Tactical advice

[Falkai]

This is a bit embarrassing to admit but I'm actually having my butt kick by the IS. I'm currently playing as the Kingdom of Lauria and I'm having a hard time in both sieges and open field battles. Mainly is the cannoners that give me trouble; supported by their cavalry they do a lot of damage to my army, and during sieges...well I usually never stay alive long enough to play those. Since they always knock me out in the first few seconds.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[clockworkcroc]

Ctrl+f4? Just kidding...

Light cavalry usually works for me in an open battle, once you close with cannoneers, they either kill their own when they shoot or fight with swords, where they lose.

Edit= do laurians have cavalry?

 

[Shrugging Khan]

Oh boy.

1. Focus on Melee, since you're not going to outshoot them. Guns are for cowards anyways. Get a good load of pikemen, rodoleros and cosolete if you can afford them.
2. That said, bring a few guns. A handful of arquebusiers strewn across the landscape can draw a lot of fire while the tercio advances
3. Bring some CHEAP cavalry - low level mercs, freed units, bandits etc.

4. Make sure you can win the battle. If all goes right, winning 2:1 is possible against the IS, but don't count on it

5. When the fight starts, take cover behind terrain. Either move up towards the enemy position while always keeping distance and/or cover in between you and them, or lay in waiting behind the crest of a hill.

6a. If you moved first, go as close as you can without coming under fire. Then send a cavalry charge to disrupt them. After five seconds or so, charge with everything else. Keep the Pikemen in a formation until their cavalry has been killed or unhorsed, then split them up to mop up the gunners.

6b. If you let them come to you, their cavalry will attack first. Intercept them with either a pike block (if you're fighting uphill) or a close order pike line with the guns right behind (for downhill battles). Once the cavalry is disabled, retreat behind cover and wait for the gunners. Check on their advance occasionally. Time your attack so that you get them BEFORE they climb on top of whatever you're hiding behind - having to fight uphill is highly undesirable. Never have your pikes in a formation for this, since the enemy gunners will be spread thinly.

7. Your cheapass cavalry. Use them, as mentioned, to provoke the enemy into firing their weapons before your melee attack. This can be done before any assault, but make sure you're fairly close before giving the order. Another use is to slow down the enemy cavalry - yours won't beat them in a joust, but they will slow them down enough for your arquebusiers to hit their horses. Just remember to make your gunners retreat in time.

8. Once the melee begins, they're toast. Utter, ****ing, olive-on-pikes toast. Make sure to collect some heads for yourself.


For the Queen!

 

[clockworkcroc]

For the Queen!

Pft... I just do it to turn their mustache smiles upside down.

 

[Shrugging Khan]

I've served under Her Majesty for years now, and I will not have such talk from those of lower rank!

For Queen and Realm!


Post Scriptum: On Sieges, just auto-calc with superior numbers. Sieges against those sacks are no fun, there's really nothing to them.

 

[clockworkcroc]

Defending a siege, you can let them onto the walls, the rush them. I find when I play as imperial state, taking towns/castles to be rather difficult.

 

[Shrugging Khan]

You...YOU! TRAITOR! DIE!

 

[Herr_Lindstrom]

Lol shrug! Seing your avatar w/ your post just made me balls out laugh like hell! But I agree... Anyone who fights for the IS is a coward and a traitor to the well being of Calradia!

 

[Canaris]

@OP

Use Rodelero ( or mercenary infantry with shields ) + light cavalry combo .
Rodeleros have shields and can sometimes withstand even 3 shots and fast, light cavalry will close down and engage those pesky shooters giving you some time to advance on their lines.
Forget about pikemens/cosoletes - they will die like flies against IS .

Remember to use terrain to your advantage - try to advance through valleys, behind hills or smth like that .
And be prepared for the high Casualty rate so good doc is necessary if you want to keep pace with advancing into the Reich

 

[Shrugging Khan]

You can get three pikemen for the price of one rodolero. I wouldn't overspecialise.

 

[Herr_Lindstrom]

Cannon fodder FTW

 

[Shrugging Khan]

It's evolution. Not perfect, but it works - whoever manages to survive stands a chance of being promoted. Whoever dies...well, posthumous promotions are cheap.

 

[Falkai]

Thanks for all the replays, they help a lot.

I been pushing the IS from Nibelheim back to Tihr. Even manage to win the siege of Hrus Castle. On the other hand Tihr is starting to look like a hopeless fight. The combine might of almost 500 strong against the 356 defenders, 37 of which are cannoners; turns into a slaughter every time. I try 5 times, and have never stay alive for more than a few second before the first volley of cannon fire literaly wipes out the first wave of our assult. In my 3rd try we had reinforcements come in three times before even one soldier made it to the wall.

On my last try I cheated to get one of the cannons, and just had enough time to clear the breach before I fell; it was all we needed to set a foot inside their defences. But alas it did nothing for our cause. The cowardly cannoners open fire killing almost all my forces that made over the wall, and wiping out a large number of the defenders, which I tough would prove their down fall as they keep shooting into their own ranks. Still, once the battle was over and the last laurian lay dead the enemy had suffer 130 losses.

So any advice from my fellows here would be appreciated.

BTW since I was merc for the Laurians and my company of veterans soldier had been wipe out, I did what any man would do after such an offense....I pledge my sword to the Queen and bow Tihr would fall, and once it does I will hang every imperial soldier from its walls by the tip of their mustache.

For the Queen!!

 

[Shrugging Khan]

Ignore the town for now, hit their lords and raid there villages. Let the Laurian lords recover their forces. When they're ready again, try to convince the marshal to take back the town. In the meantime, weaken the enemy's economy and capture as many of them as possible.

And don't bother playing the sieges yourself. Tedious business, that. Just auto-calc.

 

[Sir Gawain]

I have found the waiting game to be an effective tactic against Kaiserlichers, if you can hang out out of range that is.  Just park your men in loose lines (missiles separate from melee and in front) somewhere 'safer' than the killzone (such as around a hill or just really far away) and wait until the Kaiserlichers expend their ammo.  Outside their effective range, even a large volume of firepower still isn't accurate enough to do a significant amount of damage.  This is from a Swadian point of view, but the army compositions are fairly similar, though Swadian and Besiger crossbows are still fairly effective at that range.

 

[Shrugging Khan]

Yea...Swadians ought to have a time against the lickers. Heavy Cavalry and Crossbows, doesn't get much better.

 

[Sir Gawain]

Hehe, yeah, Lauria isn't very well equipped to counter the IS on a unit unit basis; they're good in a push of the pike, but not very flexible otherwise.

 

[Shrugging Khan]

Well, we're flexible tactically. We can dodge and take cover thanks to fast marching, and that's really half the battle won 

 

[Kidius]

I find it that Swadia is a way stronger faction than The Laurians. But... Those black sheep Knights always take my attention in my army thats why i fuse both Laurian and Swadian Recruits. Now down to the IS.... Ooooh boy are they some trouble....you can't kill them off withouth expecting to lose many men regardless of tactics or a simple charge and i do agree that the IS are for cowards who wanna stay out of the fighting. But I hope you laurians take their capital(who's name is to Hard for me to spell without checking the game).

 

[Shrugging Khan]

Lauria isn't a weaker faction, you overdressed buffoon! Laurian commanders just need to actually be smart about how to manoeuvre on the field, as opposed to the more diverse Swadians that can trick their way through most situations. The Laurian Tercio needs to strike in the right way, so it can bring its strength - raping everything in melee - to bear.