How to play empire?

[Tiberius]

Everything abt this faction is so avg (except maybe for armor penetration). Their frontline can't hold enemies, their backline is meh and often times require line of sight (no projectile curve) so they are often exposed to the enemy's fast units, their cavalry is not exactly great either.

[bearfieldlee]

Yeah, the reality doesn't allow the theory to be implemented. They fall apart so quickly that their artillery and rifles never get more than a couple of volleys off. Hopefully they'll get some sort of rework on schedule.

[Reaver79]

Yey they are decent a whole lot, it's a combined arms faction..
You grab the enemy and lock em down while you fire away, yes handgunners are a little annoying to use, perhaps because they shred things real fast.. It's the same way for armies like Cathay & Chorfs, but the speed at which things disintegrate once you open fire.. Good fun..
I am fairly certain that demigryphs are still some of the stronger cav in the game..
But you are correct they are not exactly great at any 1 thing..
Also keep in mind units like light mages, the net is just nasty with Empire.

I am hardly a pro, least of all with Empire but i tend to try and create a funnel with my melee inf \ / infront of a back line of handgunners, not too many units as that allows too much to come at you ofc. they tend to clear out pretty much any but the toughest enemies on their way in. Once you lock em in with your melee troops, you move in to get a clear LoS on their flank and then you just open up.
In my experience they are not as strong as say the Chorfs, but that is likely remedied by the longer range, and they certainly seem to do a lot less friendly fire damage with this strategy.

[SrBrokoli]

BIG GUN GOES BOOM
(Artillery)
I really like empire, prob one of my favorite factions and I can tell you artillery is gonna be your best friend. Specially on early game. I always rush all canon technology over everything and by turn 30 or 40 I'll have enough settlements to open at least 3 or 4 different fronts to conquer other factions. Specially vampires.

[BatsDaM]

empire is all rounder they dont have any great units they are average on everything - magic, armor, damage,morale etc so main point is mix and match everything dont go like 10 artillery pieces and 10 heroes etc.
for example have 4-6 spears or helbardiers 3 arti about 4-5 range couple heroes to support troops and mage cover flanks with cav first empire knights or granadiers then demigryphs try this comp ;]
make use of heroes on map by scouting and cripling enemies.
at starters i find that archers + spears and mortars with cavaliers are good combo to get rid of vamps and orks before u start ur focus on chaos factions
try to grab marienburg at start to churn out that money .secure ur home province choose and focus ur targets.
its kinda dificult campaign because empires mechanics with elector counts gets u very handicapped as electors dies of from chaos now very soon so karl franz campaign is a bit hard try volkmars campaign first i would say .hope this scrible helps!

[Hieronymous]

Gotta practice hitting targets of opportunity with the right counter-unit. Combined arms, as they said.

That's made more difficult in game III as newer factions are all overpowered. When Festus marches high HP heavy infantry right through you, then yes, a few handgunner salvos aren't gonna do it.

He can't field too many of those, though, so you can loose a battle or two and still win the war. I was able to beat him skaven style, autoresolving with several cheap Spearman stacks like a true tactical genius.

[Hieronymous]

Also, use skirmishing tactics to prolong the battle and let your ranged units put that ammo to use.

[Tiberius]

Originally posted by SrBrokoli:

BIG GUN GOES BOOM :elindustry:
(Artillery)
I really like empire, prob one of my favorite factions and I can tell you artillery is gonna be your best friend. Specially on early game. I always rush all canon technology over everything and by turn 30 or 40 I'll have enough settlements to open at least 3 or 4 different fronts to conquer other factions. Specially vampires.

mortar and hellstorm have impressive dmg indeed, but they also have terrible accuracy and slow projectile (cant hit anything that moves). Hellstorm might also be responsible for half of my infantry's death

[Ashardalon]

halberdier charge defense and ap is quite the good lineholder infantry
just dont charge
their archers are not the best but cheap and reliable
their gunners are a hassle but get results
their cav is decent and their missile cav some of the best
and why isnt there a halberdier guarding your archers

[stompie5]

Franz can heal in neutral territory, so you have to use him to kill off Festus, the Beastman, and other threats. Return territory to Elector Counts to get high authority and confederate when you can

[Hieronymous]

I have good luck with putting off confederation till I'm really ready to consolidate.

Let them incur the expense of building settlements and field armies to slow down your foes.

[Tiberius]

Originally posted by Ashardalon:

halberdier charge defense and ap is quite the good lineholder infantry
just dont charge
their archers are not the best but cheap and reliable
their gunners are a hassle but get results
their cav is decent and their missile cav some of the best
and why isnt there a halberdier guarding your archers

i was talking abt gunners. Gunners need to have line of sight to shoot, so they're bound to be exposed

[tinywars]

How to play the Empire. They are not good at everything but together they are brilliant at everything. Empire is one if not the easiest to play. It's rank and file armies. Artillery softens em up. Missile units again soften them up and when you get the foe hit your spear walls then use magic and cavalry to smash your foes. There are so many ways to play the Empire.

[Ashardalon]

Originally posted by Tiberius:

i was talking abt gunners. Gunners need to have line of sight to shoot, so they're bound to be exposed

true, gunners are a bich to get going
but they get results once they do
either go checkerpattern to leave gaps to shoot
or only have gunners on the edge so that they can run around once the lines lock
then keep them safe with counter cav cav

personally i go for the second option
less effective but more reliable

[Reaver79]

Originally posted by Ashardalon:

true, gunners are a bich to get going
but they get results once they do
either go checkerpattern to leave gaps to shoot
or only have gunners on the edge so that they can run around once the lines lock
then keep them safe with counter cav cav

personally i go for the second option
less effective but more reliable

A very effecient strat against the AI, it responds poorly to the threat of your HG's flanking them.

[Coldhands]

Artillery and handgunners. Set your infantry in chevron formation so the handgunners can fire down the enemy's lines, and they'll rack up the kills.