Defending forts/cities

[Didz]

So how should I deal with the melee-heavy Marathas and Mysore in the early-ish game?

Following up on Forward Observer's excellent advice I thought I'd add a few more comments based upon my recent Dutch Campaign and the establishment of the Dutch Indian Empire.

For obvious reasons its best to delay the point at which the melee heavy units get into contact with your range oritented VOC units for as long as possible and to kill as many as possible before that happens.

The other key factor is to recognise that the AI is driven by certain key priorities that have to be guarded against and if possible explioted. In the case of fort assaults the AI's single most overpowering goal is to get a unit into the winners circle in the middle of the fort at any cost.

To prevent this and make them pay heavily for trying involves a combination of tech tree and tactical planning.

Tactically, 'Do NOT try to defend the walls.' ....the number of casualties you inflict will be minimal and the troops you place on the wall are irrelevant in defending the winners circle. The AI will either kill them quickly or by-pass them and make a run for the centre. Any troops placed on the walls should be considered nothing more than a 'speed bump' sacrifice, so militia or other weak troops are the most that should be wasted on the task.

Infantry: Place your good infantry in firing lines that cover the most likely routes from the walls to the centre fort. Once you know exactly where the enemy are coming from try to place several units covering that area to create a killing zone between the ramp, or breach and the centre of the fort.

Remember, that once the walls are captured the gates become unlocked, so beware of enemy cavalry charging through the gates into the rear of your defences.

Artillery: Indirect fire artillery should be placed around the centre of the fort and used to lob shells over the wall at the attackers. They may also be able to hit the enemy on the opposite wall if placed carefully (remember they have a minimum range).

Direct fire artillery should be placed near the centre opposite the gates and approaches from the ramps where their cannister is likely to cause maximum casualties.

Cavalry: Not a lot of use to be honest....in fact it tends to get in the way. But if you have some I found it best to stick it in the corners of the fort as far from the action as possible and use it as a last resort to deal with any crisis situation.

Buildings: These are often useful for sticking poor quality units into, but personally I wouldn't recommend sticking decent infantry into them as the rate of fire from the windows is much reduced, and to be honest the last thing you want is to have melee heavy infantry chasing your men around inside a building.

Technically, there a number of important technical innovations you need to expedite when facing Indian Armies.

1) Squares - Once you have the ability to form square make sure that you keep at least one infantry unit in square on the centre spot at all times. This really screws up the AI's plans and will massacre any cavalry who make a dash for the centre through the fort gates. Also, I get the impression that men fight better in square, which seems to negate some of the advantages that Indian armies have in melee troops. That doesn't mean you should use that formation as standard as it cuts down on your firepower, but I often tell my infantry to form square if they become swamped in melee troops. Also if you have two ranks of infantry forming the first rank in square gives the second rank a better field of fire.

2) Bayonets - pretty obvious really. Anything that helps your men defend themselves in hand to hand fighting has to be good. Just don't use the plug bayonets.

3) Shell - Common shell is vital for your howitzers, its not very accurate but when it hits it hurts. Later on 'quick-lime' is even better but by then you should be holding your own against melee infantry anyway.

4) Cannister - Melee infantry hate the stuff, which means the sooner you can start using it the better. In fact, its hardly worth bothering with direct fire artillery until you have cannister.

Thats my 2 penneth anyway.