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Defeating Barbarians:
All Barbarians are fairly easy to defeat, except Britannia.

To defeat usual Barbarians, you need: 4 cavalry regiments, all the rest - infantry; better to have a general at hand, just in case. You do a simple maneuver: let them (especially their warlord) attack you (the warlord's bodyguards usually ram in the centre, trying to break your line - don't let it break!) and get in a fight with your infantry. After that, you come from their rear charging with the cavalry regiments - and they rout. Now try to kill as many as possible.
The Britons, however, have a rock hard infantry which not only will not rout, but will annihilate your cavalry and your infantry. That's why here an important role is played by the archers - constantly keep attacking the infantry and, more importantly, the chariots (which do great damage too), then try to hit-and-run with you cavalry regiments (here you need six, plus the general is required!). SOme of your troops may begin to rout, thats when the general comes in - use his Rally Troops ability to make the fleeing men (or horses) return to battle!

Trapped...or not?
When you're besieged, and you have to give a battle, think it this way.

Is the situation hopeless?
- If it is, either do a battle and damage the enemy to the maximum, so he has a Pyrrhus's victory, or, if you don't want to lose your army, withdraw all your troops in good order from the battlefield throught the gates opposite to the enemy.
- If it's not, then make the ingrates pay! If you have one enemy army attacking you it will be facing one gate. Not to be totally wasted by the enemy, get your troops out by the two other gates - left and right rom the enemy, or get your whole army out through one gate, which will make the enemy hurriedly regroup his troops to meet you.

Who is attacking/defending?
Piece of cake if its your enemy who is attacking you. You just have to hold on...and hope for the best. Archers and machinery will help here greatly.

Besieging made easy!
The easiest way to capture any settlement is maintaining siege until: A)the enemy attacks you, or B)they all starve and the settlement surrenders.
B) doesn't happen a lot, but I swear I captured Pergamum this way. I was really disappointed...Thought the Greeks would bring their Spartans in. Yawn.
If A) happens, you have a huge strategic advantage. Use to the max your missile troops and machinery, and watch out for the enemy trying to crush your flank with some troops he sent by a side-gate. Simple enough, you should be able to hold on if you aren't using Peasants as your main attacking force.

Settlement population boost:
Interesting thing, you can transfer population from one city to another using an interesting method. When you disband Militia and Peasants the city population gets boosted by their number! So in a big city recruit some peasants, and boost the population of another city which you want to be your fortified outpost or military base. Think, 120 Peasants x 20 makes 2400 people. if your big cities are suffering from overscrowding, why not transfer the population some place else?

Basic Battle Tactics

Types of Units:

There are 5 types of units that can be purchased and used on the battlefields of Rome: Total War, namely Infantry (spearmen and swordsmen), Cavalry (light, heavy and missile), Support (various missile troops), Siege (artillery) and Other (weird units like the Wardogs and Warpigs). You must learn to use them together and apart if you are to defeat ennemies. Each type of units has its own advantages and disadvantages: Infantry are powerful in hand-to-hand combat but are easily crushed by Cavalry, which has good speed but is extremely vulnerable to spearmen and missiles, the Support troops are vulnerable to all attacks (including enemy missiles) but fast for infantry, the Siege weapons are powerful against everything but very slow and very vulnerable to all attacks, and the units in the Other category are usually fire-and-forget, one-use units. You must learn to exploit your strength and the enemy's weaknesses.

Classic Battle Tactics

Here is a classic formation of your army (and the enemy's, since this is the default for all armies). As you see, the Cavalry are placed on the flanks, the Support troops are placed right in front of your Infantry's main line, so they can fall back quickly, the Siege weapons are well-protected behind your main line.
What you do is try to crush the enemy's flanks with your Cavalry, get back behind his main line troops when they are in a fight with your Infantry, and make a deadly blow - a charge from behind, which will guarantee your total victory.
However, you may acheive this only when:
A)your Cavalry can handle the enemy's cavalry and any troops which are likely to protect his flanks; B)your main line Infantry can handle the enemy's infantry and any charges of his cavalry.

So, let's get to it! If the enemy has got spearmen, wait while they are moving or in combat and strike from behind with Cavalry. If the enemy has got lots of cavalry (even light), do NOT spread your main line infantry in a thin line - it will get easily broken, and that is a disaster! So, instead, regroup your units a bit, so they present a solid block. It's a good idea to put spearmen on flanks to keep off any cavalry willing to do the same thing as you. Pepper the enemy infantry with arrows and other missiles (great damage is done in tight infantry formations by siege weapons, especially Onagers and Heavy Onagers). As soon as your Infantry gets involved with the enemy's, strike! But watch out for any traps the enemy might have hidden.
Barbarians like to strike first with the General's unit in the centre, which results to you envelopping the tight group of infantry with your Infantry - the perfect moment for a Cavalry charge from the back - the enemy's army will then flee. Against powerful phalanxes you have got to use basically everything - heavy infantry, missiles and a charge from the back; phalanxes are very nicely wiped out by Onagers' boulders.
Use the natural environment! With a strong cavalry force hiding in the woods, and you lure the enemy with weak units so his back faces the cavalry, then strike! Ambushes are a great way of winning a battle. Also, the enemy will always try to occupy a high position - a hill, usually. You must get there first, because it offers you strategic advantages. Your cavalry will race down the hill, but it will climb it as slow as a snail. Terrain is a major factor in all battles.

Comments - 6 in total

Page: 1

leugim99

Feb 17, 2008, 07:00 am

how can you put the command menu in the top of your screen??

GRUPI

Feb 23, 2007, 04:53 am

The good thing about fighting phalax armies is their snaily speed -). U dont even need cavalry to charge them from the back.
Everytime i fought the Greeks i added another epic historical battle on the campaign map (marked by crossed swords). Usually Greeks (also historically) use scarse cavalry, if any at all. Mainly, they take on the field 80% hoplite, 10%-15% skermish (peltast), most of the time the only cav unit being the general. Once taking out that few cav they have, all u have to do is to lure their hoplites from their main army one by one and evelopping them with 2 or 3 of ur units, charging them from different directions at the same time. They panic instantly..._-)

I once fought an army of 13 armoured hoplites (no cav.) with only 6 units of hastati. I scattered my units here and there while the Greeks went after them in different directions. Double speeding my units i picked all hoplites one by one using the same strategy 13 times.
Won a crushing victory with minimal loses, though outnumbered by more than 2:1...huh

GRUPI

Feb 23, 2007, 01:53 am

That works against chariot building factions Gunner.... What about when u have 2 fight a tough Greek phalax army. Ur cohort units will b decimated b4 they even get within reach of the hoplites. Even Urban cohorts r no match 4 spearmen. U will need cavalry than. Infantry serves e engage phalanx 4 as short time as possible. As soon as they turn their back 2 ur cav. strike.

Gunner