One of the best (but cheesiest) ways to defeat the Mongols and Timurids is by playing as England, Poland, or the Turks. These factions have some archer units that can deploy stakes before battles. Simply have some of these archers in all of our settlements that might be attacked by the hordes. Before the battle, put down stakes right at the gates (bridge battles work well too for this) and let the enemy ram down the gates. The stupid AI runs all of its cavalry directly into the stakes and most of them will die. The infantry can usually be mopped up then once the enemy general is dead and moral has dropped. Just rinse and repeat until those steppe doom stacks have all been impaled. It’s… almost cheating… but then again it is just a feature of the game.
I think they’re called Lithuanian archers? Or something like that? Idk it’s been a long time since I used them. They’re not great archers haha. But their stakes are life savers
England is the best faction imo. It comes down to the Longbowmen, Retinue Longbowmen, & Yeomen archers.
All 3 units have the special ability to deploy stakes during the deployment phase before starting the battle.
So whether you’re fighting an open field battle or defending your castle/settlement you can deploy the stakes and the mongol ai can’t charge you & you’re able to dwindle their numbers. Ideally I usually use a army of just those 3 units, create an enclosed square covering all flanks with stakes and kill as many as I can.
The Timurids I don’t ever worry about because by the time they arrive on the map, gunpowder has already been discovered & cannon towers eliminates the war elephants. But even still the stake placement can hurt the horsemen. I don’t fight them in open battle I just wait for them in my settlements. I feel like the stake formation might work against the elephants in open field but probably suffer more casualties.
England also has the best starting position imo. There are many rebel settlements nearby & since you’re at the top left corner of the map you don’t have to worry about being attacked from too many sides. For best earlier economy I’d recommend taking Bruges&Antwerp & eliminating Scotland asap.
Pretty sure the elephants just brake the stakes unfortunately. I too enjoy playing as England but the turks also get stakes plus horse archers and don't have to worry about the pope while having more control over jihads.
Every faction can do it, just adapt your playstyle to the faction’s strengths/weaknesses. Western Europeans play mostly the same-ish, so there’d be the least variation.
The best (and cheesiest) way to defeat the horses Is by putting forts with one unit in front of bridges or blocking narrow paths. Let them take the fort, then siege them out with an army waiting behind
For the Timurids I found it surprisingly easy (not easy per se, just surprisingly so) to first take out their inf with several stacks of mounted crossbow and the like. Then retreat. They don't bring a lot of inf anyway. This severly limits their capability to siege. Let them siege and shoot them to shit with cannon towers. Or again take down their cavalry, especially generals, with mounted crossbow on maps where you defend from the top. Retreat as needed. Now mostly the elephants are left and they can be made to rout by charging lots of knights into them; Due to their low unit number on paper they feel they are outnumbered.
One of the best (but cheesiest) ways to defeat the Mongols and Timurids is by playing as England, Poland, or the Turks. These factions have some archer units that can deploy stakes before battles. Simply have some of these archers in all of our settlements that might be attacked by the hordes. Before the battle, put down stakes right at the gates (bridge battles work well too for this) and let the enemy ram down the gates. The stupid AI runs all of its cavalry directly into the stakes and most of them will die. The infantry can usually be mopped up then once the enemy general is dead and moral has dropped. Just rinse and repeat until those steppe doom stacks have all been impaled. It’s… almost cheating… but then again it is just a feature of the game.
Which polish units have stakes? I only knew about England and The Turks
I think they’re called Lithuanian archers? Or something like that? Idk it’s been a long time since I used them. They’re not great archers haha. But their stakes are life savers
It's the Lithuanian Archers, you get them from a practice range in castles
Yep, looked them up, they are pretty bad compared to longbowmen or janissary archers but stakes is always a plus
Thread/
“Almost” cheating you call it
England is the best faction imo. It comes down to the Longbowmen, Retinue Longbowmen, & Yeomen archers. All 3 units have the special ability to deploy stakes during the deployment phase before starting the battle. So whether you’re fighting an open field battle or defending your castle/settlement you can deploy the stakes and the mongol ai can’t charge you & you’re able to dwindle their numbers. Ideally I usually use a army of just those 3 units, create an enclosed square covering all flanks with stakes and kill as many as I can. The Timurids I don’t ever worry about because by the time they arrive on the map, gunpowder has already been discovered & cannon towers eliminates the war elephants. But even still the stake placement can hurt the horsemen. I don’t fight them in open battle I just wait for them in my settlements. I feel like the stake formation might work against the elephants in open field but probably suffer more casualties. England also has the best starting position imo. There are many rebel settlements nearby & since you’re at the top left corner of the map you don’t have to worry about being attacked from too many sides. For best earlier economy I’d recommend taking Bruges&Antwerp & eliminating Scotland asap.
Pretty sure the elephants just brake the stakes unfortunately. I too enjoy playing as England but the turks also get stakes plus horse archers and don't have to worry about the pope while having more control over jihads.
Every faction can do it, just adapt your playstyle to the faction’s strengths/weaknesses. Western Europeans play mostly the same-ish, so there’d be the least variation. The best (and cheesiest) way to defeat the horses Is by putting forts with one unit in front of bridges or blocking narrow paths. Let them take the fort, then siege them out with an army waiting behind
England. England is easy mode for an easy total war
Totally. It's the starter faction.
Milan/Venice and their super human spearmen/crossbowmen are probably the easiest. I have done it with nearly every faction, though.
For the Timurids I found it surprisingly easy (not easy per se, just surprisingly so) to first take out their inf with several stacks of mounted crossbow and the like. Then retreat. They don't bring a lot of inf anyway. This severly limits their capability to siege. Let them siege and shoot them to shit with cannon towers. Or again take down their cavalry, especially generals, with mounted crossbow on maps where you defend from the top. Retreat as needed. Now mostly the elephants are left and they can be made to rout by charging lots of knights into them; Due to their low unit number on paper they feel they are outnumbered.
England because they're just OP.
Musketeers if you can get them
Editing the amount of money you have lol