army composition

[jedi121212]

Thanks for the tips. I have three stacks guarding chokepoints and am in the process of making 3 more. The year is 1214. I own all of africa, and asia minor.

[Vantek]

Well in that case you've won anyway :P GG ^^

[jedi121212]

lol. I am waiting for the golden horde to appear. The Bynt. have got alot of land north and hopefully they will be attacked. My target is Iberia.

[Vantek]

Damned Golden Horde... I guess you'll need to go heavy on infantry after all. But wait a second, that's not Early anymore, that's High. Isn't the Crossbow available and even the Arbalest likewise? You'll need these against the Horde, Desert Archers will fall way flat. Also means that Mamluk cav can have its use given the armoured mongol heavy cavalry and warriors. Do camels get their bonus in the provinces where the Golden Horde likes to appear? If yes, they could be worth spamming.

Also - Mithrandir would approve - don't underestimate the lowly Bedouin Camel Warrior.

God, I was reminded of that almost the hard way today as the danged camels nearly cost me a battle that I thought was in the basket. They are such a pain in the butt if you have a lot of cavalry. And what were you saying about the Mamluk cavalry Empirate, they routed my General's unit of Feudal Knights like it was nobody's business.

[Roark]

Empirate is on the money. If cash is no object whatsoever, these are some killer armies, IMHO:

OFFENCE (Horde / Desert)

1 Ghulam Bodyguard (General). Preferably a Bedouin General with some stars, but they are rare.
3 Armenian Heavies (Armenian + Master Horse Breeder). No extra armour.
4 Bedouins
2 Saracen Infantry. +1 armour.
2 Nizaris

DEFENCE (Horde / Desert)

1 Ghulam Bodyguard (General). Preferably a Bedouin General with some stars, but they are rare.
1 Bedouin
4 Saracens. +1 armour.
4 Nizaris (yeah, it's a stretch, I know), and as many reserve archers as you can muster.
2 Fast Cavalry. Just for collecting routers, and temporarily diverting Mongol Heavies)

Apart from Saracens and archers/archer hybrids, most other infantry will be nearly useless against the Horde... (my opinion only).

[Vantek]

You're listing only 12 units? What about the remaining 4?

Ghazis can be pretty good against mongol heavy cavalry and hybrid infantry. After all, Saracens don't kill heavy cavalry, they defend against them.

[caravel]

Ghazis can be pretty good against mongol heavy cavalry and hybrid infantry. After all, Saracens don't kill heavy cavalry, they defend against them.

Ghazis are only good as flankers. You need to use them in conjunction with the Saracen. Once the MHC turn and attack them, they are done for. Saracens do kill cavalry, but they take a long time to do it. Once JHI are available the best strategy is to deploy a combination of them and Saracens. The Saracens pin the cavalry down and the JHI destroy them from the flank and rear.

In general as the Turks, I used to favour the following units:

Futtawa: (Think of them as 'Lesser Nizari') Better than Turcoman Foot, vanilla or desert archers and very good flankers against unarmoured units. These units have saved my hide several times in the past with a well timed charge on the enemies flank.

Ghazi Infantry: I only take about 2 units of these into battle. The only time I will use them is when I can hide them in a wood as a nasty surprise. They have a habit of dying very quickly and easily when they are actually attacked.

Turcoman Foot: Armoured Archers. Excellent archers to take on the Mongols with as they can survive well in archery duels with the MHA.

Saracen: The backbone defensive troops. If you take on the Mongols without Saracens you won't last long. They take the brunt of the casualties and protect your missiles. With a proper deployment the enemy will be forced to attack the screen. Never actually direct them to attack unless you specifically want, e.g., a downhill charge, simply deploy them using drag selection.

Turcoman Horse: Send out to harass the enemy and draw off part of their force. I use these to divide and demoralise rather than kill and occasionally mop up routers.

Armenian Heavy Cavalry: Better than the Kwarazmians. Just train in Armenia with the Master Horse Breeder and morale boosting buildings and upgrade armour +1. I use these in small numbers. The main advantage of cavalry is mobility so they are good at getting other units out of a tight spot. I tend to hold them in reserve though I often use them to for a rout of MHC.

Camels.

Janissary Infantry: Replacement for all other skirmisher units (i.e. the Futtuwa) once they become available.

Ottoman Infantry: I tend to replace the Turcoman Foot with these when available (well upgraded).

Janissary Heavy Infantry: Absolute killers. I tend to use these as flankers, though I rarely deploy them against the Mongols as by the time I've teched up to them, the Mongols are long gone.


The units I tend to avoid are:

Janissary Archers: Why??

Ghulam Cavalry: Pointless when you have AHC.

Ottoman Sipahi: Another 'waste of time and money' unit

Vanilla Horse Archers: Pointless when you have Turcomans

Vanilla Archers: The Turks don't need these.

Vanilla Spearmen: I avoid these and instead concentrate on teching up to Saracens. You cannot rely on them against the Mongols anyway.


-Edit: Guess who thought the thread was about the Turks...?