battania nearly getting destroyed in the first year

[Henchman Dave]

what am I supposed to do when vlandia cavalry and crossbow spams every fight? I did as many fian champions as possible but they still lose to crossbows because of armor or they get flattened by cav. Not only that but they get an easy numerical advantage with King Herbert or whatever his name is pulling an army of 800 out of his butt 1 day after getting a 500-man army stackwiped. we start with THREE LESS cities and even less manpower. I can't isolate lords because they're constantly in armies and it only takes losing 1 castle for everything else to come tumbling down. Vlandia is too good at everything, at least upsize the battanian hexagonal shields (which the real shields that the battanian shields were based off of were easily 40% larger) or give them spearmen. Battania has no late-game staying power because fian champions get no protection and are just sitting ducks against sharpshooters, ESPECIALLY in sieges. I thought Battania's one saving grace was to be a defensive powerhouse but that's clearly not the case with them getting pulped in every fight by crossbow deathstacks

[Action Man]

Raid their towns to wreck their prosperity. Vlandia has the most fiefs and clans, and the geography gives them a massive advantage with towns that just build prosperity constantly.

Or declare war on another nearby power, and take those lands so you can still build a basis of power to strike back. Battania has the weakest starting point in my opinion.

[Forblaze]

Try getting some cataphracts from the empire to duel their knights. Cataphracts are also good at disrupting infantry lines to help Fians hit through shield walls. You can also mix some falxman into the group with the fians. Their spears should make it harder to the cavalry to cycle charge them.

[makky07]

Use the Battanion champions but add in the Sturgian heavy spearman/line breakers/axemen plus the Sturgian noble Calvary and watch thier calvary melt against your infantry who in turn can cutt through their infantry/crossbowmen as well as having one of the most armored Calvary with a great sword.?

[Clovis Sangrail]

When Battania loses towns early, these towns have a tendency to rebel against their new rulers fairly quickly. This allows you to pick up those towns for yourself. Current playthrough -- My clan owns all 5 Battania towns, and they were all acquired this way.

[Henchman Dave]

thanks for your input lads

[Henchman Dave]

i can't do much, vlandia has too many crossbows. Every siege they have like 300 crossbowmen and i cant do anything

[myperfectvictory]

"King Herbert" lol. His name is Derthert.

[Henchman Dave]

The sheer quantity of crossbows is literally making it impossible for me to win in any siege battles wtf am i supposed to do

[Action Man]

Originally posted by Mr. A:

"King Herbert" lol. His name is Derthert.

It's Herbert now. :D He looks like a Herbert.

Starve our their garrison so their best troops can't help. Build Mangonels so your troops can blast them off the walls. Make a ballista if you feel like sniping some. If you destroyed their siege equipment before siege started, you can take your time in the battle and whittle them down.

[Duncan]

Just let them win, pay them tribute. When I joined battania they were at war with 3 factions at the same time and had like 2 towns and 2 castles left. We made peace, paid tribute, and when these factions went on war with someone else we picked them one by one.

[makky07]

Originally posted by Action Man:

Originally posted by Mr. A:

"King Herbert" lol. His name is Derthert.

It's Herbert now. :D He looks like a Herbert.

Starve our their garrison so their best troops can't help. Build Mangonels so your troops can blast them off the walls. Make a ballista if you feel like sniping some. If you destroyed their siege equipment before siege started, you can take your time in the battle and whittle them down.

Like Action Man stated..... whittle them down. The Vlandians are the one culture that I will literally knock down their walls to attack. If you have a decent amount of tier 6 infantry they will cut down the crossbowmen allot easier as they are not climbing a ladder and getting a tower shield in their face that keeps them from getting enough troops on the wall to start making a difference. In open battle I tend to use allot more infantry/calvary vs Vlandians and just rush them. Have your Calvary follow you and slam into or distract the crossbowmen so your infantry can charge in without getting shot to pieces.

[Henchman Dave]

also bows don't do damage like they used to, i have a noble bow and stacked bodkin arrows and it takes 3 or 4 headshots to a late-game unit to kill them

[Zef]

Originally posted by Dave:

The sheer quantity of crossbows is literally making it impossible for me to win in any siege battles wtf am i supposed to do

First of all destroy their walls and all siege equipment.

Then switch to something with a large AOE like mangonels/onagers and keep your infantry and archers back while just your artillery is pounding them during the first siege attack.

If needed you can retreat and start the battle again until their archers are at a lower level.

Next you send in your infantry through the 2 breach points in the wall and slaughter everyone inside.

[Henchman Dave]

Originally posted by Zef:

Originally posted by Dave:

The sheer quantity of crossbows is literally making it impossible for me to win in any siege battles wtf am i supposed to do

First of all destroy their walls and all siege equipment.

Then switch to something with a large AOE like mangonels/onagers and keep your infantry and archers back while just your artillery is pounding them during the first siege attack.

If needed you can retreat and start the battle again until their archers are at a lower level.

Next you send in your infantry through the 2 breach points in the wall and slaughter everyone inside.

Most wise, Thanks!. In performance this advice has helped me the most but the way the game works right now causes siege engines to kill pretty much nobody and the besieging foe seems to be able to recoup 4/5 of their losses after each attack. Bows are way less lethal but still get the job done sometimes, and we seem to make them suffer the most losses when they go into melee at the walls. I feel like I kinda gotta wait for the devs to fix artillery lethality first, it's broken right now, our boulders only give them butterfly kisses.

[Duncan]

Originally posted by Dave:

Originally posted by Zef:

First of all destroy their walls and all siege equipment.

Then switch to something with a large AOE like mangonels/onagers and keep your infantry and archers back while just your artillery is pounding them during the first siege attack.

If needed you can retreat and start the battle again until their archers are at a lower level.

Next you send in your infantry through the 2 breach points in the wall and slaughter everyone inside.

Most wise, Thanks!. In performance this advice has helped me the most but the way the game works right now causes siege engines to kill pretty much nobody and the besieging foe seems to be able to recoup 4/5 of their losses after each attack. Bows are way less lethal but still get the job done sometimes, and we seem to make them suffer the most losses when they go into melee at the walls. I feel like I kinda gotta wait for the devs to fix artillery lethality first, it's broken right now, our boulders only give them butterfly kisses.

Only ballistas are lethal, the rest are considered blunt damage lol