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Medieval Total War

Discussion in 'The Members Lounge' started by DesertWolf, Dec 14, 2004.

  1. Ricky

    Ricky Well-Known Member

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    Ah, that would be telling... ;)
     
  2. Roel

    Roel New Member

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    I was aware of the need to avoid coming under fire of his siege machines because they can wreck your morale as well as killing quite a few men if they hit. That's why I was positioned slightly to the side of where the auto-deploy put me, meaning that his immobile trebuchets and mangonels were utterly useless. However I was really glad I had my cavalry with me in this battle since in the end they did most of the capturing work.

    I deployed much in the way you advise, with a strong line of Byzantine infantry flanked by Guards (the sandwich troops) and with my unit of Halberdiers strategically placed to catch any heavy cavalry assaults. A line of archers, I think 4 units of Trebizond archers (nice range & good penetration) supported the infantry. Unfortunately the map was flat so I couldn't use hills to my advantage. In addition to this infantry (6 + 2 + 1 + 4 = 13) I had three units of cavalry: two units of the splendid and utterly disciplined Pronoiai Allagion, Byzantine knights which can crush just about anything they run into if used correctly, and one unit of dirt-cheap expendable Steppe Cavalry, fast and with quite a nice charge for their cost.

    When battle commenced I noticed that his siege machines were still almost within range, and that many a manoeuvre I could make was cancelled out by their field of fire; however he managed to draw his main force away from the machines in an attempt to flank me, leaving them open and defenceless. I simply sent my Steppe cavalry charging the crews, alone and unsupported, the unit being expendable after all. It worked phenomenally well, and at the cost of just 5 horsemen I wiped out all of his siege weaponry without encountering any serious opposition.

    The remains of the battle were fairly easy. He moved up his heavy cavalry and stood around in front of my line allowing me to pepper him with arrows while moving my Guards and Halberdiers into his flank; they were swiftly crushed by simply moving my line forward and then cutting him up from the side and rear. His archers were a nuisance because they kept firing on my general's unit (Byzantine Infantry), so I sent my flanking Pronoiai to crush them which they did practically without taking casualties. This move ended me up with heavy cavalry behind the lines of his struggling heavy cavalry - I just sent them into his rear. The only remaining nuisance were the Urban Militias and reinforcements that he kept bringing in, but at that point I had already won.
     
  3. Ricky

    Ricky Well-Known Member

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    Sounds like a fun battle!

    Personally, I find Byzantine Infantry too weak against cavalry, but they obviously work for you.

    Do you want to learn Ricky's patent revolt-producing technique?
     
  4. Roel

    Roel New Member

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    They are, very much so. In this battle and any other involving knights of any kind, their whole task consists of holding the knights in place for other units to make the kill, and they take terrible casualties in the process. Luckily they're also very cheap and their units are large. I'd prefer to have the backbone of my armies consist of Guards, but I find their units too small and too expensive for the task of holding a battle line.

    Byzantine infantry is good for just about anything else though, including the taking of casualties because they are so disciplined. They can stand long rains of arrow fire without breaking because of their armour and discipline, and will swiftly finish anything weaker than them because of their numbers, armour, and discipline. I'm always amazed by their ability to fight on as individual soldiers as well, since being disciplined soldiers they often get spread out over a battlefield chasing routers, in which case they need to fight alone and perform just as well. Their weaknesses are many though, so it helps to have a balanced force as the Byzantines. You don't want Byzantine infantry crashing into Royal Knights, disciplined spearmen, or anything armour-piercing!

    Why am I still waiting? :D
     
  5. Ricky

    Ricky Well-Known Member

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    Because you haven't said please yet! :D

    Ok, it is easy. Simply train up a large number of spys (about 8 is good) and a few high-level religious agents (Alims for Muslims, Bishops for Orthodox, Grand Inquisitors for Catholic) and move them onto an enemy territory. Territories containing large armies or high loyalty ratings will need more spies/agents. Each time there is a revolt, your spies get bumped up by a star, so the next revolt is easier. I use this technique to remove homelands from allied (and powerful) nations without having to bother going to war, destroying their navy, conquering their provinces & being excommunicated when playing for 'glorious achievements'.

    This is why you need assassins & spies in your territories, as enemy spies cause unhappiness.
     
  6. Wspauldo12

    Wspauldo12 New Member

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    i like to keep assassins around to kill any inquisitor/ grand inquisitor/imam/alim/bishop/spy that walks in my land from any other faction. I also use them to get me un excommunicated by killing the pope.
     

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