I thought this was some secret genius stratagem… disappointed to discover that it’s just a regular strat that every total war player has used since medieval 2.
You should also consider missile cavalry. Very cheap unit, and many factions have them at the start of the game. They can charge and dodge arrows, while javelins are hard to dodge due to a low arc, fast travel and close range. Aim one missile cav at the horse archer while a couple other cohorts circle around to flank. When they slam into the horse archer, have some heavy horse, you only need 3-4, follow up immediately. The charge and melee advantage will fold the horse archers quickly. Once a unit routs, keep one jinete on them so regrouping is impossible, and have the rest wheel around and slam into another horse archer. Rinse and repeat as they'll roll up like a cheap carpet.
I thought this was going to be some revolutionary ai cheese or something. Pretty obvious that archers beat horse archers since they have a larger hitbox and less models and thus lower dps. You can get by with even less infantry, you only need enough that they can't charge your missiles. If you have some anti-cav cavalry you can get by with just a few of them since they can quickly reposition to scare off/kill the stuck in horse archers. You honestly don't need the ballista, foot archers have the same/better range anyway so you can start with them in the front and only move the infantry in if they attempt to charge your archers since they have to or they die.
Agree re: ballista, they never get many kills vs. horse archers anyways. However I don't think sending your archers out is a good ides for the reasons I mentioned in the video. They need 10 arrows on average to kill one hoplite but only 2 arrows to kill one archer so your casualties would be 5 times higher. In reality they would be even higher as over time DPS on your archers would be going down due to casualties to the whole fight would be longer thus causing even more casualties.
@@TotalWarfare But you'd start of with nearly twice the dps. I don't really agree with your conclusion that the fight would take longer, if anything it should be shorter and thus the suffered casualties might also be lower. I agree that hoplites can tank more missiles than the archers. "In reality they would be even higher as over time DPS" - This works in reverse as well, the faster you kill the horse archers, the less dmg they do to you.
I could wipe out the entire army of horse archers using only heavy melee cavarly. You just need to press tab and order them on tactical map and constantly block their path till they reach the red line if the enemy is AI or a player using skirimish mod it's even much easier to trap them
What if you position your troops on the corner of the screen? I think that would yield better results. You can use shield wall or similar skill if the unit has it.
I installed the DEI soft core mod and played a Carthage campaign just to get a grasp on the mechanics, it’s still fairly challenging but a good way to transition from base game to DEI which can be quite the shock bc of the difficulty jump
It's best to spread as wide as possible in a spaghetti line - the thinner and wider the formation, the fewer projectiles hit the unit and the more land in front and behind it. Shield Wall packs soldiers closer together so they are easier to hit. It does say that it increases shield strength but I suspect it doesn't outweight cons of being easier target due to being closely pacled
@@TotalWarfare yes in reality they wouldn't just shoot at some units while other units are shooting at them, and on top of that I don't think other archers had their range and their skill
your formation is weak though you should not be scattered. a pro parthian player could have easily crushed your army if half of the horse archers flanked around you in melee and the rest throwing some whistling and firing arrows your low morale archers flee as soon as they charged at them and you can't stop them from running away from your hoplites
Let me know if you like this strategy and what other Rome 2 guides you'd like to see
If only the Eastern Roman Empire watched this before facing Attila :'(
I haven't seriously played Rome 2 in a while. Thank you for the video all the same.
Mind blown! 🤯
Also, I was a little bit scared to continue watching, because I didn't want my game to break...
I thought this was some secret genius stratagem… disappointed to discover that it’s just a regular strat that every total war player has used since medieval 2.
And yet there were people asking for exactly this video :)
If it ain't broke, don't fix it
You should also consider missile cavalry. Very cheap unit, and many factions have them at the start of the game. They can charge and dodge arrows, while javelins are hard to dodge due to a low arc, fast travel and close range. Aim one missile cav at the horse archer while a couple other cohorts circle around to flank. When they slam into the horse archer, have some heavy horse, you only need 3-4, follow up immediately. The charge and melee advantage will fold the horse archers quickly. Once a unit routs, keep one jinete on them so regrouping is impossible, and have the rest wheel around and slam into another horse archer. Rinse and repeat as they'll roll up like a cheap carpet.
Sounds like a cool strategy, I'll give it a go!
Wouldn't they simply run away from your heavy cav
Captain here: slingers
I thought this was going to be some revolutionary ai cheese or something. Pretty obvious that archers beat horse archers since they have a larger hitbox and less models and thus lower dps. You can get by with even less infantry, you only need enough that they can't charge your missiles. If you have some anti-cav cavalry you can get by with just a few of them since they can quickly reposition to scare off/kill the stuck in horse archers. You honestly don't need the ballista, foot archers have the same/better range anyway so you can start with them in the front and only move the infantry in if they attempt to charge your archers since they have to or they die.
Agree re: ballista, they never get many kills vs. horse archers anyways. However I don't think sending your archers out is a good ides for the reasons I mentioned in the video. They need 10 arrows on average to kill one hoplite but only 2 arrows to kill one archer so your casualties would be 5 times higher. In reality they would be even higher as over time DPS on your archers would be going down due to casualties to the whole fight would be longer thus causing even more casualties.
@@TotalWarfare But you'd start of with nearly twice the dps. I don't really agree with your conclusion that the fight would take longer, if anything it should be shorter and thus the suffered casualties might also be lower. I agree that hoplites can tank more missiles than the archers.
"In reality they would be even higher as over time DPS" - This works in reverse as well, the faster you kill the horse archers, the less dmg they do to you.
I could wipe out the entire army of horse archers using only heavy melee cavarly. You just need to press tab and order them on tactical map and constantly block their path till they reach the red line if the enemy is AI or a player using skirimish mod it's even much easier to trap them
2 words.
Slingers and spearmen.
What if you position your troops on the corner of the screen? I think that would yield better results. You can use shield wall or similar skill if the unit has it.
Yeah it would but I'd rather not use artificial boundaries if I can help it
I love your battle guides vids. I'm trying to play DEI but it's hard af :c
Thanks! Yeah, DEI is a whole new level!
I installed the DEI soft core mod and played a Carthage campaign just to get a grasp on the mechanics, it’s still fairly challenging but a good way to transition from base game to DEI which can be quite the shock bc of the difficulty jump
Is it better to have units in shield wall or phalanx to absorb arrow dmg or it doesnt matter?
It's best to spread as wide as possible in a spaghetti line - the thinner and wider the formation, the fewer projectiles hit the unit and the more land in front and behind it. Shield Wall packs soldiers closer together so they are easier to hit. It does say that it increases shield strength but I suspect it doesn't outweight cons of being easier target due to being closely pacled
@@TotalWarfare thank you!
This battle you def and they attack, can you do battle in that you attack and they def?
Do a Video on this army PvP
I wouldn't do PvP with this setup, it's targeting a specific type of opponent in the grand campaign
Its always fun and games until the Eastern faction pulls out an actual army instead of these vanilla spam compositions.
If only people knew about this during the time of Genghis Khan.So many lives could have been saved
Haha! If only it was as easy as it is in the game
@@TotalWarfare yes in reality they wouldn't just shoot at some units while other units are shooting at them, and on top of that I don't think other archers had their range and their skill
Irl horse archer shoot at you while riding full speed so very hard to aim at them, while your foot archer is stationary.
@@darkmagicaldreamer2503 Archers, at least English lowbowmen, aimed at the whole enemy formation and not individual targets
your formation is weak though you should not be scattered. a pro parthian player could have easily crushed your army if half of the horse archers flanked around you in melee and the rest throwing some whistling and firing arrows your low morale archers flee as soon as they charged at them and you can't stop them from running away from your hoplites
u cool