I really dont get the battles...

[Loboscuro]

I want to destroy an army based on swordmen and cavalry in a plains without forest. He has the following troops:
- 2k light swordmen
- 1,5k light cavalry
- 1k heavy speamen
- 4,5k heavy swordmen
- 1,3k heavy cavalry

I have the troops to destroy that army:
- 5,5k heavy spearmen
- 4k heavy archers
- 6k heavy swordmen
- 4k heavy cavalry

However, when I use the calculator to see the optimal army composition to reduce losses, I get annoyed. Ok, I remove the archers cos he lacks spearmen and in plains without forest they are just gonna get slaughtered by his cavalry, reducing my morale without purpose. But then I removed the 6k heavy swordmen and the result didnt change much ^^ :
I lose 0,6k heavy spearmen and 0,6k heavy cavalry more, but I save 1,5k heavy swordmen. From a resource point of view, that is balanced. I know he doesnt have archers and almost no spearmen, but still 6k heavy swordmen in that army should make a difference (at least to face all his swordmen).

Where is my mistake in understanding the combat mechanics?

[tiger]

your problem is that his army is mostly cavalry, swords and almost no spears. So in general, while your heavy swords increase your flank so your cavalry is stronger, they get slaughtered from cavalry because it has huge bonus against them. without them, you lose more cavalry because it is less in flank then with your swords in battle.
probably most efective army would be if you had much more cavalry. but also plains with forest ruins a little that strategy with decreasing cavalry strength, while defender benefits from that 10% bonus.

[Loboscuro]

Thanks for the answer and the explanation. I guess I was getting obssessed with optimizing the flanking bonus. I cant get much more cavalry in time (war is almost over) but he doesnt know I have that cavalry (I have been hiding them all the time) so he is gonna face a nasty surprise. He feels confortable with so much cavalry in plains so he wont move the army. I will work more with the calculator to optimize number of spears in my army, while cavalry will go in full.

Again, thanks a lot for the tips.

[HerrSchultze]

high ammounts of light spendable lights spears will do to maximize your flank

[fragmaster]

no,in this situation he should just go pure cavalry.Thats best against sw+cavalry,u save moral with it.Dont forget to win round 2 shootout with some archers(fewer better).

[fragmaster]

problem is already having a lot unnessesary units

[Loboscuro]

Yep, I postponed the attack until I had some more heavy cavalry. I took some archers but not all, enough to kill his spearmen without losing too many of them against so much swordmen. Same with the spearmen, enough to bother his cavalry but not too many to reduce loses against the swordmen. I went with cavalry and swordmen in full.

He got the nasty surprise of another 1,5k heavy spearmen which hurt my cavalry bad, but at the same time were a boost to my swordmen efficiency in battle.

I actually love the combat system of this game, it looks very realistic. Too many people at low levels always go with their army in full, while you face them selecting your troops based on their army composition. And then they get annoyed due to the difference in losses, they seem not to understand how important morale is in a battle (in history many large armies have been defeated by smaller forces just because they were getting slaughtered, so the rest flew).

Gratz to the developers, good job. Too bad now I would like many more type of units to mix around

[blackdeath]

your problem is that his army is mostly cavalry, swords and almost no spears. So in general, while your heavy swords increase your flank so your cavalry is stronger, they get slaughtered from cavalry because it has huge bonus against them. without them, you lose more cavalry because it is less in flank then with your swords in battle.
probably most efective army would be if you had much more cavalry. but also plains with forest ruins a little that strategy with decreasing cavalry strength, while defender benefits from that 10% bonus.

excellent answer. lots of people dont realise that getting most of your cavalry to flank is the best