Army Styles for the STW newbie

[Bushido_Bandit]

Just a bit of a newbie helpers guide for choosing a style of play when you jump online. I know it can be quite daunting when you log onto your first game and have no idea what force you are going to field, thus I have put in some general knowledge and experience of mine which will hopefully help the budding-taisho in determining his/her style of play.

'Should I go with more melee than missile or vice versa?' is a common question faced by most newbies and veterans alike. But before choosing an army you should know what style best suits you and how to use it to its full potential. Once that is attained you can expand upon your initial army composition and hopefully find a good balance of units that suits your style.

Remember this is not the be all and end all of army styles but rather a look at the most basic styles of play from which countless variations of styles branch off. If your anything but a newbie, don't bother reading this because you probably know it but if you have the time on your hands feel free to take a look. Here goes:

All-purpose Amry
Made up of 70% melee, 30% missile. This army is similar to a defensive army, but should include multiple cavalry units for a guick counter-attack. The basic tactic here is one of softening up the enemy ranks, than when the enemy engages your units, you follow up with a quick counter-attack to the flank and rear with cavalry units. In effect the all-purpose army does not cator well to either a primary defensive or primary offensive role but rather a balanced affair which relies on counter-attacking and fast moving flanking tactics. As always the right balance between melee and missile units will determine your fate but remember the term all-purpose means that the army is flexible and should be able to deal with all kinds of situations.

Offensive Army
Made up of 90% melee, 10% missile (should only use CA as the missile unit otherwise use a 100% melee unit army). The idea of this offensive army is to overwhelm the opponents melee units with sheer numbers if confronted with an army that comprises missile units. With the superior numbers in a hand-to-hand battle you will have extra units to flank the enemy with. However, you're only problem with this army is the march towards the enemy position, therefore I'd advise you to use the loose formation and/or divide your army into two or more attack groups. If your lucky,your opponent will concentrate his missile fire upon one unit whilst the other/s makes it to the enemy untouched. Another tactic you could use is one of deception, in which you divide the army into two groups, one marches straight towards the enemy (known as the decoy group), whilst the other takes the long way around, hopefully unseen in the process, and ends up on par with the enemy flank/rear. In this case timing is of utmost importance, get there too early with one of the groups than half your army is already dog food.

Defensive Army
Made up of 60% melee, 40% missile or 55/45. A defensive army should always have two more melee units than missile since your opponent will always try and out flank you, so as to get to your missile units. If not the two more melee units can be used to bolster the line and/or engage the flanks of the opponent. Much like the offensive army there is a single deciding factor that will determine your success, in this case it is the event in which you have hopefully softened up the enemy so that your small amount of melee units can bring home the bacon. When using this style of army always remember that in most cases the enemy will field more melee units than you so it is of utmost importance to use your missile troops most effectively.

Feel free to comment, criticise and analyse. I'm looking forward to what you have to say :-)

[theforce]

Well you can have a regular army. I suggest u play lots of friendly games online before you start competitive games. There you can mess around with your army. Also koku limitations (low koku ) may prevent you from having yer amry. And there is maps too and lots of things there , too.


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[Tachikaze]

Map types are a factor, too. I tend to use more missile units on hilly terrain, and more melee on wooded terrain. Less cavalry in both cases.

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A murky puddle becomes clear when it is still.

[Doragon_Ajidrik]

Your gonna have to get online and learn like most of us :P. If you do get online, most of the players in the foyer would be more than happy to help(and take ur head)you out.

[solypsist]

learning is what Custom Battle is all about. Try with small armies to get the handle and mix of troops types before moving on to bigger formations. Also, try some friendlies with partners if your modem speed is fast. Partners is a good way to obseve how other people do build armies without the necessary disadvantage of having to face them.

[BanzaiZAP]

Agreement with Soly - you need to get good at controlling the units before you take on larger armies. In fact, I think the smaller battles can be more fun - you get to try out new maneuvers, and still keep on top of what each unit is up to at all times. Massive armies are fun, too, but some generals often get bogged down trying to keep up with 16 units, all trying to do their own thing. Practice with 6 - 10 units, then move up to 16. Ideally, you should try to mix things up as much as you can. See how effective a missile army is against a melee army, or a cavalry army.

-- B)