Rock, paper, scissors - I guess everyone has their own style! And some people would no doubt flunk with someone else's army.
Someone asked what's the point of Abyssinian Guards - when I played Egypt, I rarely had Ghazis, but went for the Abs instead. Can't remember now whether they're elite or disciplined, but it is handy status. Because they don't vaporize on contact with the enemy like Ghazis do, I found I could do a lot more damage with them. Especially good at clearing the cowering foil-wrapped infidel from out of the trees, that's for sure.
I'm now doing Late Turks just to play with Janisseries. So far have my JHI flying out of Constantinople, and my Master Archer is ready next year. My current balance is 3 Saras, 1 JHI, 2 Otto, 2 Turk foot, 2 Turk horse, 2 Armenian heavies, 1 Turk Sipahi, 1 SoP (pref general), and the last 2 usually extra armour piercing, Slav Javs, extra Ottos, etc, depending on the balance of the enemy. Turkoman Horse are great for the desert.
For a bit of fun, I'm thinking about trying a solely 'spear'-based army, though may have to call JHI "spears" to make it work, lol. And I have no Jinetes yet.... Gotta get my emissaries to Spain with a big wad.
But what I hope to try is a 4 x Sara wall with 1 JHI either flank, backed up by 4 Slav Javs, 2 Jinetes, 2 Armenian heavies, 2 light steppe. Apart from the JHI, all spears, and 470 men on small units. Or maybe one of the Javs could be replaced by Muwahids....
Tactics have to vary with terrain, weather, enemy forces etc. There is a simple word for generals who always use the exact same (or predictable) tactics: vanquished!
Since getting addicted to this game, I've starting reading history again, and I'm amazed just how many crap generals there were then! It was more often that a battle was spectacularly lost than actually won by the other side. And mostly impetuousness, poor morale, or pride was at fault.
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