How do you manage large battles?

[Paragon]

Title. Once a battle gets to a certain size and complexity it starts to feel more like a chore to fight than fun. I tend to pause very often just to get an idea of what is happening and issue new orders. Magic makes it even worse, bloody hell I hate magic so damn much ♥♥♥♥ you vlad go screw yourself. I would turn magic off if it was an option and didn't break half the factions.

[THEDOSSBOSS]

Know what each banner represents, and where your units constantly are. In this case, you cannot stop to enjoy or watch the combat, and must constantly micro-manage all across the battlefield. Do not be focused on one engagement for too long, just issue the orders then change your field of view to another conflict, quickly changing.

Have your camera high up, but not in the tactical map, in order to see as much as possible. Once again, visuals aren't important, but you need to act quickly so zoom as high as you can without entering the tactical map.

Memorize each unit's placement, including the enemy's. The banners help, but you must be quicker in knowing where the enemy is than trying to interpret the banner or placing your mouse over the unit to see the details.

Keep constant awareness on your unit's, and the enemy's, morale as well as the balance of power. This will tell you when to push or fall back and you must predict how individual engagements will end and plan your support/fallback process in advance, such as sending a calvary into another calvary and you know you will win, so then you plan on using that same cav to undergo rear charges before the enemy line breaks yours. Keep constant awareness on your tactics, overall strategy and most importantly support and army-breakers

Basically, it requires a mild amount of the brain's processing power in order to properly do 40v40 on normal speed

[White, the Loiterer]

THEDOSSBOSS put it very well.

All I an say is that experience is the best thing. I'm just used to managing larger battles after plenty of crazy custom battles in Rome 1.

[StarofTanuki]

Install AI mod and let them fight .

[THEDOSSBOSS]

Originally posted by >po|nt`|ockout<52Hz>.,~*:

Install AI mod and let them fight .

Hhahaha (please tell me that is a joke, otherwise )

[The Mighty Mulletman]

It takes practice to manage big battles well. Map awareness and micro improve with time.

[Darkaiser]

Originally posted by THEDOSSBOSS:

Originally posted by >po|nt`|ockout<52Hz>.,~*:

Install AI mod and let them fight .

Hhahaha (please tell me that is a joke, otherwise )

I use one of these for chariots if I have them as they require too much micro for my taste. Same goes for missile cav.

[THEDOSSBOSS]

Originally posted by Darkaiser:

Originally posted by THEDOSSBOSS:

Hhahaha (please tell me that is a joke, otherwise )

I use one of these for chariots if I have them as they require too much micro for my taste. Same goes for missile cav.

Why not practice and get better instead of 'cheating'?

[The Hat]

Smaller elite units, or less of them.

or

I rely on number keys a lot and tend to leave the infantry engaged, while I micro the flankers and flying units etc. For this I like high melee defense units, like spearmen to hold the line. With the speed of the battles, pausing for me is a smart choice, part of the game.

[THEDOSSBOSS]

Originally posted by The Hat:

Smaller elite units, or less of them.

or

I rely on number keys a lot and tend to leave the infantry engaged, while I micro the flankers and flying units etc. For this I like high melee defense units, like spearmen. With the speed of the battles, pausing for me is a smart choice, part of the game.

But that's when skill comes in. The game is designed to be manageable on normal speed, it only requires practice and such

[The Hat]

Originally posted by THEDOSSBOSS:

But that's when skill comes in. The game is designed to be manageable on normal speed, it only requires practice and such

I didn't say I couldn't run it on normal speed. I said I choose not to.

[THEDOSSBOSS]

Originally posted by The Hat:

Originally posted by THEDOSSBOSS:

But that's when skill comes in. The game is designed to be manageable on normal speed, it only requires practice and such

I didn't say I couldn't run it on normal speed. I said I choose not to.

oh ok

[Ysthrall]

One of the biggest difficulty bumps with Legendary is the inability to change POV or issue orders when paused....

I'm finidng it quite challenging. I can't imagine doing WE on legendary, with the amount of micro-management I found them to need....

[Decomposed]

Well, there is the AI General mod that lets you give a number of your units to the AI. It is useful when you have 2 or 3 stacks to handle.

I don't know if you can call it "cheat", this is up you to decide. Though the friendly AI tends to perform somehow worse than the enemy AI, so for me it's not cheating.

[The Mighty Mulletman]

Alternativley you and a buddy can go co-op and you gift him units as you like.

[waffleking]

Learn the hotkeys and how to group your units. You can drag large selections around with Alt and rotate them with Alt + Ctrl. If you lock the group it becomes even easier to manage and if you issue an attack with a locked group it works almost like a classic attack move. Don't go crazy with groups. I usually just put my main army in one group, flankers in another, and then split them up into more groups as needed. Put your missile units and artillery on guard mode, this will make it so they don't chase fleeing units and get stuck in melee.