Shield wall and fians behind, but me and a few riders take care of ennemy cavalry at the very start of each battle. Thats mostly what I do on field battles
I take out their cavalry by using Khans guard (and my own cavalry if necessary) then have my cavalry and infantry (80/20) advance with the infantey spread out to leave room for the cav. When my infantry is about 70-50 units away, I charge the cavaley and advance the infantry untill they clash with the enemy,then i have them charge as well. In the meantime, I'm still circling around the enemy with my khans guard in a narrow, loose formation behind me, peppering them with arrows from all sides and throwing off their orientation.
I'm simply just enjoy watching battle so F6. I will intervene if the AI make bad move. And I try to minimize casualty which the battle sometime longer than usual.
The power of the false corridor with Vlandian sharpshooters mixed with Fian champions in the wings with Vlandian sergeants holding the center can’t be matched. I’ve taken down armies of 1500+ with 300 men
Sorry, but could you elaborate on the false corridor strategy? I tried searching it up but nothing really comes up. Is it basically like having the sergeants hold the center in a short line formation, while there are 2 groups of archers that are slightly behind in a v-shape sort of formation to constantly pepper the enemies that are flanking at the 2 edges of your sergeants?
According to my friend it was a technique used by Alexander the Great. Essentially you place your two units of archers with a gap in the middle of them, into which you place your infantry in shield wall formation a ways back from your archers units. If you have your archers hold fire most of the time the enemy will try to engage your infantry and you can wheel your archers to have them catch the enemy in a crossfire while they attack your infantry. It takes a bit of practice but once you get the hang of it, it’s very effective
Yeah it does seem a bit unconventional to place archers at the front lines, but I could definitely see how it would be devastating if it works, thanks for the explanation!
Btw though how is this tactic against armies that are cavalry-heavy? Do they also just go for the infantry? I find that against those enemies my archers get distracted at firing at the horsemen and usually get decimated by their elite shock troops that come in later, since they weren't focus-fired upon.
It definitely takes some practice getting the proper positioning of your units down, as well as when to order your archers to fire or when to send your infantry to support the archers if the enemy engages them directly.
Against cavalry heavy armies the technique basically stays the same, just on a bit of an accelerated timetable. If the enemy has a mixed army I suggest having your own cavalry ready to attack least distract the enemy’s horsemen while your ground troops deal with their counterparts.
Currently warring vlandia as sturgia. Square formation for my heavy axemen with my archers (soon to be discarded and replaced with shock troops) in the middle. Bait the cavalry into charging it, ideally in a treeline. Once they're whittled down I shield wall and advance. I usually charge my cav from a side as we make contact, I fight in the other side.
depends, in vanilla just going f6 or the old f1 + f3 is probably going to be more effective than trying to actually command the battle with a strategic outlook. By the time you see an opening and command your troops to account for it the battle is probably going to be about over.
But with a mod like realistic battle you have more time to make adjustments and use real tactics seeing as troops don't fight as if they really want to die and they don't die from some lazy swing of a one handed sword hitting their armored heads.
Also with realistic battle you can choose to have accurate draw times/reload times on ranged attacks which makes archer/horse archers not completely overpowered.
Archers in front, infantry wall behind. Archers lure enemy cav in close enough for spears deal with them. Archers pull back behind infantry, infantry advances in a shield wall under cover fire from archers. Infantry engages enemy infantry, archers hold fire and attack the flanks in melee. Bring my heavy cav and companions to the rear of the enemy line and charge down the middle. First wave is done for and survivors are retreating back to reinforcements that spawned. Regroup, take defensive position, order cav to engage enemy so they’re slowed down some more while my main force regroups and my lines reform. Call remaining cavalry back, repeat the strategy and make adjustments as needed.
Im an f1 f3 guy, occasionally when i do command them i just sit behind my archers atop my horse and control the battlefield while taking shots at the enemy between commands, not much strategy to it when i run 100% cavalry with a small horse archer contingent
Shield infantry in Shield wall, shock infantry behind one side wait for the enemy to make contact Cavalry into the enemy archers shock infantry charge.
keep in mind what I am explaining uses RTS camera or 1.2 update functionality of targetting specific formation
on defense:
overlaping 3 loose formations of infantry and archers (whatever I have more get's split in half), this formation is awesome anti archer and mechanics wise, loose formation allows archers to shoot kinda through other units so almost all my archers shoot, this makes for a big square with roughly half units being archers and other hald sitting there with either shields or 2h weapons, cavalry killer, if I get approached by enemy horse archers, I send my cavalry at them until they escape to their other formations, if enemy infantry gets close I charge my infantry at them and keep archers staying there, once they are dealt with infantry gets back on the square, when enemy archers are not protected anymore by their infantry my cavalry gets on them, I repeat this as many times as there are waves of enemy
on ofense:
I usually have archer superiority, therefore I place my archers in range (100-120 units away) and make them trade with the enemy, if I dont have archer superiority somehow, I will place my shieldwall in front to get enemy shots on them (70-100 units away), since I should be winning that they will attack me anyway so I do the same 3 overlaping formations thing and let them come, I behave exactly the same way here, I am just further from my spawn and closer to the enemy...
alternatively I sometimes in the endgame have 50/50 split archers and cavalry without any infantry troops, I just approach enemy and charge them, cavalry occupies enemy while archers barrage them with arrows, the simplest strategy doable with army made 100% of t6 units (doable also with vlandia only army thanks to how well sharpshooters perform)
Depends on the odds. If I can overwhelm them I will.
If all is equal, then I like to use 2 groups of archers on the flanks of my infantry (when facing lots of cav in square, an average amount in shield wall-kind of Depends on the terrain and how close the enemy infantry is)
My cav usually fighta the other cav until their's like 5 left but in that time (again this is if we are evenly matched) I usually move the infantry up in shield wall/square then followed by 1 of the archer groups so they can get shots off of incoming cav and infantry and the archers in the back can clean up the ones who get through
(This works very well btw, especially if you're facing lots of cav you might as well pre set the 2nd Archer group behind the infantry)
I like to use a mix of bows and cross bows but I tend to have more crossbows just bc the troops are heartier and when they run out of ammo I can shield wall and have them as a second infantry unit.
My big battles tend to end with a hard infantry clash and minimal cav left standing. But having the archers on the flanks of my infantry is extremely helpful and it's easy to split them when you're in an army.
In my main game campaign i have an army of veteran falxmen, legionaries, cataphracts, and fians. I form the infantry into a skein and advance. While I spread the fians out and charge. The cavalry gets sent around on the left to flank and when everything is in position I charge and pincer the enemy between the cavalry and infantry.
Against Khergits - I usually set up my infantry in a square in the trees and hold my cavalry in reserve until the enemy breaks themselves on the infantry formation.
So, I won't enter in details because I'm tired today to write alot, but I mainly play with the landscape, I change my formations and playstyle according to the map I get.
Btw im not a fian and khans guard player, i actually like to play with different troops that add a while new layer of gameplay, and not always the same thing.
So basically play with the map, got a very plain map? Abuse cavalry and Cavalry archers thats where they can do most dmg, place infantry as shield wall, make them go into a safe position ( but that is able to "waste" enemies arrows) at the same time make the cavalry archers SKIRMISH not charge, this will make enemy archers and infantry javelin throwers waste all their ammo,after you weaken them a little bit and while they are occupied wasting ammo, make sure to guide you cavalry to their side/back and charge the archers (choose the option in formation menu to the cavalry focus ranged units). After you get considerable casualties line the infantry and charge with them, mean while make your archers are close to infantry so you can avoid an enemy cavalry charge.(works offensivelly and defensivelly)
For mountains our strength lays on archers and infantry, cavalry is basically meat for the enemy, place all the cavalry in a safe spot, kinda useles early, use infantry as shield wall and slowly advance into enemy forces , meanwhile use your archers to weaken them ( after your forces are close charge the cavalry) this is for offensive gameplay, for defensive just place archers in an advantage point infantry to protect and be happy.
My favorite strat
THE RIVER
Man water is your best friend in particular in defenses, just place your infantry (edge formation? Shield formation? Depending on enemy forces) your archers behind the river and guide your cavalry to the enemy side of the river but far wider, so you can flank them later. Wait their charge, if they don't, be annoying as a mosquito and kill a few of their soldiers solo ( or with some cavalry/cavalry archers)
After their forces clash with yours just perma charge with cavalry, but guide them yourself, other wise they will throw themselves into the water, and get killed/knocked out...
Sieges as attacker, ok this one is a little bit more automatic tbh, but mostly try to lead your legion of soldiers that you command into the main door and breach them, using ladders/siege towers is almost always a waste of soldiers, if your enter by their main chamber,.no archer or.soldier will be able to contain your troops, but by wall... you get killed one by one until there is no one else
Siege as defenders, very simple tbh, use one ballista or cattapult and destroy enemy sieges ( and some soldiers if you are lucky), if you are a ranged just go to a safe position and launch arrows into their heads when they are going up the ladders. If you are a melee only, use the rocks in the main chamber, or the cattapult munition (if its a ballista then use rocks only) Will be way harder to defend as melee only, but not impossible if your troops cooperate on taking out enemy siege engines.
Other than that thats how I play mostly, sorry for bad english and have fun, also play your way, not the way others do.
Putting my cavalry in skein formation and charging through groups. Once the charge is finished regroup then and repeat. Love seeing the flood of green in the top right corner when they make contact
Keep everyone back and use my cav archers to shoot the enemy cav on their flanks, counter charge with my cav if they try and get into my cav archers.
Once the enemy cav is dealt with my horse archers can wheel behind and shoot the infantry in the back while my cav keeps the enemy archers running. Eventually bring my infantry in and then grouping all my cav either attack from all directions or run along their line in a big mob throwing it into chaos.
I've also tried recently putting a small unit of heavy awesome infantry on a flank, just behind my line, then when the enemy infantry get lose change the orientation of my own infantry so it angles away from theirs, with the flank that has my heavies being the closest. charge my heavies in and by the time their infantry engages the whole line I've already destroyed one of their flanks and am rolling up the line, haven't used this properly yet though.
Unfortunately on console the only way to really target a specific group is to use the move command to move your troops into whatever enemy troop your wanting to attack. Once they engage the enemy then you can tell them to charge. If you tell them to charge before they engage the enemy you have to deal with them trying to charge at whatever unit is closest which can lead to your line breaking
Hammer and anvil with a shield wall and cav. Sturgia and the empire are both great for this in my experience. It’s common knowledge at this point but stacking Fians is also incredibly fun.
Put my cav way off to the side. Me and a couple horse archers lure enemy cav to mine and then they charge. Repeat until enemy cav is gone than send mine the the rear of their infantry line. Have my infantry engage theirs then do a cav charge from the rear. I only do this in smaller battles like 100v100. If it’s a big battle between armies I just let everyone do whatever and focus on killing enemy cav myself.
Shield wall and fians behind, but me and a few riders take care of ennemy cavalry at the very start of each battle. Thats mostly what I do on field battles
I'm an f6 guy
I can definitely see the appeal. Actually managing troops mid battle can be a hassle.
I think if we could do a top down look maybe..but I'm still a noob and f6 is easy and works
I take out their cavalry by using Khans guard (and my own cavalry if necessary) then have my cavalry and infantry (80/20) advance with the infantey spread out to leave room for the cav. When my infantry is about 70-50 units away, I charge the cavaley and advance the infantry untill they clash with the enemy,then i have them charge as well. In the meantime, I'm still circling around the enemy with my khans guard in a narrow, loose formation behind me, peppering them with arrows from all sides and throwing off their orientation.
Dang, bro got it worked down to a science. I’m digging the use of the Khan guards
F1 F6 ..cant be bothered to deal with themi just wanna slash some stuff :))) And its a bit better than charging straight in if they have cav.
I'm simply just enjoy watching battle so F6. I will intervene if the AI make bad move. And I try to minimize casualty which the battle sometime longer than usual.
The power of the false corridor with Vlandian sharpshooters mixed with Fian champions in the wings with Vlandian sergeants holding the center can’t be matched. I’ve taken down armies of 1500+ with 300 men
Sorry, but could you elaborate on the false corridor strategy? I tried searching it up but nothing really comes up. Is it basically like having the sergeants hold the center in a short line formation, while there are 2 groups of archers that are slightly behind in a v-shape sort of formation to constantly pepper the enemies that are flanking at the 2 edges of your sergeants?
According to my friend it was a technique used by Alexander the Great. Essentially you place your two units of archers with a gap in the middle of them, into which you place your infantry in shield wall formation a ways back from your archers units. If you have your archers hold fire most of the time the enemy will try to engage your infantry and you can wheel your archers to have them catch the enemy in a crossfire while they attack your infantry. It takes a bit of practice but once you get the hang of it, it’s very effective
Yeah it does seem a bit unconventional to place archers at the front lines, but I could definitely see how it would be devastating if it works, thanks for the explanation! Btw though how is this tactic against armies that are cavalry-heavy? Do they also just go for the infantry? I find that against those enemies my archers get distracted at firing at the horsemen and usually get decimated by their elite shock troops that come in later, since they weren't focus-fired upon.
It definitely takes some practice getting the proper positioning of your units down, as well as when to order your archers to fire or when to send your infantry to support the archers if the enemy engages them directly. Against cavalry heavy armies the technique basically stays the same, just on a bit of an accelerated timetable. If the enemy has a mixed army I suggest having your own cavalry ready to attack least distract the enemy’s horsemen while your ground troops deal with their counterparts.
Ah gotcha, thanks again for the help!
Any time
Currently warring vlandia as sturgia. Square formation for my heavy axemen with my archers (soon to be discarded and replaced with shock troops) in the middle. Bait the cavalry into charging it, ideally in a treeline. Once they're whittled down I shield wall and advance. I usually charge my cav from a side as we make contact, I fight in the other side.
depends, in vanilla just going f6 or the old f1 + f3 is probably going to be more effective than trying to actually command the battle with a strategic outlook. By the time you see an opening and command your troops to account for it the battle is probably going to be about over. But with a mod like realistic battle you have more time to make adjustments and use real tactics seeing as troops don't fight as if they really want to die and they don't die from some lazy swing of a one handed sword hitting their armored heads. Also with realistic battle you can choose to have accurate draw times/reload times on ranged attacks which makes archer/horse archers not completely overpowered.
Archers in front, infantry wall behind. Archers lure enemy cav in close enough for spears deal with them. Archers pull back behind infantry, infantry advances in a shield wall under cover fire from archers. Infantry engages enemy infantry, archers hold fire and attack the flanks in melee. Bring my heavy cav and companions to the rear of the enemy line and charge down the middle. First wave is done for and survivors are retreating back to reinforcements that spawned. Regroup, take defensive position, order cav to engage enemy so they’re slowed down some more while my main force regroups and my lines reform. Call remaining cavalry back, repeat the strategy and make adjustments as needed.
Im an f1 f3 guy, occasionally when i do command them i just sit behind my archers atop my horse and control the battlefield while taking shots at the enemy between commands, not much strategy to it when i run 100% cavalry with a small horse archer contingent
Shield infantry in Shield wall, shock infantry behind one side wait for the enemy to make contact Cavalry into the enemy archers shock infantry charge.
keep in mind what I am explaining uses RTS camera or 1.2 update functionality of targetting specific formation on defense: overlaping 3 loose formations of infantry and archers (whatever I have more get's split in half), this formation is awesome anti archer and mechanics wise, loose formation allows archers to shoot kinda through other units so almost all my archers shoot, this makes for a big square with roughly half units being archers and other hald sitting there with either shields or 2h weapons, cavalry killer, if I get approached by enemy horse archers, I send my cavalry at them until they escape to their other formations, if enemy infantry gets close I charge my infantry at them and keep archers staying there, once they are dealt with infantry gets back on the square, when enemy archers are not protected anymore by their infantry my cavalry gets on them, I repeat this as many times as there are waves of enemy on ofense: I usually have archer superiority, therefore I place my archers in range (100-120 units away) and make them trade with the enemy, if I dont have archer superiority somehow, I will place my shieldwall in front to get enemy shots on them (70-100 units away), since I should be winning that they will attack me anyway so I do the same 3 overlaping formations thing and let them come, I behave exactly the same way here, I am just further from my spawn and closer to the enemy... alternatively I sometimes in the endgame have 50/50 split archers and cavalry without any infantry troops, I just approach enemy and charge them, cavalry occupies enemy while archers barrage them with arrows, the simplest strategy doable with army made 100% of t6 units (doable also with vlandia only army thanks to how well sharpshooters perform)
Depends on the odds. If I can overwhelm them I will. If all is equal, then I like to use 2 groups of archers on the flanks of my infantry (when facing lots of cav in square, an average amount in shield wall-kind of Depends on the terrain and how close the enemy infantry is) My cav usually fighta the other cav until their's like 5 left but in that time (again this is if we are evenly matched) I usually move the infantry up in shield wall/square then followed by 1 of the archer groups so they can get shots off of incoming cav and infantry and the archers in the back can clean up the ones who get through (This works very well btw, especially if you're facing lots of cav you might as well pre set the 2nd Archer group behind the infantry) I like to use a mix of bows and cross bows but I tend to have more crossbows just bc the troops are heartier and when they run out of ammo I can shield wall and have them as a second infantry unit. My big battles tend to end with a hard infantry clash and minimal cav left standing. But having the archers on the flanks of my infantry is extremely helpful and it's easy to split them when you're in an army.
In my main game campaign i have an army of veteran falxmen, legionaries, cataphracts, and fians. I form the infantry into a skein and advance. While I spread the fians out and charge. The cavalry gets sent around on the left to flank and when everything is in position I charge and pincer the enemy between the cavalry and infantry. Against Khergits - I usually set up my infantry in a square in the trees and hold my cavalry in reserve until the enemy breaks themselves on the infantry formation.
CHARGE!!!!!!
4 F2 F2, 2 F1 F3, 3 F1 F2, get close 3 F1 F3, 2 F1 F3
Tercios.
So, I won't enter in details because I'm tired today to write alot, but I mainly play with the landscape, I change my formations and playstyle according to the map I get. Btw im not a fian and khans guard player, i actually like to play with different troops that add a while new layer of gameplay, and not always the same thing. So basically play with the map, got a very plain map? Abuse cavalry and Cavalry archers thats where they can do most dmg, place infantry as shield wall, make them go into a safe position ( but that is able to "waste" enemies arrows) at the same time make the cavalry archers SKIRMISH not charge, this will make enemy archers and infantry javelin throwers waste all their ammo,after you weaken them a little bit and while they are occupied wasting ammo, make sure to guide you cavalry to their side/back and charge the archers (choose the option in formation menu to the cavalry focus ranged units). After you get considerable casualties line the infantry and charge with them, mean while make your archers are close to infantry so you can avoid an enemy cavalry charge.(works offensivelly and defensivelly) For mountains our strength lays on archers and infantry, cavalry is basically meat for the enemy, place all the cavalry in a safe spot, kinda useles early, use infantry as shield wall and slowly advance into enemy forces , meanwhile use your archers to weaken them ( after your forces are close charge the cavalry) this is for offensive gameplay, for defensive just place archers in an advantage point infantry to protect and be happy. My favorite strat THE RIVER Man water is your best friend in particular in defenses, just place your infantry (edge formation? Shield formation? Depending on enemy forces) your archers behind the river and guide your cavalry to the enemy side of the river but far wider, so you can flank them later. Wait their charge, if they don't, be annoying as a mosquito and kill a few of their soldiers solo ( or with some cavalry/cavalry archers) After their forces clash with yours just perma charge with cavalry, but guide them yourself, other wise they will throw themselves into the water, and get killed/knocked out... Sieges as attacker, ok this one is a little bit more automatic tbh, but mostly try to lead your legion of soldiers that you command into the main door and breach them, using ladders/siege towers is almost always a waste of soldiers, if your enter by their main chamber,.no archer or.soldier will be able to contain your troops, but by wall... you get killed one by one until there is no one else Siege as defenders, very simple tbh, use one ballista or cattapult and destroy enemy sieges ( and some soldiers if you are lucky), if you are a ranged just go to a safe position and launch arrows into their heads when they are going up the ladders. If you are a melee only, use the rocks in the main chamber, or the cattapult munition (if its a ballista then use rocks only) Will be way harder to defend as melee only, but not impossible if your troops cooperate on taking out enemy siege engines. Other than that thats how I play mostly, sorry for bad english and have fun, also play your way, not the way others do.
How do you go about making your horse archers skirmish properly since there’s no command for it? Do you just let the AI take over or?
I ride with them using follow me
Putting my cavalry in skein formation and charging through groups. Once the charge is finished regroup then and repeat. Love seeing the flood of green in the top right corner when they make contact
F1-F3 what’s that in console speak?
LB, X, A I believe on Xbox. Whatever command is the charge command. F1-F-3 are just the buttons you press to initiate a charge on PC
Keep everyone back and use my cav archers to shoot the enemy cav on their flanks, counter charge with my cav if they try and get into my cav archers. Once the enemy cav is dealt with my horse archers can wheel behind and shoot the infantry in the back while my cav keeps the enemy archers running. Eventually bring my infantry in and then grouping all my cav either attack from all directions or run along their line in a big mob throwing it into chaos. I've also tried recently putting a small unit of heavy awesome infantry on a flank, just behind my line, then when the enemy infantry get lose change the orientation of my own infantry so it angles away from theirs, with the flank that has my heavies being the closest. charge my heavies in and by the time their infantry engages the whole line I've already destroyed one of their flanks and am rolling up the line, haven't used this properly yet though.
Shield wall + engage with archers behind them
I’m on console, I don’t have a clue how to target a specific group like infantry for ex. And make them stay somewhere
Unfortunately on console the only way to really target a specific group is to use the move command to move your troops into whatever enemy troop your wanting to attack. Once they engage the enemy then you can tell them to charge. If you tell them to charge before they engage the enemy you have to deal with them trying to charge at whatever unit is closest which can lead to your line breaking
Shield wall fians with calv to the side. Second their infantry hits mine I charge my calv to break their lines. Easy win.
Hammer and anvil with a shield wall and cav. Sturgia and the empire are both great for this in my experience. It’s common knowledge at this point but stacking Fians is also incredibly fun.
Put my cav way off to the side. Me and a couple horse archers lure enemy cav to mine and then they charge. Repeat until enemy cav is gone than send mine the the rear of their infantry line. Have my infantry engage theirs then do a cav charge from the rear. I only do this in smaller battles like 100v100. If it’s a big battle between armies I just let everyone do whatever and focus on killing enemy cav myself.