Basic Tactics

[bubbanator]

Best Stratagy Ever:

Kill the enemy while not letting them kill you.

It's perfect...

But seriously, I like Alexanders "Hammer and Anvil" stratagy. If I am playing as Romans, have my heavy infantry line with 2 units in reserve, and triarii on the flanks. My cavalry are all massed to one side. Once the enemy engages my line, my cavalry rush behind their line and hit them directly in the middle. If I have any archers, they are shooting at the center unit that I plan to hit with my cavalry. The whole line usualy collapses after that.

[Divinus Arma]

Hi. I wrote a guide not too long ago but never got around to finishing it. It still has a lot of great stuff though:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=46099


Hope this helps!

[pezhetairoi]

yesyesyes DA's thread rocks!

[Divinus Arma]

yesyesyes DA's thread rocks!

You are far to kind, my friend.

[Papewaio]

(Green) Eye of the Storm

Get eight or more hopilie style units form a circle, sit your general and one Crete Archer in the middle. Start Battle, switch the time to max speed and go make a coffee. Come back and count the dead enemies.

More ranks, having a roving reserve (Spartan Hopilites) and other improvements all help.

But the end of the day it is your general who is in the eye of the storm.

[Franconicus]

(Green) Eye of the Storm

Get eight or more hopilie style units form a circle, sit your general and one Crete Archer in the middle. Start Battle, switch the time to max speed and go make a coffee. Come back and count the dead enemies.

More ranks, having a roving reserve (Spartan Hopilites) and other improvements all help.

But the end of the day it is your general who is in the eye of the storm.

Thanx a lot for this advice. I tried and my army was erased
I was Sel and had a FM with mercs (2 phalanx, 2 barb inf, 1 falx, 2 crete archers, 1 pelteasts, 1 barb cav). Enemy was Pontus, twice as strong. (their king with another FM, Sarmathian cav., 1 jav, rest desert inf). First their inf charged, then the two FMs. My line was shaken. I sent my FM and the falxs. My barb cav tried to get them in the rear. Enemy sent the Sarmathians. My phalanx was broken. My FM run away and so did the rest of the army. Big desaster

[Gaius Magnus]

Thanx a lot for this advice. I tried and my army was erased
I was Sel and had a FM with mercs (2 phalanx, 2 barb inf, 1 falx, 2 crete archers, 1 pelteasts, 1 barb cav). Enemy was Pontus, twice as strong. (their king with another FM, Sarmathian cav., 1 jav, rest desert inf). First their inf charged, then the two FMs. My line was shaken. I sent my FM and the falxs. My barb cav tried to get them in the rear. Enemy sent the Sarmathians. My phalanx was broken. My FM run away and so did the rest of the army. Big desaster

Now try it with 8 Hoplite units like he sugeested.

[dismal]

(Green) Eye of the Storm

Get eight or more hopilie style units form a circle, sit your general and one Crete Archer in the middle. Start Battle, switch the time to max speed and go make a coffee. Come back and count the dead enemies.

More ranks, having a roving reserve (Spartan Hopilites) and other improvements all help.

But the end of the day it is your general who is in the eye of the storm.

Excellent. I use this one all the time. Usually it's with more like 12-13 phalanx units and 4 or 5 archers. Oh, and ideally you want to get on top of one of those nice little round hills.

My basic tactic is never fight fair.

I never attack unless I have overwhelming numbers.

When I'm on offense, I always defend. Move your troops to a good spot, let the enemy attack you. (The only exception to this is attacking wooden walls, which is a slaughter when you bring archers.)

A good phalanx or heavy infantry line (12-13 units), a generous amount of archers (4-5 units) and a few horse on defense on a hill and it doesn't take a tactical genius to win.