tactics here

[nilloc93]

i just did a search and i found there is no tactics discussion thread so i figured i would make one.

just post and share your tactics here, be they general or specific to what you are fighting.

note that if you see an ap# in parenthesis look at the bottom of the post for more details

an idea i tried out a little while back against Swadian (ap1) armies to counter the masses of their cavalry i put my infantry (ap2) 40-50 paces in front of my archer line(ap3) under orders for everyone to hold their position, when the Horsemen charged into them they turned around to take another pass at the infantry instead of charging into the archers, thus exposing their backs to my archers lines who killed them with great efficiency. when the swadian infantry got near i followed Steffs "how to lead infantry" tactic until another wave of enemy's appeared, then i had my infantry fall back to their original position.

a few things of note, the infantry suffered higher than normal losses because on the 5th+ wave they were fighting swadian infantry and cavalry at the same time.
my archer line suffered only 13 dead and 23 wounded during the battle only 4 of them were due to Cavalry the rest were from swadian ranged units.

ap1: the swadian army of about 2000 had ~480 swadian sargents and 4 swadian lords, and a large mix of infantry with about 50 sharpshooters being the only ranged units of note

ap2: my infantry was composed of 75% Rhodock stormtroops and 25% Rhodock spearmen as a dedicated anti cavalry force, the spearmen in a separate group posed aprox 2 paces infront of the storm-troops to protect the storm-troops [who have no shields] from hostile arrow fire.

ap3: most of my archers were sarranid elite Jezzele's (spelling unsure) and sarranid snipers, with the other 30-40% being rhodock crossbowmen and various states of experience, mostly sharpshooters (expert).

my total army size before the battle was 432 afterwards it was 306 with most losses being in my spearmen group followed by the rest of my infantry

 

[Steffenximus]

In the video section, I have a few examples of tactics. Watch them, and if you have any questions, just ask.

 

[nilloc93]

i am not asking about tactics i was SHARING mine and hoping others would aswell.
its a place for people to post up their own ideas, your videos don't cover bloody everything and discussion is always good

 

[Steffenximus]

You had a lot of losses for a single battle. Maybe you should try mixing other units. The best anti-cavalry infantry unit is still the Rhulg. I've seen one enemy Rhulg taking down 4 of my condotieri with ease, first their warhorses and then the men too.

As for archers, I prefer to keep them close to the infantry, otherwise the enemy cavalry might go for them in which case you would suffer great casualties. Also, protecting yourself the archers is a very good idea if you're a barbarian.

By the way, I hope you realize I don't get paid to share anything on forums, so how about you talk nicely.

 

[nilloc93]

i used to have ~79 Rhulgs but they died off over time (0-2 every battle) and i don't have the time to venture to nord lands to hire more. the Rhodock infantry are cheap and can be retrained quickly 1-2 battles with mountain bandits gets them up to elite/expert very quickly.

also the Cavalry don't charge your archers cause when they are done their pass the infantry are closer thus they follow standard charging AI and turn around, thats why the battle worked out in the end. rhodock infantry being inferior to the mighty Rhulgs cannot stop the cavalry when they are near your archers, about 1/2 of the cavalry will make it through a *3 stand closer line every time (and about 4 will simply go around)

 

[Steffenximus]

I found more Rhulgs in Vaegir towns. I usually recruit them every time I find them, and put them in a garrison.

But if you don't have the time to recruit, any decent infantry will do. It's a pity you are fighting the swadians, so you can't recruit or use them.

But you can do something else. Build a training facility in one of your castles/towns, and choose to train Vaegir troops. You will be able to recruit 100 vaegir troops of random type, which is changed from time to time. They can also be quickly trained and have very good protection. Their Pikemen and Crushers are very good at stopping cavalry. Either combine them with your standard shields infantry or recruit Vaegir Legionaries.

Sarranid Snipers are the best ranged units IMO, so stick with them.

 

[Target Practice]

I use 50-odd Rhulg destroyers (there were more that got killed off) and fill the ranks either with berzerkirs or royal swordsmen. Tell them to stand closer as much as possible, and stick them 10 paces in front of a long line of Sarranid Snipers and Rocketeers. I set the cavalry to Follow Me! because they're idiots and usually end up doing something stupid like charging headfirst into the enemy horde.
With the cavalry following (heroes and a handful of swadians, I don't use them enough to bother training more) I go round the enemy assault and harass the stragglers / archers.

I'm pretty sure this wouldn't work against cavalry-heavy armies as they'll have the numbers to swarm both my infantry and archers, but against one or two lords and bandits it's fine.

 

[imgran]

Royal Swordsmen are a lot lamer than they should be because of the 1h swords being totally nerf'd.  Stick with pikes and halberds.  A shield isn't worth the total vulnerability 1h swordsmen face when squaring off against anything with more than modest armor.

All weapon powers of 1h swords need to be increased by 150%.

As for me, Vaegir Pikemen are the best fodder unit in the game and I use them for everything.  They're even better than you'd think a pikeman would be, in attacking enemy walls.  While their weapon is problematic for them against anyone who manages to close, in a siege fight all they have to do is block with it and let the guy 3 rows back deal with the problem.  And for holding a wall, pikeman are literally the most awesome infantry unit in the game, better even than the Rhulg, because so many more pikeman than Rhulgs can poke at the one or two soldiers mounting a ladder.

They're a lot easier to replace than Rhulgs too.

Best general combination is to give all your Companions a Mortar and dismount them, use Vaegir Pikes for base infantry, Sarranid Snipers for line archers.

If you must use cavalry, the Nord Seeker of the Stars is frankly fantastic, with a very good combination of personal armor and versatile weapons.  The Valkyrie class is weak, but the expert level is worth the wait.

I've been experimenting with creating a Mercenary Pikeman, but I'm having trouble fitting him onto the tree.  Building him off the Watchman class makes less sense than it should because it's hard to get Watchmen or Farmers and Pikemen is something you need a lot of if you are going to have any.

 

[Steffenximus]

I use 50-odd Rhulg destroyers (there were more that got killed off) and fill the ranks either with berzerkirs or royal swordsmen. Tell them to stand closer as much as possible, and stick them 10 paces in front of a long line of Sarranid Snipers and Rocketeers. I set the cavalry to Follow Me! because they're idiots and usually end up doing something stupid like charging headfirst into the enemy horde.
With the cavalry following (heroes and a handful of swadians, I don't use them enough to bother training more) I go round the enemy assault and harass the stragglers / archers.

I'm pretty sure this wouldn't work against cavalry-heavy armies as they'll have the numbers to swarm both my infantry and archers, but against one or two lords and bandits it's fine.

If you had a Rhulg-only army (about 150 of them, set to enter the combat first), you can hold ANY cavalry army.

With around 200 Rhulgs and other troops (I moved the Rhulgs right below me at Party list so they are the first to join the battle), I attacked a Death Knights army of 2k. Since I knew the Death Knights would have the first waves of cavalry only (and their knights are perhaps the strongest in game), I ordered my Rhulgs to get close. Together with them I destroyed 500 Death Knights while losing around 20-30 Rhulgs. I couldn't continue the battle thought because now that their cavalry was obliterated, their riflemen started showing, and I was taking quite unacceptable losses, so I left the battle.

 

[nilloc93]

I found more Rhulgs in Vaegir towns. I usually recruit them every time I find them, and put them in a garrison.

Sarranid Snipers are the best ranged units IMO, so stick with them.

i was going to say Vaegir but i could not remember how to spell it so i said nord instead, same general area.

and i love my Sarranid Snipers <3 the Swadian handcannon guys are beasts against massed infantry and Cavalry tho (i hate it when the NPC's get them).

also on a more grad scale, where i own the entire rhodock lands, wiped the mofos out by day 120, a good idea when fighting Swadia would be to surge along the coast to Praven, then wheel right and take their boarders with Nords and Vaegirs, now you have a sideways U surrounding them and the Swadian Campings will spend so much time traveling about that for every castle you loose you can take 1 of their towns with ease.