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336 ratings How to Dominate Land Battles
By Bollocks
A comprehensive guide for land battles in Napoleon Total War.
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Created by:
Bollocks
View all shared filesCategory: Gameplay Basics, Multiplayer
Languages: English
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Updated: 19 Feb @ 3:23pm
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Guide Index

Overview
Introduction
Fundamentals
Micromanagement
Line and Elite Infantry
Militia and Grenadiers
Light Infantry and Riflemen
Light Infantry and Riflemen Part 2
Melee Cavalry
Ranged Cavalry
Artillery
General
Tactics
Tactics Part 2
Factions
Developing your skills
Comments Introduction
This guide is written with multiplayer in mind, if you exclusively play single p
layer you shouldn't worry yourself over the nuances of this guide as the AI for
this game is horrible. However, if you find yourself getting regularly trashed b
y veteran players online then this is the guide for you.
Many aspects of NTW landbattles are unintuitive and unrealistic, and you would f
ind that things done in real life don't apply to this game. By reading this guid
e you will gain a firm understanding of the underlying game mechanics, diversity
of tactics and as well as tips on how to utilize different unit types. Once ove
r the learning curve, you will find NTW one of the most tactically deep and thri
lling games ever.
This guide is completed but I'm sure there is always more to add, feel free to P
M me or comment. Let me know about what clarifications are needed, or content yo
u wish to see. And please rate this guide.
Fundamentals
Firearm Mechanics
1- Beaten Zone
Firearms win you battles and learning the mechanics behind it is essential. One
concept to understand is the beaten zone, which is the elliptical pattern formed
by the rounds striking the ground or the target. As most of you know, bullets d
o not fly in a straight line-- gravity will pull the bullet down until it hits t
he ground. The location of where a round lands is also affected by wind, skill o
f the marksman, the gap between the bullet and the internal wall of the barrel,
etc. resulting in an elliptical bullet pattern seen below:
This means shooting at an opponent from diferent angles will have an impact on y
our troop's accuracy. You want to the beaten zone to cover as much of your targe
t as possible to maximize the hit rate.
As seen in the picture above, shooting frontally at a line of troops is the leas
t effective, a good portion of your bullets will land in front of or behind the
target. Positioning your troops at an angle get obtain oblique or flanking fire
will increase your hitrate.
2- Promixity increases accuracy
The closer you position your infantry to a target, the more likely they are to h
it it. Meaning you can grant your regular line infantry devastating accuracy by
moving them closely. However in most cases, you don't want to walk your infantry
close for a frontal engagement as this applies for your enemy as well-- who wil
l massacre your infantry as they advance closer. Use this for flanking troops wh
o will not suffer return fire. This is also useful for frontal engagements for u
nits with large differences in stats, such as light infantry vs riflemen. A unit
of light infantry will defeat a unit of riflemen much faster by being closer.
3- A unit cannot shoot while moving
A unit can only fire when they are stationary, so during a firefight move your r
anged units as little as possible. The expection to this is ranged cavalry, whic
h will be discussed in its section.
Formations and unit positioning
1- For infantry use long and thin formations
This has two main advantages. One is firepower. Because only the front rank can
fire, having deep formations will rob your unit of firepower. The second is havi
ng thin lines presents a smaller target. As explained by the beaten zone, having
a deep formation will increase the chance of your opponent hitting your unit. B
ecause of those two reasons, a infantry in a 2 rank deep formation will easily b
eat a 3 or 4 rank deep formation.
In addition, having thin formations do not impose any major disadvantages. The u
nit doesn't suffer any morale or melee penalities. A unit of infantry in a 2 ran
k deep formation will form a infantry square against cavalry with the same speed
as a deeper formation. A formation any thinner will slighty increase that time-
trading firepower for reaction time against cavalry.
On occassion, however, you will want deep formations for light infantry/riflemen
t for a tactic called the "hammer tactic" which is discussed further in the ligh
t infantry and riflemen section.
2- For cavalry use square-like formations
You want your cavalry to be nimble and easily manuverable, having your cavalry i
n a long line formation will decrease its manuverability.
3- Don't position units too closely infront or behind each other
Positioning units infront or behind each other creates two hazards. One is the f
riendly fire from the unit positioned in the back (with a few expections discuss
ed later). Two is the increased casualties from enemy volleys because more of yo
ur troops are within your opponent's beaten zone.
4- Enable guard mode for ranged units
Guard mode, in practice, doesn't do much in NTW for ranged units. Units with or
without guard mode on will chase after a direct targeted units that routs. Howev
er, because fire at will should be utilized instead of direct targeting this doe
sn't mean much other than for melee units. There is an advantage to be in guard
mode. If not in guard mode any melee fighting, even one enemy cavalry attacking
one infantry-man in the whole unit, will prevent the whole unit from discharging
their firearms. Being in guard mode will allow a small portion of the unit to f
ire, assisting in resisting a melee assault.
Fatigue
1- Fatigue is mainly caused by running and harsh weather
Units are tired by long runs, it's recommended to let your units walk in the ope
ning stages of a battle unless there is a critical location to be secured (i.e.
a hill or a chokepoint). Moreover, winter and desert maps will tire out units th
at don't have specific resistances to them.
Also a glitch causes light infantry and riflemen in "light infantry behavior" to
also quickly become tired.
2- Fatigue penalizes melee and morale
Fatigue is a big concern for melee cavalry and melee infantry, their melee comba
t stats are significantly decreased by being tired. Moreover, tired units will r
out faster than fresh ones. Fatigue does not decrease shooting ability however.
Thus fatigue is a small worry for ranged units but definitely something to keep
an eye on for melee cavalry and melee infantry.
Unit Experience
Each odd number of chevrons (i.e. 1,3,5) adds 1 morale to a unit while each even
number of chevrons increases the combat stats of the unit. It's often recommend
ed to buy one experience upgrade for cheap units that have low morale.
Micromanagement
Micromanagement can be tricky in NTW, especially if you are transitioning from a
non-musket era TW game. However, getting a solid grasp in micromanagement is es
sential if you wish to pull off combat manuvers.
1- Don't practice direct targeting for ranged units
If out of firing range, direct targeting (or right clicking to order an attack)
will result in your units advancing far more than neccessary to engage its targe
t, leading to uneccessary casualities. Moreover if in range, direct targeting wi
ll often result in your unit reorienting itself to face the targeted unit--- pot
entially exposing its flank to an enemy or getting in the way of another friendl
y unit's line of fire. Rather utilize "fire at will", manually move your unit in
to firing range and let the unit automatically engage.
For melee units, do click attack for targets you wish to engage.
2- To move your units, don't click on the destination-- rather drag and drop
Simply clicking on the destination will often result in your unit ending up faci
ng the wrong way. By dragging and dropping you can move your units while control
ling their orientation and formation depth. This fine control is essential to co
mbat and allows you to do things like strafing and performing an "about-face" wh
ere your unit will do a 180 turn and face its rear.
3- Group your units.
By grouping units together, you can maintain the relative position and formation
depth of your units-- in other words you can control a bunch of units as one la
rge unit. This is a great tool to cut down on micromanagement, especially during
the opening moves of the battle where there is a decent distance between you an
d your opponent's armies. Don't be afraid to break that large group down to smal
ler ones once the armies start clashing and you want to manuver some units for a
flank attack.
4- Use the spacebar
You can preview where your units are going to move to by holding down spacebar (
or whatever key you've assigned it to). This is very useful to maintain spatial
awareness and preview where your units are traveling to (and their orientation).
5- Unrestricted Camera
I recommend using the unrestricted camera setting where you can zoom as far back
as you want to see the entire battlefield. This helps alot with battlefield awa
reness and helps you manage with army-wide manuvers. The unrestricted camera can
not be setup in-game. Read this link on how to use it. Note-- once you have foll
owed the instructions in the link, don't open your in-game options tab as it wil
l reset all the settings.
6- Hotkeys
The usage of hotkeys substantially decreases your reaction time. This is especia
lly important for running and square formation. The former is critical in maneuv
ering and a fraction of a second can mean the difference between your unit recei
ving a hail of gunfire or not. The latter can mean the difference between your u
nit warding off a cavalry charge or being slaughtered out of square.
Some other functions to hotkey are stepping forward and stepping backward, as so
metimes your unit is only a couple of steps away from being in firing range--- a
small nudge will save time and prevent unnecessary movements.
7- Video demonstrating micromanagement
This is a great video demonstrating the basics of micromanagement. Credit goes o
ut to Jmartin. Check out his channel, he has many great tips for NTW.
Line and Elite Infantry
How to use Line and Elite Infantry
1- Line and Elite Infantry should be the core of your army
Line and elite infantry should make a large bulk of your army, as they are the w
orkhorse of your army. With their reload speeds, firepower, and cost-efficiency
you can rely on them to punch a hole in your opponent's line or crush their flan
k while maintaining your own. They are the main ingredient in all successful man
euvers and other unit types operate in support of line and elite infantry. As a
rule of thumb they should make up around 50% of units in your army build.
2- Have a balanced ratio of line and elite infantry
In a matchup of 2 regular line infantry vs 1 unit of elite infantry (both cost p
retty much the same), the regular line infantry will win. One line infantry unit
will fix the elite from the front and the other line unit will shoot accurate f
lanking fire. Bringing too many elite infantry over cheaper line infantry expose
s your army to being outflanked. On the other hand, by bringing no elite infantr
y you forfeit the ability to quickly exploit vulnerable sections of your opponen
t's army (i.e. a line infantry that has had their firearms disrupted). Bring a b
alanced mix, a good rule of thumb is to bring one unit of elite for every 3 line
infantry.
3- When in doubt, shoot it out
There are very specific instances of when it might be advantageous to commit to
a bayonet charge, but for most instances you should just let your infantry fire
away. The killing rate of a melee never overpaces shooting volleys and in most c
ases, going in for a charge only serves to allow your opponent to serve devastat
ing close ranged shots. Even infantry who have expended all of its ammunition is
often better used as a meatshield.
One such expection is charging with flanking elite or Russian infantry (who have
high charge statistics) into wavering enemy infantry will cause them to immedia
tely rout.
4- Don't use fire and advance
It reduces the range of your unit and while it allows all of your ranks to fire,
it substantially slows down the firing rate of your infantry. Needless to say,
don't use it.
5- Square formation is effective against cavalry and infantry melee assault, but
avoid forming squares too early
The square formation is very effective against cavalry charges and melee infantr
y charges and will allow your infantry to easily thwart those incursions. Howeve
r, it is important to know that combat bonus against those units is applied befo
re your infantry is visually in the square formation. It takes less than half a
second between the command and for the bonus to apply.
It's advantageous to form square at the last moment for several reasons, one is
that decent players will usually stop a cavalry charge if they see a square bein
g formed, two is that you could trick your opponent into thinking you were not p
aying attention before letting them impale their cavalry upon your square, three
is because often times your opponent wants you to go into square formation to g
ive their infantry an advantage (See "firearms disruption" explained in detail i
n the melee cavalry section) and finally four is that infantry in square formati
on have little firepower-- because infantry can quickly form into a square its o
ften advantageous to let your infantry fire off a volley at the charging enemy b
efore quickly forming a square. That way the charging unit will be depleted by t
he time they get into melee range.
6- Infantry in square formation have extra long range
A glitch gives line and elite infantry in square formation substainally longer m
usket range, approximately the same range as riflemen. This doesn't have much pr
actical applicability as the number of men firing is few and you risk being rush
ed by opposing infantry while in square formation. However this glitch does have
a niche role, in a very close end game where any advantage is welcome you can f
orm square to shoot at opposing forces outside of your normal range and deal a f
ew casualities. If the enemy approaches quickly get out of square.
7- Fortify houses with one unit of elite infantry
Only a few men can shoot from the windows in houses and cannot produce much fire
power, thus placing many line or light infantry into a house is a wasteful propo
sition. One elite infantry unit is enough to occupy a house. An elite infantry u
nit situated in a house is difficult to displace, an opponent can expect to burn
through twice or even three times as many men to capture the house.
How to counter line and elite infantry
1- Light Infantry
The longer ranged light infantry with the right micromanagment can absolutely de
vastate line/elite infantry. See the light infantry section about kiting.
2- Line and elite infantry in conjunction with cavalry or militia
You can use cavalry to disrupt the opposing infantry's firearms and then move in
your infantry to unleash lethal volleys. See the cavalry section for more detai
l on firearms disruption.
Militia can be utilized as a meatshield to soak up enemy fire while moving in fr
iendly infantry to fire away.
3- Artlilery
The close formations of line/elite infantry make for ripe targets for artillery.
Target elite infantry first, they die just as easily as line infantry.
Militia and Grenadiers
How to use Militia
1- Use them as meatshields
Militia are cheap and its main use is to draw the enemy's fire so that the more
valuable units are not targeted. This is very useful to move in your other units
into firing range unscathed and potentially lets your unit gain a significant a
dvantage in the shootout. For example, imagine a scenario of of your line infant
ry plus a unit of militia squaring off against an enemy unit of line infantry. Y
ou should first move in your militia into the enemy's firing range to absorb the
incoming fire and then subsequently move in your line infantry to get the first
shots on your opponent and gain a significant advantage.
2- With general's morale boost, militia can be a poor man's line infantry
Militia can hold part of your line for a decent amount of time with a general ne
arby to boost morale. They can be used to fix an enemy unit while you move in wi
th another unit to flank. They can also be used to protect your light/line/elite
infantry and riflemen from cavalry. Place your militia behind the unit you want
to protect and they will shoot up the enemy cavalry while they are engaged with
the unit in front.
How to counter Militia
1- Cavalry
Militia cannot form squares, and combined with their weak combat stats a cavalry
charge will dispatch them quickly. And you should preferably charge in from the
flanks so your cavalry will not take a volley.
2- Anything else
Any concentrated attack on a unit of Militia will rout them quickly.
Don't use grenadiers
Grenadiers are some of the least cost effective units in the game. They are basi
cally like regular infantry expect they have substantially less men per unit tha
n regular line infantry, decreasing their firepower. They have good melee stats
but its advantages are limited because of their unit size. And the grenades they
can toss has a very short range and doesn't cause much damage that other units
could inflict by simply shooting volleys. Save the money and spend it on other t
hings.
Light Infantry and Riflemen
How to use Light Infantry and Riflemen.
1- Use Light Infantry Behavior
Utilizing this option allows you unit to adopt a loose formation and confers sev
eral advantages. First is that your unit is less likely to be hit by incoming fi
re, second is that every man in the unit is able to shoot simultaneously, third
is that the loose formation helps dampen a cavalry charge (your unit will suffer
less casualities as a result of a charge) and fourth is that the unit crouches
in loose formation and you can position other units behind your light infantry/r
iflemen to shoot over them without inflicting friendly fire.
2- Light Infantry are better than Riflemen.
Having trouble deciding between light infantry or riflemen? Go with light infant
ry. While riflemen have longer range, light infantry have more men, much better
reload speeds and comparable accuracy. Moreover light infantry are cheaper than
riflemen. This means that light infantry are more cost efficient and can put out
more bullets faster (at comparable accuracy) than riflemen. Light infantry can
eat a first volley from riflemen and still win a head on firefight. Moreover, so
me of the faction's light infantry's shooting stats are on par with regular line
infantry.
Riflemen, however, do have niche roles. In chokepoint maps like Ligny they can b
e used to harrass the enemy without reprisal.
3- Range mismatches and Kiting
When using light infantry and riflemen, be on the lookout for range mismatches w
here your unit outranges an enemy unit. You can exploit those situations by shoo
ting at the opponent from a distance where they can't return fire. For example,
light infantry shooting unreciprocated at line infantry from a distance.
Kiting in the context of NTW is retreating your longer ranged light infantry or
riflemen before your opponent can move his shorter ranged line or elite infantry
into firing range. This makes full use of light infantry and riflemen's range a
dvantage. The best way to do this is to move your long ranged infantry immediate
ly after your unit has fired its first volley. This means you can prevent your o
pponent from firing upon you while you can unleash deadly volleys on him.
4- Use light infantry/riflemen in conjunction with line and elite infantry to cr
eate concentrated points of fire.
As stated in point 1, while utilizing "light infantry behavior" light infantry/r
iflement crouch and can be fired over. Placing line/elite infantry behind your l
ights will create points of heavy firepower that can quickly punch a hole in you
r opponent's line.
However doing this brings several drawbacks. To allow both of your stacked units
to be within firing range, the light infantry/riflemen in front has to be posit
ioned fairly closely to the target. The proximity increases the time you have to
move into position while being shot at close range. Moreover you are placing mo
re units into your opponent's beaten zone thus allowing your opponent to inflict
even more casualities upon you.
And this positioning can be rendered useless if your opponent moves his unit bac
k out of the firing range of your infantry unit in the back. Thus stacking units
up like this is not reccommended for frontal engagements unless your opponent h
as a severly depleted unit. Rather this formation is recommended for attacks on
your enemy's flanks where they cannot shoot back at you.
4- Light Infantry are overpowered.
There is a reason why multiplayer game rules commonly limit a maximum of 5 Light
Infantry, they are incredibly powerful. Points 1 through 3 make for a unit type
that can outshoot line infantry while suffering relatively small or even no cas
ualties.
5- Stakes block bullets and cavalry.
In addition to impaling enemy cavalry, stakes will block your enemy's bullets an
d your own. Now this won't enable your riflemen to win in a firefight against li
ght infantry but will help them stay alive longer. In addition you can use those
same stakes to keep weaker line infantry in the battle longer.
6- If threat of cavalry is present, protect your light infantry/riflemen with li
ne infantry
Position line infantry behind light infantry/riflemen. Position your light infan
try/riflemen so that the units is barely covered by the firing arc of the line i
nfantry. Your line infantry will shoot any enemy cavalry should they come into c
ontact with your light infantry/riflemen and quickly dispatch them and will be f
ar back enough that the line infantry will be outside your enemy's beaten zone.
Also, don't use elite infantry for this role. They are better used elsewhere. Fu
rthermore should your opponent lack cavalry, you don't need such protection and
you can free up that supporting line infantry.
7- Hammer Tactic
The hammer tactic basically takes advantage of the fact that light infantry/rifl
emen in loose formation allows every man to shoot no matter how far back in the
formation he is. Thus instead of forming a line as long as possible, place your
light infantry/riflemen into deep formations like the screenshot below:
This allows you to concentrate your light infantry/riflemen firepower into small
areas allowing you to quickly rout an enemy unit. Unforunately, this brings sev
eral drawbacks. One such disadvantage is that you are placing more of your asset
s in your opponent's beaten zone, causing you to take increased casualities. Two
is that a large close-kint group is more vulnerable to flanking, meatshielding
and cavalry who can quickly disrupt all of your units.
Moreover concentrating all or most of your light infantry assets in one area mak
es you vulnerable in other parts of your army, allowing your opponent to avoid y
our light infantry/riflemen while your opponents uses his long ranged units to a
ttack other parts of your army with impunity. In summary, the hammer tactic is v
ulnerable to maneuver. Thus the hammer tactic is only recommended for terrain ma
ps and team games where mobility is limited.
8- Don't use skirmish mode
For whatever reason it wasn't properly coded for this game and is essentially a
broken feature. Your units will not flee in time, and you will be better off man
ually retreating your unit.
9- Extra long light infantry or riflemen
A glitch allows you to stretch out your light infantry and riflemen into super l
ong lines. First, stretch out the unit as long as possible in close formation as
per the picture below:
Second, activate the light infantry behavior and you wil achieve a line that is
abnormally long:
The advantages of an extra long line is that the unit is a smaller target and is
harder to hit with gunfire, and thus will stay live longer in a firefight. Howe
ver this comes at the cost of maneuver. One problem is that trying to move the e
xtra long unit individually will cause the formation to revert back to its norma
l maximum length. You can prevent that from occurring by grouping the extra long
unit with other units and then moving the whole group.
All in all, trying to maintain a unit in this extra long formation will hamper w
ith micromanagement as it will be tricker to adjust positioning and orientation.
In addition it's impossible to concentrate fire into a particular location with
a formation ???? long. Thus it's only recommended to do this for weaker rifleme
n or light infantry (such as France's voltigeurs) and let them act as a fixing f
orce so you can maneuver your other forces for an attack.
Light Infantry and Riflemen Part 2
How to Counter Light Infantry and Riflemen.
1- Cavalry
This is not as straightforward as it sounds. Do a frontal charge with cavalry an
d the light infantry will shoot your cavalry up before you get there. Moreover l
ight infantry have good melee abilities to mop up any remaining cavalry. Thus it
is best to attack from the sides or while the light infantry is reloading. It's
better it follow up the charge with shooting infantry. Also cavalry will preven
t them from kiting.
2- Line/Elite Infantry
Regular infantry will outshoot riflemen and prove a sizable match for light infa
ntry. A good way to utilize line infantry is to engage the opposing long ranged
units with your own or a meatshield and then move your line infantry into range
for support.
If the opposing light infantry is kiting, an effective method to deal with them
is to move your line infantry to the exact location where the enemy was last. Sh
ould the opposing troops continue retreating, they will be shot in the back.
3- Meatshield and Light/Line/Elite Infantry
Use meatshield to draw fire and then move in your forces to attack.
4- Don't use artillery
Units in loose formation are hard targets to hit. Your time is better spent targ
eting other things.
Melee Cavalry
How to use melee cavalry
1- Melee cavalry is a support unit
Melee cavalry cannot win battles by themselves as cavalry will never beat an inf
antry square and are very vulnerable to musket and artilery fire. This means you
shouldn't bring too many cavalry in your army (4 is generally enough), however
cavalry when properly used in conjunction with other units will prove a decisive
factor in battles. It's important to note that cavalry is least effective in ch
okepoint maps, so act accordingly.
2- Firearms disruption
One of the most useful purposes of cavalry is their ability to impose firearms d
isruption, meaning they can rob or hamper an opposing infantry's ability to fire
their weapons. One way is to force opposing line/elite infantry into a square f
ormation with a real/feint charge, this causes the enemy's total firepower outpu
t to be significantly decreased. Second way is to initiate melee with the opposi
ng infantry, as once a unit is in melee most of the unit cannot fire.
Disrupting the enemy's use of firearms opens up many opportunities for your own
infantry. Here are a couple example scenarios:
1) You and your opponent's infantry are sitting a short distance outside each ot
her's firing range. You can send in your cavalry at the enemy for firearms disru
ption, then while your enemy is unable to fire move in your infantry into firing
range to get the first volley and subsequent volleys without return fire. Moreo
ver if the enemy infantry got into square formation, then the enemy infantry has
presented itself as a ripe musketry target and will increase your infantry's ac
curacy.
2) You and your opponent's infantry are already in the middle of a firefight. Yo
u can then send in your cavalry to hasten the defeat of the opposition, lessen y
our casualities or turn around a losing engagement.
It is worth noting that cavalry do not last long against infantry in square form
ation, and your infantry will need to move in fast to take advantage of the situ
ation. Cavalry used to perform firearms disruption should avoid getting shot mid
-charge, meaning you should charge from the flanks, rear or while the opposition
is reloading. In summary, firearms disruption should be followed up with an inf
antry push.
3- Chase routing foes.
Routing units have a tendency to come back into battle while units that are "bro
ken" will not. If routing units are attacked while they are fleeing they will be
broken, and cavalry's mobility is perfect for the job. Moreover the size of the
unit attacking the fleeing unit doesn't really matter, consider using depleted
cavalry units for this role.
4- Melee cavalry is very lethal to everything that is not in square formation.
Cavalry are very lethal to units that cannot form a square or even line infantry
that where caught out of square. This means cavalry will make short work of art
ilery and light infantry/riflemen, just make sure to charge from the flanks or r
ear to avoid getting shot. Cavalry can be used to probe your opponent's attentiv
eness, especially if you initiate charges on multiple sections of his army simul
taneously you could catch your opponent off guard.
Moreover, line infantry already in melee cannot form squares, thus should you us
e your own infantry to initiate melee you could use the opportunity to charge th
e backs of the enemy with your cavalry for an old fashioned hammer and anvil. An
other important fact is that line infantry at 40 men or below cannot form square
s and are very vulnerable to cavalry.
5- Lancers are the best type of melee cavalry
Not only are they cheap, but they will easily chew up even expensive heavy caval
ry and absolutely annihilate light cavalry on a good charge. Because lancer's me
lee stats are usually quite poor, they require a bit of micromanagement as you m
ust pull away your lancers immediately after a charge, and run a distance before
re-charging-- in other words cycle charging.
6- Ensure distance between multiple melee cavalry units charging together
Don't blob up your cavalry, not only will they interfer with each other's charge
you will also waste manpower and open your cavalry up to be surrounded.
6- Don't buy dragoons with the intention of dismounting
Dismounting dragoons is making an otherwise useful cavalry unit into a useless a
nd overpriced infantry unit. Dismounted dragoons, with so few men, cannot muster
much firepower. They can even be beaten by opposing militia whereas mounted dra
goons would have. Compounding their problems is that they cannot form square and
are extremely vulnerable to other cavalry. Dismounted dragoons do not have much
tactical applicability, even for quickly grabbing hills and chokepoints, as the
y are weak and vulnerable. Keep your dragoons mounted.
7- Don't use the diamond formation
Another improperly coded feature of the game, it decreases the lethality of your
cavalry's charge and doesn't confer any bonus manuverability advantages over a
regular square-like cavalry formation. In summary, don't use it.
How to counter melee cavalry
1- Infantry squares
Infantry squares are basically invulnerable to cavalry. If your opponent is fool
ish enough to attack with cavalry unsupported, then squares will make short work
of them. However, competent players will not charge into already formed squares
, thus forming squares at the last minute could trick your opponent into thinkin
g you've been careless.
Moreover, you can lasso enemy cavalry into your squares by getting them to charg
e your cavalry or light infantry and order your units to run through the square.
As the enemy's cavalry chases your unit, your unit will run through the square
while your enemy will get caught on the infantry square.
If your opponent is using suported cavalry in a firearms denial fashion, you can
respond by counter-charging with your own cavalry and get your infantry out of
square formation as soon as possible. Or you can use your cavalry to impose fire
arms denial to the opponent's supporting infantry to prevent them from shooting
at your square.
2- Infantry
You can lasso enemy cavalry into range of your light or line infantry to be shot
at. Or you can occupy enemy cavalry with your own while you move your infantry
into firing range to shoot lethal volleys. Cavalry is very vulnerable to musket
fire and moving in ranged infantry support can be very effective if you are outn
umbered in the cavalry department.
3- Reserve units
Placing a unit of infantry behind another will protect the unit in front from ca
valry. If the opposing cavalry charges the unit in front, they will receive a ha
il of gunfire from the unit in the back.
4- Stakes
Pretty self explanatory, but most competent players will avoid throwing their ca
valry upon them. Thus you should use spikes to deny areas, such as beyond your f
lanks to prevent your opponent from sending calvary around your sides. This pote
ntially forces them to commit to a sucidal frontal charge.
However, you can goad your opponent to run into your spikes. An important fact t
o know is that your stakes do not hurt your own (or your allies') cavalry thus i
t is you can order your cavalry to engage the enemy's cavalry and then order you
r cavalry to run through your spikes while hoping the enemy cavalry pursues.
5- Artillery
The large profile of horses makes them ripe targets for all types of artillery.
Prioritize the targetting of cavalry.
Ranged Cavalry
How to use Ranged Cavalry
1- Similar role is similar to melee cavalry
Think of ranged cavalry as long ranged lancers, instead of a delivering a devast
ating charge they can unleash a deadly volley from horseback. Like lancers, most
of the time, they shouldn't be kept in melee. Rather they should maintain a dis
tance between themselves and the target and shoot from afar. They can, however,
be committed into melee for firearms disruption and chasing routing foes. And li
ke melee cavalry, ranged cavalry cannot win battles by themselves.
2- Micromanagement heavy
To utilize ranged cavalry effectively requires a large amount of micromanagement
. Between maintaining unit distance and directional positioning, they can be a c
hallenge to manage. It takes a fair amount of practice to be proficient with ran
ged cavalry. If you're not comfortable with large burden of micromanagement, it
might be a better idea to bring the less micromanagement intensive lancers inste
ad.
3- Can shoot while charging
Ranged cavalry can shoot while moving. This means they can charge at the enemy,
fire a volley mid-gallop and then immediately follow through with the charge. Th
e combination can be absolutely devastating to enemy cavalry units, the initial
volley can take out half of the opposing unit while the charge will cause the mo
rale shocked unit to rout.
However, ranged cavalry shooting while moving is a highly variable affair. Range
d cavalry have a relatively long aiming and shooting animation that is easily di
srupted if the target changes directions or if you change the orientation of you
r ranged cavalry. If the animation is disrupted, your ranged cavalry will not fi
re off a volley before going into melee. To ensure that your ranged cavalry will
fire on the move, aim for stationary enemy cavalry and try not to adjust direct
ions mid-charge.
Should everything go as planned, ranged cavalry can make short work of even expe
nsive heavy cavalry.
4- Able to shoot over infantry
Similar to how line and elite infantry are able to shoot over light infantry, ra
nged cavalry are elevated and can shoot over friendly light, and line and elite
infantry without friendly fire. Use this in the same way as you would pairing up
light infantry and line infantry.
Placing ranged cavalry behind your infantry can create areas of heavy firepower
that can help drill a hole in your opponent's line. The drawbacks, like light an
d line infantry pairing, are many. One is that the formation would need to be po
sitioned fairly closely to the target so that the cavalry unit in the back is wi
thin firing range. This exposes your units to lethal close ranged fire as you po
sition your units closer, and potentially even more casualities if your opponent
decides to back up his unit outside the firing range of your cavalry in the bac
k. And because cavalry are large targets, you are placing a large amount of mass
into your enemy's beaten zone costing you even greater casualities.
Thus, placing ranged cavalry behind line infantry is not recommended for frontal
engagements. Rather this pairing has the greatest utility for flanking where re
turn fire is not expected.
5- All ranks are able to fire simultaneously
Like light infantry/riflemen in loose formation, an entire unit of ranged cavalr
y is able to fire simultaneously no matter how far back an individual is. Thus r
anged cavalry are able to maintain firepower in a nimble square-like formation.
6- Act as support
Ranged cavalry can act as reserve against enemy cavalry. They can provide fire s
upport to a nearby cavalry vs cavalry engagment and allow you to quickly rout th
e opposing side. They can also be placed behind your line infantry to help them
ward off cavalry strikes.
With good micromanagement they can even act as anti-cavalry support for light in
fantry/riflemen.
7- Deadly feint charge
One of shooter cavalry's most effective tactics is the deadly feint charge. For
example, against opposing line infantry: This first involves ordering a charge a
t your target (making them believe you are going to commit into melee). Should y
our opponent's infantry unit form a square, halt your charge within shooting ran
ge, fire off a volley and then retreat. If the enemy line infantry didn't form a
square, then change the feint charge to become a real one. Allow your ranged ca
valry to fire a volley and then deliver a punishing charge. This works best char
ging from the rear or flanks.
You can do this with or without supporting infantry. If you do this without supp
orting infantry, this tactic can harrass and disorganize your opponent's line. W
ith supporting infantry, this also functions in a firearms disruption manner.
How to counter Ranged Cavalry
1- Similar to countering Melee Cavalry
Ranged cavalry, like their melee counterparts, are vulnerable to the same things
: artillery, musket fire, stakes and if the ranged cavalry go into melee: infant
ry squares and reserve units. However, there are several ranged cavalry specific
tips.
2- Melee Cavalry
One sure way to dispatch shooter cavalry is to attack them with melee cavalry fr
om the sides or rear. Another method is a frontal charge but juking and suddenly
changing direction to disrupt the ranged cavalry's aforementioned aiming animat
ion and your melee cavalry will land a charge unscathed. This does require pract
ice to get the timing right.
2- Line and Elite Infantry
Relative to line and elite infantry, ranged cavalry produce a small amount of fi
repower and are more vulnerable to musket fire. Don't be afraid to take a first
volley from the ranged cavalry to move into firing range, ranged cavalry will ge
t decimated in a firefight with line/elite infantry.
Artillery
How to use Artillery.
1- Artillery is a support unit
Artillery cannot win battles by themselves. The rate at which they inflict casua
lities is far less compared to other unit types and they have low maneuverabilit
y which leads them to struggle to adapt to changing battlefield conditions. Arti
llery, on many maps, is an optional asset.
2- Limit the use of artillery on open and flat maps that favor maneuver.
Artillery assets on flat maps are easy to out-maneuver and nullify. Your opponen
t can easily approach your artillery pieces from outside of your firing arc and
take advantage of the fact that artillery are slow to reposition. Moreover bring
ing more artillery leaves you more vulnerable to flanking as you have less infan
try/cavalry to support your battle line. Moreover, you have to leave many suppor
ting forces protect your artillery. This ultimately forces you to be more defens
ive and static which spells doom on flat maps.
Horse artillery does a better job of keeping up with a highly mobile army and ca
n fortify a weak flank with canister fire, however given the long limbering and
unlimbering time a quick opponent can nullify that asset.
3- Artillery is a deciding factor in choke point maps and some terrain maps.
Artillery's long range barrage can force an opponent to make tactically costly d
ecisions on a map full of chokepoints. These bottlenecks are bad news for anyone
trying to cross it as any bottleneck can be easily contained with a few friendl
y units which can hold down much larger opposing forces trying to cross it. If y
ou have the artillery superiority you can force them to cross first.
Moreover artillery allows you to devastate enemy situated ontop of a hill, givin
g them the choice of either slowly dying on top of that hill or forcing them to
come down and fighting you on your terms. Conversely, it can force an opponent t
o assault a strongly fortified hill.
4- When the enemy is at a distance away focus fire and aim for densely packed un
its.
When your opponent is at a distance away, focusing the fire of your artilery on
one unit is better than spreading the hurt on multiple units. It's a good idea t
o turn off fire at will and manually pick the target you wish to target. In addi
tion, be on the lookout for enemy units in close proximity to each other as you
should try to pack as many enemy units in your artillery's beaten zone as possib
le. Cavalry also presents itself as a large target. If the opponent has artiller
y, you should try and take those out first to minimize counter fire.
5- When the enemy is at a close distance and spread the artillery fire around an
d lower morale.
Once the enemy has approached into infantry firearms range artillery is better u
sed to lower morale rather than to cause casualties because the lethality of art
illery is relatively low. Utilize artillery fire to achieve local superiority in
engagements. For example, target enemy infantry that is being flanked by your o
ther forces to rout them faster, or support an evenly matched engagment to gain
the upper hand.
6- Don't use fixed artillery.
While fixed artillery like rockets have incredible range, the accuracy is terrib
le and you'll have a hard time scoring kills with it. In addition, in cannot be
moved and it makes your army more inflexible against changing battlefield situat
ions. The money is better spent elsewhere.
However, fixed artillery do have niche roles on chokepoint maps, they can outran
ge opposing artillery and thus can force an opponent to cross the chokepoint fir
st.
7- Manually target the enemy
Howitzers tend to under-shoot the designated target when you automatically targe
t an enemy unit, it's often better to manually target the ground behind the inte
nded target for better accuracy. See the following pictures for an detailed illu
stration. The credit goes to feanor68. Source
It's best to manually target if your target is stationary. If your target is mov
ing, it's better to automatically target an enemy unit.
8- Howitzers are the most versatile type of Artillery
Howitzers are able to shoot in an arc, over obstacles and your own troops. And t
he exploding shells are more effective against infantry and cavalry. Direct fire
artillery such as cannons are more effective against opposing artillery, howeve
r they are very limited by uneven terrain. Furthermore, howitzers are easier to
protect as you can place units in front of it without fear of friendly shells. Y
ou can even hide howitzers behind hills to protect it from cannon fire. Bring Ho
witzers, they give you greater tactical flexibility.
9- Use canister shot for close ranged engagements
Canister fire is the most deadly ammunition in an artillery unit's arsenal, they
will quickly decimiate any opposing unit that lingers in its range. Canister fi
re is excellent at holding back opponents attacking your hill or crossing your c
hokepoint. If you are using canister fire on flat terrain, try to guard your art
illery crews from rushing infantry or cavalry-- in general hold your opponent at
bay for as long as possible while your canister fire whittles them down.
10- Demolish houses
Use artillery to demolish houses that have been occupied by the enemy and save y
ourself the time and casualties from having to send in infantry.
11- Horse artillery meatshield
A poorly implemented game feature gives limbered artillery roughly 50 hitpoints,
meaning limbered artillery is very resilient against musket fire and counter ar
tillery fire. Thus horse artillery can play a role very similar to militia by ac
ting as a very sturdy and fast meatshield. However, horse artillery is still ver
y vulnerable to melee. You can rout one quickly by sending a unit in melee.
How to counter artillery.
1- Cavalry
Artillery is defenseless against cavalry, with small unit sizes they can be quic
kly routed by cavalry. If you find an unprotected crew, charge from the sides, r
ear, or inbetween the long reload times.to prevent casualities. If you find arti
llery supported by other infantry units, you can approach the situation in a fir
earms disruption fashion. Engaging artillery in melee will cause the artilery cr
ew to release their guns and prevent them from firing, thus you can charge your
cavalry in to disrupt and then move in your infantry to clean up. Or if the situ
ation warrants it, you can occupy the enemy's supporting infantry with your own
and then move in your cavalry for a quick kill.
2- Milita and Line Infantry
Canister fire is threat that needs to be nullified as quickly as possible. Besid
es using cavalry for firearms disruption, you could use militia. Charge your mil
itia in for melee to disrupt and then use your line infantry to engage in musket
fire.
3- Artillery
If the enemy's artillery pieces are in range, concentrate artillery on them unit
by unit to take them out of battle quickly.
General
1- Losing your general deals a harsh morale penalty
Keep your general safe. If you lose your general in the middle of a pitched batt
le, your whole army could chain rout. The morale penalities are huge but fortuna
tely only last for approximately 1 and half minutes. So if your general dies at
a bad time, retreat your army and play for time until those penalities are gone.
On the flip side, don't aim to kill the enemy general as soon as possible. It m
ay be advantageous to deal that blow at a critical time during the battle.
2- Bring your general to support trouble spots in your army
Run your general to areas that are taking a beating, for example use your genera
l to support your weak flank under attack by an enemy's strong flank. Also gener
als are useful to offset the morale penalty dealt by France's old guard. The ins
pire ability can boost your troop's morale in a pinch.
3- No more than 3 stars
It's not worth the money to get a general that has more than 3 stars. The price
doesn't justify fewer units and being outnumbered by the enemy. Generally, a one
star general will suffice.
4- Using no general is viable
Using line infantry as the general of your army instead of a proper general unit
is a viable alternative. Doing so saves money and makes for a general that is h
ardy against all units. You can offset the decrease of overall morale by positio
ning elite infantry to bolster units outside the range of your general. The down
side is that you will lose flexibility to deal with unexpected and strong enemy
attacks because you will not have either the inspire or rally special ability.
Using elite infantry as your general is not recommended as you want to commit yo
ur elite infantry to battle, not let them hang back out of the fray.
5- Rally ability doesn't work for recently routed troops
Don't waste your general's ralley ability on troops that have just routed, wait
a short amount of time before trying to rally them.
Tactics
Basics
1- Gain the initiative. Act, don't react
Another way of putting it is that the best defense is a good offense. A good off
ense forces your opponent to divert attention to defense rather than planning on
attacking you. For example, both of you and your opponent have a strong flank a
nd a weak flank, using your strong flank to attack your opponent's weak flank fi
rst could prevent your opponent from exploiting your weak flank. Should your opp
onent grab the initiative, counterattack to disrupt his momentum. The worst thin
g you can do is to let your army remain static or form a "noob box". Your army w
ill be picked apart by decent players.
Be on the lookout for opportunities to gain the upper hand. Look for and exploit
situations like enemy units with low morale, parts of the battle where you have
a greater concentration of force, etc. To win, you must maneuver and attack.
2- Achieve local superiority and positional advantage
Gaining local superiority is bringing a larger portion of your own force to effi
ciently concentrate and engage on a smaller portion of an enemy's army, rather t
han engaging the bulk of the enemy force all at once. Positional advantage is po
sitioning your army in such a way that allows you to exploit an enemy's weakness
while minimizing your weakness such as placing your troops in a flanking positi
on or ontop a hill.
In other words, maximize the strengths of your army while minimizing your oppone
nt's strengths. Doing so will allow a smaller army to beat a larger one. Gain th
ese advantages and exploit it quickly before your opponent can muster support or
counterattack. The following are some examples on how to engineer and recognize
local superiority and positional advantage:
Numerical superiority- Situation: 5 units vs 3 enemy units on one part the battle
field.
You have local superiority and potentially positional advantage should you fix a
nd flank.
Force concentration- Situation: 3 units vs 5 enemy units, your units are concentr
ated whereas your opponent's forces are spread out and cannot support each other
.
You can gain local superiority by concentrating all three of your line infantry
together to defeat your opponent in detail.
Quality troops- Situation: 3 elite units vs 3 regular enemy units, both sides are
concentrated.
You have the local superiority as your elite units will outshoot your opponent's
regular troops.
Clever positioning- Situation: 3 units vs 3 enemy units, both sides are concentra
ted.
You can obtain positional advantage by tying up two of his units with one of you
r's and then concentrate two of your units on one of his.
While you and your opponent both have 2 units concentrating on 1 unit, you have
positional advantage because you are shooting accurately from the flanks while y
our opponent is only shooting from the front (and at your unit that will soon re
treat out of range). In other words you have positioned your units in such a way
that your opponent is unable to kill your unit while you are able to deal letha
l blows to one of your opponent's units.
Cavalry- Situation: 3 units plus a unit a cavalry vs 3 enemy units, both sides ar
e concentrated.
You can quickly win local superiority with your speedy cavalry and you will win
the engagement with firearms disruption.
In summary units are strengthened by proximity to supporting units, don't attack
your opponent piecemeal. You must use your army as a cohesive force and commit
to attacks that are supported and well positioned.
3- Retreat when neccessary
If you find your unit being flanked or in danger of being flanked, your best opt
ion is to retreat as demonstrated by the diagram below:
This will force your opponent to reposition his units, buying you time to counte
r attack his army elsewhere and reorganize your forces. If your opponent has a o
verwhelming number of forces threatening you flank, considering folding your fla
nk.
Don't make it easy for your opponent to destroy your forces.
4- Attack where you are strong, avoid where you are weak
Don't commit to an attack unless you have (or can quickly obtain) local superior
ity and positional advantage. Look for weakness in your opponent's formation, or
position your army to engineer an advantage. Where your army is weak, avoid bat
tle and bide for time.
5- Utilize terrain
Units on high elevation are more accurate and get a melee bonus. Moreover you ca
n stack line/elite infantry, artilery behind each other on a slope and not suffe
r friendly fire-- and thus creating deadly fields of fire. You can also position
units behind hills to shelter them from incoming musket or artilery fire.
Bottlenecks created by land formations or bridges are also important to exploit,
you can bring the entire weight of your fire on units trying to cross the bottl
eneck while your enemy cannot. Moreover units that have successfully crossed a b
ottleneck are suspectible to envlopment. You can hold up enemy forces twice the
size at the opening of a bottleneck.
You can also hide your forces in forests to create ambushes. It's very devastati
ng to chew up an enemy unit with musket fire as it moves unsuspectingly through
the forest. Even if your opponent knows you've hidden a unit at a particular loc
ation, it serves as a psychological threat as your opponent will want to check o
n its location often.
6- Avoid tunnel vision
Don't become too focused on one part of the battle for too long, get used to kee
ping tabs on various parts of the battlefield at all times. You don't want your
left flank to evaporate under enemy attack because you were too busy focusing on
your right flank to notice.
7- Reserves
A true tactical reserve is not neccessary in NTW as orders are carried out immed
iately even for troops committed in battle. Reserves in this game function rathe
r as a counter to cavalry and melee infantry, as placing a unit of line infantry
behind another will allow the unit in the back to shoot up any calvary/melee ch
arges into the unit in front.
Infantry situated in a straight line is vulnerable to cavalry induced firearms d
isruption as the enemy can easily run his cavalry up and down your line disrupti
ng all of your infantry. The enemy can then push up his infantry to engage to qu
ickly deal alot of damage to your forces. Placing your infantry in a truncated f
ashion allows you to quickly kill cavalry that is disrupting your first row infa
ntry.
However, there is a tradeoff for this formation. While you are more protected ag
ainst cavalry and firearms disruption, should your opponent present his linear l
ine of infantry to shoot at your first row he will have the local advantage as y
our reserves in the second row will be outside of firing range. You can offset d
isadvantage by moving your reserves up to form a single solid line after you've
dealt with the cavalry. If you can manage the increased micromanagement burden,
this can be a very effective formation.
8- Avoid disorganization
When mounting a quick and successful attack, it's easy for your forces to become
disorganized and end up having unsupported light infantry, isolated line infant
ry, and units facing odd directions. This leaves you vulnerable to a counter off
ensive, so often it's better to keep your forces organized than to overpursue yo
ur momentum. The same advice is applicable to your forces that have been heavily
damaged by an enemy offensive, which will often leave holes and vulnerable flan
ks in your army. Retreat and reorganize.
Tactics Part 2
How to get the first volley
Being able to shoot first confers a huge advantage. Between equal units, the uni
t shooting first will win the firefight. Between unequal units, a weaker unit ge
tting to shoot first evens the playing field. There are several ways to obtain a
first volley.
1- Waiting
The most obvious way to get a first volley is to wait for your opponent to move
into range. Or you can wait for an opportunity where your opponent is shuffling
around his army, as units in motion cannot fire either. This method is not recom
mended, as you are allowing your opponent to seize the initative.
2- Approach from the sides or rear
A unit cannot fire at you if it is not facing you. Even if you cannot fix your e
nemy's unit from the front you can still exploit that fact and constantly try to
outflank your opponent.
Your opponent will be forced to respond by wheeling around his unit and if he fa
ils to respond, then you will get unreciprocated volleys. It's even better to fi
x your enemy from the front.
You can use the threat of a first volley to "fix" an opposing unit without even
drawing blood, meanwhile you can move other units to threaten their flank and ge
t the first volley.
3- Firearms disruption
This method is the most recommended as it often not only nets you a first volley
but also subsequent volleys without any return fire. An infantry unit that has
been forced into a square formation or is occupied in melee cannot produce much
firepower. See the cavalry section for more details.
Strategems
1- Frontal Assault
Only pursuing a frontal assault while eschewing any other manuvering is not reco
mmended. One is that by only committing to a frontal assault you give up local s
uperiority and allow your opponent to utilize his full combat strength against y
ou, resulting in huge casualities for you. Secondly, breaking the enemy from the
front not an easy affair, they recieve the least casualities from the front and
have a clear line of retreat-- so even relatively weak units are hard to destro
y from the front. Third, trying to break through your enemy's center through bru
te force means that you have placed your best troops in the center and your flan
ks are very vulnerable as demonstrated by the diagram below:
Even if break through the enemy's center you risk being counterattacked and surr
ounded. However, a frontal assault can be successful if you have range superiori
ty (i.e. light infantry vs weak/non-existent enemy light infantry/riflemen).
2- Envlopement
Envlopement is the oldest trick in the book and there is a reason why it is used
time and time again--- it's simple yet effective. Envlopement (basically flanki
ng on a bigger scale) is occupying your opponent from the front and then maneuve
ring units to attack his side or rear. This works for all types of units such as
cavalry or line infantry.
This tactical application gives you several advantages, one is that the flanking
unit has increased lethality and decreased casualities, two is that units being
attacked from the flanks suffer a big morale hit are more suspectible to routin
g, three is that you limit your opponent's range of movement giving you position
al advantage.
Envlopement comes in two flavors, single and double. Single envlopement is easie
r to manage and usually more feasible as you can concentrate more troops on one
flank for the attack. While double envlopement, if you can manage it effectively
, is more difficult for your opponent to respond to than single envlopement.
The picture above shows the positional advantage you want to engineer, either th
rough crushing a portion of your opponent's flank to get this positional advanta
ge or manuver. Once this has been achieved continue attacking with the flanking
force and roll up your opponent's flank.
If you find yourself facing envlopement, retreat the targeted flank and stage a
counterattack on your opponent's flank. I don't recommend sending too many reinf
orcements to stabilize your flank as it is time consuming and often your opponen
t has already achieved positional advantage and will chew up incoming reinforcem
ents. It's better to retreat the threatened flank and buy time for a counteratta
ck.
3- Oblique Order
Oblique order is intentionally concentrating your force onto one strong flank at
the cost of weakening other parts of your army. You offset the vulnerability of
the weak flank by delaying its engagement with the enemy while your strong flan
k moves ahead to overwhelm the enemy with a withering frontal assault or a singl
e envlopement. This army setup works well with the hammer tactic.
However, this formation is vulnerable to maneuver. A skilled opponent that has s
pread his army strength evenly to both flanks will avoid your strong flank while
attacking your weak flank. Moreover this formation limits your tactical flexibi
lity as your weak flank cannot accomplish much. Thus this formation is recommend
ed for team games or maps where mobility is limited.
Conversely, you can have a decipitively small but strong flank and a large but w
eak flank. Your opponent could be tricked into thinking the real threat is from
your large weak flank and weaken his other flank to reinforce against this "thre
at". Then attack weakened flank with your small strong flank to gain the decisiv
e advantage.
In addition, you could approach your opponent in an oblique order fashion even i
f you have spread your forces out evenly. For example, if your opponent has a st
rong flank you wish to avoid-- move your other flank ahead to first engage and d
estroy your opponents weak flank.
4- Dislocation
Dislocation is forcing an enemy to abandon an entrenched position (such as a hil
l) by threatening to attack another vulnerable section of the opposing force. If
they don't send reinforcements they risk the destruction of it. For example on
the map Borodino, you can compel your opponents to give up or weaken the hill by
concentrating on another section of the enemy's army.
Factions
The faction roster is not kind to every nation and there are clearly factions wi
th distinct advantages. There are three tiers of factions and the order in which
they are listed within each category and does not denote their superiority.
The best factions
1- Prussia
Prussia is arguably the most balanced faction in the entire game. They feature a
verage line infantry, cheap and decent lancers, average artilery, respectable el
ite infantry, and shine with the best light infantry out of all of the top natio
ns. Prussia is a very versatile faction with the tools to tackle just about anyt
hing. To be successful with Prussia, a combined arms approach is needed. Persona
lly my favorite faction.
2- Britain
This faction is a infantry-centric faction. Britain possess light infantry that
is only slightly worse than Prussia's, the best regular line infantry out of all
of the factions and excellent elite infantry. The faction's major weakness is c
avalry, with the rosters lacking any lancers whatsoever, leading to a major disa
dvantage in open flat maps where you can expect to lose the cavalry on cavalry f
ight. Britain is a faction suggested for chokepoint maps where cavalry is useles
s.
3- French
This faction is an elite infantry-centric faction, with the powerful old guard b
eing France's greatest asset. While boasting the best combat stats out of any in
fantry unit, the old guard also has a fear ability that automatically lowers the
morale of enemy units nearby. This makes the old guard a deadly flanker who can
rout opposing forces very quickly. France's cavalry is expensive but good. Fran
ce also boast the best ranged cavalry which with good micromanagement is a daunt
ing force to be reckoned with especially when use in conjunction with the old gu
ard. The line infantry is on par with Prussia and plays more for a supporting ro
le for the elite infantry. France's major weakness is light infantry which great
ly lags behind the Prussia and Britain, forcing french players to play aggressiv
ely.
4- Ottomans
Ottoman's main strengths are their melee infantry and cavalry roster. Ottomans b
oasts arguably the best cavalry roster in the game with extremely powerful lance
rs which not only have good charge but also excel with melee abilities that is o
n par with heavy calvary. In addition to the lancer threat, Ottoman's also have
very capable ranged calvary. Ottoman's cemaat janisseries are affordable and dea
dly melee infantry, with 3 upgrades they can quickly destroy opposing elite infa
ntry. But they are quick to fatigue, so make sure to conserve their stamina. Ott
oman's melee infantry assets makes them uniquely good at taking hills, chokepoin
ts and houses. Ottoman's ranged units are decidely subpar, lacking any sort of e
lite infantry whatsoever. However, when augmented with melee infantry and cavalr
y, Ottomans are a force to be reckoned with.
Second tier factions
1- Russia
Russia shines with its special howitzer unit, the unicorn. With superior range,
versatility and firepower they will absolutely give you absolute artilery superi
ority and allow you to control the flow on chokepoint maps. Russia also has a de
cent cavalry roster that is basically a weaker version of France. That said, the
rest of Russia's roster is utterly subpar and cost inefficient. Russia's light
infantry and line/elite infantry, for the same price as major factions, have abs
olutely the worst shooting skills in the entire game and average melee abilities
. However the line/elite infantry do have an ace up their sleeve: high charge st
ats. This however is only useful in certain circumstances such as the end game w
here both your opponents units are largely depleted and can be routed with a dec
isive bayonet charge.
2- Sweden
Sweden's ranged cavalry is cheap (arguably the most cost effective in the game)
and common army builds revolve around it. Sweden's line/elite infantry is averag
e and can hold their own and in conjunction with the ranged cavalry makes for an
effective rush army. Sweden's biggest weakess is the absence of any light infan
try in their roster, forcing players to close distance quickly.
3- Portugual
Portugual features the best light infantry in the game, however everything else
is decidely mediocre. Portugual's main weakness is having the worst cavalry rost
er in the entire game, which is one cavalry unit so weak it can barely serve the
role of firearms disruption. Not to mention Portugual has no elite infantry. Po
rtugual is basically a weaker version of Britain.
4- Spain
Spain's speciality are their guerrilla units which can be placed basically anywh
ere on the map during the deployment phase. They have certain useful tactical ap
plications such as capturing buildings and hills immediately after the beginning
of a battle. On grassy flatlands you can place guerrilla units behind the enemy
's army, which can catch an unexperienced player off guard. However, Spain's uni
t roster is overall pretty mediocre. Spain is fairly similar to Austria.
5- Austria
The most balanced faction out of all of the second tier factions. Austria is bas
ically a weaker version of Prussia. However Austria lacks a true elite infantry
unit which hampers its raw power.
Third tier factions
1- Denmark
Lacking any light infantry and lancers, Denmark is at a huge disadvantage. They
have a variety of lackluster riflemen, artillery and line/elite infantry. Demark
lacks any specfic strengths which puts them at the mercy of better factions.
2- United Netherlands
Absolutely the worst faction. With no elite infantry, mediocre light and line in
fantry, subpar artillery and bad cavalry. United Provinces is truely a difficult
faction to succeed with.
Developing your skills
How to efficiently improve your skill in NTW
1- Don't practice too much against the AI
Playing the AI too much leads to some bad habits. It doesn't challenge you to an
y real degree and you can often win by camping. While you can practice the funda
mentals of micromanagement against the AI, to really grasp the tactical intricac
ies of NTW you need to play with other people.
2- Play on grassy flatlands
More specifically, play a 1v1 on that map. Your skill is truely on display here,
you can't hide your deficiencies behind better teammates or ontop of hills. You
can't camp and expect to win. Many terrain maps are unfair and favor one side o
ver the other (i.e. Waterloo, Borodino). Grassy flatlands gives no advantages to
either side and the player who can maneuver better will win. Skills you obtain
here will be applicable to every other map you play. For a good terrain map to p
ractice on, play on Galician ria, a relatively even map that has many subtle ter
rain features.
3- Save and watch your replays
Often in your heat of battle, you make split second decisions and sometimes you
get lost in the details that you don't quite grasp the whole picture. Or the opp
osite could happen and you didn't catch how your unit rouited so quickly. Watchi
ng your replays can often tell you something about the battle you didn't notice
at the time. Watch what you did right and what you did wrong, and learn from it.

4- Get familiar with the major factions
Know what your opponent's faction is capable of and you can predict what tactics
he will adopt. For example, expect Prussia to keep you at bay with superior lig
ht infantry and expect Ottomans to try a melee rush.
5- Handicap yourself with weaker factions
Playing with weaker factions leaves you with less room for error and forces you
to be tactically flexible. As you become more seasoned, if you end up playing ag
ainst a novice player try handicapping yourself.
6- Practice, practice, practice
What sets apart great players is their flawless execution of basic tactics, and
that comes from practice. The old adage holds true, practice makes perfect.
132 Comments < 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 14 > )LV( DEFEATED 3 Dec @ 2:09am
I wish gamers could read this guide to become a more competitive community besid
es sitting in noob squares. Great job! Pier Lagrange 9 Nov @ 12:25pm
Very good work: for the details, is a shame not to have it in Italian language
JeffTheKiller 26 Oct @ 7:38pm
GLORIOUS GUIDE,im 5 stars,and i used prussia and great britain all the way.i wis
h i could fight against you,you will kick my ass but,practice,right? :) [kkkill
a] pietjan 26 Oct @ 7:07pm
France has the disatvatage of bad licht inf. but they have the best art. so they
can play defensive, moreover they have an expension with very good lights Fool
ishPedro[HUN] 5 Oct @ 5:14am
Probably,one of the best if not the best guide on Napoleon: Total War.Thank you.
Glorious Wave 28 Sep @ 10:52pm
good guide, thank you. McTangle 23 Sep @ 5:13am
This guide is king-tier quality. Bloody good show, old chap. [TheDead]Oxbowairp
lane0 21 Sep @ 8:28pm
That was beautiful... I am lost for words Drew 6 Sep @ 11:02pm
Strong name to guide quality correlation. Edmund Poulsen 28 Aug @ 10:16am
The diamond formation is meant to change direction quickly whilst charging. Exce
llent guide, though. (I also like using dragoons to fill gaps, dismounted) < 1 2
3 4 5 6 ... 14 > .
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