It seems everyone goes for ranged troops these days, but not necessary are they the best.

I've seen mass armies of small groups of archers (120), medium sized markmen stacks (50), and masses of ballistas (70).

All types of troops are different and has a different effect when used.

Some tend to use Heavy Cavalry or Scout with their ranged armies to flank their enemies, whilst others defend against oppositions ranged units with Squires......tactics differ when it comes to usage of melee and ranged troops....

Have your say here.....any advice, suggestion?

I already posted 2 topics yesterday about that on "sugestion box" forum. My idea is that ranged troops should not be able to perform a full move and then to attack in same turn. The solution is to use 10-15 of it's battle points for every square they move. (only for ranged)

But here is strategy and tactics... so what do you think about that:

Use many groups of 1 scout (10 groups or so) to block enemy mellee units, then attack using only ranged troops. This is devastating for any enemy especially on maze type maps. If he tryes to kill all your pop1 melee units he will use all battle points doing minimum damage to you. If not, he won't be able to use his melee units at all.

Last Edited : Tuesday, 5 November 2002 - 02:44

That's the point in outflanking.
You can use small stackings of melee units as well to get rid of enemy scouts, and then unleash your cavalry directly onto your enemy's ranged troops.

Another option is take your own ranged troops just to the limit, kill his scouts stackings and then move your melee units on. You don't need to move in order to make a second attack with your ranged units (as they won't consume all their AP killing a small stack of scouts)

Squires are the best option, as they can stand pretty well at ranged attacks.

The last tactic I used against ranged troops was to send some small stackings of scouts first, killing few of his archers (Twas early in the game and he didn't have marksmen or ballista yet, but he had some huge archer units)
Behind my scouts came my main army, I kept them just out of his archers' sight. As soon as he got rid of my scouts I made full-movement onwards, in normal mode so that they were faster but risking to receive more damage. His archers had used their AP and didn't move last turn, so I was able to get to them in two steps and surrounded them completely. I spent next turn slaughtering archers.

Red!

Red, what if your enemy surrounds his/her own ranged units with dozens (if not more) of 1 stack armies.....that would waste lots of AP to get to the ranged units.

against mass ranged troops? then you are doomed.
how ever there are a few ways to help you live longer against them.
1. try to get squire the best counter to ranged
2. retreat your main troops out of the ranged. ranged troops have 1 disadvantage, their speeds. so if you run they can't catch you. as long as you keep your main melee troops you will have chance to come closer. the worst thing you can do is charge against such mass ranged troops. they are well prepare waiting for the unprepared.
3. good information is very important to help your survive. because you can't send scouts and get close to those ranged. so you might use outpost to see the hole picture. who knows you might spot weakness in the formation, so that your melee can charge them after all.
4. if you have a few ranged on your side you can build some walls to slow them down. as long as you prevent your walls get taking over. you might buy yourself more time. sinds ranged can't attack buildings. this way you can hold your defence.
5. if you have not much ranged troops try to sell your walls b4 they come to you. otherwise if they takeover your walls, or pls troops nearby the wall, make you can't remove the walls. and the ranged troops can shoot you for free.
6. use roads, ranged troops have certain range. if you keep out the ranged and still can move fast to charged them in 1 turn. that is only posible by using your castle roads.
7. avoid narrow ways. reason is similar as 6. but with narrow ways the ranged are in advance, so retreat to better terrain is a must.
8. try attack them from more directions, then you'll force your opponent to get more melee troops to protect his ranged, that makes it atleast harder for him.
9. use bigger stacks ranged troops win a shoot out.

I had a second defense line, 5 outposts with 1 distance between them, and I was moving there all my archers.

Yeah, charging directly against ranged troops is a waste of time, but if you sacrifice your scouts to kill those 1 stack units and you're not next to any of your enemy's barracks, it'll be difficult for him/her to remake a defense line. If you can get to his ranged lines with your squires most of them will be slaughtered b4 he's back at the frontline with a big enough army.

If you outflank him he'll need tons of melee troops to cover his ranged properly. That means he must have a weak spot, a minor unit somewhere. Or that he has not many ranged, coz twould be impossible to have such a big melee-and-ranged army.

As hll says, the biggest disadvantage of ranged units is their movement, so they have to move slowly in order to get to position to attack your lines. Go back with your melee troops and send your cavalry to the flanks, far from his sight. Maybe he has a proper melee-and-ranged army, but what IS impossible is he has two, so keep your cavalry together and kill all enemy units you spot so that he won't be able to know where your mounted troops are. That way you know where he is but he doesn't know where you are. Attack from both sides, concentrating on that spot.

And I love ballistas. They have lesser firepower than marksmen and are slower, but a bigger range. And they are cheaper and quicker to build. Big stackings of defending ballistas can punish his marksmen or even kill them b4 he gets near your melee troops.

BTW, using the roads is a GREAT idea hll. Now I understand why they speak so well about you

brining to front page for reference, plz dont post.

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hmmm. many things changed since then didn't they? so yea what do you wol think about defending against range now? in many camps, it is like mazelike and ranged are extremely useful, taking only about 2-3 melee to protect 7-8ranged. and when they have cats, you're basically screwed according to my exp of using cats. so help us vets to make wol a better place
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