On this page:
- 4.1.1 Tactics
- 4.1.2 Campaign vs Skirmish
4.1.1 Tactics
Gaius Julius writes: "This game forces you to use the 'right' unit for the 'right' task, for example, don't use archers for melee combat." While this is partly true of many similar games, in Praetorians it is far more noticeable. Use the wrong unit and you may suffer 100% casualties for no loss by the enemy. Use the right unit and it is often possible to do the reverse.
Athos writes: "There is actually a good amount of strategy in this game. Primarily in the match-up of units and how you move around the map. If you just move your troops toward an objective they will get murdered; have a scout and know everything about where they are about to move..." Ah, scouting - more about that later; it is perhaps the most important tactic of all.
4.1.2 Campaign vs Skirmish
LordJohnDrinksalot: "I'm not saying tactics don't matter. They matter - I've seen enemy archers cut to pieces in melee combat without a loss to friendly Legionaries and ballistas decimate an advancing legion company - but they pale in significance to the same old Real Time Strategy 'recruit troops quicker than the enemy' tactic. This is obviously less true for the campaigns (you have to employ tactics), but very true for the skirmish battles (you have to capture villages quicker)." There are many times during the campaign when careful scouting and tactical positioning of units is the only way to win. In skirmish mode this is not true. "While I'm trying to cleverly ambush the AI [Artificial Intelligence], the AI is grabbing another village. Frankly, grabbing villages quicker than your enemy seems to be 80% of the game, and everything else is a distant second place consideration."
While some of this strategy section is applicable to both campaign and skirmish modes, it is likely to be more useful in a campaign context.