Mysterious Unit.....

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Yeah, Night Raiders rule, I always have at least four of them and two Chosens in custom battles as Germany.

[pezhetairoi]

Ahaha, there you're different from me--my backbone is spear warbands. The mobile flanks are Chosens, and the reserve are Night Raiders.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Ahaha, there you're different from me--my backbone is spear warbands. The mobile flanks are Chosens, and the reserve are Night Raiders.

Yeah, I usually love to use phalanx units, but as the Germans I find them to be too slow to keep up with my heavy infnatry and cavalry advances and flanking manuevers. Due to this i either use them as garrison troops or to protect my toehold in an assaulted city by stretching from wall to wall after I send my main force in.

[pezhetairoi]

mmhm, you have a point there, but I rather like spears for their staying power, even if they are slow... maybe it's just my more defensive playing style :-)

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Probably, lately in my Romans campaign in RTR I have been using an odd heavy infantry as my mobile force. They have been a bit slow at times and end up spread out and vulnerable, but the enemy is scattered when they scatter so it doesn't do much harm. Mostly I have had trouble getting enough cavalry and skirmishers so my Triarii and Principes would end up chasing skirmishers and routers across the battlefield. An odd highly aggressive heavy infantry tactic that I developed by accident, only problem is when I fought the SPQR army I lost EVERYTHING. My best general barely escaped alive. Besides that though I have only lost a couple of battles against Carthage and one siege where I was totally overwhelmed by a much larger force.

[barocca]

in previous total war games
there was a chance upon the death of a ruler that his succssor would be a different characteristic,

and thus the makeup of armies and province buildings chosen for construction would change

this made it a little harder for the human because while leader/ruler one was not aggressive and not expansionist his son could (and often was) a much different kettle of fish

perhaps the Germans built bardic circle and night raiders because their original ruler died and the current one has a different characteristic.