Any way to increase time before enemy contact in battles?

[ssssnake]

I would love to be able to introduce some tactics into my battles. 

Make use of terrain, utilize shield walls, deploy my troops in a rational fashion. 

However, the battle map spawns our armies so close that we are in contact within seconds, so it's just a mad free for all.

Any way to tweak the map size or do something else to allow for some thoughtful initial deployment? 

 

[wookdaddy]

You can alter the map size by downloading TweakMB, and there is a shield wall formation, ranks, normal line, and I think one other. Press k, l, etc. once you have your troops highlighted.

 

[Bjuret]

Personally, I only feel the issue you are describing happens in forested and hilly maps, I believe the reasoning behind those maps being smaller is that in those kinds of terrain you usually only discover your enemy when you are right on top of them.
Its mostly an issue of cavalry, since inf takes ages reaching you regardless.
My advice there, is issue your orders quickly, then charge the enemy alone. You should be able to distract them long enough for your men to take positions and formations.

 

[ssssnake]

Personally, I only feel the issue you are describing happens in forested and hilly maps, I believe the reasoning behind those maps being smaller is that in those kinds of terrain you usually only discover your enemy when you are right on top of them.
Its mostly an issue of cavalry, since inf takes ages reaching you regardless.
My advice there, is issue your orders quickly, then charge the enemy alone. You should be able to distract them long enough for your men to take positions and formations.

Yes, it's mostly an issue fighting cavalry armies like the Jatu.  They spawn right on top of us.  So, I tell my fast cavalry to charge to buy time for my other troops to set up. 

 

[Bjuret]

Probably the best yoy can do, really. The jatu are a challenge, you could try fighting on a larger, plainstype map. That keeps them constantly charging and retreating, going everywhere murdering everything.
Tactics advice about the jatu are mostly ways to abuse Ai, terrain and horses. My personal favorite is blobs of heavy infantry with 2handed/polearm troops mixed in. Losses will always be high I fear.

 

[minimumdifficulty]

In re: the Jatu, I find it's best to ride ahead of your forces and draw them off to the side.  The deadliest aspect of a Jatu force is their initial charge, once you've blunted their momentum they are not nearly as lethal.

 

[Lenthal]

In re: the Jatu, I find it's best to ride ahead of your forces and draw them off to the side.  The deadliest aspect of a Jatu force is their initial charge, once you've blunted their momentum they are not nearly as lethal.

Just don't go around with tier 3 infantry and expect them to kill them xD.

This is standard tactics with any cavalry charge, but even with the Jatu they're still deadly if u don't have some infantry.

 

[Alavaria]

In re: the Jatu, I find it's best to ride ahead of your forces and draw them off to the side.  The deadliest aspect of a Jatu force is their initial charge, once you've blunted their momentum they are not nearly as lethal.

This, or a stream, or a steep enough slope (such that they can't go up it and maintain couched lance). A wall of  horses works (hint: use a bunch of Cobra Warriors and dismount them). You can try simply absorbing it by literally cramming all your army into a single spot, preferably mounted ones in front. A number of things allow the Jatu to basically break their own charge.

You can also use a tree if you really cram everyone behind it.

Sometimes you may be fortunate enough (mainly Jatu Armies etc) that the AI decides to really slowly advance in a wedge. This is pretty great for your ranged units.

 

[M0rdred]

If you have a small group of Horse Archers set to their own group, then you can have them charge out at the start of the battle to disrupt the enemy while setting your own position up more strongly with the rest of your forces.