Retinues / Combat strategy

[DrLulz]

Hi

Is there any type of retinue, that is better than the others, (possible depending on circumstances)? As of now I go with the cavalary-one because since it is based on fewer units attrition will be less of a problem (I'm playing Mali).

Also any general combatadvise? - As of now I am playing a Mali that encompasses all of Mali + Mauritania + Andalusia and I am trying to take Aragon from the Shia Caliphate that encompasses all of Arabia + Aragorn. Is there any strategy tips other than "avoid attrition" "fight defensively" and "use your best generals"?

 

[mr_human_555]

Normally your cultural retinue will have some nice bonus, so if it's me I'll use pure cultural retinue (in this case the Free Warrior Retinue). Then maybe the next thing you want to consider is whether your retinue have bonus for offensive / defensive. If your retinue have nice bonus for being on offensive side (like mongol horse archer / iberian fast horse), then you should try to be on the attacking side of the army. If your bonus is on defense (arabian camel squad) it's a bit more tricky, one way is to lure the enemy doomstack to attack your army on the coastal provinces, then snipe them with your armies with defensive bonus from sea (this puts you on the defensive side).

But of course if you outnumber them by 2/1 or 3/1 you'll win easily on either cases, as long as your army composition is at least decent.

 

[BigHamster]

Retinues are generally used like mercenary units. They are supperior to normal levie of that size, and they easily assault holdings. So I use them for fast wars, it is ok to lose 80% of their size in war. And I prefer shock ones( 400 heavy 100 archers ). Heavy are best cost effective soldiers, while archers are good skirmishers.

 

[pingupower]

I usually play with the cultural retinue. With the Biz that gives you an amazing mix of HA and HC which is simply devastating in a field battle. As a latin culture your knights are not bad either but the light cav is not that good.
I don't like to assault with retinues since losses cost a lot. I prefer to engage them in key battles against the enemy where their quality comes to full potential. I also do not mind besieging easy to take places or to take on lenghty sieges where assaults are not an option.

 

[icedt729]

For most cultures the unique retinue is best, especially if it's Knights or Cataphracts. Unfortunately for you, Mali's retinue is just buffed light infantry with some unbuffed archers. Their only real advantage is that they use very little cap, so maybe the added numbers will be worth it. Since you seem to have plenty of manpower, I'd spam Free Warriors and stiffen them with some Shock retinues (so you don't get totally slaughtered while defending) and some Cavalry (to help you score kills in the Pursue phase).

When you fight the Shia Caliphate, I recommend fighting defensively in Africa but going for quick victories in Iberia. You'll continually rack up warscore as long as you hold the contested territory.