Greetings lads, come hither to my tent and rally round. Lend me your ears, for I have much to tell. Perhaps you have heard the veterans speak of marching through far off lands; heard them speak of pursuing weak foes, perhaps even heard of slaughters in which they partook. Aye, and perhaps you have heard them speak of jewels, women, gold, and riches beyond your wildest imagination…entire palace rooms piled high with rubies and fine silks! Twixt’ a sight which set fires blazing in mine eyes. Aye, we slayed all of them we had to to reach the treasure –all of them-. Twas a glorious night lads.

But check yourself! A few of you may perhaps one day glimpse such things, but for now my gods-given duty is to teach you to do battle! You chosen slave fighters will in 7 days lead many slaves to battle, though as you are slaves you are weaker in body and mind so I shall speak of the following simple rules.

Self Improve: Want to improve so that you are constantly becoming more able because of yourself. Self improve by self-questioning, meaning always ask yourself how you can do it better. E.g. how to win and re-attempting lost battles, how to better maneuver, seek understandings of the opposition, and whatever other things seem righteous to do. This part will be difficult as it requires change; eventually adjusting to differing conditions will come naturally.

to kill, ISOLATE and FLANK
Kill:
The base rule: Kill as many as possible while losing as few as possible. Kill them through flanking and isolating, not through missiles, assuming your army is regular and not missile dependent.

Isolate:
Lure away enough enemies for your remaining force to slaughter their remainder. The more numerous the enemy, the more it’s required to lure as many enemy units as possible per your unit.

Flank:
-To flank is not only to attack from the side or behind -behind is best because you’ll kill more- but also to constantly readjust your units; e.g. when the enemy unit suddenly attacks the flanker, the front line unit now flanks.
-A front line is best composed of spaced apart units, their role being holders of as many enemy units as possible per your single unit; the front line requires only as much needed to not flee. Before the opposing armies’ confrontation, direct your units so that when contact is made their front units –or other targets- are flanked by your front and flanking units at the exact same time.
-Especially flank with horses. Ensure cavalry contacts an engaged enemy, otherwise the enemies engulf the horses. Immediately after contact, before the horsemen delve too deeply, double click or spam click to draw them away. Re-charge to a great extent. Also ensure that lanced horsemen have enough charging distance to sound their horn, upon which they’ll draw the lances to deal great damage.


THOROUGHNESS before Speed:
-The higher standards you hold yourself to the better you’ll become, because one upheld principle, in this case thoroughness, replaces thousands of thoughtless actions. Pause the game and think before acting.
-Rather than speedily, sloppily flanking in response to an intensifying confrontation, gain speed through repetition of correct, thought-out actions. So as the confrontation intensifies, increasingly pause your game to direct your units.
-e.g. Rout/kill the enemy unit and relocate your units perfectly before they’re pinned down by an advancing opponent. Against a larger and quickly incoming force, such discipline wins you battles.

Additional information
-attacking a settlement: a tactic is to make a 3 sided box outside the wall breach and use the general to lure the enemies out 1 at a time.
-opposing superior force is breaking out of siege: a tactic is to have 1 unit lure main gate opponents, send your others after the general then finish the opposing units.
-hiring mercenary vs regular: If a regular unit would take 3+ turns to reach the mercenary hiring location, the mercenary is the better buy because regular upkeep/regular recruitment cost = 1x/4x, while mercenary upkeep/recruitment=1x/7x, therefore a regular unit would equal a mercenaries cost in 3 turns; this is also not considering the instant conquering potential of the mercenary.
-hotkeys: learn them to save you time so you can spend the time thinking about how to kill the enemy.