[QUOTE=Grossbottom]
I’m not a Total War noob; I’ve played them all. But for some reason I just didn’t like MTW2 and uninstalled it shortly after release, figuring I’d wait for it to get patched up. So, motivated by boredom I loaded it up last week and realized that I suck.
A few questions:
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Am I supposed to be taking losses like this? I’m seeing 20% casualties when I send swordsmen to kill peasant archers, on a city street. A unit of billmen vs. cavalry, where the cavalry is standing still and the billmen charge, I’m lucky if 40% of my pikes come back alive.
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Are units always this unresponsive or is that a function of a low command rating for my general? They respond sluggishly, rarely charge when ordered, and routinely fail to attack as a solid block. For example, I’ll order a unit of axemen to take out some other guys, and instead of jumping as one and butchering them, a few guys will engage while the majority of my axes just stand there, waiting to wander over and get killed by 3 surrounding enemies.
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Is it me or is taking walls with towers and ladders perfectly suicidal? I feel like a baby refusing to attack without siege weapons but my Vikings get their asses kicked by peasant archers and town militia in wall combat.
Now, I’ll grant you: some of this is the way it should be. MTW and especially RTW could be ridiculous at times, suffering virtually no losses in massive conquests. But I just want to make sure this is the way it’s supposed to be…
And any tips and tricks would be appreciated. I’m playing with the TLR mod if that makes any difference.
[/QUOTE]
- Here, the unit types matters a lot. Basically, a unit doesn’t really live up to it’s potential at the early levels. Pikemen don’t pike well, horses mostly horse around, etc. At the second or third (depending on your faction specialization) rank, they’re getting there. At the fourth, they excel at their purpose.
Further, low-level swordsmen have shite for armor and the archers, while certainly doomed at close range, can easily take down quite a few if you put them in a easy field of fire while they’re getting close. If you meant that you got to the archers with a healthy, unshot crew of swordsmen, then it’s a bit wonkier. I’d chalk it up to fighting spread out; optimally, you’ll want to charge them halfway past the archers, to get a better contact surface. 1:1 odds for swordsmen against archers is slaughter.
As for the billmen, they are known to be bugged. I assume you’re playing as the English, yes?
- I have these problems with low-level generals and mercenaries, or low-morale troops. Unresponsiveness and sluggishness. However, part of the problem is that the game assumes that once someone in a unit is fighting, they all are and that the units will not be spread out. An example of this is when you’re drawing archers from the wall in a siege, through fighting at the gate, they will refuse to comply to shooting orders if even just one of their number is engaged in melée combat. (Which is really annoying, as using crossbowmen and archers inside your walls against enemies who have climbed up on ladders or in siege towers is simply brutal)
You’ll want to force a big cluster in these scenarios. If your troops are superior, just march them into the enemy formation (or through them, if they are already engaged) and they’ll engage when they’re hit. I find broad formations to be most useful for melée, anyway.
- Besieging castles without ways to take down the troops on the ramparts is painful. As it’s supposed to be, kinda. However, you’ll often be better off assaulting one flank than both, and walking ladders to the far flanks is something even the computer does. If they react to it, good; they’ll dilute their forces and you’ll usually have the advantage at the flanks. If not, even better. Once your men are on the walls, clearing them is far easier.
Siege towers are a breed of their own, though; I usually find them quite useless, except for flame-arrow bait to distract the enemy from my ram. Taking the walls close to the ram is also an exercise in futility, as it’ll take far too long to affect your troops fighting under the walls. You’re better off catapulting walls to the flanks and using the tower doors to gain access to the walls.
Another necessity, of course, is to always approach the walls in a loose formation, but I guess you already know that. It’ll make archer fire far less potent.
Hope you fare better! When you get the hang of it, a well-conducted manouever is so incredibly viscerally satisfying that it makes all the pain worth it . . .