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[dogstile]

Although its not terribly effective, a trebuche army is really quite fun, with about 5 squads of some hardy infantry making sure nobody gets though you can really decimate an army.

Its even more fun when you win too

[Rilder]

Everybody once in awhile has to set up a Trebuche Vs Trebuche custom battle.

[Jackrabbit]

Holy shit, I never even thought of that.

Its worth noting that you should watch their lances/spears, if they don't go into "Charge" position then abort because the charge is a failure, true in RTW too. (especially with EB)

I actually had Rome for a year before I discovered this and totally avoided most mounted units. You know how utterly full of joy I was when I set up a proper charge for the first time?

So utterly.

[dogstile]

charges are so fun. I took out 2000 peasants today with one group of generals bodyguard. Custom battles on the plains are FUN

[Cthulhu]

Bamp

Yeah, I love big flat areas because I tend to be very liberal with cavalry, and nothing breaks an assault like having a unit of elite knights plow into the back of the enemy while they're already fighting your infantry.

Siege assaults on fortified castles, however, are a nightmare.  I know that's realistic, if they weren't a nightmare no one would bother building walls around their stuff, but jeez.  I just took Caernarvon as the English on a very early (Turn 10 or so) campaign game, and I lost like 2/3 of my guys.  We were on the last possible chance before we'd have to retreat, and we finally managed to rout the last unit.  Those Welsh longbowmen are brutal on castle walls.

I don't know what I'm going to do in late period when the walls are 20 feet thick and they're shooting cannons and stuff at me.

[kalida99]

Bamp

Yeah, I love big flat areas because I tend to be very liberal with cavalry, and nothing breaks an assault like having a unit of elite knights plow into the back of the enemy while they're already fighting your infantry.

Siege assaults on fortified castles, however, are a nightmare.  I know that's realistic, if they weren't a nightmare no one would bother building walls around their stuff, but jeez.  I just took Caernarvon as the English on a very early (Turn 10 or so) campaign game, and I lost like 2/3 of my guys.  We were on the last possible chance before we'd have to retreat, and we finally managed to rout the last unit.  Those Welsh longbowmen are brutal on castle walls.

to make the assault easier you could have taken York first to halt Scottish advance into the more developed areas, then by the time you had York, Nottingham may have the ability to recruit Longbows, as well as more money to finance a larger army from new territory.

Or you could have starved out Caernarvon and forced a sally/surrender to use knights and the open fields to your advantage.

Now try it again with CC2, rebels will actually recruit new units...

[dogstile]

I just find it good to take out scotland's towns as quickly as possible. Whats left is a rebel general with a hell of a lot of troops, but its worth it.

[Akigagak]

Bamp

Yeah, I love big flat areas because I tend to be very liberal with cavalry, and nothing breaks an assault like having a unit of elite knights plow into the back of the enemy while they're already fighting your infantry.

Siege assaults on fortified castles, however, are a nightmare.  I know that's realistic, if they weren't a nightmare no one would bother building walls around their stuff, but jeez.  I just took Caernarvon as the English on a very early (Turn 10 or so) campaign game, and I lost like 2/3 of my guys.  We were on the last possible chance before we'd have to retreat, and we finally managed to rout the last unit.  Those Welsh longbowmen are brutal on castle walls.

to make the assault easier you could have taken York first to halt Scottish advance into the more developed areas, then by the time you had York, Nottingham may have the ability to recruit Longbows, as well as more money to finance a larger army from new territory.

Where did he say he didn't do the first, and where did he say he wasn't going for the second? York always bites it in the first two turns, and it doesn't take much to take it.

[kalida99]

Bamp

Yeah, I love big flat areas because I tend to be very liberal with cavalry, and nothing breaks an assault like having a unit of elite knights plow into the back of the enemy while they're already fighting your infantry.

Siege assaults on fortified castles, however, are a nightmare.  I know that's realistic, if they weren't a nightmare no one would bother building walls around their stuff, but jeez.  I just took Caernarvon as the English on a very early (Turn 10 or so) campaign game, and I lost like 2/3 of my guys.  We were on the last possible chance before we'd have to retreat, and we finally managed to rout the last unit.  Those Welsh longbowmen are brutal on castle walls.

to make the assault easier you could have taken York first to halt Scottish advance into the more developed areas, then by the time you had York, Nottingham may have the ability to recruit Longbows, as well as more money to finance a larger army from new territory.

Where did he say he didn't do the first, and where did he say he wasn't going for the second? York always bites it in the first two turns, and it doesn't take much to take it.

He said it was early in game so i assumed he had skipped york and spent the first few building a stable to get knights, that and he gave no information on previous turns 

[dogstile]

It generated discussion did it not?

[Cthulhu]

I didn't realize I needed to explain more, jeez.

I was wrong, it was actually turn 16 or 17 where I took Caernarvon.  I had taken York already, as well as Rennes down in the mainland.  I know I could've forced a sally, but I was feeling impatient and they still had several years worth of supplies.

I did indeed have longbowmen and billmen.  The longbowmen were good (and even better in my newest battle, I'll detail in a second) and the billmen did their part but were pretty torn up by the end of the siege.

The newest battle, I've declared war on Scotland.  I started it off by attacking a Scottish fleet with a huge army on-board, hoping to wipe out the bulk of their forces before the real fighting began.  It didn't work, no ships were lost on either side and we had to withdraw.  That huge army is still floating around somewhere, I lost line of sight on them and I'm kind of worried about that.  Thankfully it's a Scottish army, so it's mostly rabble.

I decided to hit Edinburgh with my new king (William died right as the war started), Rufus, while the main force was playing sailor.  The enemy garrison was four cavalry units led by a family member, so I didn't see how they'd stand a chance against my new army (Much more infantry based than before, lots of spears and billhooks, plus longbowmen)  To my great joy, I love when they do this, a second Scottish army attacked (three cavalry), forcing the enemy to sally forth after only a turn of sieging.  Since they're still the garrison, if they lose (And they will) they'll all die and I'll take the city.  In my old game as the French some Italians (Milan or Venice, I don't remember which) killed their faction leader like two or three times doing this.  They just never learn.

The battle is a massacre so far, I set up stakes with the longbowmen and put my spearmen on the flanks, the three cavalry units lasted all of thirty seconds before routing with less than half of their forces, and the family member is on his way, leaving me plenty of time to redeploy and wipe him out too.  I'll have to leave the stakes behind though, since he's coming in from a weird angle.


Aaaaand Rufus killed himself on those stakes.  Seriously.  Somehow when they were charging he managed to walk right into them.  It's my fault actually, I didn't bother moving my cavalry as I didn't think I'd need them.  Dumb.

Aaaand my man of the hour, Captain Edmund, was so excited by the news of his adoption into the royal family that he died.  Great.  That battle did not turn out as well as it started.

[Aqizzar]

Is it just me, or do Family Members looove charging straight into hopeless scrums and then never backing out?

Not to mention I finally realized that I'd been playing on Medium difficulty this whole time when Hard and Very Hard is how it's really meant to be played (oh my god my many enemies are actually attacking me for once, finally).  Except all the difficulty slider seems to do is make my soldiers break away from fights they could easily win, and get slaughtered as soon as they turn around anyway.

And that cavalry pathfinding got even worse somehow.  I love watching my fast cavalry run halfway around a town to strike from a different pathway than the one they were already in; or my Generals amble around at a snail's pace yet claim to be running, when I need them blowing horns; or my heavy knights pursue some fleeing archers straight through four mobs of spearmen, refusing all orders to turn back until they're buried in iron points for maximum loss potential.

[Cthulhu]

Yeah, if I look away from my general's bodyguard for more than a few seconds someone gets killed.

Also, Spain just attacked Rennes with a huge army.  I was still trying to figure out how to weasel out of the Pope's withering glare (He didn't appreciate my sudden attack on Scotland, and my execution of a bunch of prisoners, including a family member, didn't help), and I have pretty much no military presence on the mainland.  We managed to kill half their invading army, though, so that's good news. 

I'm wondering, should I bring my main force in to take Rennes, or have my guys at Caen do that and use my main force to go on the offensive and circle around at Spain proper?  Scotland isn't a problem for now, we're slowly negotiating toward an alliance, but they really want Edinburgh back and I'm not yet willing to give it to them.

Of course, I intend to wipe them out once Spain is off my case, so maybe I should just give it and take it back later.  Hmm....

[Aqizzar]

Dude, you're still having problems with Scotland?  I would have obliterated them as early as possible and secured the British Isles completely, but that's just me.  If you want them as an ally (temporarily I assume) giving them back Edinburgh is probably the only way to do that.  You took it once, you can take it again, although you'll be feeling the loss in taxes.

I wouldn't worry about taking Spain proper for a while.  Take western France and such first and bleed them dry in the Iberian bottleneck if you have to.

[Cthulhu]

I'm not having problems with Scotland.  They only have two cities with bare-bones garrisons and the only reason I haven't wiped them out is because the Pope got all pissy and threatened to excommunicate me.

Also, I'm very timid in these kinds of games.  I don't go on the offensive if I'm not positive they have no chance, and I don't like getting into wars with multiple factions at a time.  Scotland went crying to France and they're allies now, and since I'm allied with France, weekly movie night at Milan's house is really awkward.