How the hell do the battles work?

[Coq_Pwner]

I'm a long time TW player, played the heck out of Medievel 2 mainly, but played lots of Rome and Shogun 2 as well.
I was pretty excited to get this one dirt cheap on steam on a sale last week, but I can't seem to graps how to fight with gun units.

Whenever I try to attack people, all my stupid troops will line up in extremely long file and basically fire 2-3 at a time. Firing is so bad, I'm basically at the point where I just switch everyone to melee right as the battle starts and charge at the enemy because it's the only strategy that appears to work, otherwise my troops just get killed one by one while almost no one fires.

Even being charged by melee units and being very well positioned, I'll barely kill 5-10 per enemy unit stack before they hit my troops, that doesn't make any sense.

I'd imagine a group of native american warriors rushing towards a wall of hundreds and hundreds of guns to be a lot more damaging than 20ish casualties..... =/.

Difficulty is set on normal, in other TW games, I can usually annihilate the enemy extremely easily at normal difficulty, in this one I'm having trouble winning battles I have an advantage in, I don't get what I'm doing wrong.

[lloydo]

Improve your tactics, use the terrain to your advantage. You need better and more experienced line troops, plus accurate artillery and excellent timing from the heavy cavalry. Remember this warfare could at times be slow, but methodical.

[stevebob]

Wow… you have got some problems. :( But never fear stevebob is here :P Well first, most of the troops you have or will recut in the beginning of the game are militia and they are trash troops, meat shields for the line infantry. Second there is a red arc called the firing arc. It is the area that if they enemy walk into it they will shoot them. Last you should do the battle tutorial. It will tell you all about the battle movements and artillery fire and such. It is fun, I have done it four time.

[Balian]

right click to drag and position your troops.

[Coq_Pwner]

Yeah, I guess I'll do the battle tutorial, forgot that even existed. I haven't had to do that in any TW since my first MW2 like 8 years ago, but I guess it can't be helped I'm doing so poorly XD.

What I don't get is that melee units just seem a lot better than firing units, and I'm talking about a bunch of Line Infantry being torn appart by mere Native American warriors. Heck even the damned bowmen outgun my line infantry at range somehow.
Cavalry is absolutely useless so far, and in siege battle, troops can't shoot from the walls for some obscure reason. (Which also make said walls absolutely useless.)
Anyway I'll go take a look at the tutorial, hope it helps =P

P.S : I haven't fought real battles against other gun units yet, Maybe that would feel more balanced.

[stevebob]

if you are coming off Med 2 then you should do the Maratha to start with, and as for natives they are overpowered so you would hold of till you get some combat time.

[aregulargamer]

The natives are more powerfull in close quarters because 90% of their troops are melee units. As for gun units, well... just line them up and if possible get two or more units to attack one enemy unit. Also, when you are deploying or moving up infantry line them up as wide as possible. Cav is basically to home in on their general and cannons. Artillery that fires stright can kill your own troops if they are in front of it. What I like to do in those cases is have all my arty in a line, firing forward, while infantry is spread out close behind them. Thus, if the enemy decides to go after your cannons, you can quickly pull up your infantry and switch your cannons to grape shot. hope this helps, Empire is an awesome game :)

[Killer Steve]

Well you can't play in that time period with the same tactic as you play in medieval 2. It is much different era. Well you can watch some documentaries about how armies fought that period! You need tactic to win without many casualties! You can't just order your soldiers to attack the enemies like crazy roman legionaries! Form lines with gun equiped soldiers and wait the enemy to come in your range and then let soldiers to shoot! Have them in guard mode and wait to do their job! Try to have as many units as possible it is to shoot every enemy unit! And my tactic is to surround the enemy and shoot them from all the sides! Not always possible but i always try! Have your cannons to shoot from back (don't put soldiers in front of them) and your cavalry to protect the cannons and your line soldiers from a direct attack of the enemy! Don't let enemy to come close to your units. Native americans always try to to come close enought to kill you with axes but if you have 2 units shooting them or cavarly ready to attack them, they will run back like girls (sorry girls i don't really mean that). In campaigne, at the beginning, only the first line of every unit can shoot! But after a while, you will unlock new techonlogies and then you will have 3 lines of every unit that it is possible to shoot! Then every unit will be much more accurate and effective. Well sorry that i am telling you that but come on it is really easy to kill native americans! They are many years back with their tactic! Also, AI tactic is not difficult enough neither in the harder difficulty. Find your tactic and dominate! Square formation is good also to protect your soldiers from a cavalry attack! But i admit that i don't like to use that tactic! It is stupid for me! But in reality, it was one of the reasons that Napoleon lost in Waterloo. British formed square formation and French lost 12.000 horses in 2 hours! Good luck! For me this is the best total war game ever and i have played every other game. I really want Empire 2 for next game after the failure of Rome 2.

[stevebob]

Well said, Steve :)

[Killer Steve]

Thank you! You also can use your cavalry to attack to sniper units that enemy may have (because they are usually alone and vulnerable) or enemy's cannons! But be carefull never let your cavalry vulnerable in enemy's soldiers or cannons range. If they can shoot your horses, then you will lose deffinatly the whole unit! Try to attack from back as fast as possible so the cannons won't have the time to turn around neither the soldiers! And don't attack with your horses in units that are protected from other units! Attack to cannons or to units with cavalry when there are not other enemy's soldiers near to shoot you or attack you! Also, at the end of the battle, press "Continue" after you win. Not "End the battle". With this way you can hunt the enemy's soldiers and eliminate them before they cross the red line and escape! With this way you will kill much more soldiers and your cavalry will win some more ranks! So the next time it will be deadlier!

[Killer Steve]

I can give you some advices about naval battles too but in reality i am not good enough :) Well my tactic is simple! If i have heavy ships, then i completely destroy smaller ships and then i shoot the enemy's heavy ships to their sails and masts (with the appropriate missiles. Sorry i don't remember the name). So they surrender because they can move and i add one or more heavy ships in my fleet! This tactic works only if you have more ships and bigger than your enemy and it is better in campaignes because i never recruit ships. I just steal the enemy's fleets that pass near my territories with less ships. So after some rounds i have one big and heavy fleet without to spend neither 1 pound! Well fleet needs moneys to be conserved but anyway! I use that tactic with Great Britain and i have stolen every ship of France and Spain that blocks my ports!

[Aaronthelemon]

Originally posted by Killer Steve:

I use that tactic with Great Britaigne

What is Great Britaigne?

[Killer Steve]

Originally posted by Not Doge:

Originally posted by Killer Steve:

I use that tactic with Great Britaigne

What is Great Britaigne?

oh well sorry. In English it is Great Britain. In French Grande Bretagne so i guess that i combined the words! lol Sorry not my native language!

[Aaronthelemon]

Originally posted by Killer Steve:

oh well sorry. In English it is Great Britain. In French Grande Bretagne so i guess that i combined the words! lol Sorry not my native languages!

Oh xD i was just curious where you got Great Britaigne from as i've never heard anyoen say it that way before but if its not your native language fair enough.

[Chronissimo]

Download DarthMod Empire 8.0, it will make you entire game experience just generally better all around

[Balian]

dont forget the patch to it; v8.01.