How to play with germanic tribes?

[Kael]

Yea - im a bit annoyed... Even the Celts get superior in the warfare.
Makedons, Greeks and other 'a bit more civilized' country beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of my troops all the time.

Like when i play with Suebi i have like 40% or more losses. When i play Romans, Greeks or others i have less than 10% many times.

So how to play the tribes?

Because:
-Classic Formation doesnt work (line + flanking)
-Guerilla doesnt work because of low morale stats...

yea :(

[CelicniOploditelj]

Well, the Suebi are one of the most difficult barbarian factions to master, but once mastered they can be pretty strong and effective.

First of all, what type of army composition are you using, early, mid and late game?

Second, do you have any dlc-s, because some suebi units are locked behind the Daugthers of Mars unit pack, and Beasts of war unit pack (the Cimbri Bow-Women and Wolf Warriors).

Third, you cant engage the more ''civilized'' factions on an equal playing field, you have to be cheeky and cunning.

The biggest weakness of the Suebi is there low armor for most of there units, they will get shredded by missiles, even by the slingers, which have the lowest missile damage of all the missile units. So the name of the game is destroy the enemies missile units first, your spearman have pretty big shields, so they can absorb some missile fire, and your missile units should take care of the enemies missiles, the Cimbri Bow-Women are perfect for this as they have a range of 150 instead the 125 regular archers get, but the longbow hunters can do the job just as well. you have pretty strong charge bonuses with your melee infantry, so rotate charge them in the enemy flanks or rear, as your spearman hold the front.

The Suebi have one cavalry unit, that is amazing and you should use it in every stage of your campaign, the Germanic Scout Riders. They have javelins, which do a number on any unit they hit especially from the rear or flank. They can decimate a shock or melee cavalry by one or two volleys, and if they get charged they can either outrun there opponents, or in the case of light cavalry beat them with ease, and they can also bate precursor javelins from infantry units, there is nothing these guys can't do. This cavalry only has a problem with horse archers, as they can easily kill them due to there low armor.

Your battle plan should be to hold the enemy missiles away, destroy them with your own, harass the enemy with you missile cavalry and units, and then charge in with your own melee units and destroy them. Repeat until victory.

Hope i helped. Good luck man.

[bbolto]

The Suebi have:

- a lot of armor piercing, in their club units – wolf warriors, bloodsworn and even club levy can wear down heavily armored units more than you think they would

- a lot of scare ablities in their armies – wolf warriors and night hunters can combine with flaming ammo & rear charges to quickly rout enemy troops

- good missile troops – while a lot of Suebi infantry may be vulnerable to missiles, they have good answers. The stock Germanic slinger is the best slinger in the game except for elites like Balearics and Rhodians, because they have a good shield that blocks a lot of missiles. They can win a lot of missile duels. The stealth abilities of Longbow Hunters means they can get a lot of free shots in the right situations.

- good spearmen that are absolutely lethal to cavalry because almost all of them have cavalry counter-tactics – turn that ability on and cavalry melt

- and yes the Germanic scout rider is a very good cavalry unit, a fast missile cavalry unit that can also beat light cavalry in melee (heavy cavalry, you can just skirmish away until they're beaten down, then go stab them)

[CelicniOploditelj]

Originally posted by bbolto:

The Suebi have:

- a lot of armor piercing, in their club units – wolf warriors, bloodsworn and even club levy can wear down heavily armored units more than you think they would

- a lot of scare ablities in their armies – wolf warriors and night hunters can combine with flaming ammo & rear charges to quickly rout enemy troops

- good missile troops – while a lot of Suebi infantry may be vulnerable to missiles, they have good answers. The stock Germanic slinger is the best slinger in the game except for elites like Balearics and Rhodians, because they have a good shield that blocks a lot of missiles. They can win a lot of missile duels. The stealth abilities of Longbow Hunters means they can get a lot of free shots in the right situations.

- good spearmen that are absolutely lethal to cavalry because almost all of them have cavalry counter-tactics – turn that ability on and cavalry melt

- and yes the Germanic scout rider is a very good cavalry unit, a fast missile cavalry unit that can also beat light cavalry in melee (heavy cavalry, you can just skirmish away until they're beaten down, then go stab them)

Yeah, I forgot about the slingers shield, and to mention the abilities on the wolf warriors. Night hunters don't make it into my roster, cause i never make a level 3 Slave Market, you could invest in other technologies for better troops. Cavalry wise i don't even recruit Riders of the Hunt, I mean they are better at the charge then the Germanic Scout Riders, but with only 10 more armor and no javelins they are useless compared to the Scout Riders.

Still the Suebi are kind of a tough barbarian faction, with a loot of micro-management, and are not really suited for new players.

[A Generic Goblin]

Pretty much all this, but don't forget that your troops have less mass than other factions, which has a massive difference in delievering or taking charges.