More tactics and better explanation of combat, units, and tactics

[Riekopo]

I was reading this very interesting and in depth thread about the combat tactics of CK2. It's from 2013 so I don't know how accurate it still is though. I've put at least 1000 hours into CK2 and I had no idea about any of this combat stuff. It's actually very interesting which makes it a real shame that game basically doesn't tell you anything about it.

I think the game should tell you what your unit stats are so you have a better understanding of their different roles. It could also summarize it in a rock paper scissors kind of way. It should provide more information about what tactics will be available based on your flank composition and your current flank leader. So you can organize your army in a way to maximize its effectiveness. During combat it should tell you if your current tactic is normal, good, bad, or cultural (really good).

Also, tactics are so cool that I think there should be more tactics introduced. And based on that thread it seems that some of the Retinues are not very useful due to them being light infantry which is a weak unit in general and doesn't benefit from any tactics very much. So maybe some Retinues should be changed. Also, I think I read that the Byzantine cultural tactic doesn't take advantage of their Retinue horse archers.

Finally, you should be able to see what upgrades your Retinues and Levies have as a result of the buildings in their Holdings.

 

[jaybird88]

im new to ck2, 300 yrs into my first game. im still learning the combat stuff. lots of fun.
something i dont understand. we can assign flank leaders with specific skills ie cavalry/HI/LI/arch but how do you determine what troops are trained in a specific province or castle? when you raise troops in a province they are mixed troops, why cant i make them heavy on cavalry or pikes or whatever?

 

[jaybird88]

another thing that makes no sense to me. the battle pop out has 3 columns, each column you can assign a leader but each column is mixed troops. wouldnt it make more sense to have your cav leader leading all the cav, your HI leader leading all the HI etc?

 

[Rags17]

another thing that makes no sense to me. the battle pop out has 3 columns, each column you can assign a leader but each column is mixed troops. wouldnt it make more sense to have your cav leader leading all the cav, your HI leader leading all the HI etc?

AS time passes you build up points which you can use to buy Retinues. These are all homogeneous or near homogeneous units and come in companies of around 250-400 troops. If you get enough of them they can make their own little army which you can use to very good effect in battle- many if not most battle tactics depend upon having homogeneous troop types (eg all archers, all light horse), apart from the other bonuses they get this makes retinue wings VERY powerful !