Quote Originally Posted by zstajerski
Battling them at bridges does NOT work, specially in the begining of their invasion when they attack with elephants :(
Also without the elephant they are too hard to hold at bridges cause they have to much missile and cavalry units
That's what YOUR missile units are for. I broke the spearhead of Timurid forces on a bridge. 10+ units of elephant artillery is a heck of a tough battle for ANY non-Timurid stack. You need to put some fodder troops at the mouth of the bridge. And some extra fodder troops. With elephant artillery, they tend to hang back and open up on you before crossing. You engage them with your own artillery (culverin in my case). Two nice things happen here... my own misses sometimes land in the mass of troops they are readying at the bridge mouth, and when the elephants go amuck they'll sometimes take some friendlies down.

If you are expecting your melee unit fighting that at the bridge mouth to win it you are wrong. If you are expecting them to survive you are wrong. Their only job is to hold the enemies when they rush the bridge there long enough your ranged units can slaughter the attacker. Make sure to send in more before they die or route. Don't be afraid to fire artillery straight through your own guys...given the enemy pile up on the bridge, the attacker will lose a lot more men than you do for it. Simply make sure your ranged units are within range of the bridge, but not in range of the opposite bank. Their own missile infantry/cav will have no choice but to try crossing the bridge, get tangled in melee, and be shot down from afar while they do.

Also I seem to usually whack the enemy general in the opening salvo. What is it with them and artillery??