How to deploy an army in a multiplayer game

[Gwaylare]

Deployment seems to be intuitiv and straight forward, believe me it is not. You will not win a battle during deployment, but you might get in a bad position if you just throw your army onto the battlefield. Read Sun Tsus "The art of war". Most of the time he is discussing the perparation of a battle. A battle will just flow. If your preparation was better than your opponent you will win otherwise you will loose. Deployment is one part of preparation and probably the least discussed.
So I am still a noob in playing FOG and learning a lot every week, so please be patient if this is all very well known to you

Deployment Area:
First of all buy an army (I will not discuss choosing units hear) and than use the Autodeploy function. In some cases, especially if you are playing a large army or if there is a stream or water on one of your flanks, this will enlarge your deployment area significantly. The size of the deployment area is calculated in relation to the autodeployed army.

Once you have your deployment area, setup your army. Keep an eye on terrain. In most cases it is not relevant in which terrain your units sits in, it is important where your unit will move to. Check if your units will get trouble with terrain in the next three or four turns. Be a scout and look were your army will move to. Some units like phalanxes or lancers need open terrain for some bonuses. Sometimes there is for example a track with trees, which is not open terrain, even if movement is normal. That can ruin your day. If you fight those units, try to bait them into some non open terrain.
So plan your units way and setup your units accordingly. Do check the height of all nearby hills. There is a significant difference of hills with height 100 or 200 but there are looking almost equal.
Forests are obvious, swamps and streams are not. So take your time to identify terrain and make it your friend It is not only relevant how you feel about terrain. How does your opponent may feel about terrain. Sometimes I do push some of my units through really bad terrain just because my opponent do not expect me to do something foolish like this. In most cases this will destroy your opponents battle plan and then it is a question how fast he is able to adapt to your plan.

Seldom I advance with my army over the full width. In most cases I identify one flank to advance and deploy my units accordingly. In most cases this flank is overweighted and has a reserve of units. Once I see the troups of my opponent, I will double check my plan. Throw away your plan, if the deployment of your opponent will not allow it or if there is better opportunity. For example a cavalry attack on a flank with superior cavalry will fail in most cases, if enemy cavalry is supported by a lot of light units (bowmen or slingers). So drop your plan and think about something different. If you cannot win a flank be patient and buy time. There will be a a part of the battlefield with a superior position for you. Do not run into a battle you cannot win, just because it was your plan

[Gwaylare]

Generals:
Do not assign additional generals just to one superior unit. Insteed build groups auf units and assign the generals to a group. In fact each assigned general starts a new command group. With most deployments you will start with a cavalry group together with a subgeneral und one large group of infantry with your C in C and 2 subgenerals left. The cavalry group works fine and in most cases no change is needed. The infantry group does not work at all. In most cases I want to devide them in two infantry groups with one subgeneral each.
Assign a subgeneral to a unit on the left side.

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This will start a new group of units. Then add about half of the infantry to the group.

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Next move your C in C to a unit of the group you have just created. The C in C is able to switch groups and should not have a group on its own. Then assign a subgeneral to the right flank and assign the the rest of the infantry to his group. At last move the C in C where ever you feel he is needed.
Now we do have 3 groups with subgenerals. Left infantry, Right infantry and Cavalry. The C in C is assigned to any unit of any of those groups.
Sometimes when I have just some cavalry on both side and do not want to get out with them. Just watching the flanks. Then I use three groups of infantry and assign the cavalry to the left and right flank groups. There are always three groups, because there are three subgenerals.
@Richard: Please think about a more comfortable way of building command groups. To assign every single unit to a new group is really painfull

Why is it worth to do all this?
In addition to the obvious bonuses of a general for combat and movement, there are two other benefits. I think they are really important.
First a general allows you a test to rally the unit he is assigned to every turn. I think it is a 20% chance otherwise. Especially at the beginning of the combat, when a unit gets disrupted I do assign a general to the unit asap to rally as fast as possible. I do that even for some important but fragmented units and in special cases even for routing units. The general takes the role of a healer than insteed of a fighter.
But a subgeneral can just move to units of his command group. You loose this flexibilty of assingning a general to rally a unit, if you do not have proper groups assigned during deployment.
Second a general fighting with unit in close combat gives a bonus to a moral test for the unit assigned to and units of his command group within range. I think it is a quarter of the usual command range. So 2-3 fields around the commander. This bonus give your troups a better chance to held firm, when loosing a combat round.

Both bonuses do combine with each other very good. So do not throw your commander into combat at first. If a unit gets disrupted, jump to it giving it three bonuses. At first the usual +50 combat bonus, the bonus to held firm and not get fragmented and the bonus to rally and get steady again. This do work best for troups getting disrupted because of bad luck very early or units attacked by two units at the same time.
In addition nearby units of your command group will get the held firm bonus.

Moving Commanders during battle is as important as moving units. Often I draw back a commander before an attack, if I feel he is not needed for this attack. Once a commander is in combat your flexibilty is gone. Sometimes you need to throw an commander into battle early. But it is helpfull to have some commanders in reserve to help where the battle needs them.
If you just assign a subgeneral to a single unit, all the bonuses are just for this unit. You have no flexibility to move the general then.

[Gwaylare]

Start Direction:
When you want to go out to the flank with your cavalry or light, than adjust there direction during deployment. You will win a free turn in first round. This is just peanuts and most time you will not need the free turn, but sometimes you will be able to move an additional field and will have a smile on your face. In most cases it is just a single click.

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See you all on the battlefield
Gwaylare

If you have any additional hints, just post them.

[Gwaylare]

*reserved for further comments*

[Ludendorf]

Skirmishers are great for disrupting an enemy battle plan, so its a good idea to think about where to deploy them. The very first thing you need to consider is if you have skirmish superiority or inferiority. This will dramatically change how you deploy your skirmishers; either as a central part of your battle plan or in a supporting and more defensive role.

You've got two options with your skirmishers; keep them concentrated, or disperse them to provide multiple options. Concentrating them is great if you have less skirmishers than your opponent, but need your lights to carry out one crucial role on the battlefield; be it attacking enemy cav, going after mediums marooned on rough ground in a sea of open terrain, or harassing the enemy's valuable heavies and pulling them out of formation.

Dispersed deployment, on the other hand, suggests that you have enough skirmishers to hold the enemy lights in place somewhere and attack somewhere else. I find you need at least groups of five to be effective, though superior archers can be deadly in smaller numbers, and cavalry need less massed skirmishers to damage significantly; while I'd recommend more, even three units of ordinary skirmishers can be enough to disrupt a unit of cavalry. (Their normally Superior status will probably save them though.) A good idea, I think, is to deploy your skirmishers with two targets in mind; say, in front of both enemy cavalry flanks if you think they're likely to split their cavalry force to each flank. Your enemy will probably block the skirms on one flank with their own... this does them no good if you can then attack the other flank or the enemy's vulnerable infantry with the other side. You're not looking to destroy the enemy's skirmishers here, at least, not at the macro level. You're looking to tie their skirmisher up while the rest of your skirmish force achieves a goal.

Cavalry can seem like a risky target for foot skirmishers, but when paired with your own outnumbered cavalry, winning the skirmish can make the difference between victory and defeat. A few units of bows, slingers and javelin throwers concentrated can quickly decimate cavalry forces, especially if protected by rough ground. If the skirmishers get caught and stand their ground, your cavalry can often move up and butcher the enemy cavalry who are now caught in melee. Even if you don't deploy any cavalry at all on a flank, relying on rough ground to delay the enemy's arrival, placing your skirmishers there can mess up the enemy cavalry charge so badly that they never arrive, or arrive in such a state that they can barely carry out their original mission. This deployment of skirmishers on a vulnerable flank can be particularly devastating if there's a large patch of rough ground your enemy needs to cross to access your flanks, or if you have a few mediums available to support as well.

As mentioned, skirmishers do a great job disrupting mediums and forcing them off rough terrain. If you see rough terrain and reckon the enemy will bring a medium force, and want to achieve this, then deploy a sizeable body of skirmishers in line with that rough ground. Remember, the enemy may not look to deploy on rough ground on their side of the field, but instead advance onto rough ground further up the field towards your side of it. Anticipate this.

Finally, skirmishers can throw off the superior units in an enemy line. They're worth a lot more to you when killed (not as score, but as a depletion of the enemy's fighting power) and if your skirmishers can tie them up, they can either be kept out of the battle for a while or locked up while more powerful units manoeuvre to destroy them. If you anticipate where their elites are and want to go after them, you'd better bring a sizeable force though. These units don't go down easily, and will usually be well-protected by your opponent's skirmishers, the enemy's cavalry, and other units in the battle line.

I generally find it a waste of time to go after phalanxes or warbands with skirmishers. Unless your opponent can be baited into chasing them, they can do very little against that great mass of pike, and you generally want to outflank a pike unit to destroy it, not grind it down (the hardest possible way to stop pikes.) If you see a vulnerable unit of ordinary pike and an elite unit of shock infantry or something, then it can be worth wearing down that in-depth bonus if you can really hammer the pike unit on the charge. But generally, your skirmishers are best used going after enemy cavalry, mediums, other skirmishers and even ordinary heavy infantry before they think about confronting a phalanx or warband. I would deploy my skirmishers to avoid these units, unless it is to block or slow them.

Finally, don't be afraid to dramatically alter your skirmisher plan. These guys are the fastest troops on the battlefield, and you can pull off some incredible redeployments before the main clash happens. The skirmisher's main asset is mobility; if you take that away, you may as well have left them at home.

Addendum.

It is obviously worth mentioning that deploying your skirmishers up against the front of enemy cavalry without any plan of what to do when they are hit the next turn can only end badly. Plan your deployment either so this doesn't happen, it happens to a purpose, or you have something to hit the enemy cav with after it does. Skirmishers frequently fragment when hit by enemy cavalry, so don't count on them holding up a couple of melees while your cavalry get the multiple-engagement bonus. That's frequently not decisive anyway. If you're getting your skirms caught for any other purpose than a brief delaying action, then you're probably going to need someone ready to flank the guys attacking your skirmishers, or you need to have disrupted the enemy cavalry badly enough that you really do buy some time for your beleaguered skirmishers. This applies equally to infantry catching your skirmishers; it can happen, so you need a plan for when it does. It is possible to make the seeming disaster of your skirms being caught by heavy troops turn to your favour.

Anyway, that's my two cents on the deployment of skirmishers, probably my favourite unit in this game.

[nyczar]

Skirmishers frequently fragment when hit by enemy cavalry, so don't count on them holding up a couple of melees while your cavalry get the multiple-engagement bonus.

I am not aware of the multiple engagement bonus you cite. is that in the manual (where) or what is it please?

PS, thanks for the skirmisher post, i am having difficulty now with someone who using their skirmishers well.

[Ludendorf]

Skirmishers frequently fragment when hit by enemy cavalry, so don't count on them holding up a couple of melees while your cavalry get the multiple-engagement bonus.

I am not aware of the multiple engagement bonus you cite. is that in the manual (where) or what is it please?

PS, thanks for the skirmisher post, i am having difficulty now with someone who using their skirmishers well.

Ah, it's more like the engaged unit gets a multiple engagement penalty. Units fighting multiple units get a 20% malus to their combat ability per extra enemy units, up to a maximum of 50%.

[vakarr]

When deploying remember that your opponent can't see your troops if they are behind hills or in woods or buildings - and you also can't see all his troops if there is terrain in the way. It's terrific that sometimes you have send some scouts to climb a hill to reveal the enemy troops behind it!