Overview
This a step by step guide on how to build your multiplayer army and win battles regularly.
Army composition, mechanics, tactics and funds.
Right, before i begin properly I would like to point out why I am writing this guide. The main reason is that I have recently seen so many people in multiplayer battles on this game make the worst armies imaginable and still expect to win, multiplayer is very different from the campaign regarding how battles play out, this is due to the fact that you are playing against real people and not a semi-reta.rded AI system. The other reason I am writing this guide is that I am sick of people giving the game a bad review simply because they think it is un-balanced. Of course the game is un-balanced, it is set during a time in history when the old methods and tactics of warfare were dying out and new ones were taking their place. For example the old spaghetti-line Roman infantry tactics were becoming obsolete with the growing use of cavalry. Attila’s forefathers had arrived in the northern Balkans with thousands upon thousands of mounted archers and had begun laying waste to the regions Thrace and Pannonia. No one knew how to stop them, no one was even brave enough to try and Rome’s military might had begun to wane anyway with the past two century’s increased use of foederati instead of actual Roman citizen soldiers. These foederati were undisciplined, poorly equipped, poorly armored and lacked any real battlefield leadership and more prominently: decent cavalry. There was also widespread famine and plague across Europe at the time along with huge levels of corruption and political unrest within the empire. This is the setting for Total War Attila: A crumbling empire, civil and political unrest along with hunger, famine, repression of science and an increasingly restless barbarian population to the north.
Okay, now to the guide proper. I guess the first issue that i need to adress is army composition. In most multiplayer scenarios you will be using 10000 funds. This is enough for a completely fool-proof setup.
Firstly you need to pick a faction: The Eastern Roman Empire is grand for begginers, the Ostrogoths, Saxons, Franks, Sassainians, Langobards, Picts and Roman Expedition are well suited to more experienced players where-as the Ebdani, Western Roman Empire, Huns, Desert factions, Burgundians and Suebi/Vandals take real skill.
After selecting a faction you must now consider how best to build your army kepping the funds and terrain of the map in mind. Most armies should consist of a Sword line of 4-5 melee infantry, another line of long-range archers or the better slinger units, 3-4 cavalry on each flank mabey backed up with spears if the host is only allowing a small nuber of cavalry per player. This setup works fine but it can be crushed by an experienced player using a very agressive faction.
Another good set up is to use pikes at the front instead of swords. Pikes can be deadly against charging units both cavalry and infantry but will be killed by a unit in shield wall/mobile testudo that is simply ordered to walk through them rather than attack. Pikes are also hard to manouvre so keep some cavalry nearby to kepp them from being out-flanked. Only some factions have decent pikemen, namely the Ostrogoths, Tanukhids and Eastern Roman Empire. Also, when using pikes remember you are defending, you cant charge with pikes.
I sometimes see people using spearmen for their front rank. This is suicidal because spearmen are only good at killing cavalry and no one ever chargers their cavalry straight into your front line as it is too risky.
My next point is missile units. A lot of people always put their archers in front of their infantry, this is not always a good idea as they are now vulnerable to other missile units and cavalry charges. Most archers in Attila have 38 missile damage and poor armour peircing damage. Dont use archers with only 38 missile damage because they will only be good at killing poorly armored slingers and dane-axe units. Archers armed with longbows are far better having 49-53 missile damage and decent armour-piercing damage along with immense range. Longbow units also fire in a volley type way, all the men in the unit shooting at once. This can have a devastating effect but reduces reload time. Archers with smaller compound bows on the other hand all fire in a barrage type way with the front rank shooting then the second and while the second rank is shooting the front rank is reloading. this process is repeated with every rank in the unit so that there is a constant “barrage” of arrows hitting the enemy. Compound bows also have similar missile damage to longbows with the Hunnic bows having even more. How ever compound bows lack the range of longbows and are therfore less effective against cavalry but their rate of fire allows them to kill off enemy archer units with amazing speed. Now on to slingers. In general slingers are useless, having low range, armour piercing and mssile block chances but Armenian slingers available to the Sassainian Empire and the Lakhmids are far more formiddible. They still have 0 armour piercing damage but they carry a shield, vastly increasing their missile block chance. They also outrange other slingers and shoot far faster making them deadly against other missile units. As to crossbowmen, these units have huge missile damage, upwards of 65. Celtic crossbows arent great but Roman and Germanic crossbowmen are excellent indeed. All crossbowmen have short range and poor rate of fire but they will absoloutely devastate heavily armored units in comparison with other missile units. Finally shot types. Standard shot is as the name suggets: basic. It is grand against unarmored foes but will not do much damage to units with more than 30ish armour. Heavy shot is slower to reload but does more damage to armour and health points. Flaming shot is even slower to reload and hugely innacurate but does even more damage, hurts the enemies moral, has a bonus versus horses/camel/elephants and is not effected by a unit’s missile block chance as much. The new poison arrows for the slavic factions do not do much initiall damage but have a lasting effect.
Now on to the different types of infantry. Firstly ther are deffensive infantry. These are recognizable by having upwards of 40 melee defence, better armour and upwards of 114 health. These units make a great front line but do not rely on them to do much damage should you order them to attack. Secondly there are attacking infantry/axemen. These carry the trademark of higher melee attack-upwards of 50 along with upwards of 25 charge bonus and sometimes better moral. These units are excellent at making a gap in the enemies line but they are poor defenders. On to beserkers. These units are real killwho.res. They have very high melee attack, very high charge bonus and the beserk trait. This trait makes them completely ignore their own moral and go on a tireless killing spree. Always remember though, beserkers will get recked if they charge into the front of pikemen. Lastly: Double handed units. These units carry their weapons with both hands and have huge armour piercing values but poor melee deffence and missile block chance. They also have insane charge bonuses and sometimes higher moral. They have large melee attack stats and melee damage, making them usefull against cavalry and the tougher infantry units.
Cavalry. Cavalry do the real work in Total War: Attila. Melle cavalry armed with swords are rarely used because they are only good at killing infantry and will themselves be killed by spear-armed cavalry. It is generally common practice to use 6 cavalry in multiplayer and people will ussually spend most of their funds on ensuring they have the best melle cavalry on the field. Units to fear are Noble Germanic Horsemen, Tagmata, Armored Camel Warriors and Taifali Cavalry. Cavalry in a diamond or wedge formation will have increased charge speed and charge bonus so this is very usefull against superior cavalry.
Shock and Archer cavalry.
Archer cavalry are also very usefull. They can be a good way of distracting and killing enemy cavalry and are always good at picking at the enemy’s general unit.
To finish i have some screenshots of what a decent army in Attila looks like and I hope the contents of this guide have helped its readers with their progress in Total War Attila multiplayer battles.