Battle tactics

[ReluctantSamurai]

@ Matt

Playing the MTW AI is similar to playing the STW AI. As has been mentioned, the rock>paper>scissors method is very much in play. If you constantly run all cavalry armies, the AI will counter with spears; if you run mostly spear infantry, the AI will counter with sword infantry and cavalry archers.

As has also been mentioned, take every advantage of terrain that you can...STW/MTW AI is very sharp & aggressive, so if you allow it to run around at will, you'll soon find yourself at the south end of a north bound kangaroo

Start with an easy faction (it's also 'fuzzy memory' for me to recommend which), start on easy difficulty until you get a good feel for tactics, and raise the bar from there.

You can also set up custom battles, 1v1 even, to practice tactics. With STW, I spent a lot of time in small custom engagements (4v4 usually) with muskets to get the hang of them. Customs battles can help a lot.

One thing not mentioned is that weather plays a much more important part in the first two iterations of the TW series. When I got to RTW and saw what was considered to be a thunderstorm, I nearly died laughing

THIS is fighting in a thunderstorm:

http://japandave.com/blog/wp-content.../okehazama.jpg

STW's Battle of Okehazama is what hooked me into playing TW...the lightning....driving rain....the thunder of my cavalry's hooves to match that of the storm...hidden Nodachi crouching deep in the woods, waiting for the signal.....

Now that memory is certainly not fuzzy

Anyways...use the weather to your advantage when you can. If the enemy is archer heavy, fight in the rain---it reduces archer effectiveness. If the enemy is cavalry heavy, fight during the winter---cavalry tire much faster than infantry in the snow. Need to force a bridge crossing---fight in the fog.