Favorite tactics

[Spartan198]

I'm looking to expand my battlefield knowledge,so I was curious as to what different strategies and tactics you all use? This includes everything battlefield-related,even the types of units that make up your own preferred army configuration.


Heres a quick listing of my preferred configuration (Macedonian,for example) -
1 heavy cavalry unit (Companions) to command - I never put family members in command unless they have very high command rating (6+ stars).
7 heavy infantry units (Phalanx or Royal Pikemen)
4 heavy cavalry units (Companions or Macedonian Cav)
2 light cavalry units (Light Lancers or Greek Cav)
4 missile units (archers) - I don't use Cretans because they can't be replenished during retraining.
2 siege machines (Heavy Onagers) - for toppling walls during sieges and to frighten enemy troops.

Note: I don't even bother using skirmishers. I'll tell you why below...


Here's a basic rundown of my battleplan -
Heavy infantry provide the base battleline and backbone of the army.
Archers begin by firing vollies of flaming missiles into the enemy.
When the enemy reaches javelin-throwing distance,I launch my heavy cavalry into their own cavalry when present,which usually neutralizes or destroys them within a few minutes.
Archers continue attacking advancing infantry and (hopefully) inflicts some 50% casualies. By this time,the enemy commander (if cavalry-based) has charged into my infantry line and been either destroyed or routed by pike or spear,inflicting massive morale damage to his troops.
When enemy cavalry is neutralized,I cease missile fire and charge my own cavalry at the enemy infantry's flanks and effectively decimate them (which is why I don't bother training skirmishers - they usually just stand around and take up space).
Enemy army begins to retreat,and my light cavalry and command cavalry mop up.
Less than 1% friendly casualties sustained.


The above plan is successful some 90% of the time,even against post-Marian Roman troops. But I've come to believe that I'm becoming too reliant on cavalry and missile troops,and am underusing my infantry for the time and money it takes to train them.

I'm open to any advice,whether it favors my battleplan or not (feel free to point out any weaknesses you spot). And this also extends to both the Barbarian Invasion and Alexander expansions,as well. Thanks in advance for the input.


Edit: On the advice of my fellow Orgahs (that's what we call ourselves,right?) I've lowered my strict command star guidelines from six to three stars,and my casualty levels have lowered to my estimate of about .60 %. Thanks goes out to Quirinus,Fahad,and Mrdun.

[Paradox]

1.Group my army if I see them fit to surround the enemy.
2.Phalanx in the center of the frontlines.
3.Infantry reinforcing them at the back.
4.Missile units at the very back of the army, but they have to be in range.
5.Cavalry securing the flanks.

This is basically my way of maneuvering before the battle actually begins.

I never put family members in command unless they have very high command rating (6+ stars).

Why not? Your general provides an advantage for your troops, morale. I've always grown to be confident about charging my commander at the enemy while rallying my troops. He also prevents exhaustion from spreading quickly.

[mrdun]

Yeah, generals are worth their weight in Saphron

[TruePraetorian]

Roman army:

1 General unit, rarely a family member (I enabled recruitable generals for all factions)
4 early legionary cohorts ( Outer provinces rarely have high level barracks to recruit regulars)
5-6 legionary cohorts (5 if I have 1st cohort) trained from high level citys to help economy
2 roman cavalry of any kind
3 archer auxillia
2 infantry auxillia for flanks
2 Heavy/regular Onagers


I group my Legionarys in a double line, alternating regs and earlys:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

|reg| |early| |reg| |early| |first|
|reg| |early| |reg| |early| |reg|

I then have my archers and onagers infront set to fire at will, onagers use flame. My auxillia are on the flanks with the cavalry outside of them. When my archers start firing, I prepare to move my double line forward to keep the archers and onagers inbetween them. I set the font row to fire at will, and let the enemy charge. They usually break fast. The flanks are great because of the cav/spear combo, which also allows me to flank the enemy. My general sits behind the lines. If my front ranks retreat, my second ranks immediatly charge without throwing pilla. When one of them is wavering, I general charge while using his rally button. This is actually a historic legion...it works fantastically and is cheap to maintain. Of course it post-marian, for pre-marian I use the historical 3 lines. Also, to beat you cowardly greeks and macedonians, I throw both pilla then charge both ranks to a spot behind the hoplites, causing a few casualties but once they get in deep enough your men's spears are too long to reach me and the legionars prevail at H2H. That was defensive (which is smarter to play for this setup) For offense, I simply move to within range of onagers, unload ammo, archer range, unload ammo, the pilla range and unload both ranks' pilla before charging...no one can stop that.

[Barbarian]

My tactics with Greece/Macedonian armies:

1) Phalanx in the center
2) phalanx in the front and behind the line
3) Phalanx at the flanks, but usually the best pikemen only, who can hold flanks with ease.
4) Phalanx everywhere

Battle plan: March forward with my forest of pikes
Try to move in the way to outmaneuver the enemy's phalanxes and gain victory. Hellenic warfere rocks!

[woad&fangs]

I actually use these formations on EB but you can probably adapt them to Vanilla pretty easily

Flexed Form
...........................SMPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPMS....................................
CCCC........................G.,,,,,...MMMMMM..................................
CCCC................................AAAAAAA...........................................

Used with: Epeiros, Arche Seleukia, Ptolemy, Baktria,.... basically anyone with a wide variety of troops but with emphasis on the Phalanx.

C=Cavalry
G=General
S= Short spears
M= Melee troops
A= Archers or other missile troops

Sometimes the General will join the cav if I have enough melee troops. The cavalry swings around and gangs up on the enemy general. Then they wipe out the enemy missile troops and finish by playing hammer with the enemy line. The phalanx is merely pinning the enemy infantry in place until the cavalry arrives. I take them off of guard mode when I'm ready for the kill. The melee in the rear get thrown at weak points in the line that I see. The melee in the front line try to semi-flank the enemy and envelop them. The short spears on the end are to prevent the enemy cav from wiping out my front row melee. They'll either join in the flanking or fall back to protect the archers. I take the archers off of skirmish mode. They fire regular arrows at enemy cav and lightly armored shock units until I'm ready for the kill and then I switch them over to fire arrows.

Strengths- Low casualties, flexibility, can be used for attacking or defending

Weakness- High Cav casualties, to diverse for some factions, requires a lot of troops

That's my most common battle deployment and the one I prefer to use if I have the right troops. I'll post some other ones later.

Actually I still remember some ones I used in Vanilla
Sandbox:

CCC.............................HH...................CCC
................................H.....H.............
...............................H..TG...H
.................................H.....H
....................................HH
..............................SS........AAAAAA...SS

C=Cavalry
H= Heavy Infantry(Hoplites, Legions, Chosen Swordsmen, etc)
G= General
A= Archers
T= Artillery
S= Smelly Camels

Used with Numidia

The cavalry is mostly jav cav and is used to harass the enemy and kill routers. The heavy infantry is in a variant of the "hoplite box" around the artillery. The general is mostly there to provide moral support. The formation works best with a lot of archers. The camels protect the archers from enemy cavalry and can be used as flankers if need be.

Strengths- Uses Numidias strengths, strong defensive formation, if you replace the Legions with desert infantry than it is fairly cheap.

Weakness'- limited mobility, limited ability to deliver killing blows,

[Xenopusbruteovum]

Roman army:

1 General unit, rarely a family member (I enabled recruitable generals for all factions)
4 early legionary cohorts ( Outer provinces rarely have high level barracks to recruit regulars)
5-6 legionary cohorts (5 if I have 1st cohort) trained from high level citys to help economy
2 roman cavalry of any kind
3 archer auxillia
2 infantry auxillia for flanks
2 Heavy/regular Onagers


I group my Legionarys in a double line, alternating regs and earlys:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

|reg| |early| |reg| |early| |first|
|reg| |early| |reg| |early| |reg|

I then have my archers and onagers infront set to fire at will, onagers use flame. My auxillia are on the flanks with the cavalry outside of them. When my archers start firing, I prepare to move my double line forward to keep the archers and onagers inbetween them. I set the font row to fire at will, and let the enemy charge. They usually break fast. The flanks are great because of the cav/spear combo, which also allows me to flank the enemy. My general sits behind the lines. If my front ranks retreat, my second ranks immediatly charge without throwing pilla. When one of them is wavering, I general charge while using his rally button. This is actually a historic legion...it works fantastically and is cheap to maintain. Of course it post-marian, for pre-marian I use the historical 3 lines. Also, to beat you cowardly greeks and macedonians, I throw both pilla then charge both ranks to a spot behind the hoplites, causing a few casualties but once they get in deep enough your men's spears are too long to reach me and the legionars prevail at H2H. That was defensive (which is smarter to play for this setup) For offense, I simply move to within range of onagers, unload ammo, archer range, unload ammo, the pilla range and unload both ranks' pilla before charging...no one can stop that.

How does one enable recriutable generals, and to what advantage?

[Spartan198]

Yeah, generals are worth their weight in Saphron

That's true about generals,but,curiously,the morale decrease has never really affected my troops outside of defending my cities themselves (which is somewhat rare as enemy armies rarely get past my strategic placement of forts in chokepoints such as Thermopylae Pass). But the real disadvantage that they pose to me is the initially small count of men making up their bodyguard. I can take a full compliment of 27 cavalry (even light cavalry such as Light Lancers or Greek Cavalry) commanded by captain,and easily envelope and cut down even an armored general with ease.

Maybe I'll check the modding threads to see if it's possible to edit the numbers for Elite Bodyguard units.

But,please,keep the advice coming,everyone!

PS - I didn't know that about the general slowing the spread of exhaustion,though. I'll keep that in mind.

[Caeser The III]

all good tactics

[Quirinus]

I never put family members in command unless they have very high command rating (6+ stars)

Family members rarely get to six stars without seeing at least a little action..... anyways, even a three-star general improves an army's performance significantly.


When playing Greek factions, my regular method is to put the phalanx in front, with better-quality hoplites at the flank. This is so that, in the event that the phalanx is attacked from the flank, it fights better, and is less likely to rout. Archers are positioned behind the phalanx. Any skirmishers/non-phalanx mercenary troops are position on the flanks along with cavalry (if any). This is to utilise their relative mobility to protect the flanks of the phalanx, and/or to execute flanking moves of their own once the enemy line is pinned against the phalanx.

Still, though, the battles don't usually play out exactly the way I planned it, but I find that this configuration is fairly adaptable.

[Xenopusbruteovum]

Yeah, generals are worth their weight in Saphron

Is that good or bad? Are you being sarcastic?

[Emperor Mithdrates]

I'm looking to expand my battlefield knowledge,so I was curious as to what different strategies and tactics you all use? This includes everything battlefield-related,even the types of units that make up your own preferred army configuration.

I (if i'm playing as Carthage) get....

10 Sacred band hoplites
6 Iberian infantry
1 Generals Unit

Right, first I get 4 of my hoplites and arrange them like a hedgehog formation around my general then I put the other 6 units in a line facing the enemy army with 3 of my iberian infantry on each side. Then I advance my hoplites towards the enemy line and while their doing that I sneek my Iberians around the back of their line and rip their hoplies or whatever to shreds.

And for them....

[Spartan198]

I (if i'm playing as Carthage) get....

10 Sacred band hoplites
6 Iberian infantry
1 Generals Unit

Right, first I get 4 of my hoplites and arrange them like a hedgehog formation around my general then I put the other 6 units in a line facing the enemy army with 3 of my iberian infantry on each side. Then I advance my hoplites towards the enemy line and while their doing that I sneek my Iberians around the back of their line and rip their hoplies or whatever to shreds.

And for them....

If I'm reading this correctly,you basically envelop and surround them on three sides,just like the Greeks at Marathon,correct? Simple but effective.

Those Sacred Band are real killers...

[Quirinus]

If I have a full army, I like to keep a couple of units in reserve to commit at a critical moment-- does anyone else do this too, or is it more beneficial to just throw everything you have at the enemy?

[Spartan198]

If I have a full army, I like to keep a couple of units in reserve to commit at a critical moment-- does anyone else do this too, or is it more beneficial to just throw everything you have at the enemy?

Personally,hanging any units other than generals back has cost me casualties. Plus,it totally scares the f**k out of the enemy when you launch a full battle line of hoplites in phalanx toward them.

Balls to the wall,is what I say...

[Quirinus]

Yeah, I don't do this when playing a phalanx-capable faction, but as the Romans, Carthagenians etc. I do this because I find that sometimes the addition of a fresh troop to the melee against a tired or winded opponent will tip the balance of the melee, and possibly trigger a chain rout.

[TruePraetorian]

If I have a full army, I like to keep a couple of units in reserve to commit at a critical moment-- does anyone else do this too, or is it more beneficial to just throw everything you have at the enemy?

I do this anytime i play as the romans..which is almost always (pax romanum!)

I have a double line. When the units in front get tired, or if they become shaken, I send in the second line. After a few seconds, I sprint the previous men back and let them rest. Your lines will last quite a bit longer...try it.

Also, I constantly use the rally tab. it not only brings men back, but boosts morale, check it by pressing it. It will say "boosted by generals encouragements". If its a critical situation, then i press the button and charge into the weakest portion of the enemy line (i check for what units are shaken are wavering) this ususally turns the tide.



Since we are on the topic of tactics, has anyone used the roman checkers formation? I have tried it, but cannot figure out how they form a single line after the charge. Wikipedia it if you dont know what im talking about (roman battle formations)..it looks...interesting.

[Spartan198]

I do this anytime i play as the romans..which is almost always (pax romanum!)

Consider yourself lucky the AI can't reproduce the exceptional command ability of the Scourge of Rome! Then the Pax Romanum might find itself in slight jeopardy! (no offense)

Since we are on the topic of tactics, has anyone used the roman checkers formation? I have tried it, but cannot figure out how they form a single line after the charge. Wikipedia it if you dont know what im talking about (roman battle formations)..it looks...interesting.

You're talking about the manipular formation,if I'm not mistaken,correct? In vanilla I didn't,but it's hardcoded as the starting formation in XGM. And I've actually had considerablely more success with it over the two-line formation I used to use.
When I first got the game,my cat could probably have been a better commander than I was,but studying historical battles and tactics alike really does make a difference. That's one thing that sets the Total War series apart from other "games".

[salemty]

i would like if gaul have
2 barbarian cavalry
5 swordsmen
1 warlord
2 skirmishers
and if i am the romans and i have
3 hastati
3 principes
3 velites
2 equites
1 general
what formation should i put them in? should i have hastati as the first line and the principes behind them to be the second line? but the only problem with that is the gaul put their swordsmen in a one line so they might flank my hastati and kill my equites on the flanks

CAN SOMEONE PLZ HELP ME

[Ibn-Khaldun]

when besieging a town (or large town) and the enemy sallies I tend to use my rams like a wall ..
i form a line like this:

< < < < <

< - ram (small caps between rams)

this prevents the enemy to attack my troops directly and will destroy there formation (very good thing if your enemy have lots of phalanxes) .. put your heavier troops on the flanks so you could destroy any flanking enemy units and in the middle some missile troops with units that can hold the line for some time .. when enemy finally attacks your troops you will have heavy infantry to attack there rears .. soon you will see a mass rout ..

have tried his both in vanilla and eb .. it works very well with romans but with others i'm not sure ...

also against cavalry heavy armies (HA and stuff) it probably doesn't work

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

i would like if gaul have
2 barbarian cavalry
5 swordsmen
1 warlord
2 skirmishers
and if i am the romans and i have
3 hastati
3 principes
3 velites
2 equites
1 general
what formation should i put them in?

I would probably reccomend lining two Hastatii and all your Principles in a row on the second line. Switch on fire at will and guard mode to keep them held in place. By doing this the enemy will find it difficult to flank with their swordsmen - for every unit of them, there is a unit on the front line to combat them.

In front of them place the Velites so they can begin the skirmish.

Behind them, I would advise assigning your unit of Hastatii to guard the flanks. Barbarian Cavalry are slightly better than Equites, so may need a little help if they do try to attack them.

Place the equites behind the hastatii and principle line with one on the left flank and one on the right. Place the general on one flank also.

The formation now looks like this:

v v v

h h p p p
e g h e

When the enemy charge forward, get the velites out of the way and to the back of the line, exposing the enemy to fire from your principles and hastatii. The foes will then charge onto your line of infantry.

When the enemy try to attack your units on the flanks (equites and/or equites and general), and all enemy cavalry units are safley out of the way. Send your velites around to flank the barbarian infantry which should be in contact with your current front line. You could leave one unit of velites around that area to help the hastatii/equites/general which are already there should they need any help. The general is your most powerful unit, so use him where the combat is going roughly or lines are collapsing.

Eventually a mass wave of routes should occur, leaving you to chase down the remaining barbarians!