Tribal Retinues Question

[Ilion]

The percentages apply to a flank (wing/center).

That's what I would have assumed. So, isn't the answer to organize the three flanks to take these threshholds into account (assuming one knows about them)?

I mean, *eveyone*, all through history, has used archers or slingers; so, they must be able to make a meaningful contribution to the battle, else their use would have ended millennia ago.

 

[Dragatus]

Historically missile troops were of course very useful, but the game does a poor job of representing that. The Archer units has too low numerical values and somehow having too many archers makes them unable to shoot a volley of arrows.

And yes, you can organize your flanks to get better tactics and it's assumed that you will be doing so. Once you have enough retinues for a flank it is common to separate them from the levies and have them form one flank while the levies are left forming the other two.

 

[Ilion]

I generally keep my retinues and levies entirely separate. I generally don't build any retinues until I can build at least three units. I never had a good grasp of the threshholds we're discussing, so I put two (sometimes three) retinue units, of different types, in each flank, with each flank eventually having identical units.

Plus, I use the CK2+ mod, which completely redefines the retinues available to any culture.

 

[jwalche]

I mean, *eveyone*, all through history, has used archers or slingers; so, they must be able to make a meaningful contribution to the battle, else their use would have ended millennia ago.

They do. In CK2, their meaningful contribution is enabling Feint tactic for light infantry, which requires 20+% AR ratio in a flank.

For feudal retinue, this is done by using Light Skirmish retinue. For tribal retinue, LI+AR retinue can be mixed to tribal levy, which is mostly LI + AR but has slightly lower than 20% AR ratio.

AR itself is pretty useless, therefore a AR only flank would also be pretty useless (except for English and Welsh). Historically, Archers have seldom been used alone.

 

[Ilion]

... Historically, Archers have seldom been used alone.

Of course!