What is your go-to army composition?

[al Roumi]

Interesting to see the roles-playing and gaming type approaches to armies. For the SP campaign i try to play in a way i think is reasonably historical, with armies to match. So that means generally avoiding spamming top units and keep a balance of core and supports - including foot skirmishers, if only as a screen/bait. I like to have my armies flexible and mobile so I don't tend to use many siege weapons.

For Rome I used infantry heavy armies, with a decreasing number of pre-Marian types: Hastati>Principes>Trarii and roughly similar numbers of velites as hastati. I then exclusively use auxiliaries for support and cavalry, phasing out the velites (get a bit bored with them and you also have to worry about the damage to wild-life if they ALL wear a dead wolf).

My fave auxilliary skirmishers are the Numidians, on foot or hooves, as well as Cantabrians/Iberians. But also I'll take whatever's going...

Post Marius, I try to have veteran<=normal legionaries, with one First cohort per legion. I get a bit annoyed that my general's cohort gets shoved in the main line by the auto formations though.

In my current Seleucid campaign, i'm using a 10 pike core with a hoplite unit for each flank. Again, I try to scale the quality of pikes such that the majority are "normal", but not levy units. As such, I typically have 1 silver shield per stack and maybe 3 Thureaos. Persian hoplites are the perfect flank unit with their square formation. The lack of phalanx limits their offense, though that's the job of the slow marching pike line.

I've tended to focus on cavalry skirmishers, javlineers and camel archers, but they get less effective as the campaign progresses. I've then added more Median shock cavalry and superseded skirmishers for Tarantine cav.

I had my first experiement with chariots recently, hiding them in forest behind slingers before charging head-on into an advancing melee line of low level spears and skirmishers. The chariots were pretty impressive (1 unit killed circa 200 enemies in 1 charge) but I suspect they might come unstuck against e.g. legionnaires.

[Slaists]

I had my first experiement with chariots recently, hiding them in forest behind slingers before charging head-on into an advancing melee line of low level spears and skirmishers. The chariots were pretty impressive (1 unit killed circa 200 enemies in 1 charge) but I suspect they might come unstuck against e.g. legionnaires.

Did it really kill that number in the charge or were the kills assigned after the battle? In my experience, the end-battle (once the enemy is routing) button assigns ridiculous amounts of router kills to elephants and chariots. In one battle, my elephants got around 500 kills assigned to them. There is no way they killed that many in the battle (the unit just charged one spear unit in the rear).

[Myth]

Has anyone made any real practical use of the Iceni donkey carts (aka. chariots)?

[Slaists]

Has anyone made any real practical use of the Iceni donkey carts (aka. chariots)?

A friend of mine tried to use them on my half-depleted units the other day. I was playing the side of a weak AI (levy spears, slingers, that sort of mix) whom he was chasing on the map. The result: loads of dead chariots. On their own, chariots seem pretty useless to me.

I hear, to use them effectively you need many units per army (not one or two). First, need to try to get the target unit lose its cohesion (entice them to run). Then, charge chariots in, and run them out the other side immediately (this means you need open space behind the target, no uphill terrain, no trees, etc.). Follow up that chariot charge (almost immediately) with some heavy chavalry. The disorganized target unit will be ripe for a kill.

Elephants work the same way, btw. Those though, do not need the target to be disorganized in the first place. They (the elephants) make the target disorganized. If the elephant charge is followed up by a heavy cavalry one: dead spears, etc. abound. Good to take care of those pesky AI spear units chasing your cavalry.

[GermanicWarlord]

I like to go heavy on everything. I like to go a Barbarian faction like Suebi or Iceni and get a lot of heavy infantry and cavalry. That (generally) works for me.

[Bramborough]

Did it really kill that number in the charge or were the kills assigned after the battle? In my experience, the end-battle (once the enemy is routing) button assigns ridiculous amounts of router kills to elephants and chariots. In one battle, my elephants got around 500 kills assigned to them. There is no way they killed that many in the battle (the unit just charged one spear unit in the rear).

I've noticed that too. Not just elephants/chariots, but every unit gets an inflated kill count after the battle...even units which didn't engage, or only very lightly. It's not uncommon in my playstyle for missile troops and artillery to inflict enough casualties early to cause a complete enemy rout (mainly talking a minor settlement attack...where the defenders let one get away with this). Yet my infantry, not having entered and fought, still come away with "kills" in the post battle screen. Are these extras battle captives, perhaps?

[Slaists]

I've noticed that too. Not just elephants/chariots, but every unit gets an inflated kill count after the battle...even units which didn't engage, or only very lightly. It's not uncommon in my playstyle for missile troops and artillery to inflict enough casualties early to cause a complete enemy rout (mainly talking a minor settlement attack...where the defenders let one get away with this). Yet my infantry, not having entered and fought, still come away with "kills" in the post battle screen. Are these extras battle captives, perhaps?

Yup, I think this accounts for extra captives if you decide not to pursue yourself but let the game engine assign captures. This was the way it worked in S2 as well.

[GermanicWarlord]

I like to go heavy on the melee infanty and the melee cavalry, especially if I am a barbarian faction. Usually works for me.

[Hooahguy]

I like to go heavy on the melee infanty and the melee cavalry, especially if I am a barbarian faction. Usually works for me.

Yup, that generally works for me as well. Add in a bit of light cavalry to chase down routers or enemy or some artillery to hit them at long range and Im good.

[Slaists]

try out an army of balearic slingers (roman auxilia) ;)