but now that I am at war with Austria, Great Britain, and the United Provinces I am facing greater numbers and my tactics are obviously not cutting it. I have lost 3 of my last 4 major battles, luckily I haven't lost any territory as a result. But I am pretty much stretched to my maximum capacity and can't afford to lose 2/3 of an army in a loss or victory.

I am really interested to hear what people are finding to be effective in initial troop placement and general tactics once the battle has started. I haven't really brought troops into melee in battles and this may be part of my problem (just a guess since bayonets are very key in the military tech tree).

[Beskar]

One of the best ways is to limit your enemies. It isn't just tactics on the ground in Empire: Total War. The other ways is how to manage things like research and economy which gives you a big edge over the enemy.

How ever, if you got lots of money and really struggling to produce the troops, keep making tons of generals. Aren't the best, but you can use them to weaker the enemies armies severely. (if you got the money to keep doing them, they cost 1300 each)

[Subotan]

Bring in Allies to distract your enemies. I'd suggest France, Russia and the Ottomans. Have a good old fahioned War of the Austrian Succession/Seven Years.

[JeromeBaker]

I like to start out with a very mobile army by having a decent amount of calvary. I line up my line troops/militia in the center, use calvary to harrass enemies flanks, take out their general, take on their artillary, and to hit them from behind (as I am sure most people do). I find that launching a calvary attack out of the trees where they were hidden seams to still work great as in past TW games. I always keep some pike near my general, especially if I am using all my calvary to harras the enemy, since the AI has been throwing a lot of cav sneak attacks trying to take out my leader. I also play very patient. If I have cannon in range, I will let them fire away even if the enemy is far enough away that it takes a lot of shots to get a direct hit. Weakening the enemies line troops by even just a few seems to give me a huge edge when I engage with my line troops, so be willing to milk the clock to launch as much artillary at them as possible. Also, I have had mixed success but am getting the hang of trying to draw the enemey where I want them by using my general as bait. If I micro enough, I can lure out units as they go for my gen and I can skirmish the enemy and try to split their forces up a bit. When I get home after work I plan to start learning how to use more hit and run tactics with my fast infantry units to harras the enemy as they either approach my main forces or my main forces approach them. The goal with this is to get an enemy unit to break formation and go after my fast infantry and then take them out with calvary before the enemy can react. I also want to work at taking more advantage of cover, as I bet I can cut loses by another 10 percent per battle by just making better use of the surround fences, buildings, hills, ect....

[Horst Nordfink]

I use one tactic, and one tactic only: shoot everyone! Sometimes works, mostly doesn't.

[Marquis of Roland]

What tactics are you using right now Ardri and how do the battles play out?

[A Very Super Market]

I pick fights with tiny nations, but only to get at their allies when they declare war on me!

[Ardri]

I form my army with 2-3 artillery pieces stationed behind my infantry line which I arrange in a double line pattern. I'll assemble 4 calvary units I use to flank the enemy. All the battles I fight basically come down to whose unit is going to crack last because I normally route nearly all the computer and they nearly route all of mine. Out of a 2,500 man army after a battle, even a victory, I normally have around 500 men left. I've resorted to just putting a 2nd stack of infantry units in reinforcement range and I use the second stack to come in a whipe out the few remaining units the computer has to be victorious.

So far it has worked as I have conquered west along the coast to Amsterdam, east to Courland, and south to Bohemia. Would be nice to fight a battle though and no that I won't be losing an entire stack. And I have found Poland and Russia to be extremely valuable allies versus Austria.