Anyone looking to improve RTW-B.I. MP skills
These are some suggestions i have for anyone looking to better there MP capabilities. These as said are given under the impression that you will be using 12.5k which is the standard for MP battles as well as rules like, or similiar to, those of the twpl rules.
Generaly it is important to have a game-plan. Even more so when it is a 1v1 game. It is always important to have an attack strategy. Just loading up on defensive units such as infantry and assuming you can just repel the enemy attacks untill they have no men left won't always work. It can even back-fire on you if they have lots of mobile units and archers. Or simply just more/better archers than you.
Generally unless you are a steppe or a barbarian faction it is best to get 6 of the cheaper archer units. And it is best to put 3 weopon and 3 armor on them. This will usually bring them up to about around 400 a unit. If you are barbarians i suggest 6 lombard archers with 3 weopon and 1-3 armor depending on how much and how good of enemy archers u expect to face. If you are a steppe faction i suggest steppe archers with the same upgrades as said for the Lombards.
It is best to put your archers on loose formation and spread as thin as possible (2 ranks deep). If you are playing a non 1v1 game sometimes you may have to increase the depth of your archer ranks to accomodate your allies being closer to you. It is also best to keep your archers off of Skirmish mode as many players sometimes send cavalry to attack them. Even if they do not kill any archers if they can force the archers to move back and hence loose some volley rounds towards the archer war that could very well be benificial towards them and a bad situation for you. If the enemy does send cavalry towards your archers it is best to wait till the last possible minute to send your cavalry to counter it. This allows your cavalry to have a smaller area to back-track to and it will get less enemy arrows fired at its rear as it back-tracks behind your archers. Also this gives you the opportunity to maby engage the enemy cavalry with your cavalry closer to your lines allowing you to trap and rout it with other units before the enemy has a chance to send up more units to prevent it. If you want to send cavalry to engage the enemy archers it is best to keep them on loose formation and make sure it is a unit you did not spend too much money on as chances are it could take massive arrow fire and suffer large casualties. It is also only best to do this if you beleive you can reach there archers and pull them back again before enemy cavalry can come to the aid of there archers.
Once the archer war is out of the way make sure you still use your remaining archers to there fullest potential. You can do this by taking them around the sides and firing at the rear of enemy units. The enemy will either try to chase them down, and draw men away from the important battle, or they will do good damages to the rears of enemy units. It is also important to use infantry to there fullest potential. Any unit with the ability to use warcry make sure you use it right before they are engaged, and that it is still on while they are engaged. It is also best to keep a unit or 2 behind those men who are not engaged and also have warcry on. If you are a roman faction it is best to put a unit or 2 of crappy infantry or the rest of your archers in front of your plumbs*which is the best inf unit rome has* to both take enemy arrow fire and slow down enemy troops allowing your plumbs time to send a few volleys of darts into the enemy ranks before they are engaged. It is also important to hand select every unit each unit should attack. This way they get the full benefit of there charge bonus and attack stats. If you are facing roman infantry and you are a non-roman faction it is best to send a unit infront of your main infantry on loose to attack the enemy inf before your main infantry hits it. This way all the enemy darts and javels will hit that crappy unit and not your expensive infantry. Cavalry is by far the most important unit though. It is what wins and looses games. The person who manages to get the most flanking attacks in with cavalry is almost always the person who wins. If you and your enemy are about equal in cav strenght i find it helpfull to lure the enemy cav into yours and take men away from your infantry battle and engage the enemy cav with infantry units as well. This way you can rut the cavalry turn around and flank the enemy inf with your surviving cavalry. This is of course only if all there cavalry goes to one side of there infantry. if not you need to make sure you leave men to protect your opposite flank. The most important thing to remember though is to get infantry engaged in the cavalry battle whenever possible. And it is always important to look-and take- every opportunity you have to flank an enemy unit with cavalry, mainly infantry but also enemy cavalry as well. Also once your enemy is routed *if it is a non 1v1 game* you should take as many men as possible and aid your allies with your remaining troops. However if your enemy is not completely routed you should keep 1 or 2 units behind to chase down the routing units with the most men in them to insure the enemy does not regroup and become a threat later on.
The main key points you should remember is:
Always get 6 archers
Always take advantage of roman Plumbs and clibs if you are rome
Always take advantage of Barbarian Lombard archers and chosen axemen and warcry abilities if you are a Barb faction
Always take advantage of steppe archers and the good cavalry steppe factions have if you are a steppe faction.
Always use a crappy unit in loose to attack first before your main force if you are attacking a roman faction- this way they absorb javs/darts
Always keep archers on loose and spread as thin as possible
If you have anything else you would like to add to this list of Tips/suggestions feal free to do so. Feal free to use this thread to share with everyone your strategies and suggestions as i have no problem sharing mine. I hold no secrets, it is only a true victory if the enemy knows how you play as well.
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