1) Find an easy mark. Such as someone who puts his keep out, this way, you can win and gain crowns with as little troops as possible. For a situation like that, use Teutonic Knights (or another heavy hitter).
Or find someone who's keep is just a little out there, right next to a wall, and not defended well.
2) Use your heroes to your advantage. Heroes are more than infantry or cav with high health and damage. They have abilities that can alll help turn a tide in battle, for instance:
Richard can be paired with Salza to make foot units a very dangerous tide, especially if they are ladder invaders, as ladder invaders have ok health, but very high attack and speed, along with the ability to climb over walls. With the speed, attack, and defense bonus of Hermann and Richard, they can take out a good number of buildings .Edward and Joan make a good combo, but you have to cover Eddie when he is destroying the keep.(Best with lvl 3 and above templars) Joan can be used to turn troops inside the castle into yours. They will even stay inside! But do not use this tactic unless that area is badly protected.
Or use Charles to distract defenses while you destroy a keep.
Or Edward to win in a matter in seconds with conrad and some siege weapons.
Or some other great combo. (Belisarius + Edward, Nikephokas + trebs+ Conrad, Maslama + Saladin,Edward+Saladin)
3) No man gets left behind. Defend and re-defend. There is no use in spawning a trebuchet battery if you won't protect them. Using this logic, use bunched troops to easily get through, as they will do lots of damage and won't get in eachother's way. But beware of catapults, fire traps, crossbow towers, flame towers, and balistas using this tactic, as they can all hit multiple units at once.
4) Range. Range is a key figure. Use trebs or other high-ranged units (such as archers, longbowmen, or onagers) to shoot over walls or out of the range of towers, this way, you can damage them, but they can't damage you.
5) Demolishing groups. Attacking groups can go both ways. Onagers, longbowmen and some heroes (Winrich, Alexander, and Tariq) can attack multiple units or buildings at once.
6) Scouting. Scouting can help you tons, that way, your cav rush doesn't run into a fire trap, or so that your ladder invaders don't get stuck on caltrops and become sitting ducks. Do this by using infantry -or another fast, minor unit that won't cost you much- and literally just running around their castle to trigger traps.
7) Organization. Don't send all you troops in one big bunch, use them in a good order, like infantry, then siege weapons, then your long-ranged not-so-durable troops. Also,if you are attacking someone with spread out defense, deploy raiders or muscovy raiders one by one. If his buildings are spread out, wait for one squad to leave then send in another to attack something else.
8) Defending Offense. Use troops to defend your slower, more vital units, like trebs or siege towers. Use longbowmen, Mamluks, archers, or cav as they can all do a reasonable amount of damage against troops and can keep up with your siege weapons.
9) Revenge. Before attacking always check the guard house. If there is no red circle, the troops are set to attack immediately.
TACTICS:[]
There are certain armies that have high chances of winning. Most of these armies rely on certain heroes, however, so it is not advised to try these out before then.
- Ram Rush: Battering Ram are powerful units when used correctly. In order to employ this tactic, it is required to have multiple rams in an army. Usually from 10 to 15 for lower keeps (7 and below), or 15 to 20 for higher keeps (8 and above). The idea is that with Conrad the Elder's special ability, a large amount of rams targeting a keep will be able to quickly plow through walls and then the keep. While Conrad's ability is active, siege weapons receive a humongous speed buff and receive only a tiny amount of damage dealt to them (comparable to the damage that Charles Martel receives during his ability Taunt).
- Ramnado: There are multiple variants of the Ramnado. However, they all apply the same technique as the Ram Rush. However, instead of having all rams target the keep, use a smaller amount of rams to target the keep (as they will usually take the keep out, just in a longer amount of time), and most of the rams to target other defenses to allow cavalry-type units or Raiders to take out buildings. It is advised to use Charles Martel, Joan of Arc, or Alexander Nevsky as a second hero, as they can all support a ram rush to help the rams stay alive longer or cause major havoc after defenses have been destroyed.
- Taunting: Charles Martel's ability Taunt is quite effective. In order to employ this tactic effectively, simply deploy Charles along with multiple Trebuchets or other hard-hitting units. As long as the path to the keep is clear, a destroyed keep is guaranteed almost all the time. Be wary of splash-damage buildings, though, as they can damage the units around Martel, although they are taunted.
- Archer Spam: Archer spamming is not as viable as it was before, but it can still be effective in the right hands. Use archers to surround a keep to destroy buildings, as they can shoot over walls and have moderate damage. It is advised to use Joan of Arc or Henry V, as they can support archers to help them stay alive.
- Infantry Swarm: Basically, with the use of Richard the Lionheart and Hermann von Salza, foot units can become an unstoppable swarm. Use Battering Ram to destroy walls, Trebuchets to take out walls and keep, Infantry to tank for the army, Archers and Raiders to raid, Crossbowmen or Grenadiers to take out defenses, and Ladder Invaders to take out emplacements.
- Belisarius and Edward: Belisarius can take out walls, and Edward the Black Prince can take out low-level keeps very quickly. Very quick, very trolly, but very risky (if Edward dies or Belisarius dies, then the strategy is ruined).