by The Kingmaker » Sun Aug 16, 2015 8:36 am
If I could add something, I think a Rome Total War system may work here. (Not Rome 2, that sucks)
Depending on the budget allowed for a battle, and the faction your enemy chose, you would make some educated guesses.
Now there are pikemen, who have the longest reach and are great against cavalry, while spearmen can do a little more work against other infantry but still remain good against cavalry. Both can be mobile, but must form in formation before battle starts, at which point they become lethargic. Both are slightly more expensive than swordsmen.
Swordsmen won't beat either if they get into formation before they arrive, thus (unless you're the OP batallions that seem to walk past the pikes) you must flank with the more units you can afford with your lower cost.
I could explain everything, but I will now go into direct examples.
I choose Macedon, who have arguably the best pikemen and excellent Companion cavalry. As always, I choose a front row of pikemen, some archers behind them, plenty of cavalry, and if I have money left, one or two spearmen to guard the flanks.
My opponent chooses the Seleucids, who have slightly poorer pikemen (but are still excellent), but can also get my Companions. In addition to this, they can also get Cataphracts, which are slower moving cavalry that can pierce armour, making them great against, say Companions. I also know I have better archers than he does, but he has excellent swordsmen on his flanks as well.
My strategy is to hold my pike line, prevent flanking, shoot his archers and then his weaker units into submission. My cavalry will have to work with my flank preventing spearmen as they cannot beat Cataphracts alone, but may together. However my cavalry will also have to prevent his swordsmen from flankin, meaning my micro will be crucial.
In this scenario, micro will be the deciding factor, as the pikes in the centre and the archers behind them will probably remain, taking roughly equal losses for quite a while. This means whoever's cavalry and infantry on the flank wins, will be victorious, as their cavalry can then ride down my archers and then go straight into the backs of my pikes, killing them. Micro is crucial because both sides have rock, paper and scissors, and want to use them against the right target, while avoiding their weakness. When two scissors meet (pikemen say) it comes down to numbers and quality.
Now in another scenario, I choose to have equal archers to my opponent, as I decide the ranged edge will not help, and instead fund than money into more spearmen to help win the cavalry battles. Instead of his archers and left cavalry wing, my opponent buys a single unit of Elephants and another of chariots. He has some money left over to buy some more archers, but not enought to ever beat mine if they are targeting each other.
Arguably, I have lost, as the elephants and chariots will beat me on the left and the chariots will run down my archers, making them null, and the elephants will smash my entire pike line. Now, regardless of what happens on the right flank, I have lost as he has rock, paper, and scissors, while I only have paper and a little scissors.
However all is not lost, with superior micro, I can see his elephants coming and divert some pikemen and all my spearmen towards them. As they approach, my archers will shoot them with flaming arrows, which can make them flee (but don't in this case). My pikes engage and manage to hold long enough for the fire to make both intimidated. The elephants should fall and the chariots flee. My archers may have been shredded by the enemy archers, but with all of my cavalry on the right wing, I surrounded the superior enemy cavalry and smashed them with numbers. On both sides either my spearmen or cavalry flank and hit the backs of the enemy pikemen, and I win.