Biggest Suprises

[Tomassi_Rossino]

Well I was on a Citadel on a Custom battle. I was the English and I put 3 units of Longbowmen up front in the first defensive walls and let the opposition charge. The oppostion was 3 armies of Peasants and Urban Militia among other things. 25 minutes pass. 50 English dead. 9300 opposition dead. 700+ routing.

I guess this could be down to the gunnery and catapult towers but still - Longbowmen are good or what?

So what are your biggest suprises on the field of battle?

[Despot of the English]

Gun and catapult towers would probably have had a slight factor in that battle.

[Tomassi_Rossino]

I would think so There were about 500 men killed over 500 metres away from the longbows deeming it almost impossible for the longbowmen to have maintained all the ammo to fend off the enemy at the gate too.

[Al Khalifah]

With the battle time limit feature on, its very easy to win a lot of battles. If you need to stall for time while you call up other troops to the front line, this is a valid but rather cheap stratergy.

If you have light cavalry and your opponent has no cavalry then you can just run away from the other persons army. As long as you try not to tire your cavalry you should be able to last the required time without conflict. The computer AI normally doesn't have the slightest clue what's going on when you do this. If he has no ranged units or artillery he has no chance and the game becomes like endgame chess where you opponent only has a bishop.

With citadels or fortresses that are upgraded, if your opponent has no siege engines, if the time limit doesn't expire (or is turned off), your towers and walls should be able to destroy a minimum of 500 enemy soldiers as they charge your gates.

[Sarnaen]

My biggest surprise was when I was playing as the Turks, fighting for control of Constantinople. The Byzantine Emperor Obi-Wan Kinobi himself was there, with his valour 7 or so Kataphraktoi.
I had an army of Turcoman Horse and Foot, a few Saracen Infantry and some Ghulam Bodyguards. Numbered about 1,000. The Byzantines attacked with some 8,000 men.
I decided to fight to the death.
Set up on a big hill with the Turcoman foot, Turcoman Horse on the wings, Saracen infantry on the flanks. Ghulams behind the Turcoman foot.
I had planned to use the Turc Horse to open the enemys flank to the Saracens spears, and hold the centre with the withering bowfire of the Turc Foot and charge of the Ghulams.
Anyway, it was a flawed tactic because the Byzantines came barreling straight up the centre with everything they had. The Kataphraktoi Jedi charged straight into a unit of loosely formed Turcoman Foot...
The Emperor died. He hit the unit, and a little green-pantalooned archer dude gave him a couple of whacks with his sword and down he went. The entire army began retreating.
I just sat there, too amazed to even send the Turc Horse and Ghulams chasing.

Upon returning to the campaign map, another huge shock.
The Byz Emperor had no heirs...
A single Turcoman bowman had defeated the biggest threat to my realm
I then had a lot of fun bribing all the rebel Byzantine armies and building horrifically powerful Byz/Turk hybrid armies.
I won that game pretty quickly.

[AssasinsShadow]

My biggest suprise had to have been when i decided to try a new tactic as the Danes. I started a game on easy, built as many troops as i could before I ran out of money.
Then with only 100 or so florins in the vault, and about 600 guys, i attacked the HRE on a seemingly suicide run. I narrowly won the conflict in saxony, loosing about 300 men. I thought I was doomed, but as soon as I attacked, it seemed that everyone else wanted a piece of the HRE too. Within 5 turns, the HRE was at war with me, the English, French, Polish, Hungarians, and Italians. Needless to say, the HRE didn't exist by 1100.

[Maeda Toshiie]

A guy (DaveP) at .com have tested using a single RK garrison in a upgraded citadel, to induce the AI to assault (due to the size of the garrison the siege would last forever). The AI would take a lot of casualties (trying to break through) and the morale penalties due to the multitude of missile barrage firing of them was enough to make them flee.

[Colovion]

One of my biggest surprises was last night. I was up against the 7 star King of the Byz. he had his Kats and a unit of ALan Mercenaries, 3 units of peasants and two of Treb Archers. I thought no problem, I have two units of Camel Warriors, three Turcoman Horse, four spear units and Spanish javelins. The only problem was that their King had 7 Stars, mine had 3 Their units had 3 Valour each, my troops had only one.

I did a wonderful job of getting rid of the Alans cheaply by drawing them into my spear wall by using my HA to harrass them until they charged. With the light cav gone I thought it was a snap - I drew the Kats into my spear wall with the support of the Javs and two flanking Camels as well as my HA firing into the melee I crushed the King's unit.... but the king got away somehow. Even then the peasants and Treb archers stayed in the woods. I fired a few volleys of arrows in there and was a little too optimistic with my spears as I just sent them in to mop them up. Unfortunately I underestimated the combat ability og Treb archers..... I ended up winning the battle but only after losing 500, only killing/capturing 300 or so

[Furunculus]

happened yesterday playing Byzantium on Expert.

year one:
my 100Baz infantry and 12naptha d00ds face a rebellion in Southern Italy............. so i attack Rome.
Rome has some 500 peasants, spearmen and militia, and i somehow beat them.

year two:
i know however that the pope sitting in the Papal States to the north is not going to be a happy fellow, and thus he would counterattack.
banking on the fact that he would move the bulk of his forces from the Papal States to Rome I therefore decided to launch an attack on the Papal States. ships passing in the night and all that..................... only to find that el Pope'io had remained in the Papal States whilst all of his forces launched a glorious counterattack on Rome

year three:
62 Baz infantry and 6 Naptha d00ds took on 20 Papal knights............ and won.

112 men kill the Pope and annhilate the Catholic Church as a Faction. :D

[Colovion]

^ Holy snap talk about being caught with your knickers down

[Ragss]

Among others, my biggest suprise recently was seeing 40 7 valour, 3 armour katanks losing badly to 7 high ghulam body guards, no more than 4 valour.

[Ludens]

My biggest surprise was in STW, when a two units of samurai were performing some sort of dance in front of my position on a hill, while my cavalry was creaping on their back. They were walking around in circles while I did nothing.

They ended up chasing my cavalry (which they couldn't catch), running back to the hill to join the battle, chasing my cavalry again, running back to the hill, and finally ariving when their comrades had been slaughtered.

I could have made short work of them, but didn't feel like leaving my hill .

[Maedhros]

I've tried the defensive tactic of not using mobile horse to not engage the enemy. Without retreating or losing my men the AI always declares me a loser.

It does work for the AI though. So it seems if you are a player ina battle and you avoid engagement for a prolonged period you forfeit the battle even before the time runs out.

[Tomassi_Rossino]

Today on an English campaign the French invaded Aquatine, a province of mine. Simon de Monfort the Elder came to rebel and took hold of the province and I later made him go on to conquer Brittany - right up to seige stage. With about 100 men, he withstood 5 years of sieges and armies from the French war machine in Normandy. The guy was invincible He couldn't be defeated and he only had a loyalty of about 2 Then my royal family had super babies with valour ranging from 5-15, command to the full. But then I realised that I was over budget with my armies posted in Flanders and Wessex and I wanted a rebellion in Scotland that never came.