Quote Originally Posted by Herkus
You don't need strategy to win the battles in TW games since RTW.
So very True...

The AI in STW/MTW would never let me get away with the things I do in MTW2. Like how now I can run 6 units of Heavy cavalry right around behind their lines, taking time to face them up, and then charge them into their rear, without the AI ever trying to counteract...even during the charge itself. STW may have featured suicide charges up huge hills facing superior, entrenched troops..but hey, for the Japanese that was a pretty common strategy anyway so I didn't mind.

Er, I'm rambling, anyway...as for my strategys, I like to keep it extremely simple:

1. Agressiveness wins wars.

2. Don't fear the AI. The AI is dumb as Dirt. Even if the Odds look bad, you may come away with a Heroic Victory.

3. Money, Money, Money. Its all about the Florins. Use the Auto-Tax, Take a Crusade as a chance to go Sacking every town from Alleppo to Cairo(leaving the town behind next turn). Use your money to make more money by investing heavily in trade, farming and ports. You don't need super armourers and top tier stables. You need Florins..and the rest will fall into place.

4. Oh, and lastly, keep his popeyness happy. He is a pain in the **** but excommunication is a major drag.

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With those ideas in mind, I can play just about any faction with success. As far as battlefield tactics, I am in the Cavalry camp. I've always had the most success with cavalry. I particularly like Hungarys Cavalry line up. It has a great mix of Heavy Cav and Cav Archers. The only infantry I ever use are their Bosnian archers, which can take down spears/militia in melee.

My Hungarian Lineup:

Magyars/Nobles: They are fast, are as good as any nations cav archers(russia, Byzantine, ect) and they are -cheap-. It doesn't kill your budget to field a army heavy with these guys, which is the best point for me. These guys always make up the majority of my army.

Bosnian Archers: I like having a set of infantry archers to serve as a 'base of operations' from where I can run my cavalry body out from and back to again after they've run out of arrows. The foot archers of course are ontop of a big hill, that the enemy will have to march up under yet more (fire)arrows...Only to be charged down by...

Hussars: HUSSARS! *ahem* sorry..that is just a great name. They are the poor mans heavy cav, and they're fast to top it off. Their stats are similar to a Feudal Knight, with a slightly weaker charge. The best thing about them is that they can be trained from citys. Granted, they have to be Huge Citys, but by mid game you should have as many Huge citys as you do Citadels. Oh, and they are cheap.

Lastly: Serpentines; they don't come into the game early enough to have a big effect, usually by the time I have them I've pretty much already won the game. In my custom battles they've served me well. Their morale hit is as big as their actual kill potiential. They force the enemy to take initiative; they can't camp under Serpentine Fire. Cannons + Fire Arrows + Cavalry Charge = Rout.