How do you fight?

[Seabourch]

Depends on who I play, I'm more at home with a horde of missile cavalry, shooting everyone to death. But for infantry, I prefer a defensive battle as with England, only Billmen seem to work until your armoured swordsmen appear.

[Tabuu]

Agreed. If it's a wide open battle, like on plains, I play as Scotland and place pikemen at the flanks and front with cavalry in between them and archers. Kinda looks like this:

0000000000000
00XXXXXXXX00
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

0= pikemen
X= cavalry
I=archer

[VersusAllOdds]

In MTW2 single player, I try to use as much light cavalry as I can. If your faction has them (Moors, Portugal, Spanish, Egypt, Russians, Polish, Hungarians, Byzantine, Turks), they are usually easy to get, and cheap to maintain, in comparison to other cavalry. Spear throwing cavalry of the Moors is my definate favourite, you can have many of them and fast, they virtually destroy a unit (when firing at enemy's back, one unit of Desert Cavalry can render useless any single unit). Then I use them to charge at flanks and mop up broken enemies.
Same goes with horse archers.
Heavy cavalry is very good too, but it just hurts me to see any knight die, because they can be retrained at very few places in the early game.
My hands go down to cavalry!

[Cute Wolf]

why bother with Knights when Italian cavalry militia is almost the same, with cheaper upkeep, and could be upgraded for better defense?

But if you want them, don't bother with mailed and feudal one, unless they are your starting units, use those with plate armour (knights of England, knights of Portugal, Chivalric Knights, Imperial Knights, Huscarls (they are not plate user, but darn good with those AP axes), Templar, and Hospitallers)

[dzidek]

My favourite army is Denmark.

5x Obudasher - a very very good unit that is way better for me then f.ex. Jannisary Heavy Infantry. They don't have a second weapon like pikes so won't switch to a crappy unit, and they can make a pike wall with their halberds. They stop a caalry charge and infantry charge with ease.
3x Norse Archers - medium infantry with arrow support, stand behind the Obudasher pepper the enemy with fire arrows, then support the pike wall in melee
3x Artillery (Trebuchet behind the pikes or Cannon on the side)
1x General
2x Huscarls or Chivlaric Knights - for flanking and pursue
6x Heavy Infantry - as Denmark you can choose different units, i usually use Dismounted Huscarls and Dismounted Feudal Knights

Defending a bridge or a wall assault is pretty the same for everyone so i will describe field tactics.
I choose a place near some woods i put the Obudasher in the open with Norse Archers behind and Trebuchets in the back. Cavalry a little behind them in a posittion to easily flank my pike wall and support it.
Heavy cavalry is hidden near in the woods. Usually the AI sends his cavalry after heavy infantry so i can pin them easily and finish them off. If they dont use a lot of cavalry i make quick fast attack from the side.

[thyPlantagenet]

Me favourite faction be England.
I have me own way of fighting, as methinks most of thou do.

I would have grand infantrymen numbers (mostly 80% of the army, when I can do so) disposed through the largest terrain, but while maintaining the thickest lines I can. Some longbows or whoever archers I have, I put them behind the army (if they can inflict greater damage there) or in front of it (if their stakes - if accessible - can struck down fool enemy cavalrymen charge).

- only to justify meself, if thou think I am doing wrong, I win entire campaigns with less than 6 or 8 battles lost, on very hard difficulty -

Curiously, I get more cavalrymen when I am besiegeing a settlement

[Old Geezer]

I do much as Tristan and Againstallaodds do. I like a faction that has very fast horses and/or javelin cavalry and Polish mounted crossbowmen. The Timurids' elephants are just big waddling targets for javelins (which are ap) An all cavalry Polish army against any Mongol or Timurid army (one on one) is astounding. It is easier to defeat than an all jinetes/knights army. I use light cavalry (Border Horse, Jinetes, etc. )to charge the archers that the AI rushes and after the initial impact let them whack away until the spearmen come close and then withdraw and send them around the flank to capture all routers. Then the Knights are in a flanking position and charge the spearmen. I find it best to concentrate 2 or 3 cavalry on a spear or sword unit; it makes them route almost immediately. Billmen are just about as easy a target to destroy as peasant archers are if you time the charge right and especially if you have another unit flanking (it doesn't even have to have made impact yet to affect the infantry).
In my opinion, guns are cute, but useless. The only time that I used them to good effect and found the battle interesting was in an Americas campaign where my Spaniards were attacking the French in a field battle, as both sides had musketeers.
If I have a new unit of cavalry with none or few chevrons, I use it to lead any charge and try to get it to take heavy casualties so that it can get promoted to higher chevrons. It frequently can get a 1 chevroned unit promoted up to a level 6 or even 7 when merging with a level 9. So when I meet the Timurids almost every cavalry unit is a level 9. Even Border Horse with upgraded armor and weapons and level 9 chevrons can hurt the Mongols very seriously, because they are just as fast and can charge the mounted archers who can't get a shot off before they are impacted; I send 2 against each Mongol unit on the wings and then circle to the rear of the Mongol center which opens up a lot of opportunities for mayhem.