Total War: Rule Britannia, literally.

[Zoroland]

So, I recently got Medieval 2, and I decided to play a campaign as Venice. It's now 1510, I'm at war with France, Poland, Sicily, Milan, Egypt, Turks, and the Timurids, I've wiped out the Byzantine Empire, and I'm two battles away from wiping out Milan. I've noticed that cannon towers are way too OP and that Venice gets really good militia infantry.

[Post War America]

So, I recently got Medieval 2, and I decided to play a campaign as Venice. It's now 1510, I'm at war with France, Poland, Sicily, Milan, Egypt, Turks, and the Timurids, I've wiped out the Byzantine Empire, and I'm two battles away from wiping out Milan. I've noticed that cannon towers are way too OP and that Venice gets really good militia infantry.

Cannon towers are so much fun tho, especially when the Mongol Hordes come to wreck your shit.

[Shanowinn]

I stick to line infantry and militia the most personally, as they make up the bulk of my armies. Although both cross roles, I try to keep militia mostly in forts and cities to defend/keep order, and line infantry for field battles. Early on militia fires in the same pattern as line infantry so militia and line inf are less distinguishable, however IIRC militia don't get fire by rank or anything.

I will use grenadiers sometimes--they can be stupidly effective but it seems like they're best used in teams with line infantry. Have the line infantry engage the enemy line and lock them in, then have grenadiers throw grenades, follow up with a volley, and all advance. They require a bit more micro though.

One unit I rarely use is Dragoons. Anyone else?

(NTW viewpoint here, your results may vary)

I like to keep roughly a 2:1 ratio of line and light infantry, that way all my line units can have skirmishers screening them. I also prefer to keep militia on garrison duties, but if I have to take them into the field I'll hold them in reserve if possible.

I only use grenadiers if my army spawns with them at the start of the campaign, I don't actively recruit them because I don't find grenade attacks to be very effective, and I'd prefer to have the extra manpower of a regular infantry unit. If I do have grenadiers, I typically use them to reinforce my line if they become engaged in a melee, or to protect my batteries from being overrun by infantry.

I swear by artillery. There's nothing more satisfying then ripping gaping holes in the enemy infantry line as they march slowly across the entire battlefield.

As for dragoons (by which I mean mounted troops with carbines, because by the Napoleonic era some "dragoons" are dragoons in name only), I recruit them if I can because of the extra punch that they have from firing a volley before a charge, and by this era they're just as good with a sabre as other light cavalry units. I never have them dismount though, because they suck on foot.

Yeah things might be different from ETW to NTW. I swear I remember blasting a full 120 man line regiment to about 80+ guys with one good head on grenade volley. Head on was key, because basically every grenade landed right by their feet. If the grenadier unit is off to the side then of course the effect is not as great. But I remember it being good for delivering a shock to an enemy unit. It could depend on morale too, a grenade attack undoubtedly hits morale too and a regular or militia unit will not be as steadfast.

Oh yes artillery can be great, I tend to increase arty numbers once I get the 12 lbers since they can be moved around. I haven't done much with those light artillery pieces though.

[Zoroland]

So, I recently got Medieval 2, and I decided to play a campaign as Venice. It's now 1510, I'm at war with France, Poland, Sicily, Milan, Egypt, Turks, and the Timurids, I've wiped out the Byzantine Empire, and I'm two battles away from wiping out Milan. I've noticed that cannon towers are way too OP and that Venice gets really good militia infantry.

Cannon towers are so much fun tho, especially when the Mongol Hordes come to wreck your shit.

During my Venice campaign, the Pope called a crusade on Cairo, and I got there first. Cairo was mostly undefended for some reason, so I was able to easily take it. Later, after the Mongol and Timurid invasions, a jihad gets called on Cairo. I hired a bunch of militia troops, and luckily, my cannon towers were finished just in time.

I let each army siege Cairo, and then sallied out but left my forces inside the city and fast forwarded, letting my cannon towers do the work. I get several heroic victories, and my governor in Cairo gains several command stars. Eventually, the Jihad failed, and I even managed to get a ceasefire with the Mongols for 5000 florins (the Mongols paid me the 5000 florins, that is).

[Shanowinn]

Haha makes me want to play M2TW again. I had fun in the Americas expansion last I played. I'd never played that one much before.

[The Rich Port]

So, I recently got Medieval 2, and I decided to play a campaign as Venice. It's now 1510, I'm at war with France, Poland, Sicily, Milan, Egypt, Turks, and the Timurids, I've wiped out the Byzantine Empire, and I'm two battles away from wiping out Milan. I've noticed that cannon towers are way too OP and that Venice gets really good militia infantry.

I recommend you don't rely on them too much, despite how good they are.

They're not very good at inflicting casualties, rather they're more about holding the line until the unite they're fighting gets flanked.

However, heavier infantry of any kind will get their goat. They also crumble easily when they're flanked, whether by cavalry or by other infantry.

I usually upgrade as soon as I can. Had them always turning tail and running when the battle got even just a little too hard, kept leaving my crossbows without cover.

They do make great garrisons, though.

Once held off a doomstack of shitty Genoese militia that assaulted Venice with 3 units of Spear militia. Of course, the casualties were mostly inflicted by tower arrow fire.

I think I had ballista towers, actually. Made all the difference, probably.

[Shanowinn]

As far as militia crumbling, reminds me of the unupgraded Spanish pike militia in the Americas expansion. Great for cheaply keeping order but if its to arms, they'll have a bad time unless maybe you upgrade their armor. Of course militias aren't supposed to be as good as regular troops but I feel like these were more on par with peasant units, undeserving of a militia designation. Maybe Venice has good militia infantry, but I think even run of the mill early game militia from other nations in regular M2TW are much more reliable and capable even straight out of the box. Hope I'm not remembering wrong but even at the time when I was playing Americas I noticed the Pike militia's apparent inadequacy.

[Genivaria]

As far as militia crumbling, reminds me of the unupgraded Spanish pike militia in the Americas expansion. Great for cheaply keeping order but if its to arms, they'll have a bad time unless maybe you upgrade their armor. Of course militias aren't supposed to be as good as regular troops but I feel like these were more on par with peasant units, undeserving of a militia designation. Maybe Venice has good militia infantry, but I think even run of the mill early game militia from other nations in regular M2TW are much more reliable and capable even straight out of the box. Hope I'm not remembering wrong but even at the time when I was playing Americas I noticed the Pike militia's apparent inadequacy.

In fairness pike units in general in M2TW were broken.

[Impaled Nazarene]

As far as militia crumbling, reminds me of the unupgraded Spanish pike militia in the Americas expansion. Great for cheaply keeping order but if its to arms, they'll have a bad time unless maybe you upgrade their armor. Of course militias aren't supposed to be as good as regular troops but I feel like these were more on par with peasant units, undeserving of a militia designation. Maybe Venice has good militia infantry, but I think even run of the mill early game militia from other nations in regular M2TW are much more reliable and capable even straight out of the box. Hope I'm not remembering wrong but even at the time when I was playing Americas I noticed the Pike militia's apparent inadequacy.

In fairness pike units in general in M2TW were broken.

Scotland?

[Zoroland]

So, I recently got Medieval 2, and I decided to play a campaign as Venice. It's now 1510, I'm at war with France, Poland, Sicily, Milan, Egypt, Turks, and the Timurids, I've wiped out the Byzantine Empire, and I'm two battles away from wiping out Milan. I've noticed that cannon towers are way too OP and that Venice gets really good militia infantry.

I recommend you don't rely on them too much, despite how good they are.

They're not very good at inflicting casualties, rather they're more about holding the line until the unite they're fighting gets flanked.

However, heavier infantry of any kind will get their goat. They also crumble easily when they're flanked, whether by cavalry or by other infantry.

I usually upgrade as soon as I can. Had them always turning tail and running when the battle got even just a little too hard, kept leaving my crossbows without cover.

They do make great garrisons, though.

Once held off a doomstack of shitty Genoese militia that assaulted Venice with 3 units of Spear militia. Of course, the casualties were mostly inflicted by tower arrow fire.

I think I had ballista towers, actually. Made all the difference, probably.

I just leave the Italian spear militia to garrison my cities, but I always have a few units of pavise crossbow militia in my field armies, since they're better than the peasant crossbows I get from castles.

[Zoroland]

double post

[Genivaria]

In fairness pike units in general in M2TW were broken.

Scotland?

All of the pike units.
The moment the enemy hits the pikes and get close the pikemen switch to their swords and proceed to get slaughtered.
There are thankfully mods that can fix this and make pike units as deadly as they should be....from the front at least.

[Zoroland]

Scotland?

All of the pike units.
The moment the enemy hits the pikes and get close the pikemen switch to their swords and proceed to get slaughtered.
There are thankfully mods that can fix this and make pike units as deadly as they should be....from the front at least.

I usually stack my pikes with another unit, usually a unit of spears, so they can fight without actually switching to swords.

[Post War America]

All of the pike units.
The moment the enemy hits the pikes and get close the pikemen switch to their swords and proceed to get slaughtered.
There are thankfully mods that can fix this and make pike units as deadly as they should be....from the front at least.

I usually stack my pikes with another unit, usually a unit of spears, so they can fight without actually switching to swords.

tbf that's how I do it in Third Age, where pike units don't have swords to switch to. Though usually its simply to put shields in the line to soak up the insanely deadly arrow fire certain Third Age archer units can put out.

[Genivaria]

I usually stack my pikes with another unit, usually a unit of spears, so they can fight without actually switching to swords.

tbf that's how I do it in Third Age, where pike units don't have swords to switch to. Though usually its simply to put shields in the line to soak up the insanely deadly arrow fire certain Third Age archer units can put out.

Dem Elven archers though...

[Zoroland]

tbf that's how I do it in Third Age, where pike units don't have swords to switch to. Though usually its simply to put shields in the line to soak up the insanely deadly arrow fire certain Third Age archer units can put out.

Dem Elven archers though...

I don't think I can get Third Age actually. I have the M2TW base game, but not the Kingdoms expansion, and the installation instructions say that I need kingdoms.

[Genivaria]

Dem Elven archers though...

I don't think I can get Third Age actually. I have the M2TW base game, but not the Kingdoms expansion, and the installation instructions say that I need kingdoms.

Get Kingdoms then, if you're not using the mods then you're missing out.
I also highly recommend Thera: Legacy of the Great Torment.

[Post War America]

Dem Elven archers though...

I don't think I can get Third Age actually. I have the M2TW base game, but not the Kingdoms expansion, and the installation instructions say that I need kingdoms.

You should get Kingdoms then. Third Age is bar none, one of my favorite video game mods, for any video game, period.

[Zoroland]

I don't think I can get Third Age actually. I have the M2TW base game, but not the Kingdoms expansion, and the installation instructions say that I need kingdoms.

You should get Kingdoms then. Third Age is bar none, one of my favorite video game mods, for any video game, period.

I'll get it when I can. Also, how is Stainless Steel? I kinda want to try it out.

[Impaled Nazarene]

So i started a Prussia no alliance run. Thus far its been fairly easy curb stomping Austria (who has been reduced to Transylvania) and Poland (who only has Galicia and Belarus left). I almost shat my pants because i was worried Britain and or the UP would declare war on me when I invaded Austria.

[Zoroland]

In Medieval 2, I'm planning on going to the New World and conquering the Aztecs as Venice. Any tips or strategies?

[Shanowinn]

In Medieval 2, I'm planning on going to the New World and conquering the Aztecs as Venice. Any tips or strategies?

Might want to bring one or two missionaries along to start converting the population. Bringing a General probably couldn't hurt. Also IIRC there isn't an actual Aztec faction of anything like that in the new world of vanilla M2TW, just rebel states, however the Americas expansion has Aztecs, Mayans, Tlaxcalans, Apaches, etc plus Spain, Britain, and France (not sure if you can play as Britain or France)

[Impaled Nazarene]

In Medieval 2, I'm planning on going to the New World and conquering the Aztecs as Venice. Any tips or strategies?

Might want to bring one or two missionaries along to start converting the population. Bringing a General probably couldn't hurt. Also IIRC there isn't an actual Aztec faction of anything like that in the new world of vanilla M2TW, just rebel states, however the Americas expansion has Aztecs, Mayans, Tlaxcalans, Apaches, etc plus Spain, Britain, and France (not sure if you can play as Britain or France)

Actually there is. I believe that the Aztecs have a spawn date however.

[Zoroland]

In Medieval 2, I'm planning on going to the New World and conquering the Aztecs as Venice. Any tips or strategies?

Might want to bring one or two missionaries along to start converting the population. Bringing a General probably couldn't hurt. Also IIRC there isn't an actual Aztec faction of anything like that in the new world of vanilla M2TW, just rebel states, however the Americas expansion has Aztecs, Mayans, Tlaxcalans, Apaches, etc plus Spain, Britain, and France (not sure if you can play as Britain or France)

No, there is an Aztec faction that controls the 3 provinces of Central America. However, North America, South America, and Cuba/The Caribbean are rebel states. The New World along with the Aztecs spawns after the World is Round event.
I used the toggle_fow cheat to find the Aztecs.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Might want to bring one or two missionaries along to start converting the population. Bringing a General probably couldn't hurt. Also IIRC there isn't an actual Aztec faction of anything like that in the new world of vanilla M2TW, just rebel states, however the Americas expansion has Aztecs, Mayans, Tlaxcalans, Apaches, etc plus Spain, Britain, and France (not sure if you can play as Britain or France)

No, there is an Aztec faction that controls the 3 provinces of Central America. However, North America, South America, and Cuba/The Caribbean are rebel states. The New World along with the Aztecs spawns after the World is Round event.
I used the toggle_fow cheat to find the Aztecs.

I invaded there once as the Russians, defeated them and only really did it after conquering most of the main map just to finally see it.