Where do i get replays /tactics

[Squirrel_of_hatred]

I agree with nihil with the above. Yes the game is still playable without the realism but its not as enjoyable. People buy this game for its realism you see and not as a fantasy game those people are then dissapointed and bemused by the baffling imbalances. The Imbalances i suspect are there to have people enjoy the single player aspect of the game with the romans and these imbalaces where lazily ported over to the MP.

http://www.geocities.com/i_s_s_alpha...Animations.htm

Back to topic: Hope the above works its basically what i was looking for and its the business -enjoy

As for numidia. I played as them before and eventually abandoned the elephants as they ran amok too easily and where countered with little effort although i had some good success with em they had a slow speed for cavalry. I was probably overlooking something though or maybe the 12500 deniri was too low to make them viable. Could you email me a some replay's?

[NihilisticCow]

I can't send you any replays as I don't save them in 1.3 as they don't work. I don't think I have any in 1.2 either.

The general trick with eles is to keep them well back and away from archers until you make a move (or your opponent makes a move). Once I'm moving them in, I generally don't stop moving them. In engaging them, they are best sent into the side of pinned infantry (your infantry won't hold very long, so you have to time it reasonably well). As long as you keep double clicking on the next infantry, you keep them moving, one elephant will rout an entire line of infantry. With the 2 eles setup with Numidia, I use 1 elephant on either flank and send the camels into the cavalry. The eles move and flank or just attack the enemy cavalry after the infantry has routed, which pretty much routs the enemy cavalry as well. I may though send 1 ele with the camels into the cavalry, while the other routs the infantry, as one will suffice. If cavalry is on both flanks, then I mirror their setups with camels, and make sure the eles get into the infantry, which is where the game is inevitably won.

[YellowMelon]

Cow's strategy is (oddly ) the same as mine. Cavalry experiences morale penalties with the eles in the mix, as well as a morale penalty from the camels. Although heavily upgraded cavalry can sometimes route your camels, you still have the option of releiving the cav struggle with your additional elephants. Remember that the infantry is the least of the concern, you have to win the cavalry battle or the enemy can drag the battle into a skirmish and wear down the morale of your elephants.

Sometimes you can lure the enemy out with a cavalry charge against your camels. Even good players make the mistake of a glorious cavalry charge, while in the meantime abandoning their infantry. If you can lure them out via archers or taunting them with javeline cav, then you may save yourself the iffy infantry engagement. Although the elephants demolish the enemy legions, Numidian infantry is disgustingly weak. Especially against Urbans they will route very fast. This method of luring cavalry away from enemy positions is effective in all battles, since they lose the footing of a solid defense. With weaker factions that require more skillful elephant play, you may wish to attempt it. If this fails, at least you have exercised a different option than simply charging into their lines.

But in essence Cow's setup is useful, and perhaps the best way to use Numidia. It becomes even more useful when you team it up with a Roman faction with versatile, elite infantry to defend the cavalry interests.

I don't believe I have any replays either, since I only record tournament matches

[Squirrel_of_hatred]

I have used this setup many months ago but abandoned it because even though i can dominate the archery my eles can still be hit with onangers behind my line moving them out of range puts them too far away with their slow speed to counter a rush as my army then is vulnerable. Numidian light camels where still no match with 2 - 3 exp(1.2) for prathoreon cav. to attack the cav with my eles could mean my inf/1 ele will rout to the urbans v quickly. The archers must be in front of your line due to their short range and are vulnerable to light cavalry from good players especially as light camels are that bit slower when countering. I have been very successful with the tactic but its too brittle to rely on. so I switched. I have no doubt that i am maybe missing something thats why my ears pricked up when i heard that someone else uses eles reliably.

[NihilisticCow]

Using elephants is a matter of how and when you engage them. Keep them well back until you're about to move, and only get them to charge the enemy infantry once yours has pinned it. Doing this will rout the entire enemy line with just 1 elephant.

With regards to onagers, most people tend to just ban them as they are considered to not require much skill to use and are so very random, as to make the game even more so. It would be far more random to use elephants against onagers, as it would depend on whether your eles got hit or not (something neither side really has much control over). So you can't really depend on anything working. Keeping eles on opposite flanks maximises the chance of at least one ele making it into the infantry though.

[YellowMelon]

Also, keep your eles away from each other to ensure that if perchance they are being targetted by archers or onnies, you wont lose both from target concentration. Keep pressure on enemy archers. Use light cav to skirmish them to dwindle their numbers. Remember winning the archer war is critical, so if you have to spend a few extra bucks to beat their archers to ensure safe passage for your eles it is well worth it.

[AquaLurker]

Numidia have a better chance against piky armies even without using elephants, but against rome, you will have to hope that your opponent make a mistake, but even if he did make, a mistake its better that you move your ele fast, because...numidia infantry can run very fast...off the field.

Winning the archer war is even more critical depending on which faction you face. Some faction are simply not cut out to win the archers war while others are just made for target practice, take rome for example, they are geared for archers war and design to kill pikes not to mention excellent in winning "cav bash" because of their flexible infantry. I wouldn't blame a guy who would chairot and cav spam rome with Brits and egypt.

IMO unless you take rome out of the picture, considering how stupidly slow pike kills are now is and how well covered the romans are in almost every aspects, there are times I feel that discusiing tactics in RTW vanilla can become as exciting as discussing the race between the hare and the tortise.