SP in-a-row losses

[Tamur]

hi all,

A cheery topic after this afternoon's meltdown as the English (had the Almohads, Byzantines, Polish, Italians, and the Pope after me in a big way).

How many losses in a row can you sustain and still think of yourself as a good person? I used to think three was the most I could take and still think life was a good thing --- now I know it's seven! Ha, what a day...

Tamur

[Papewaio]

If I am losing to a superior force but still inflicting ok casualties then its not too bad... and sometimes I do a strategic retreat... move my main forces back to a bottleneck, while keeping my out of date forces in the frontline provinces occasionally striking out.

Had to do this playing English in Early the French where wiped out and then they reappeared in a province poorly controlled by the Argonese.

Lets just say my spearmen, archers and large amount of hobilars where not in the same league as 4 stacks of foot knights and feudal knights. So my best units got sucked back to Flanders for a last stand and I withdrew when pressed... sent two heirs with large forces to attack the Princes/Kings where possible... anyhow lost a few princes, diminished the stacks by a third and then let them dilute across several provinces... then in a counter attack I simultaneously attacked several key provinces... they all retreated including the French King and his line of retreat... so captured him and a prince in one turn... ransomed off (just wish I had the option of saying NO)... destablised his provinces and now am back where I started except the French had a single tough as province... this was jumped on again by Argonese and Spanish hit another weaker province.

In the end it is okay to lose a battle as long as it stops them steamrolling through my provinces unchecked.

[katank]

yep, keeping your troops alive to fight another day is good.

strategically inflicting as many casualties as your missiles can in a battle is good as is killing off their royals or high ranked gen if not outright win

[Tamur]

Today has been better, one loss, three wins and tighter borders. It's teaching me to keep not just full stacks but up-to-date units in my border provinces -- was being technologically mashed yesterday.

The loss was one I would have autoresolved (expecting humiliating defeat) but after reading the responses here I figured I may as well take down their general (a Byzantine prince) if I had to lose the provice. And it worked, haha! foolish Kataphraktoi charged my three FS units. I was completely outflanked but got his prince before routing.

Thanks for the encouragement

[Ar7]

Now that's lucky Usually the Byzantine royals refuse to die whatever you throw at them. They can kill half off the army and then leave the field, a true

[HicRic]

That's the spirit! You might lose the battle, but you'll win the war.

[avatar]

Treat every battle as three battles in one - main battle line, right flank, left flank. Hide your flanks behind hills or in trees. If you are defending you have the advantage of waiting on them to come to you. The computer opponent is not flashy. They will come straight for you and will set up their army to defeat what they "see." Make sure they do not see everything. The computer will also have flanks (usually a unit or two of cavalry) they will try to get behind you. Win on the flanks and come in behind their main battle line. As the English you have two good unique units, Longbowmen and Billmen. Use them. In defense, 4 Longbowmen grouped together will decimate any unit standing still. Keep them firing on the same target and then go to the next target. When they run out of ammo use them as men-at-arms. Not toe to toe, but as flankers. Billmen eat cavalry. Use them in pairs or with a spear unit - one to pin and one to get behind them. Make sure to have good generals - at least three stars. A tip to get good generals early in the game - use your king as your main battle general. He will eventually die of old age, but if you were successful in campaining his heirs will be 4 - 6 stars. Use these as your main battle generals for the rest of the game. Build ships early, if you do not you will be screwed.

I have more to say, but experience will teach you more than me going on forever. Valour will make or break your army. A high valour old tech army will beat a low valour high tech army every time. I suggest you read the "A Beginners Guide to Medival: Total War" by frogbeastegg. This guide is in depth and well written.