stratagy for BRIDGE BATTLES

[Gan Ning]

Hey when i do battles and all that seperates my army from there army is a bridge, i almost always loose alot of men to archers.
How do i get to them with out having 1 unit slowly walkin across a bridge 1 man at a time while im gettin bombarded with arrows, and have 500 men there waitin and killin my men 1 by 1 as they get off the bridge!

I've tried several stratiges and they havn't worked very well.(a suiside march over a thin bridge while being inpaled by arrows and having blood thirsty enemys ready to get me) Ill put it that way.

1. I've tried a full out charge yari samuri in front folowed by calvary and then in the back archers. well wat happened was the only unit that got over the bridge after 10mins of waitin was a samuri like 20 min later a few calvary get there but they were already tired and wavering and had been wipped out pretty much by archers.

2. next i tried puttin my archers close to the bridge within firing range of the there archers, while the archers battled i charged over the brige with my close combat units,like in #1 they were slaughtered the second they stepped on land.

3. i tried waiting they just sit there.

4.i got realy strong units in front and repeted the #2 plan but with monks leadin the charge, it worked alot better then any other plan but i still lost. i know a monk is alot better then a yari but 1 against 200 is no contest.

Is there anyway to do these bridge lvls without loosing or having ur men slaughtered?

[NagatsukaShumi]

Hmmm, bridge levels suck, thats why I make my own with the water your units can run through, no more bloody bridge crowding

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Give me your heart, and I'll break it.
Give me your virginity and you'll lose it.
Give me your money, and I'll keep it.

[james]

when im on a bridge battle with my diamyo,i send the diamyo across and rush them to the end of the map.by the time they get there,the enemy should have all the troops after you.so then sneak all your troops over!
best having fatique switched off

[theforce]

if u attack bridge then
you are gonna get slayed
unless the other guy is...
1.on weed(or under the influence of any other substances like booze or drug)/
2.watching porn while playing the game
3.being a total crap player
OR
4.has the worst luck in the world!!!

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Don't use only honour, use theforce, too.

[BSM_Skkzarg]

Bridge battles - are best done a number of ways. First if your attacking across a bridge - you need a couple more units that your opponent. Go with low honor ashi (take the honor OFF - add armor). These are your missile magnets. Run one onto a bridge (but not across) - stop em when they start gettin shot at. Loss formation works well here. Exhaust the arrows of your enemy, and then you can use your combat units to cross.

Second, do as you did - place archers on the bank to fire at any melee units that charge your crossing spearhead (but not close enough to get into a missile duel. Now - do NOT use cav or monks or spears... if your going into the teeth of enemy fire the ONLY unit to use is Naginata - preferably with high armor (and honor if you can afford it). Don't worry about weapon upgrades - these guys are only used to give the rest of your troops time to cross. March em halfway across - then run them the rest of the way - also - as soon as the first guy gets over and stops - reissue the move to here order - otherwise the men will form up on the other side (while being shot) and then move as a group - which gives your enemy time to engage them AT the bridge - blocking reinforcements. Spread your nagi wide (3 ranks is good) in hold formation and position. Have them followed by your heavy hitters. If done properly - this will allow your shock troops or cav or whatever to cross and form a decent line in time to rescue the nagi before they break. Just don't dally, and keep a yari cav or 3 close to charge down any unprotected archers/muskets.

Any battle you have to attack across a bridge is one where you are at an extreme disadvantage. Single player you can also use the "bait and cross" trick described above. However, against a human, your going to have a really long day unless there was a different koku amount for defender/attacker arranged and honored.

Qapla!
Skkz

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BSM_Skkzarg
"ARG when I'm Happy, ARG when I'm Sad, ARG when I'm good or bad. ARG!"
"ARG to port! ARG to starboard! Arg from stem to stern! ARG!"

[Gan Ning]

Okay thanks i'll try that out.

[Papewaio]

SP (Single Player)

Naginata for anytime you have to advance under fire like bridges or castles. If you can outflank them as in other maps then use calvary.

Anyhow on a bridge even under fire Naginata Infantry will kill 2 to 1 in their favour. Another way to use them in normal levels is to fire archers at the units they are in hand to hand with... some may die of friendly fire but a lot more will be saved by quickly whittling down the opponents.

As for using Monks on a bridge level... only if you wish they to transcend to the next life sooner then later.

On MP if you know you are fighting on a brige knock down the honour of the Nags and put on max armour. And use mulitple units. As one retreats put a fresh one in. The depleted unit should regather behind your lines.

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Another option is to charge calvary across the bridge and once across veer to one side and outflank the enemy this will draw them off and you can try getting another unit across.

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Victory First, Battle Last

[Major Robert Dump]

U do like Sherman and take a regiment of engineers and build a pontoon bridge on the enemies flank and surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pdoan8]

I don't cross bridge in multi game (I may if I am on Owari province which has two bridges).

For SP custom battle or campaign, I will bring my bridge defend army with me if I need to cross a bridge. My typical bridge defend army would be 2 Nig, 4 SA, 4 YS, 4 Monks/ND, 2 Cav.

Crossing bridge:

Use 1 of the Nig in three row deep and loose formation. Move them as close to the bridge as possible (but not cross the bridge yet). Let the enemy fire on them as long as they still stand. When I think that the enemy has wasted enough arrow, I will move my archers in to continue the shoot out. I will also use the second Nig to make an crossing attemp. Set them up in 6 wide x 10 deep (and may be wedge to gain charge bonus). Charge them accross the bridge. As soon as they make contact with enemy troop, I will set them back into my prefer attack formation which is 10x6 and engage at will. Continuously force them to charge at the enemy units behind the ones they are engaging. Use the first Nig unit to back them up. Force the archers to fire at the enemy units which are engaging my Nigs. Fight untill either my Nigs run away or the enemy runs away. If my Nigs run away, then I use YS to repeat the crossing process. If the enemy runs away, chase them with Nigs (will leave some room for other units to cross), then charge my shock troops (in wedge) to help the Nigs. Then my cavalry.

If I am facing a full army with lots of range units (6 or more), I normally will lose at least 1/3 of my troops.


[This message has been edited by pdoan8 (edited 04-29-2002).]

[Papewaio]

Quote Originally posted by pdoan8:
I don't cross bridge in multi game (I may if I am on Owari province which has two bridges).

For SP custom battle or campaign, I will bring my bridge defend army with me if I need to cross a bridge. My typical bridge defend army would be 2 Nig, 4 SA, 4 YS, 4 Monks/ND, 2 Cav.

Crossing bridge:

Use 1 of the Nig in three row deep and loose formation. Move them as close to the bridge as possible (but not cross the bridge yet). Let the enemy fire on them as long as they still stand. When I think that the enemy has wasted enough arrow, I will move my archers in to continue the shoot out. I will also use the second Nig to make an crossing attemp. Set them up in 6 wide x 10 deep (and may be wedge to gain charge bonus). Charge them accross the bridge. As soon as they make contact with enemy troop, I will set them back into my prefer attack formation which is 10x6 and engage at will. Continuously force them to charge at the enemy units behind the ones they are engaging. Use the first Nig unit to back them up. Force the archers to fire at the enemy units which are engaging my Nigs. Fight untill either my Nigs run away or the enemy runs away. If my Nigs run away, then I use YS to repeat the crossing process. If the enemy runs away, chase them with Nigs (will leave some room for other units to cross), then charge my shock troops (in wedge) to help the Nigs. Then my cavalry.

If I am facing a full army with lots of range units (6 or more), I normally will lose at least 1/3 of my troops.


[This message has been edited by pdoan8 (edited 04-29-2002).][/QUOTE]

Not to Nag or Niggle but the Nigs are normally referred to as Nags.

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Yes I had too!

[Vanya]

Bridge maps are easy. Not easy to win, but easy to attack. You have no option but to cross the bridge. So you do it.

You can try to finesse them, which works in SP and in some cases in MP. Or you can use the "power play", which, if you have the right troops, will almost always work (except against masters in MP). In MP the "power play" actually has a good chance of winning because you know going in the enemy has no reinforcements. That makes it a heck of a lot easier.

Finesse: A quintessential finesse play is to walk some ninjas over the bridge. Works like a charm in SP. No good MP player will let you get away with that. But in SP, they do NOT get shot at. Nobody moves in to stop them. So, when you send in your next regular unit, you ALREADY have a nasty flanking force in play!

Power: Do I really need to tell you this one? There are two types of power play: the regular, and the Vanya Piledriver. The latter is so far, UNDEFEATED in MP play! Which amazes even me! I think the tally is 9 bridge attacks, 9 victories. For obvious reasons, I cannot divulge the secrets of this monstrously successful attack plan. But anybody with enough experience under their belt would soon realize they probably do something similar... Mine just has the procession, victory parade, confetti... and the full force of Theory behind it.

(Of course, almost all, if not all, these bridge battles were those where I joined some poor bastid to "teach them a lesson they would soon not forget"... They hosted them, and I beat them! Beating bridge campers is very gratiufying. )


[This message has been edited by Vanya (edited 04-29-2002).]

[Gan Ning]

wat i do is, let my nag. take some arrows(as said) then i charge in with heavy cal. which plow through, then i put in a few more strong units no-dachi/nag./yari cal. then i make a cup formation around the bridge. i send a few musketeers, manly cal. archers (cause they fast) into the protection of the circle, then let um fire at enemys tryin to break through the cup. If 1 gets through(which rarly happens)the speedy cal charge back to my side.

then i send in a few more nodachi/nag./cal/samuri and set up a flank on there side of the bridge. then i send in the rest and flush um out and run um down!

[Gan Ning]

why are nagenta so good at dodging arrows?

[Vanya]

Quote Originally posted by Gan Ning:
why are nagenta so good at dodging arrows?[/QUOTE]

Naginata wear heavy-as-heck armor. Their armor weighs more than 20 gear packs modern day marines haul into battle.

So, arrows just bounce off them like ping-pong balls.

It also explains their speed (or lack thereof)...

[Gan Ning]

So thats why they get so tired!

[Gan Ning]

when your under attack, at a bridge btl wat u can do is but a nod in wedge form in front of the bridge then some heavy units, and last of all my archers(no duh!)it works nicly, but after they retreat and they almost always do, you flank on there side and set up a few cal on a hill protectin archers/musketeers and wait for the second wave of scum!

[Gan Ning]

Musketeers out shoot archers so much its not even funny. you have 2 units in a fight a sam and a mus. vrs a sam and a arc and you see that the mus will out shoot the archers alot, the thing about archers are that they are good for defending bridges. they can shoot alot farther.

[theforce]

If the other guy has the regular 4 musk and 4 archers then MOST of your men won't make it to the other side of the bridge.
A wise player shall use muskets against naginata and if you try sending monks then start using archers on them, too. A good player in MP will also not block the enemies units at the end of the bridge since when crossing a bridge a unit awaits the last man to move on giving the defeder more time to shoot at you.
In sp attacking bridges is easy. The ashi trick works with archers since the AI spends arrows on it. If you also have a kensai move it up there and watch the fools waiste arrows

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Don't use only honour, use theforce, too.

[Gan Ning]

args are kinda usless and it is a good idea to let archers wast arrows/bullets on um!

[CaptMac]

Fact:
Unless the enemy flees as he sees you approaching; you are going to suffer losses with bridges that you would not find acceptable in other battlefields.

You can try tempting the enemy to engage you and withdraw to your side drawing him with your unit(s) and overwhelm him causing a rout through supporting units followed out by an immediate attack with hopes that it will cause his retreat from the bridge and you can gain a footfold on the other side to attack through.

You need firepower. Concentrated firepower and units that are good in HTH. If you can attack with your Diamyo leading army it will help some in morale.

Multiple bridges are best....you can use some units to work their way around to outflank the enemy.

Another tactic that I borrowed from these boards in Single player campaign you can draw the enemy away (reducing strength in river province) by vacating/reducing # of units in adjoining province and when he moves into to take possession, battle him there.

[Gan Ning]

Its easier 2 flank in mult. bridge battles they cant have 2 many men at one bridge and none at the other, so it like 5/10 of there army against 9/10 of my (better) army.
Ill set up a flank in no time!

[Kagami Rei]

Cavalry. =) If you have them, that is. Particularly, Yari cavalry. They are so fast theat you can setup a "shield" formation on the other side before enemy units can even reach the bridge. Send them against the enemy archers to keep them occupied and give your other units time to cross over.

Even better, use an all-cavalry army. Send over the yari to block the enemy from controlling the bridge's exit. Instead of attacking right away, make a tight formation on the other side, this is your "shield". Then charge in the naginata and heavies, then finally the archers to lend support. By now the fighting should be intense, send some yari or other melee cavalry around back to flank. Unless the enemy also has an all cavalry army, this tactic never fails.

That's the simplest and quickest way, but there are others.

[Gan Ning]

yes cal are a very good "sheild" usualy, but can only take so many arrows!

[Kagami Rei]

The archers will stop shooting once you attack them.

[This message has been edited by Kagami Rei (edited 05-04-2002).]

[james]

Quote Originally posted by theforce:
if u attack bridge then
you are gonna get slayed
unless the other guy is...
1.on weed(or under the influence of any other substances like booze or drug)/
2.watching porn while playing the game
3.being a total crap player
OR
4.has the worst luck in the world!!!

[/QUOTE]
lol!!

[Gan Ning]

took u a while james; that post has only been there for like a few weeks! lol

[theforce]

Guys lets be realistic. If there are 2 battles someone will have equal men on both and a small cav team that would rush to help any bridge being attacked. Also if the other guys sees u won't he try to shift his power to that side?
And yari cav has low morale, all those bullets will make it flee and even if it doesn't it shall face a full ys unit in the other end leading them to rout. In mutiplayer don't play bridges except if it is friendly, rains like hell so his guns and arrows are waisted. Get some nav with high honor and good armour and send them there 3-4 units. It shall tire everything he throws at you, then send shock troops. Also if there is a castle in the same province of the bridge send a much bigger force to attack leading the enemy gen to hide in the castle and die from hunger


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Don't use only honour, use theforce, too.

[Gan Ning]

My idea of a real victory is lossing less then 75men. So if u've got time, letum starve. It would be cool if STW had like starvation as one of the unit measures (like morale, men, type). Like u would have to build like food places, ex: Bakery, Graniry, so on.

[Bubba]

You kinda do Gan Ning, though when the enemy is in a castle. The reason people die is because you beseiging the castle (starving them out). As for the bakery and stuff they are equivalent of building legendary farms (r whatever they're called). Whatwould be really nice would be to be able to capture supply wagons and add them to your army and give you money or something. This would also make an army in a province starve to death, depending on the amount of food harvested and the size of the army.

[Bubba]

Have any of you thought of using Kensai? All or most of the fire power will be directed at them so you either let it die and have the enemy use up most of their arrows (depending on his honor) or you can rush letting the archers to kill their own people since they rarely are able to kill a kensai until like 4 minutes of shooting by like 15 units. Shooting at just one guy will make it so more arrows will miss and hit allies.
And while the Kensai is engaged, flank the surrounding enemies (they usually form a circle around him) and crush them from there.