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. It is pretty good, I love to read it . All im saying that it doesnt really gets you the win, not really much use for the pros .Posts: 650
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Another thing that prompted this post was the fact that many people have asked about strategies and tactics beyond general Build Orders and whatnot. I hope this will be of some instruction to those people asking these questions.
In this guide we will be using information from three great military minds: Sun Tzu, Henri de Jomini, and Anton Beevor. Sun Tsu is famous for his The Art of War, which was written in 2000 B.C. or so, and is still a standard military textbook.
Henri de Jomini also wrote a book called The Art of War which is also a standard military textbook. Jomini was Napoleans master tactician and was the brilliant mind behind much of Napolean's military genius and success. Anton Beevor is an award-winning british military historian.
First off, I would like to explain three terms: Grand Tactics, Strategy, and Tactics.
Grand Tactics is something we won't worry about here, as it is only applicable in WotR games.
Strategy, on the other hand, includes BO's and things such as fast AT, cata spam, orc spam, etc. This is what most posts concentrate on.
Tactics is something that we need to discuss more in-depth. There are a few guides on tactics, which we generally call "micro" (see the excellent guides on Microing that are stickied on this forum, they are absolutely fantastic
Aside from BO's and unit planning, here's some general principles of Strategy that can easily be applied to BFME2:
"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." -Sun Tzu from Sun Tzu's The Art of War
Essentially, (1) HAVE A PLAN. This includes BO's and your unit planning/strategy. Most people reading this do this already.
"...be swift as the thunder that peals before you have a chance to cover your ears, fast as the lightning that flashes before you can blink your eyes." Sun Tzu from The Art of War
(2) TAKE THE INITIATIVE! This means several things: Rush, be the first to seize outposts, signal fires, and inns; if you see an opening, take it (opportunities appear quickly, but disappear even more quickly).
Sun Tzu says, "...come like wind, go like lightning, and opponents will be unable to defeat you."
Which means, (3) STRIKE FAST & HARD. If they do not expect you, they cannot defeat you. Once you rush, keep applying pressure. Kill them with audacity.
"The best defense is a good offense"
This is a famous quote, but it is only mostly true. It does underline this priniciple: (4) TAKE THE OFFENSIVE. One cannot win by defending. If you take the offensive and attack your enemy first, he will be forced to the defensive. This allows you to choose where you want to attack and when, which is another strategic principle: (5) CHOOSE YOUR BATTLEGROUND. Choosing your battleground allows you to choose conditions that are more favorable to you than to your opponent, giving you the edge. For example, if you were an Elf player, you would try to lure the enemy into forests to fight, where Mirkwood archers and Thranduil would give you the edge. As a Mordor player, you want to fight in wide open locations so that your orcs can maneuver/flank easily.
A note on Taking the Offensive. If you are on the defensive, try to get one battalion or Nazgul to attack the enemy's base. This can shift your position from offensive to defensive. And remember: press the enemy. The more pressure that you put on him, the harder it is for him to counter-attack you (which places you on the defensive).
(6) PURSUE A FALLEN ENEMY
Basically, kick 'em while they are down. After a tough battle in which you have barely won, the opponent may tell his forces to retreat. Pursue them! BFME2 is great in that units can deal "stepping damage" (don't know the official name for it). Pursuers basically step on the heals of the fleeing enemy until the die (lots of free hits). This, however, is a double-edged sword, which I will address later.
I cannot tell you how many times I have heard of team matches where one opponent was "killed", but they still had a builder cart left. That builder went off and build a rax, then pulls a massive sneak attack that annihilates someone's base. Why did this happen? This principle was not followed.
The last thing you want is someone who has "lost" coming back to haunt you.
(7) CONSTRUCT A FORWARD BASE
This is especially important as Mordor. THe game begins with an orc spam. On maps like Withered Heath, orc spamming from your base can take a long time, as the commute from one base to the other is a long way. To speed the process up, simply amass 2-3 battalions of orcs halfway or 2/3s of the way down the map (it should be a little ways behind the front lines of attack) and build an orc pit (or two). This helps you place more pressure on your opponent.
Forward bases not only reduce the distance reinforcements need to traverse, they also provide a defensive position from which you can defend if you pushed back off the front lines.
As Mordor, orcs die, and they die often. Front lines of battle can quickly change when orcs die quickly. I typically salvage a battalion or two and retreat them to my forward base. There they are reinforced by more orcs and have buildings as protection (sometimes). Opponents love to attack your forward base, but this is a position of strength as it (1) produces its own units, (2) receive reinforcements from your home base as needed, (3) provides a Line of Sight (LoS) far down the map that helps warn you of sneak attacks, and (4) provides a buffer and delay if you lose the position completely. The opponent should (if he's not a n00b) attack the forward base to destroy the SH's, Orc Pits, Siege Works, etc. This gives some time to amass another army at your home base (or another forward base) to counter-attack your opponent, who will be weakened from attacking the forward base.
I usually build my Siege Works at one of my forward bases, which is risky, but pays off. By the time I'm ready for catas, I don't want to have to wait 10-15 minutes for them to be built and shipped to the front lines. As you all know, Catas are S...L...O...W... It also makes it much more difficult for the opponent to seize your forward base when catas are there.
NOTE: forward bases might benefit from a small section of wall built in front of the Orc Pit and Siege Works. The opponent will have to run around the wall to get to the buildings. Placing catas behind the wall make it much more difficult to circumvent as well.
(8) DIVIDE AND CONQUER
Ah, the ever-famous mantra. It 100% true in any situation. Think of a 2v2. You and your ally should gang up on 1 person, defeat him, and then finish off the remaining opponent. This is common sense to most of you, but later I will show you how this can be microed to apply to general field tactics.
One thing you should remember about this principle: when your army is split, it is at 30-40% effectiveness (not 50% even if it is exactly 1/2 your army).
For example: If your opponent has 100 guys (who we will call "Red") up against your 50 guys (who we will call "Blue), he is at least 3-4 times stronger than you even though he is only twice your size. Why? Because he will kill your at least army twice as fast as you can kill his. Take a look:
Round 1: 50 Blues kill 10 Reds, the 100 Reds kill 20 Blues. End score: Red 90 vs. Blue 30.... ouch, outnumbered 3 to 1!
Round 2: 30 Blues kill 6 Reds, 90 Reds kill 18 Blues. End score: Red 84 vs Blue 12.
Round 3: 12 Blues kill 2 Reds, and 84 Reds kill 17 Blues. End score: 82 vs. -5
This is purely mathematical example, assuming exactly even sides. (Note: 5 guys kill 1 guy in this example).
This added "bonus" from having more men than the opponent we shall call the "Divide & Conquer bonus" (D&C bonus).
The D&C bonus rides on the fundamental principle that two battalions are 3 times as powerful as one battalion
(9) DISRUPT ENEMY SUPPLY LINES
IRL, the front lines must be supported by a large amount of food, ammo, supplies, etc, from the rear. If you take out the enemy's lifeline, you remove his ability to fight. In BFME2, we do not have the same situation, but we can apply this to reinforcements. Using the Divide & Conquer principle outlined above, consider this:
Mordor mirror match, Reds vs. Blues (you're blue, opponent is red just like in the example above).
Your 3 battalions of orcs march out attack his 3 battalions of orcs at a halfway point on the map. You have 2 more battalions of orcs coming from your home base along with a Nazgul, and you can safely assume that he has 2 or 2 more batt's of orcs on the way as well. You take the 2 batt's of orc reinforcments and send them to join your 3 batt's already in combat. You send your Nazgul ahead of the 2 batt's of reinforcements, but instead of telling him to join the battle, you tell him to circumvent the battle and head towards the enemies' base. On the way there, the Nazgul spies two batt's of enemy reinforcements. What does he do? Go straight for the base? or try to kill the reinforcements. You decide to kinda make him do the latter. It wouldn't be too great to melee them, but a good option is to run them over. This not only stops their movement, but also deals damage. In trampling, the nazgul all but destroys the two battalions by the time your 5 orc batt's (now only 3) finish their engagement.
Now how is this better than having all 5 batt's and the Nazgul attack the 3 poor enemy batt's? You have advanced your front line! It will now be another minute until an additional wave of the opponents reinforcements arrive, and you have 3 batt's of orcs, a nazgul, and two more batt's on the way!
In a different example, say you were defending your base. If you sent a Nazgul and the MoS out to harass the opponents reinforcements (which he may not be paying attention to), you can cut off enemy reinforcements from arriving at your fortress. You, meanwhile, are receiving reinforcements from your base (since that is the site of the battle), meaning that your forces are gradually increasing or staying roughly the same, while your opponent's are dropping exponentially.
Again, this is assuming exactly even forces (not necessarily in number, but HP and damage, etc.)
(10) KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
Try to set up a LoS everywhere as possible. This is something Mordor is extremely weak in. Isen and Gobs have the bat cloud which provide a long line of sight, making it difficult to sneak around a fortress. (btw, if you are ever playing these two factions, particularly Isen, construct a fortress at a forward base, build a bat cloud so you can see his base, and build a Lightning Tower and enjoy!). The more LoS over the map you can achieve, the better you will be at countering the attacks of the enemy. This is a huge benefit from good map control.
In summary:
(1) Have a Plan
(2) Take the Initiative
(3) Strike Fast & Hard
(4) Take the Offensive
(5) Choose Your Battleground
(6) Pursue a Fallen Enemy
(7) Construct a Forward Base
(8) Divide & Conquer
(9) Disrupt Enemy Supply Lines
(10) Knowledge is Power
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The EXPECTED vs. The UNEXPECTED
Sun Tzu introduces two strategic concepts: the expected and the unexpected. This sounds like it is going to be very obvious, but let’s just explore this concept a little.
According to Sun Tzu, every commander uses the expected. So, if you are attacking a walled city, you use siege engines and attempt to starve them out, or if you are battling in an open field you attempt to flank the enemy using your cavalry. This is stuff that every commander knows and any leader worth his stuff would do. Why? Because it works!
However, what happens when you use the same expected strategy time and time again against the same opponent? They catch on, counter it, and then your strategy works no longer.
Quite obvious.
But then there is the unexpected. This is when you expect your opponent to do one thing, but he does another that you would have never expected. So, as I mentioned before, every commander would know to outmaneuver infantry in an open-field battle using cavalry in a flanking attempt. What would happen if, instead using a flanking maneuver with cavalry, the your opponent fled in terror?
WTF?
Well, you should all know to “Pursue a Fallen Enemy” as laid out in the general principles of war-making. So you pursue the fleeing enemy, who are running for the hills!
But as you top the crest of the hill, your forces find themselves confronted by a previously unseen horde of archers, infantry, and cavalry.
*GASP*
You issue the command to stop pursuing and fight (or retreat), but in the confusion your army lands in a jumble, the men in the rear bumping into, knocking over, and falling atop the men in the front. Meanwhile the enemy uses his reserve cavalry (which was hidden behind the hill) to maneuver behind your men, while a storm of arrows decimates your confused battalions. The cavalry trample your hapless men while arrows turn them into pincussions.
Pwned.
Is it so obvious now?
(Btw, this was an actual tactic employed by the Genghis Khan’s Golden Horde; unfortunately, we do not have the right type of units or gameplay in BFME2 to do this perfectly.)
Sun Tzu tells us that commanders use the expected because it works and it is efficient. But when the expected is used all the time, it becomes easy to counter, so it ceases to work effectively. This is when you need to use the unexpected. It is wise to use the expected strategy enough times to be effective, then switch to an unexpected strategy just before the opponent learns how to counter it. If the opponent sees that your expected strategy does not work, he will realize that you will try something different, therefore blowing your chance at using an unexpected OR expected strategy.
However, once one uses an unexpected strategy so many times, it soon becomes expected, and they switch places (the unexpected becomes the expected, and then expected becomes the unexpected). Once the opponent begins to expect the unexpected strategy, it is time to switch to the expected strategy.
(Sorry if this is confusing, I believe Sun Tzu uses the terms ling and qi for unexpected and expected, but I can’t be too sure).
This goes to say that there is a delicate strategic dance that is played out, moving between expected and unexpected strategies just before the opponent begins to catch on.
I imagine that most of you have seen this in action in human vs. human games before. It applies to all sorts of games (FPS, RTS, Fighting games, etc) and is quite frustrating to be the target of.
Please, I am not urging you to necessarily abandon your successful strategies (I’m thinking BO’s and unit planning in particular) for “unexpected” ones. But some occasions call for creativity and innovation. For BFME2, this concept is best applied to attacking an enemy’ base.
Say you are in a match vs dwarves (I’m using this example b/c it happened to me): Most everyone gets the Eye of Sauron as their first PP. Many people also like to use the eye as soon as the game begins to spy on their opponent’s BO. So, being like most Mordor players, spy on the dwarves to see what to expect. His first unit-building is an archery range. I think, “an axe-thrower rush!” So I build an appropriate defense, namely, archers, and stayed back to amass some forces (my orcs would be slaughtered if I sent them to harass, plus there was little room to maneuver them around the Archery Range), fend off the first assault, and counter-attack. So I expanded…and waited…and no rush came.
I thought: “wow, a n00b”. I had a large enough force to attack, and had 3 orc pits ready to start spamming. I attack him only to discover….one battalion of axethrowers, a battlewagon and two batt’s of guardians! Needless to say, he owned my archers and my 5 battalions of orcs. I hadn’t built easterlings b/c I thought he had amassed axethrowers.
This is not an epic example, but my opponent’s n00bism threw me off, so I could not correctly counter his tactics.
(Just for the record, I would not recommend building a “fake” unit-building at the start of game just to throw your opponent off. If you’re playing anyone good, you’ll get crushed.) [Although it has occurred to me that you could build a “fake” building, then sell it and build a different building elsewhere, though this would not be highly effective…funny, but not efficient].
The example above shows how a properly played unexpected tactic can grant you the upper hand. Except in the above example after the first assault failed, I built a HP and easterlings, and subsequently destroyed his BW’s and overran him with orcs.
Here's a tactical example:
You are putting pressure on your opponent by spamming his base with orcs, orcs, orcs. He has a particularly valuable stable located just to the northeast of his base in a well-protected map-corner. You know it's there, your opponent knows that you know it's there, so it is a mad race and a brutal fight to take out the enemy stables. Your waves are arriving in groups of 4, right now all he has is a rax (located just in front of his base, on the south side), where he has one unit of soldiers desperately fighting to keep your orcs from taking down his rax. You 4-battalion horde arrives at the enemy base from the south. You can assume that another battalion of soldiers are going to be coming out of the barracks and that some cavalry will be coming out of the stables, so you need to work fast.
Two orc battalions move to engage the soldiers desperately defending the rax. The other two move along the right side past the battle to find the stables. They find it and are able to destroy it half-way by the time they are shot down by a group of archers nearby (didn't see those!). Three out of the four battalions are dead now, but four more are arriving to reinforce. This time you move one battalion to engage the soldiers and three around the right to take out the stables. Your opponent was expecting you this time, and meets your orcs with two batt's of archers and a complimentary trampling by his recently arrived cavalry.
Fortunately, four more battalions of orcs and an long-awaited mumakil are arriving by the time the three batt's mentioned above are destroyed. You can't do the same thing again, b/c he'll just kill them. Time to use an unexpected tactic, since the opponent has figured you out! You send the Mumakil at the cavalry and archers, two batt's of orcs at the soldiers & rax, and two more around the left side of his base. Your Mumakil is providing a large, eye-catching distraction. Your opponent is maneuvering and microing doing his best to hurt the mumakil. You tell the mumakil to run away, pulling the cavalry and archers down away from the stables (meanwhile your mumakil-mounted haradrim shoot at them). The orcs that went to the left side of the base arrive at the stables and fall to work tearing it down brick-by-brick. You cast EoS on the mumakil (yes, the MUMAKIL, not the orcs), making the opponent think that the mumakil is your attack at his stables. The mumakil turns to fight, engaging the archers, cavalry, and now some soldiers (your orcs were defeated, the remainder of his soldier battalion has come to kill the mumakil). What the opponent doesn't realize, is that the mumakil was not your main attack, the orc batt's snuck around and took out his precious stables. The EoS was used as a bright, orange beacon to tell your enemy "this is my most important unit!!!!" or "lookatmelookatmelookatmelookatmelookatmelookatme!"
[Sorry, I have no screen shots of this
IN SUMMARY:
(1) Employ the expected strategy until just before the enemy begins to expect it
(2) Then switch to the unexpected strategy. Once this is used enough, it becomes to be expected, so just before the enemy begins to expect it, change back to the expected strategy or employ a new strategy.
I hope this guide helps people understand more about basic strategic principles.
If you would like to read Sun Tzu's Art of War follow this link: The Art of War
I used a different translation, but this online version is great for easy access.
I'll be posting more as I have time to write it.
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BASIC TACTICAL MANEUVERS
There are many tactical maneuvers, developed through millennia of warfare, that we could apply to BFME2. I would like to share just a few of these with you guys. I do not have any pictures as of yet, but I will try to get some (for easier understanding).
Flanking Maneuver
The most basic of tactical maneuvers is the flank. Flanking is an attempt to attack the side of the enemy's formations, while it is simultaneously engaged in the front. BFME2 calculates flanking bonuses, so let's use them!
Say you have two battalions of orcs going up vs. a battalion of guardians. Place both battalions on Defensive stance, then move only one up to engage the guardian battalion. Have your other battalion move around the side of the enemy battalion, or even better, around to its back, then place that flanking battalion in Offensive stance. For added effect, cast the EoS on the Guardians, so the eye will cover both the first and second battalions.
Wedge Formation
This was first used by Alexander the great. What do you do if both sides are facing each other in open battle, and you are outnumbered by 50%? Run? Too cowardly. Scream? Too girly. Taunt them? Too risky. What do you do???
Alexander figured out that if you attack a straight line formation (assume a horizontal wall of battalions like this: ---------------) in a wedged formation, you can outnumber the opponent at the point of the wedge. I'm not talking about a Star Destroyer-type wedge, with the point in the middle. I mean an oblong one, where there are more battalions on one side of the army than the other. Something like this:
In this picture, Mordor (on the left, see all the angry orcs? The enemy is on the right) is evenly matched in numbers (15 on both sides). Though even in number the orcs are outmatched, since orcs aren't the mightiest of creatures. If you notice, that the bottom rank of orcs has 5 lined up, and the rank above that has 4, the rank above that has 3. The enemy, meanwhile, has 3 deep. If the orcs advanced in perfect formation, the bottom rank would reach the enemy first and begin fighting before the rank above it arrived. What happens is the bottom rank or orcs outnumber the bottom rank of enemies, so they will easily overwhelm and defeat them, looking something like this:
[picture forthcoming]
Imagine the left side meeting the right side. The left side touches the right side first at the bottom. As the forces engage, the enemy's right side if overwhelmed and eventually defeated, something like this: (O = Orcs, E = Enemy)
Figure 1.
O........EEE
OO......EEE
OOO....EEE
OOOO..EEE
OOOOOEEE
Figure 2.
O......EEE
OO....EEE
OOO..EEE
OOOOEEE
OOOOOEE
Figure 3.
OEEE
OOEEE
OOOEEE
OOOEE
OOOOE
Figure 4.
OEEE
OOEEE
OOOEE
OOOE
OOO
Figure 5.
OEEE
OOEEE
OOEE
OOOE
..OOO
Figure 6.
OEEE
OOEEE
OOEE
...OOEO
.....OOO
Figure 7.
OEEE
OOEEE
OOEEOO
...OOOO
Figure 8.
OEEE
OOEEEOO
OOOOOO
Figure 9.
OEEEOOO
OOEEOO
...OOO
Figure 10.
.OOO
OEEEO
OEEO
OOO
Figure 11.
Do you see what is happening? By concentrating forces on one side, even though you are outnumbered, you create an advantage by giving yourself an advantage in numbers on the bottom rank. With the superior numbers, you destroy the enemy faster and lose less men (see the Divine & Conquer example in the first section). Once the bottom rank have destroyed all the enemy ranks on their side, they begin to move and flank the opponent, again creating an advantage in numbers and flanking. While the two forces engage, your army defeats the opponent at one end, then move to envelope the enemy. The end result is that you surround the enemy army or crush him from one end to the other!
Think about a 2v2 team game. When one opponent is defeated, both you and your ally converge your forces on the enemy base. This is the same concept. You defeated your enemy at one point, then move to flank, envelop, and overwhelm him.
(Sorry that I have no pictures, I'll try to get some. This diagram was made using 1024x768 or higher resolution, btw)
Envelop
Similar to the Flank Maneuver, the Envelop (rhymes with "Develop", and no, it's not something you put letters in) is an extreme flank. Instead of sending a battalion to attack the flank, or side, of an enemy battalion, you send one battalion to engage the enemy in front, two battalions to flank both sides, and another battalion to close in on the enemy's rear. Obviously, this requires superior numbers most of the time. Enveloping maneuvers are highly effective, even when outnumbered, when you can isolate a single battalion and concentrate your attack on it using 2-4 battalions (with 2 batt's, just have one engage the enemy's front and have the other engage his rear). I will speak more on this technique later.
BFME2 accounts for flanking and for rear attacks, so enveloping maneuvers can pay off (particularly since our orcs aren't as strong as other units). To get the most bang for your buck with this maneuver, make sure that your front battalion is in defensive stances, as well as your 3 flanking battalions. Once the flanking battalions engage the enemy on their flanks and/or rear, place them in offensive stance to increase their damage output. Placing them on offensive stance before the flanking maneuver can make your batt's movement more difficult, since they may attempt to engage the enemy and ignore your directions.
Feigned Retreat
This maneuver was made famous by Genghis Khan's Golden Horde. The Mongolian nomads were a pastoral horse people (think of migratory Rohirrim), said to be some of the toughest people to ever live. They perfected mounted archery using a compound bow, which was a short, powerful bow equal in power to a Welsh Longbow (which could not be shot from horseback and required specialized, lifetime training to use). The compound bow was accurate up to 300 yards (9 football fields) and could shoot through a solid oak door at point blank range.
When the Mongols enemies, they did so ruthlessly and efficiently. They would march their horses up to the enemy, then turn and flee (on horseback, that is). The enemy would pursue them, but receive a terrible surprise when they were ambushed while pursuing the fleeing Mongols. If the pursuers were infantry or heavily armored (as was much of the Western knights), the fleeing Mongols would fire at them while retreating (and they were very accurate). Then they would stop, let the pursuers catch up, and start riding away again, firing as the went. Their enemies were too slow to catch them, and had no way to counter the might of the compound bow (are the OP or what?).
The Feigned Retreat is used for two purposes: luring an enemy into a trap, or luring an enemy away from something. Luring an enemy into a trap is easy and requires no examples (elves would benefit highly from this using Mirkwood Archers in the forest), the second I will illustrate.
Your enemy is camping his base with several batt's of swordsmen. It is too difficult to attack his base, as your orcs will easily get pwned by his fortress' arrows and troops. So you send a lone Nazgul up to attack one of his resource buildings. Your opponent sees this, and sends his forces down for an easy Nazgul kill. The Nazgul runs away, the opponent's forces following behind in hot pursuit. Obviously, your opponent has not sent all of his forces, but he sent two batt's after your Nazgul. Your Nazgul does not have far to go before he meets up with two batt's of orcs. He is very injured, so you keep him running back home, through the orcs. His batt's engage yours. On seeing this, your opponent sends more batt's from home to reinforce his two. The opponent has taken the bait. His home defenses are greatly weakened, but he is confident that this will be alright, since he knows where you army is and is at this very moment attempting to crush it. What he doesn't know is that you have the MoS, a Nazgul, two batt's of orcs, and an AT hidden off to the west, waiting for an opportune time to attack. You send two more batt's of orcs up to help your almost demolished two. This gives your opponent the impression that this battle is important, and you do not want him to win it. He sends most of his forces to overwhelm your poor orcs.
Perfect.
You send your ambush into his base and before he knows it, his base is destroyed. Your opponent may have won that piddly little battle (which was a diversion) with plenty of forces left, but now he must choose: attack your base or attempt to reclaim his. At this point he has lost. He does not have enough forces to attack your base, since you will surely be bringing reinforcements (and what about your Gorgoroth Spire?), so he goes to reclaim his base. The Nazgul and MoS run around, wasting the opponent's time as he tries to catch them, meanwhile you bring up more orcs, a healed Nazgul, and an AT from home to reinforce.
Pnwed.
Cauldron Battle
A cauldron battle is where you draw the enemy into the pit of a cauldron formation. Think of a "U". The bottom curve of the "U" is the perceived front line, to your enemy that is. The left and right side of the "U" are the walls, or flanks, of the cauldron. These forces are hidden. You draw the enemy up to the front lines (in the pit of the "U"), often by means of a feigned retreat, then your hidden forces launch an ambush from either flank, trapping the enemy into a battle it cannot flee from. This works very well when you are outnumbered. This also makes it difficult for your opponent to flank you. Cauldron battles typically refer to more grand-scale attacks than we see in BFME2, but we can still use the same concept. Cauldron battles are excellent ways to draw of one or two enemy battalions, ambush them and destroy them. Divide & Conquer.
Sneak Attack
Do I even need to address this? I showed an excellent example under the Feigned Retreat section above. Sneak attacks are the most common method of "unexpected" strategy. They typically only work once (twice if your opponent is retarded), so they must be carefully planned and set up. In BFME2, sneak attacks are most effective when launched at an enemy's base. As laid out in the Feigned Retreat section, Sneak Attacks are the most effective if you can lure the enemy's forces away from his base. Two examples:
First: You have a delicious Balrog to use, so you lure your enemy out of his base using a Feigned Retreat. You cast EoS on his base, cast Balrog, gg.
Second: You have a beautiful Gorgoroth Spire with a fireball just waiting to annihilate an enemy army. You lure his army away from his base using some orcs. A huge enemy army descends on your ugly orcs, GS fireball destroys them all (orcs included), and MoS, two ATs, and a Nazgul suddenly appear in your enemy's base (which you had held in reserve just for this sneak attack).gg.
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STRATEGIC & TACTICAL TECHNIQUES
I want to address two particular strategic/tactical techniques: concentrated fire and diversions.
CONCENTRATED FIRE
This may seem like another common sense topic, but I have much to share (which I hope is useful). Concentrated fire immediately makes one think of archers, but we aren't going to talk about archers at all. In fact, after this sentence, I won't even mention them. I want to plain-jane down-and-dirty get-you-nose-bloody melee battles. If, in a battle, you and your opponent are evenly matched, how do you come out on top?
Say you are playing a Mordor mirror and you have two battalions of orcs going up against two of his orc battalions in a melee fight. Who's gonna win? Neither of you have Tainted Land, or WC, and the EoS is still recharging. You could place both of your battalions on Defensive stance, so they will last longer, but if the opponent does the same then neither of you will win!
Here's the secret: have both of your battalions target only one of his. You win, easy. Why? Refer back to the Divide & Conquer section, it applies here also. Also remember the Wedge Formation mentioned earlier. Concentrated Fire is the principle that allows the Wedge Formation to work, even when evenly matched or outnumbered.
Here's some numbers:
Say you have 2 units vs. an opponents identical 2 units (four of the same units). Each unit has 10 HP and can deal 1 damage to the other. Your units are Red, his units are Blue.
[Without Concentrated Fire]
Starting Score: Red1: 10, Red2: 10, Blue1: 10, Blue2: 10
Red1 fights Blue1, Red2 fights Blue2.
Round 1: Red1: 9, Red2: 9, Blue1: 9, Blue2: 9
Round 2: Red1: 8, Red2: 8, Blue1: 8, Blue2: 8
Round 3: Red1: 7, Red2: 7, Blue1: 7, Blue2: 7
Round 4: Red1: 6, Red2: 6, Blue1: 6, Blue2: 6
Etc. etc. etc.
Final Score: Red1: DEAD, Red2: DEAD, Blue1: DEAD, Blue2: DEAD
[WITH Concentrated Fire]
Starting Score: Red1: 10, Red2: 10, Blue1: 10, Blue2: 10
Red1 & Red2 attack Blue 1, Blue1 attacks Red1, Blue2 attacks Red2
Round 1: Red1: 9, Red2: 9, Blue1: 8, Blue2: 10
Round 2: Red1: 8, Red2: 8, Blue1: 6, Blue2: 10
Round 3: Red1: 7 Red2: 7, Blue1: 4, Blue2: 10
Round 4: Red1: 6, Red2: 6, Blue1: DEAD, Blue2: 10
Round 5: Red1: 6, Red2: 5, Blue1: DEAD, Blue2: 8
Round 6: Red1: 6, Red2: 4, Blue1: DEAD, Blue2: 6
Round 7: Red1: 6, Red2: 3, Blue1: DEAD, Blue2: 4
Round 8: Red1: 6, Red2: 2, Blue1: DEAD, Blue2: 2
Round 9: Red1: 6, Red2: 1, Blue1: DEAD, Blue2: DEAD
Final Score: Red1: 6, Red2: 1, Blue1: DEAD, Blue2: DEAD
Compare with the first outcome, you tell me which you'd prefer.
NOTE: this method is not as effective in battalion fighting, though it still is beneficial.
DIVERSIONS
Diversions are arguably one of the most important strategic and tactical elements in BFME2. If you can distract an opponent into attacking a diversionary force, you can sneak into his base and take out his fortress and his unit-producing buildings, potentially winning you the game. Large diversionary tactics can and will win you the game. Therefore, it is vitally important that you know how to do them. A well-executed diversion can end a stalemate and toss (not tip) the balance in your favor, likely even winning the game for you.
Here are some different types of diversions:
DRAWING FIRE
When the opponent has several archer battalions and/or catapults that could easily decimate a battalion, you may want to draw their fire. Simply, the opponent's archers and catapults will attack the first target that comes within their range. The archers will fire repeatedly, but the catapults fire slowly, which means that if they miss the first time, they might never hit again.
For example, you have 5 battalions of orcs and a mounted Nazgul (on horse, not Fellbeast). Your opponent has 3 battalions of Lorien Archers and an Ent behind them. The ent and the archers will decimate those orcs if you just run them in there, so you decide to send the nazgul in first, then the orcs behind. The archers and the ent all shoot at the nazgul. Due to the nazgul's speed, the ent's boulder misses, but the arrows do not (ouch!); however, your 5 battalions of orcs rush in behind the nazgul and attack the archers immediately. At this juncture, the opponent has three choices: (1) concentrate all his fire on the nazgul, (2) concentrate his fire on the orcs, or (3) split his attacks. If he concentrates all his fire on the nazgul, you can simply have the nazgul run away, or stay and fight, in which your 5 orcs will tear through the archers. So if the opponent goes with choice (1), he loses.
If the opponent opts for choice (2), and concentrate on killing the orcs, he leaves the nazgul alive, who will most likely run rampant and trample the archers (and level up, getting the debuff at level 2). The orcs can be placed in defensive stance so they will last longer, but with the nazgul kill the archers, the opponent again loses. The orcs will outlast the archers, the nazgul levels up, and you come out on top.
If the opponent opts for choice (3), they can use it in one of two ways: have the archers attack the orcs and the ent attack the nazgul, have the archers attack the nazgul and the ent attack the orcs, or a combination of both. He probably won't have the ent try to attack the nazgul. If he is not paying attention, and the ent continues to try to kill the nazgul, then you have won. The nazgul will run through the elf archers, killing them, granting an area debuff, and the ent's boulder will not only miss the nazgul, but can potentially land in the midst of the archers (good micro will make the ent kill his own troops). The orcs might die, but the nazgul and the ent together can annihilate the archers. I imagine that the opponent will most likely take the second option of choice (3), that is, he'll have the ent throw boulders at the orcs and the archers take out the nazgul. Obviously, the nazgul can run away, potentially drawing the archers with him, giving you several free hits on the archers with your orcs. The nazgul can run out of the archer's range (hopefully they will follow him so your orcs can step on their heels), then re-enter the battle when the archer shift their target to the orcs. The nazgul, left unattended, can then wreak havoc like above. Alternatively, you can have the nazgul not re-enter the battle, instead drawing the archers away from the battle, so your orcs can take down the ent, or move into the enemy base to attack his production buildings.
This concept works with melee as well. Orcs in defensive stance enter the battle first, thereby drawing all the enemy's fire, while your big units move in around them and decimate the enemy's forces.
FEIGNED RETREAT
This is the Mongol trick. Have a fast-moving cavalry unit attract the enemies' attention by catching the enemy units' targeting radar. Say we have a nazgul. The Nazgul runs up close to the Isen warg-riders and catches their attention. The warg-riders set out to destroy the lone nazgul. You have your nazgul run back a short ways, causing the warg-riders to follow him. What the Isen player didn't know was that you had two battalions of Easterlings waiting just out of view, backed up by 3 battalions of orc archers. The Nazgul, almost dead from the wargs, runs back through your other battalions of easterlings and orc archers, who move up to engage the wargs. If you opponent is very fast, he may be able to save his wargs. In most cases, he won't have time. They will get attacked by the easterlings and the archers and be destroyed. With two less battalions of wargs, your opponent's defenses are greatly weakened. What WAS going to be a battle of your 5 battalions against his 5 battalions, is now going to be a battle of your 5 battalions (possibly leveled up now) against his 3 battalions. As all of you know, this means that you have the Divide & Conquer bonus, which means victory is surely yours this day.
DIVERSIONARY ATTACK
Arguably the mightiest of all diversionary tactics and strategies, the diversionary attack is the single most important tactic anyone can learn. The diversionary attack is a delicate art: you must send enough forces to fool your opponent into thinking it is your whole army, but you must also send few enough forces that you can still kill his base in time. It is vitally important that your opponent believe that you are attacking with your main contingent of army when attacking with your diversionary force. If he believes it is merely a raid, only a small part of his army will leave his base to deal with the threat.
For example, if you attack his resource building with one battalion of swordsmen, he will perceive it as a raid, and send only one or two battalions to counter it. If you send two battalions, he will send three. If you send three, he might send five. Do you see what is happening? The more you send, the more he sends, but he must send enough battalions to ensure victory. Therefore, the trick is sending as few men as possible to act as a diversionary force, but large enough to attract the attention of most or all of his defending troops.
I used the two-fifths rule (2/5ths). This seems to be just about the right number to fool most opponents. 2/5ths is equal to 40%, which is a sizable force, but it leaves you with 60% of your army to deal some real damage. Your 40% will also be able to last a little while, thereby giving your 60% more time to work. Also, at 40%, the opponent cannot merely ignore them, he must deal with the threat because they can deal some serious damage.
I would suggest no less than 25% (1/4) for a diversionary force, probably closer to 33% (1/3), and no more than 60% (or roughly 2/3).
A few other pointers for making the diversionary attack successful: The diversionary force must attack a location that is a threat to the opponent, I prefer to use the opponent's outlying resource buildings, and I don't mean inns or outposts. The opponent receives his "We're being attacked" audio clip and the blip map attracts his visual attention. The target of the diversionary force should be far from the location of the main force. It cannot be too far, because then your forces will be too slow in coming, or the opponent may not send all his forces, yet it cannot be too close, for then the opponent can see the main contingent coming into his base. I always prefer to attack from a fairly obvious location with the diversionary force, from a direction that will not be suspiciously obvious as a feint and one that has some strategic merit. One trick I use is, assuming the opponent's base is on the north side of the map and mine is on the south side, send my forces up the middle, then once they are in view, run to the left. The opponent will send his men after yours, and probably will kill quite a few, but this way you know that he saw them. Don't keep running left, make them stop to kill something important, preferably away from the base a little bit (such as a furnace or slaughter house).
Once the opponent takes the bait, the other 60% run in from the right and immediately lay waste to the opponent's production buildings and resource buildings.
There is a careful dance that is performed with the diversionary attack. Your forces are split, so they are weaker than if they were together, but the advantage lies in the diversion. The opponent's forces will be occupied and engaged in battle, so the opponent will not be able to react in time.
Once your 60% enter the scene and begin to destroy the enemy base, your opponent has two options:
(1) If he pulls away too soon from your diversionary force, he has two threats to deal with (which is why it is important to have a large enough diversionary force to live for more than a few seconds). While both your main and diversionary force destroys the opponent's base, the opponent will be desperately fighting to stay alive. Since enemy production buildings are the first to be attacked, the opponent will not be able to summon reinforcements easily. If he does, they will not be as many as he could before the attack. Meanwhile, you are sending reinforcements from your forward base AND your home base.
(2) If he destroys the diversionary force, he wastes his time on the little 40% while ignoring the 60% laying waste to his base. Also, not only will he be slightly weakened from dealing with the diversionary force, he now must contend with the 60%. Even if both forces are of equal size (the 60% and the opponents remaining forces, that is), you have reinforcements coming up from your forward base and from your home base. He will be outnumbered and unable to call reinforcements.
So, as you can see, he loses either way.
I would suggest that you hone your skills in the diversionary attack, because it will be the most important tactic you learn.
Always keep in mind, the best strategy or tactic is the one that gives your opponents these two types of choices: (1) Bad; and (2) Really Bad
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(11) Attack from a Position of Strength
This could be considered an 11th principle of warfare, but I am going to stick it with Strategical and Tactical Techniques.
Using the Divide and Conquer bonus (D&C bonus, see principle 8), we know that sending three battalions to combat two enemy battalions is better than sending one battalion at a time to attack two enemy battalions.
Imagine this: you are in a mirror match, spamming swordsmen at your opponent, who is defending with the very same type of swordsmen. You both have 3 battalions at your disposal. If you sent the swordsmen in a continuous stream, one after another, your opponent would demolish each battalion as it arrived. His three defending battalions would be at least 5 times as powerful as your 1. He will have lost almost nothing, while you lose everything! Therefore, you amass your 3 battalions together, and attack with all of them at the same time. Now the playing field is even, and you have a 50/50 chance of success.
Why does this work? Well, aside from the Divide and Conquer bonus you are giving your opponent, you are not attacking from a position of strength.
Another thing to consider: when you amass your army to attack, do you do it outside your base? Most of the times not, because it is much safer in your base. In most cases, you can receive quick reinforcements from nearby buildings and also have the safety of your fortress’s arrow-fire. Therefore, your position of strength is your base. Even if you opponent had the exact same forces as you, he would be unable to win if he attacked you, because you are at your strongest while inside your base. If he were to attack your base with his forces, he would lose more troops, and the result of fewer numbers would grant you a D&C bonus (similar to the example used in Principle 8). The initial loss of troops would create a downhill slide in which you lose fewer and fewer troops while simultaneously killing more and more enemy troops. The end result: you win.
So why is this principle important? It is the most relevant when there is continuous fighting over a contested area (usually the middle), especially when the fighting is at your base or your forward base. Instead of sending each new battalion off to attack the enemy’s base as soon as it is made, you keep it at your base. You amass a sizable force, with which you want to attack with. However, you know that your opponent has also amassed a sizable force, so your army may not be as effective. So, you provoke your enemy to attack your base, where your position of strength lies. You defeat the enemy, and mount a counter-attack with your remaining forces, but not before you get a new batch of units from your production buildings. Assuming both forces were exactly equal, you now have the upper hand. You are able to take the offensive and place your opponent on the defensive. You opponent has some reinforcements which are most likely at his base, but you do as well, canceling your opponent’s advantage.
This principle coincides with the basic principle: Choose your Battleground (principle 5). Which is better? To fire arrows from high elevation or low elevation? Obviously, high elevation. If there is a mound in the middle of the map (like in Udun), you can more easily defend from that elevated mound than from flat land. Since this is true, you can easily amass forces here, because it will be difficult for your opponent to attack. If he does attack you there, you can destroy his forces and mount a counter-attack.
Let’s look at a few examples:
Your opponent has 3 battalions of swordsmen defending his base. You have a barracks spamming swordsmen at your opponent. You believe that your continuous spam will eventually wear your opponent’s forces down. Unfortunately, you are foolishly sending one battalion of swordsmen at a time. As soon as they pop out of the production building, you send them off like any spammer.
Let’s examine the numbers, assuming that you opponent will not be able to muster a 4th battalion of swordsmen until you have your 4th battalion of swordsmen, and assuming that you are playing a mirror match (both swordsmen units are exactly the same):
Each unit in the battalion has 10 HP each and can deal 2 damage per round. There are 20 units in each battalion.
Battalion 1
Round 0 (Before combat begins)
Enemy Battalions: 600 HP, 120 Damage per round
Your Battalion: 200 HP, 40 Damage per round
Round 1
Enemy: 560 HP, 112 Damage per round
You: 80 HP, 16 Damage per round
Round 2
Enemy: 550 HP, 110 Damage per round
You: DEAD
Ouch.
Let’s see what happens to the next two battalions that come up:
Battalion 2
Round 0 (Before combat begins)
Enemy: 550 HP, 110 Damage per round
You: 200 HP, 40 Damage per round
Round 1
Enemy: 510 HP, 102 Damage per round
You: 90 HP, 18 Damage per round
Round 2
Enemy: 492 HP, 98 Damage per round
You: DEAD
Battalion 3
Round 0 (Before combat begins)
Enemy: 492 HP, 98 Damage per round
You: 200 HP, 40 Damage per round
Round 1
Enemy: 452 HP, 90 Damage per round
You: 102 HP, 20 Damage per round
Round 2
Enemy: 432 HP, 86 Damage per round
You: 12 HP, 2 Damage per round
Round 2
Enemy: 430 HP, 86 Damage per round
You: DEAD
PWNED
Hopefully you’re catching on that THIS ISN’T WORKING. You have wittled away his forces a little, yes, but you are throwing money, time, and units away! Just for kicks, let’s see what happens when your 4th battalion arrives at the enemy’s base, along with your opponent’s reinforcement of his 4th battalion.
Battalion 4
Round 0 (Before combat begins)
Enemy: 630 HP, 126 Damage per round
You: 200 HP, 40 Damage per round
Round 1
Enemy: 590 HP, 118 Damage per round
You: 74 HP, 15 Damage per round
Round 2
Enemy: 575 HP, 115 Damage per round
You: DEAD
Do you see what is happening? He is slowly amassing forces while you still have NONE! Once your opponent gathers enough battalions, he will launch a full-scale assault on you, and you will be outnumbered. All you have really done is wasted your time, battalions, and resources while giving the opponent's battalions free experience (they will probably be level 2, which means they can heal!).
This is not a treatise urging you to defend, it is merely a principle of war that requires you to know WHEN to attack. Spamming swordsmen by sending single units in to combat the enemy is fruitless. At the start of the game, this will happen, but as it heads toward mid-game, the spam will become less and less effective. But it doesn’t have to be. By sending your units in waves, you maximize your units’ potential, and by attacking your opponent from a position of strength, you are more likely to have a successful assault.
One more example:
Say you are sending wave after wave of men at the opponent's base. He continues to repel the attacks and it is quite obvious that your attacks are not wearing him down. In this case, you would want to send a few more waves to keep the opponent busy while you construct a forward base. At that forward base you build up several battalions of men and reinforce those battalions with more battalions from the home base. With those two forces combined, you have a sizable force to attack with. In this case, your position of strength is your forward base because (1) you have a contingent of battalions there, (2) it can easily receive reinforcements from your home base, and (3) it can build its own units, thereby offering quick reinforcements to battle. Have the forces sent from home meet up with those at the forward base before advancing on the enemy's base. This ensures that you attack with as many forces as possible.
Just a note to all of you Mordor players: the Divide & Conquer bonus is vital to your success with orcs, since 5 battalions/100 orcs receive a large bonus in damage and speed!
So instead of 5 battalions being 3 times as powerful as 3 battalions, they are more like 8 or even 10 times as powerful. Add the Eye of Sauron, Tainted Land… gg. This should be easy enough considering orc spam is cheap.
This post has been edited by Son0fMorgoth: Jun 10 2006, 03:41 AM
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