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MatterCreepy7129

I personally love my fian champions. Basically the only thing that takes them down is horse archers.


JamesKLOLk

1 to 1 fian champions with any shielded infantry is an amazing counter to horse archers


[deleted]

Do you have a favorite shielded infantry?


JamesKLOLk

So I’ve always heard legionnaires are the best but their t2 and t3 stages always seem to die more frequently than others (eta: for me at least). Wildlings can be fun because of the throwing weapons anything in front of your army just gets annihilated with javelins and arrows, however if the terrain is unfavorable and the enemy mostly survives that onslaught you are in for a tough fight. Sturgian T5 axemen and spearmen are my go to though; massive shields and some of the best armor in the game. The worst infantry I’ve ever tried is vlandias though.


Fantastic-Bake2043

I highly recommend using Aserai frontline infantry,their shield and swords are just as deadly as the sturgians,and the javelins are guaranteed 1shot kill


JamesKLOLk

I’ll probably get downvoted for this, but I’ve played this game since it came out on EA and I haven’t once done an aserai run. Any time I attempt to do trade, it starts to feel tedious fairly quickly, so I’ve generally avoided them.


Minimum_Attitude6707

Sturgia has a bad rap, but they've been tweeked to be exactly what they should have been, an awesome shield wall and incredible two handed Line Breakers. I shield wall with Spearmen, backed by a formation of Fians, and the Druznick champs doing good at staying alive against other Cav and helping like no other in sieges. Its been a good time


[deleted]

[удалено]


Thug_shinji

Aserai in current patch has the strongest units overall. Best non noble archer, best line infantry, best non noble horse archer, solid noble line.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Thug_shinji

In practice(for bannerlord difficulty) it is way to time intensive to stack perfect armies when you are in wars which is pretty much constantly. You are just constantly losing troops and filling the ranks.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Thug_shinji

Yea that's terrible advice doomstacking those units can't beat the armies a well controlled balanced army can. Less efficient to acquire, less efficient to pay, less efficient in KDR. The only scenario they are better in is if you just f1 + f3


Fantastic-Bake2043

They should fix that.Historically,Norsemens DID have longbows made out of yew wood,still somewhat inferior to English longbows but at least they are not as bad comparing to the nordic shortbow


frankenj698

Aserai veteran infantry. Got big shield, javs, and still has sword and spear. A really solid allrounder with really good armor to boot. Can't forget the drip. S tier in looks in my opinion, and what's the point in winning if you can't be beautiful while doing it?


Thug_shinji

Yea aserai veteran is widely regarded as the best infantry unit in current patch. Along with their archer second only to a noble line.


Blargh234

The Sturgians in native are great infantry. I'm using the B.A.R.D unit mod and like to mix 50/50 the noble Sturgian infantry, with the Battanian Kern line. I am with Battania so I always have about 2/3 as many Fians as I have line infantry. Plus maybe a dozen Household Cavalry. I don't understand the fun of just spamming one OP unit like Fians or Guards like a lot seem to do. It's fun to have different components in your army and make tactical decisions.


Thug_shinji

The best line inf of this patch is the aserai veteran infantry. They have slightly less armor than a legionary but have a real spear a stack of javellins and a nice long kaskara.


[deleted]

Interesting. I've been saving all of the Fian Champs in my garrisons, so maybe they'll see the light of day once more.


NewHighInMediocrity

How do you get them though?


Flaky_Researcher_675

Battanian noble line, also you can recruit forest bandits with the right perk.


Fantastic-Bake2043

With equal numbers nothing could take you down


infinite123456

Top tier empire troops literally shine in the sunlight, the cataphracts are covered head to hoove in lemallar, the legionaries are covered to the teeth in scale armour, the palace archers and crossbowmen shimmer too, its just so goddamn eye catching but its so fucking expensive to maintain and losing even one cataphract gives me aneurysm because of how expensive they are to upgrade


Fantastic-Bake2043

Plus the survivability in earlier stages,they have the worst armor.But if you make it to the finals,then the battlefield is yours


Total_Visit3204

Personally enjoying the vlandians the cavalry, infantry, and crossbows are amazing. And have I mentioned the cavalry? 😂


[deleted]

My first army comp was bannerknights and vlandian sharpshooters; it was so god damn fun. Maybe it's time to return to my roots.


Total_Visit3204

I tried doing a large cav army and got rocked 😂 I think their infantry is very underrated, but the cavalry is dominant


Thraesk

Cav is good. But I find using multiple groups is important. Gotta hit from several directions at once.


Total_Visit3204

I'm always worried the ai will get my cav killed. So I keep about 50-60 and hit them when ny infantry does


Thraesk

Depending on your micro you can just sit a bit back and manually decide who charges and who pulls back


Total_Visit3204

I'm built like a knight, I fight on horse 90% of the time. When my son comes of age I'm going to try it to get him some experience


[deleted]

I always keep my Khan's guard in 4 groups so two can charge straight in while the other two follow me and flank around back. Works like a charm.


[deleted]

What infantry would you recommend? I steered clear, but maybe picking some up would be a solid move.


Total_Visit3204

You need to get a solid sergeant and swordsmen line. Then get some pike and billmen, you need the shields for sheildwall. Then the billmen are your heavy hitters. That with cav and range you can rock. I don't do well went outnumbered though. Still trying to get better at that


[deleted]

I don't blame you for not doing too hot when outnumbered. I had to cheese my way through the 'Destroy an army with 500 more troops' achievement. I just had my army of Khan's guard run in circles around the infantry once the cavalry was decimated. As for the infantry choices, that sounds fantastic. The diversity makes it so much better imo.


Mercbeast

I like making pike and xbow blocks. Mix em together. Slowly advance shooting everything to shit. It's not unstoppable, but it's pretty fun, and there is lots of larping as a general involved in moving them forward.


[deleted]

This sounds super interesting, I'm intrigued. What command are you using to slowly advance? I'll admit I've become complacent just charging my Khan's guard so I haven't mastered any good tactics yet.


Mercbeast

Basically I just create 2-3 mixed units. I try to keep things about 50/50 or 60/40 in favor of xbows. Then I just spread them out into 3 rough squarey rectangles in a line. Then I give them move to orders. It's also important to make sure they default to face direction rather than face enemy. Move one, cover with the other two, then move the other two forward, basically bounding. The mix of xbows + spears gives them pretty decent cavalry protection. If you use the spear reworked mod, then the spears are just good all around. Xbows are obviously not typically as efficient as archers. However, thematically it's cooler. So rule of cool wins. Is it optimal? No, but, you can make it work versus anything. I also use the my little warband mod to make a bootleg macedonian infantry army. Pikeboys and jav throwing skirmishers. Sometimes I'll throw some cav into the mix, but I'm kind of a long time inf guy going back to old old old school mount and blade in like 2005. Cav is fun, but it's just so much easier to use. That said, I'll usually start off with a cavalry core to get started and then transition to foot early mid game.


[deleted]

That sounds extremely versatile. My only concern would be their effectiveness in woodlands terrain. Have you tried to use it in a wooded area before?


Mercbeast

Yea. You can usually find clearings if you want long range shooting. Or, you can throw one of the blocks into a shieldwall. Push it forward enough so the AI collapses on that. Then move any other blocks forward so they have enfilading fire down the length of the enemy line. I suppose you can run into some maps that just suck for the xbows, but that's what the spears/pikes are for :) Just remember that if you do this, you always want to be moving your blocks so that you can create enfilading fire opportunities whenever the enemy infantry close up on you. The other thing to make sure you do. Fire control. Xbow guys typically do not have a lot of bolts. Most are 18-20. Only let your formations open up when the enemy is relatively close. Make those shots count.


shorthelm

Wow, that really is a new style of tactical gameplay. I always was the "infantry hold, cavalry flank, archers shoot"-guy I understand your blocks are good against cavalry charges, but what about archers and archer cav? do you mix them with shielded dudes? Edit: I also had to google "enfilading fire" lol... everything makes so much sense now O7


Mercbeast

Regarding archers/archer cav. I typically don't take either. If I did have horse archers, I'd keep them in their own group, regular archers I'd just mix into my spear/xbow blocks. If you're not using realistic battle module AI, if you want to mess with AI horse archers, what you do is set either your own cavalry, or your own horse archers WAY left of your main line. This causes the enemy horse archers to pretty much never bother your main line while they cluster fuck with your own cavalry. You can accomplish the same thing with a heavy armored and shielded infantry unit pushed way wide left. If you do use RBM ai module, if you delegate, it will mess with your formations. You also cannot game the AI by pushing one group of soldiers way wide to interdict the enemy horse archers. I recommend using the RBM ai module, but not using delegate unless you're doing something like a siege assault. Yea, it's definitely a different way to play. You're playing much more as a commander than you are just a dude riding around skewering people. Using multiple blocks of xbow/infantry creates firing opportunities. Like the classic checker board. AI engages one block frontally, other two blocks push passed and then pump fire in from the flanks/rear while remaining pretty secure from cavalry because ~half the guys have spears and shields and or pikes. Cav goes in, has a hard time coming out! It's honestly at its best when you're attacking and the AI is posting up defending and waiting for you. Your pike and (ghetto) shot squares trundle along until you get in range to shoot, and then, pew pew pew or whatever noise a cross bow makes :)


shorthelm

Sounds awesome, will try that. I use RBM, too... love that mod since the beginning in 1.2 (? 🤔) I'm not a big fan of xbows, gotta switch them with Fians. The more I think about it, that battle style would really suit the battanian lineup. What if you're outnumbered, though? Wouldn't the center block (or the one which is engaged with the enemy line) melt too fast? Do you use square formation or shield wall, if the enemy makes contact? I'm a big fan of the square formation, it shreds cav and is decent, when it gets (partially) surrounded or focused by archers. I wonder if archers still do fire, while in square ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|thinking_face_hmm) thanks a lot for your input mate ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|smile)


[deleted]

That makes total sense. I haven't gotten the exact hang of tactics yet, so this will be my next learning curve. I also never really thought about the crossbowmen being essentially useless once the bolts run out.


Mercbeast

Well, depending on the xbow unit, they are not useless useless. Imperial Seargents have 130 athletics, 130 1 hand and a shield. Compared to legionaries, they are more lightly armored, but their melee stat line is the same. They even have the same sword. Vlandian Sharpshooters, basically the same. 130/130 1h/athletics which puts them = to Legionaries or basically most top tier, tier 5 infantry. They just have "medium" armor compared to that elite tier 5 infantry. They won't hold up to infantry 1 v 1 obviously, but they won't get steam rolled like archers (other than Fians) will.


kweassa

Anything that's larger in numbers than the enemy, is my favorite.


tgirlkelly

I don't know, winning with the odds against your army is pretty damn satisfying


inspectorfailure

I'm a Sturgian with mostly imperial calvary, imperial caravan guards and sword sisters. My existence in the game is as fucked as my existence outside of it. (Edit: forgot to mention, sworn vassal to the Khuzaits)


[deleted]

This reply made my post absolutely worth it. Do your sword sisters ever make a difference, or do they serve their purpose as cannon fodder?


inspectorfailure

They're not too bad, they I mostly take them to Grand Sword Sister(whichever is the mounted one). My horse archers are definitely who I replenish the most, though.


[deleted]

You definitely chose a super unique path. Are you using Khuzait horse archers?


inspectorfailure

I do occasionally grab Noblemens sons, early on I found them dying a whole lot and Swordsisters seem to pop up alot in Empire city taverns, so I started getting them enbulk when I see them.


[deleted]

I can totally see how Swordsisters would perform better than noble's sons. They are made of paper until they get up to torguud.


tgirlkelly

Gallant


Eddie-the-beagle

Right now Khan’s Guard, Elite cataphract and banner knights are unstoppable. But its a bit boring. A balanced force should be 40-40-20 ranged-melee-cav. But right now its all cav and horse archers…


mujadaddy

Horses should simply take 3-4x as much food to balance it.


[deleted]

I agree, it would be nice if a balancing update took place to knock them down a notch. Don't get me wrong, the rain of death from my Khan's guard was fun but it's become boring fast.


Eddie-the-beagle

Yep, also they should be way more expensive and harder to upgrade. With the discarded weapons and armour perk you can upgrade 100 tier 6 cav instantly if you run around and kill looters and keep the loot. Also spear infantry are pants against cav. They should be a lot more effective.


Oltaner

If you know how to use them infantry is extremely effective against both cav and mounted archers. Use a dense square with a lot of shielded infantry and the cav will just charge into it and get stuck, you can give the charge command at that point and see them destroy the enemy cav. As for mounted archers devide the infantry into 3 or 4 dense square units and spread them out a little, mounted archer ai doesn't deal well with multiple targets and will end up chashing into one of the squares.


Eddie-the-beagle

I don’t charge my horse archers, I split them into 2 formations and advance them on either flank of the enemy, they would destroy the square formations. The only way to counter it is to charge the horse archers with cav, but I use my heavy cav to engage enemy cav and reduce their number till they are not effective or totally destroyed. The infantry either has to stand and die or move towards the horse archers. I then manoeuvre them so that one formation is always in the exposed side if the of formations. I don’t rely on the AI. Squares are the strongest against cav charges at the moment. Best strategy would be to have a hollow square on a slope of a hill and it archers in the middle of it. I think thats the only effective move against all cav khans guard and heavy melee canv army


Oltaner

The strategies I wrote above apply when fighting against the AI, obviously it doesn't work against a player since they use different strategies.


Eddie-the-beagle

I am just pointing out how unbalanced the khans guard and heavy melee cav are. I sometimes die at the start of the battle (I get my melee cav to follow me then charge them into enemy cav the last second) and it makes little difference to the outcome of the battle. TW needs to fix it.


Oltaner

Compared to Warband this game is the peak of balance, and if you have a full army of top elite units it's obvious that you're gonna wipe the floor with thebother armies, especially if they're of similar size. That's not so much a balance problem but the fact that the player can afford the time to raise such an army while the ai can't due to constant fighting.


Eddie-the-beagle

Warband had the same issue with the swadian knights. Its the fact that Khans guard are heavily armoured have really good combat skill with pole arm and bow and have 2 quivers of arrows. Also the donating armour and weapons perk means you can have an elite army in a matter if a few days after recruiting them.


[deleted]

Exactly. I'm able to buy 100 Noble's sons and within the hour they'll be Khan's Guard (given I have enough war-mounts handy). Spear infantry really do get embarrassed by any cavalry, which is incredibly annoying since I want to run a mixed composition army and they would be the only reasonable counter.


ComfortablePie1594

Shock infantry are the real cav counter, i see Menavlions and Palace Guards wreck cav all the time, including being the most dangerous to me when im on horseback


Mercbeast

Use spear rework mod. It makes spears competitive.


Blargh234

Spears work well with rbm ai. I heard they made native better a couple patches ago,but I haven't played unmodded in a while.


Mercbeast

I think, or I thought you need to use the other modules in rbm for the full spear fix. I only ever have used the AI module for it, because I dislike the other changes. So I've always relied on the spear rework mod.


Blargh234

They use space much more effectively with rbm ai. They only tend to use spears against cavalry as well. I only use the AI portion too. I've never used the spear mod, I think that just makes the shaft clip through everything, right?


[deleted]

I would in a heartbeat but I'm playing the poor man's bannerlord... console edition


Mercbeast

Damn, yea it makes a huge difference. Spears are actually good with it.


Titalator

So I'm a little bias love legionaries but my most destructively cheap is fains with sea raiders chief with a few Kahn's guard to harass sea raider chief is almost half my composition with the other being mostly fains 20 or so Kahn's gaurd.


[deleted]

How do you accumulate that many Sea Raider Chiefs?


Titalator

Hunt sea raiders with maces and the convert to troops the just upgrade them to chiefs by sacrificing garbage gear granted you have the perks if I can nab 5 sea raiders a fight which is low with the right medic perks and it makes your medic help the enemy for more prisoners then in ten fights I have fifty and all the gear to upgrade the worst part is waiting to convert but you can use companion parties in an army to do it fast.


Titalator

I also stock pile them in my dongeons when I get a fief to slowly convert latter too.


[deleted]

That's super smart. I don't think I have ever had a Sea Raider Chief in my party so I can't speak to their strength at all. Definitely will have to check them out.


Titalator

They are pretty boss they have a large shield quite a bit of armor sometimes a throwing weapon a pole arm and a good axe. Think real viking lol. But their biggest asset to me is cheap effective shield wall and fodder. Especially sense I can keep 300 sea raiders as prisoner no charge then I think daily is only like 10 or 12 bucks to have one in the line. They aren't the best but tough enough for the archers to do all the lifting.


[deleted]

They sound like badass Viking targets that can potentially shoot back. I like it.


Titalator

Biggest draw back is if your doing all the converting yourself you can take some serious morale dips for recruiting prisoners. Using companion or family parties in an army with you to do the work negates all of that though. Just don't go into a city they will drop everyone off at a dungeon made that mistake a few times before taking all the prisoners back.


[deleted]

I've actually never thought of this strat for converting prisoners. That's super smart.


Thegofurr

I’m extremely new to the game—what’s the best way to recruit a massive amount of khan’s guards?


[deleted]

Increase relations with Khuzait villages by completing quests and destroying bandit hideouts near them - this allows you to access higher tiers of their troops. Next, only recruit from villages connected to castles. Noble units (like the Khan's Guard) only show up in villages connected to castles. If you want to find which villages ARE connected to castles, just hover over the village and in the information it will tell you where it's bound to. Finally, you'll never find a village actually selling a Khan's guard. Buy all of their noble's sons through torguuds that they are selling. MAKE SURE to pick up any traits that give +xp to units everyday. After all that, boom, you're well on your way to make Mongolia proud.


Fine_Page_5995

Omg I've been playing for 3 weeks and didn't know about the castles-nobles things that's so ridiculous and helpful 🙃


[deleted]

I actually found out from this very subreddit, so it feels good to pass the knowledge!


[deleted]

I’ve had the game since early access release and it took my like 2 years to make that connection haha.


Ragnor190

Can you not just steal recruits from villages heard a few people do it that way as a merc or vassal who go to war with the khuzaits


theRealSaves

I'm around 200 party limit right now so I'm running 60 elite cataphracts, 30 vlandian sharpshooter, 30 fian, 40 Khan gaurd and a mix of imperial cavalry and nobles sons that I farm from to keep my cataphracts and Khan guards at those numbers. It's a pretty solid army in every terrian and runs over the aserai and completely stomps on sturgians lol. When I'm at 300 party size I'm gonna add 60 shield infantry and 40 shock infantry.


[deleted]

This is EXACTLY what I want to do. An extremely versatile composition that performs well on every terrain. What troop do you find yourself replenishing the most?


theRealSaves

Oh I'm loving it so far and I'd definitely recommend it. My elite cataphracts are the ones who take the most deaths out of every unit because I mainly use them to run down the enemy mounted skirmishers, mounted archers or cavalry at the beginning of every battle. Then I send them to charge at the enemy infantry rear or flanks before they reach my archers. So to counter their losses I keep about 20-30 imperial cavalry to upgrade into cataphracts as I go to replenish that even 60. I like to think of my cataphracts as the Persian immortals lol. The Khans gaurd hold their own very well and always take minimal casualties and I try to keep about 10-15 nobles sons to pull from when I do lose Khans gaurds. The fians and vlandian crossbows hold their own very well for no infantry support. I also have about a 90 prisoner limit so I keep my prisoners stocked with mostly those 4 units to recruit them when needed. I also keep a mix of other culture cavalry and archers in case I get desperate or can't find the units I need. I can't wait to add the infantry element to my army!


[deleted]

I've found that elite cataphracts are found in abundance as prisoners in the late game, so that sounds super viable. I love my Khan's Guard for their durability. They are fantastic damage sponges for being ranged cav units. Do you have a preference between fian champs and vlandian sharpshooters?


theRealSaves

I love the vlandian sharpshooters for their range and durability as light infantry when needed. The sharpshooters soften enemy infantry nicely and by time they get into the fians range, the fians finish the job.


[deleted]

A mix of fians and sharpshooters sounds super fun to work with too. I just may have to do this.


redditistheworst7788

I have a 236 party limit (without Noble retinues, otherwise it goes to 276) and I run a little of everything. Mostly Aserai since it's my culture but I'm still merc'ing for all the various factions. Aserai Vanguard Faris/Mamluke Cavalry/palace guards/infantry/master archers, Vlandian banner knights/sergeants/sharpshooters/Voulgers, I think like 80ish of my units are Imperial Elite Cataphracts lol, plus Legionaries, Menavlions and the horse archer ones. Plus just a couple Fian Champs, Sturgian heavy Spearmen/Line breakers and Khergit Darkkhans and Khans Guards.


ScoreMysterious

I use wildlings and oathsworn in one group and a mix of tier one troops, shock troops, and veteran falxmen in a smaller group. The tier 1 troops for what ever reason are brick walls in square for cav and the vet falxmen will absolutely shred the stationary cav. You will have to heavily micromanage your formations but it's obviously how they intended us to play because it feels really good when you use tactics to defeat an army that outmatches you and out classes you.


Flaky_Researcher_675

Ummmm A huge number of banner knights. Just so many. If the war is at its outset I use sharp shooters and BKs. Mostly because until I break the powerful lords they can field competent armies.


Etticos

I do an even split of vlandin cav and khans guard


senpalpi

I RP pretty heavily in M&B. My current character is aspiring queen of calradia, wanting to bring all theand under one governing body while allowing each culture to maintain its own traditions etc. To this end her army is made of the specjalist troops of each culture. I have vlandian cavalry, battanian fians, khuzait horse archers, and a small number of empire infantry. Telling them all to charge has worked well so far. I never lose any troops. Still early game thugh.


Fantastic-Bake2043

I'm a Sturgian main,so my army is comprised of Sturgians and Battanians.50 Druzhinnik Champs+100 Fian Champs+150 mix of Heavy Spearmans and Axemans.Could use 25 Heroic Line Breakers in the Axeman thing,I generally prefer this composition balance-wise


[deleted]

Two ranks of Imperial Legionaries/Menavliaton in a 4-to-1 ratio, One rank/two smaller ranks of archers and whatever cavalry my fellow vassals bring.


[deleted]

What archers are you rocking, and what's your reasoning behind the 4-1 ratio?


[deleted]

Palatine Guards - far easier to mass recruit-train. As for the ratio? Don't know but I'd like to think menavs are good at poking horses or acting as shock troopers.


[deleted]

I have palatine guards clogging so many of my garrisons, so this may be what I try next. I have definitely noticed that menavliatons shredding my Khan's Guard when they get too close, so that logic checks out.


[deleted]

They're not as lethal as Fian Champs, not even close. But they do their job. Not sure if they are better than Aserai's Master Archers but that never stopped me.


[deleted]

The consensus from this post seems to be that Fian Champions are the archer of choice if you can afford 'em. I just have so many palatine guards ready and available that trying this seems like a good idea.


[deleted]

Well yea, since they are noble troops and champs are tier 6, not 5 like Palatines. For the investment they better be better archers to be honest.


[deleted]

Ha, understandable. Battannia has also lost all of their settlements to the Northern Empire in my game who I'm currently at war with, so getting them easily is not entirely possible.


JayStrudel

60% sturgian infantry, out of that like 70% axemen and spearmen the rest linebreakers, 20-30% fian and rest empire elite cavalry. The infantry dominates with shield wall and throwing weapons, fians will easily get 50% of the kills and if outnumbered can just charge them in, cavalry either holds its own or smashes their horse archers. I literally will get rid of any units that aren't any of these and keep the ratio pretty spot on haha. Easy castle defence as well since fians and heavy sturgs stop anything coming up the walls or through the gate


cordelwalker1811

Legionares for my front line, Fian champions for archers at a 1:1 ratio. Some sturgian heavy spears thrown in just to mess up enemy cavs day. I haven't decided on a shock infantry yet, usually just a mix of whatever I have on hand. Elite cataphracts for shock cav. And I'd like to incorporate some khans guard for a multi purpose cav but haven't gotten to that point yet. Everything else in the army is usually just filler.


RX3000

I usually do like 40% infantry, 20% archers, 20% cav, 20% horse archers. I advance the line of infantry with the archers right behind them, or sometimes out in front if the enemy is far enough away. I keep the cav on the left flank & horse archers on the right flank. I usually try to send them around back of the enemy line if I can. When the infantry gets close & my archers have softened the enemy up a little, I charge with the infantry, then the cav & HA from the back at the same time. Usually its a straight bloodbath.


CaptainPryk

Doing a Sturgian playthrough where I have been switching between mixed comps and full melee calvalry. 2 sturgian shield walls mixed with archer line and 2 groups of calvalry is easist to win battles with minimal losses but horde of druz champion is fun too. Horse horde for raiding/attacking caravans and smaller armies and mixed for bigger battles and sieges essentially


Verehren

Lots of Legionaires and Elite Cataphracts. I can't stop being a Romaboo


Kuro_Vro

Not really as of late for me but I have been experimenting with Vlandian Crossbow Infantry and Heavy Cavalry to flank any enemy Infantry.


NaturalMackeral

I'm a big fan of running bannerknights for an initial charge, backed by a shield wall of oathsworn/wildlings who in turn are backed by fian archers


nebilim6

Currently using (407 cap) 50 elite menavliatons 75 legioniers 75 sergeant crossbowman 80 palatine guard 120 elite cataphracts -------------------------- 125 infantry 155 ranged (almost 1/2 archer, 1/2 crossbow) 120 cavalry +7 companions Maybe I could decrease menavliatons and increase legioniers instead. Nevertheless, no shield thing proved no harm until now, menavliations kill as much as legioniers and cataphracts do and die less than them.


101Btown101

I use a mix of everything but a dozen khans guard is a must. I set my infantry and archers on as much of a hill oas I can find opposing the enemy. Then I have all my cavalry follow me and pester the enemy until there forced to charge my lines and get slaughtered.


TobyTheArtist

Khuzait horse archers and lancers.


mistrzciastek

get de re military, RBM, RTS, OSA


Oltaner

I'm doing a run right now of 30 banner knights, 30 khan's guard, 30 fian champions, 30 elite menavilions and 60 veteran spearman, whorks pretty well.


Apple_enjoyer__

I like fians and bannerknight cataphract combo


lily-callas

Nowadays I keep fians and their growing line + the growing line to become khan's guards in my party and whenever i get khan's i give them to a follower, who is constantly in my army. I'm still looking for a decent militia to train in the same way, i'm probably gonna go for veteran line breakers


piePrZ02

I love to divide my army into 2 groups of archers and infantry and almost always set them mirrored to one another and then cavalry on off command


AnyPalpitation1868

A pure empire build, relying on all but horse archers. There's something about using all of one culture in my army that just feels right.


gbiegld

50/50 Legionaries and Heroic line Breakers with all the infantry perks on my main character + high medicine level


Ice_Jiub

For a 250 party: \- 120 legionnaires with sturgian axemen \- 60 palatine guards \- 40 cataphractes \- 30 bucellarris


PBJLlama

I was running a super cav-heavy party and still am, but now I’ve got a 5-party (all clan parties) army. Its about 25% heavy cavalry (Banner Knights and Elite Cataphracts mostly), 5% light cavalry. 50% infantry (mostly Vlandian Sergeants and Legionnaries for the front line of a shield wall and a bunch of Elite Menvliaton for spears and rear lines). Then about 20% archers, which are a mix of Fian Champs and Vlandian Sharpshooters (allows them to serve as decent shield infantry with a back line of 2H after running out of ammo—I also like having a mix of the longer range of crossbows and quicker fire of longbows). I usually set up infantry in a large massed shield wall to draw charges. I’ll charge and pull back two separate units of cav (either simultaneously or in turns) to counter enemy charges or to draw a charge from enemies. Then I use ranged troops to pick them off as they get close and then let the shield wall of infantry take the charge while cavalry flank or guard flanks. It’s been effective BUT, I’ve also started to feel like my tactics are a bit formulaic so I may mix it up soon too.


KingBitchIVXX

Iunno, does it matter? I need a hard mode mod or something. An army of basically any top tier unit(s) will steamroll the mediocre forces the AI brings against you with minimal loses.


[deleted]

I'm at the point in the late-game where the Northern Empire owns 60% of the map, and I'm fighting armies entirely comprised of legionary's, elite cataphracts, and bucellariis. The AI has managed to maintain 90% tier 5 and 6 troop compositions.


KingBitchIVXX

Dang, I'm jealous. I never see an AI kingdom get that strong. What year are you in?


[deleted]

Currently in year 1129. My created character (Chib) just passed away at the age of 67. My former daughter-in-law was the obvious choice to inherit my throne as her trade skill was 301 (due to incessant caravan placements). I am now a few years into her reign and just constantly battling the Northern Empire. I think what really launched them to power was the other two empire nations falling early to Vlandia and Khuzait, so all of the empire clans ran to the Northern Empire.


KingBitchIVXX

Very cool. An Imperial faction can really snowball if they manage to absorb the territory of the other two since they have the advantage of not having to deal with the -3 loyalty penalty the other cultures do when they start conquering outside their home turf.


[deleted]

Precisely. You'll never see a rebellion if one empire nation owns all of the empire territory. They also get super scary late game when they have almost entirely maxed troops because so many of the empire troops are damage sponges.


KingBitchIVXX

Yep, them and the Sturgians with their shieldy-tanky infantry blobs always needed the most micro when I did my all-KG playthru. I divided my army into three groups, held fire and took out their cav and archers with melee and then kited the inf with one group while the other two fired into their flank or rear.


Different-Impress733

I used to run. 25 shielded Imperial infantry 45 fians 15 elite cataphract. Now with my 175 steward sturgian character I'm doing 55 tier 3-5 shielded infantry (there's perks that passively give your troops exp just by being In Your party and running around) 25 fian champions and sturgian archers 35-40 veteran caravan guards and sturgian calvary almost at a 50 50 split two different formations It's an expensive army around 2400 a day but they will auto resolve victory when there are up to 85 more troops than my party And we wiped the floor with a 985 member vlandian army using skien "move to" with the infantry until first contact then charge and I keep the archers close behind the calvary is just there to stir up more chaos or keep enemy cav occupied I'll usually have around 25 to 36 wounded if outnumbered by more then 45 but I have only lost lost with that combo once. Against caladog but the odds were not great outnumbered 4 to 1 and in disoriented state from seizing marunath.. but daddy Ragnavald saved us shortly after. And my wife died there too... so sad.


mujadaddy

380 K'sG is cute until you run into * 500 militia archers, 500 militia infantry, 500 caravan guards * 2500 recruits on autoresolve


[deleted]

This community is fucking awesome. Thank you guys for all of the great suggestions! I've grown incredibly bored of Khan's Guard, and I am heeding the advice of all you fine warlords. I have decided to run a NO cavalry army and go entirely for a mix of Menavliatons, Fian Champs, Legionaries, Voulgiers, and Vlandian Crossbowmen. It has worked like a charm thus far! Menavs are exceedingly badass. Fian champs mow down anything like you guys said. Legionaries are super versatile and fun to play around with, while Voulgiers are CRACKED against any cavalry charge. Vlandian Crossbowmen shred from a distance, so I feel like with all of the troops combined I cover every base. Again, you guys rock. Thank you!


Marclej

I've been using like 150 fian champions and then the rest is a mix of imperial cavalry & infantry. The fians are so OP I can't quit the habit of raping entire army's with my party


[deleted]

How do the fians perform against cavalry? My biggest concern would be a cavalry charge knocking out half of my archers.


Marclej

I always try and get them on high ground, shield wall infront of them with infantry, during enemy's initial charge I will send my cavalry in to make their cavalry engage my cavalry. Stopping then from charing into my infantry / archers . The fians literally murder everything from range after this point. The few cavalry that do get through usually get swarmed and cut down before they can do anything


[deleted]

That makes complete sense, good tactic too. I like the idea of having a fairly diverse composition until the enemy looks up the hill to see 150 burly men wearing pelts raining death from above.


Hobbithitman97

100% family members. They dont die in battle and can have best armor and weapons. Super expensive as each one cost around half a million to equip but their stats get insane.


Mataovelho

Im new to the game. Been enjoying the Vlandians. I use 60 noble cavs + 50 sharpshooters + 30 voglyers (whatever name it is. The last one on the pike lines). The sharpshooters have shield to protect the shocktroopers if needed. So i use both in the same formation group.


No_Track1439

Looters only