How do you win battles on VH (Expert)?

[Bob the Insane]

I have been playing a Campaign on M/M and a second one on H/H...

I have tried Custom battles on M, H and VH...

Now on VH (Expert) I am curious how you go about winning battles of reasonably equal forces? Sure the AI is not very bright, but it tends to keep it's forces together and even with nominally equal units on both sides the AI will be killing your men at a rate of two 2:1 in either fire or melee combat...

Do you win VH battles on the campaign map (i.e. make sure you bring more/better/appropraite troops to the battle) or can you defeat the AI on VH (battles) with two equal armies?

In my attempts I have found the AI is vunerable to your tactics but it's simple attack will have devastated the center of your line before you have had any real impact.

Personally i am enjoying Hard because it forces the player to be tactical or lose on an equal footing. Medium was fun too...

FYI, I am not criticising anything here other than maybe my own skills...

[Eusebius86]

How do you defeat the AI on hard? You must either outnumber him 2:1 our massively outtech him. H is a nice middle ground between N and VH hard though...

[Daevyll]

Playing VH/VH as Prussia and Russia so far, I can usually manage wins against the AI between equal forces but often at great cost. Spectacular victories with kill ratios of 10:1 like in M2TW I've not yet managed.

Overall, I'd say the most important thing is to use the terrain. This is so much more important than in previous TW incarnations, because there is a lot more of it and so much of the combat is ranged.

My 4-step preparation for a battle is as follows:

1) determine your relative strength/his weakness: usually you will find you have a slightly different army composition from your enemy, ie you have more line infantry, or more artillery, or more cavalry. Determine which, based on quality and quantity. When equal, look deeper still (more melee oriented infantry, more 'shooty', etc. There is always a difference).

2) choose location based on this. ie infantry-heavy but light on artillery and cavalry try to set up in a cluttered area that will protect from artillery and deny his cavalry room to maneouvre/charge.

3) make use of all terrain features. line infantry behind walls, light infantry in buildings, cavalry in/behind woods to shelter/hide them etc.

4) Always use a reserve. I know it is a cliche, but it really helps. It is tempting to put all units in the line of battle, but I have lost count of the times when my reserve has allowed me to take an opportunity to deliver a (sometimes decisive) blow. Unde(r)fended artillery positions, an exposed general, an uncovered flank or rear in an otherwise even assault, taking over a strategically placed building,...
My favourite units to use for my reserve are 3 units of dragoons, since they can do everything reasonably well. Made even more effective by adding 2 horse-drawn artillery pieces. Together they can open a 'second front' anywhere, and be effective against almost anything (cannister fire ftw).
And if too much gets sent their way, just run away... win-win ;)


Well I hope this helps a bit.

[Strategy]

It's not hard to get 4 or 5 to 1 kill ratios against the AI even on VH. Just be patient; set up your units in a strong defensive position, and get the AI to come at you. It will almost always oblige, and it will almost always attack you in some silly manner.

Regardless - even if the AI attacks you intelligently, simply refuse to fight fair. Take out its cavalry quickly (they will usually either suicide, or you can use two of your cavalry units to gang up on one of theirs... I usually have 3 cavalry units + the general in every full stack). This will allow you to wrap around its flanks at your leisure as you bring your second line round ( you always have a second line reserve, don't you? ) and enfilade their line. You want to avoid long, prolonged firefights, as this is what will often cause most of your casaulties. Artillery units interposed or on the flanks of your lines are key, in order to provide the extra morale damage. Measured cavalry charges can be useful to send the enemy infantry packing quickly, just don't let your units get caught up in long melees or get hit by FF.

The most dangerous armies for the player on VH are - IMO - the melee heavy armies, or when the AI decides to simply bayonet charge your position (happens every once in a while). Even though it is easy to use reserve units and cavalry to outflank and win melees, they do result in casaulty heavy battles, and there is really not a lot that can be done about it if you play on VH (missile fire is less effective on them due to the AI bonuses).

One thing I've mentioned before: don't get infatuated with the AI artillery. So they are firing at your units and inflicting a few casaulties now and then AND the AI has forgotten to place a covering unit... so what? Leave them alone. Enemy artillery does as much damage on their own troops as they do on yours and you have plenty of time to kill them (and can do it without suffering undue casaulties) later. Focus on killing the troops that are closest to you.

The same goes for any other units that the AI has placed in strange positions. Don't assault that building until you've taken care of the rest. Actually... never assault a building unless you have to. Cannons will wipe out the building easily, and the AI is not intelligent enough to remove units from buildings about to be destroyed. Consider any AI unit in a building to be a dead unit, and get on with taking care of any units not in buildings.

[Strategy]

A further note on the use of cavalry:

Some will tell you that cavalry is useless, but nothing could be further from the truth (at least against the AI). The key lesson to learn is just that you should NEVER let them within shooting range of enemy infantry. But give them a nice flank (or a long column) to charge, and they can easily be used to rout two or three units in every battle.

The key is charging at the right time (to get the charge effect), preferably with more than one unit, and to not engage the entire enemy unit at once. One dragoon unit of 75 men WILL get killed by 120 infantry, but if those 75 men are charging a small portion of a thin line, the infantry will rout long before the entire unit becomes engaged in battle. When your cavalry becoming engaged in a massive swirling melee against infantry, you should always consider very strongly whether you should pull them out of the combat.

In addition to their battle usage, cavalry is also very useful as an attention getter. See the AI marching its entire heavy column of infantry toward your army and worried that you won't be able to beat them back? Send some of your dragoons around their flank and watch as the AI detaches several regiments to chase your men. Just make sure to keep your cavalry out of range while the rest of your army kills the remainder of the infantry.

[Jazzy]

I have learnt so far from VH battles to have to consider:

- a strong reserve (hold back half of the battleline minus 2 units)
- a concentration of fire (canister, crossfire)
- one or two light units doing hedge fire from the flanks
- coordination of units, if one wing wavers support if you can it with your second

You need to know how much resreves the ai will receive potentially from outside of the map because if your units are worn out and they will be beaten by weaker units if you have no fresh elements to counter them.

Critical but hard to decide is the moment when units have to go over to close combat with blank weapons. If they are shot out then it's clear.