Practical Tips#

Practical Tips

This page gathers the tips most often used in actual play in Total War: ATTILA, all of them organised in the same three-part pattern: “mechanical basis, practical points, when to use it”. Every bonus and loss is described only in terms of its direction and the basis for judging it, with no specific numbers given — the exact coefficients vary with unit type, building level, faction and game version, so everything follows the in-game panels, building details and battle tooltips.

Using High Ground and Terrain#

Terrain is the cheapest source of bonuses on this game’s battlefields: ranged units on high ground have the advantage in range and projectile efficiency, downhill charges gain extra momentum from the slope, and slopes and river banks naturally favour the defender.

Tip	Mechanical basis	Practical points	When to use it
Deploying ranged units on high ground	Ranged units up high shoot further and at a better angle, with the exact bonus shown on the unit panel	Before the battle, place your ranged units behind the crest and keep melee units on the slope edge to stop cavalry climbing it	Attack and defence on hilly and mountainous maps
Downhill charge	A charge launched from high to low hits harder, with the exact magnitude shown in game	Move cavalry around to the slope on the enemy’s flank or rear first, then launch the downhill charge	Field battles as a cavalry-focused faction
Concealment in forests	Units in woods stay hidden from enemies outside their line of sight, and woods also affect ranged accuracy	Hide melee infantry in woodland to ambush enemy cavalry and ranged units	A defensive counterattack from a position of rest
Holding river banks and passes	Units fording a river or threading a pass cannot deploy properly and lose combat effectiveness	Place your main force behind the landing or the mouth of the pass and strike when the enemy is halfway across	Holding bridges, fords and mountain passes

Cavalry and the Use of the Charge#

The charge is the core of cavalry’s value: the charge bonus applies in full only at the instant the charge lands, and hitting from the flank or rear also stacks a morale shock on top; once bogged down in a melee grind, a cavalry unit’s disadvantages in attack and defence are exposed. The exact figures follow each unit’s charge attributes.

Tip	Mechanical basis	Practical points	When to use it
Flank and rear charges	Flank and rear directions both take the full charge bonus and deal extra morale shock	Pin the enemy line with infantry from the front while cavalry cuts in from the unprotected flank	Wars of annihilation in the field
Hit and run	In the melee phase after a charge, cavalry’s exchange ratio deteriorates rapidly	Keep up the cycle of “charge, disengage, regroup, charge again” and do not get bogged down	Dealing with ranged and isolated units
Horse archer skirmishing	Horse archers can shoot while moving, and infantry can neither catch them nor reach them	Keep your distance and kite, dragging the enemy line apart before letting your main force reap the harvest	Nomadic factions such as the Huns
Focus fire on the enemy general	An enemy general dying or fleeing directly shakes the morale of nearby units	Use fast cavalry to rush the enemy general and disengage to rest immediately after succeeding	When the enemy general is well forward or thinly guarded

Infantry and the Battle Line#

Infantry lines come down to attrition and facing: a unit’s front is best protected while its flanks and rear are weak, and fatigue steadily erodes attack, defence and speed. Mastering these two points decides the direction of the line more than simply piling on numbers.

Tip	Mechanical basis	Practical points	When to use it
Meeting the enemy on a slope	Defending on a slope gives you the better of it in attack, defence and the direction of impact	Place your main force behind the slope edge and engage when the enemy attacks uphill	Defensive battles
Shield wall and facing	A unit’s shield and armour protect the front best, while flanks and rear are weak	Adjust facing at all times to prevent being outflanked, and do not let units pursue too deep	Positional wars of attrition
Rotating to rest	Fatigue weakens combat effectiveness and recovers slowly once out of combat	Rotate two units at the front to hold the line while the reserve keeps its stamina	Protracted battles
Keeping a reserve	When the line is torn open, whether you have mobile troops decides between collapse and a comeback	Keep one or two elite infantry units plus one cavalry unit as a general reserve	Evenly matched slugging matches

Morale and Psychological Warfare#

Morale collapses faster than manpower is consumed: casualties, encirclement, attacks in flank and rear, the death of the general and the rout of friendly units all stack together and can make a full-strength unit wave the white flag in an instant. Different units differ greatly in morale resilience — check the unit panel and its traits for the specifics.

Tip	Mechanical basis	Practical points	When to use it
Pressing from several directions	Engaging from multiple directions at once triggers the encirclement calculation, and morale drops markedly faster	Hold the front with infantry while light infantry or cavalry wrap around the flank and rear	Encirclement and destruction of the enemy main force
Decapitation tactic	A general falling is a heavy morale blow to the surrounding units	Focus ranged volleys on the enemy general or strike him with cavalry	When the enemy general commands from the front
Fire attacks and fear effects	Flaming ammunition, war cries and fear-type traits push enemy morale down further	Give them to night attack and flanking units	Hard fights, battles going against you
Hunting down routers	Chasing fleeing units magnifies panic and can even bring down the neighbouring line	Cavalry and light infantry handle the pursuit while the main force keeps its formation	Expanding the result once victory is secured

General Traits and Development#

A general is not a fixed table of abilities but a piece that grows with its record: winning battles, sacking settlements, garrisoning cities or spending years on the march all leave traits and retainers on the character panel. Repeated behaviour of the same kind settles into permanent traits, with the direction and magnitude of the bonuses shown on the character panel.

Tip	Mechanical basis	Practical points	When to use it
Let generals win battles	A combat record accumulates combat-oriented traits and retainers	Give the main army to the general you want to develop	Long-term development
Shape traits through behaviour	Repeated raiding, garrisoning, governing and similar actions settle into traits	Decide which bonuses you want, then have a particular general do that thing repeatedly	All phases
Retainer combinations	Retainers and traits stack to affect a general’s overall effect	Station administrative generals permanently in core provinces and give field command to combat types	Division of management labour

Province Sanitation and Dealing with Plague#

This game uses the Sanitation system to model urban public health: most economic and military buildings accumulate squalor and push province sanitation down, and the higher the building level the greater the pressure, with different buildings imposing different amounts of pressure — the game has no single published uniform percentage table, so the specifics follow the building details and the province panel display. Once sanitation falls into negative values, public order is dragged down and disease and plague may break out; plague spreads along adjacent regions, exposing units stationed in an infected area to infection and attrition.

Tip	Mechanical basis	Practical points	When to use it
Pairing sanitation buildings	Sanitation building chains (aqueducts, bathhouses and the like, with the names differing by faction) can offset squalor	Reserve one slot for a sanitation building next to every high-level economic or military building chain	Large settlements and workshop-dense provinces
Controlling the pace of expansion	Squalor accumulates with the number and level of buildings	Check the province panel’s sanitation headroom before upgrading; if it is tight, add sanitation first	Periods of rapid expansion
Isolating outbreaks	Plague spreads along adjacent regions, and the movement of armies and population accelerates it	Reroute garrisons after an outbreak and pause troop movements to and from the infected region	After plague breaks out
Besieging a plague-ridden settlement	Besieging an enemy settlement ravaged by plague wears the garrison down far more than a normal siege	After scouting reveals a plague city, slow the assault and switch to a long siege	Attacking strongholds

Climate, Attrition and Migration Rhythm#

As the campaign progresses the climate turns colder overall, fertility falls in every province over time and food output has to be planned for in advance; winter and severe cold regions inflict continuous attrition on units that are not adapted to them, with the exact losses shown in the in-game tooltips. Nomadic and migrating factions have no fixed homeland and keep their rhythm through camp migration, raiding and razing.

Tip	Mechanical basis	Practical points	When to use it
Avoiding battle in winter	Severe cold continuously attrites units with insufficient cold resistance	Use winter mainly for rest and internal redeployment, and avoid pushing deep into the northern wastes	The mid and late campaign
Using the right troops to overwinter	Some units and factions have resistance to cold attrition	Assign winter tasks to cold-resistant units first	Fighting in the north and the wastes
Reinforcing agriculture early	Falling fertility makes food output tighter year by year	Keep upgrading the food chain in agricultural provinces and act before a shortfall appears	Long campaigns
The rhythm of razing and migration	Razing a settlement devastates regional output and delays pursuers, and devastated regions recover only slowly	Do not linger over positions you cannot hold — raze and move on; before settling, check the target province’s fertility and sanitation	The Huns and migrating factions

Economy and Army Upkeep#

Income is determined jointly by tax rate, population, trade and buildings, and there is no universally valid fixed income figure; the largest item of expenditure is the upkeep of full-stack armies. The core of saving money is not memorising numbers but understanding the mechanical source of every item of income and expenditure.

Tip	Mechanical basis	Practical points	When to use it
Trade agreements first	Trade income depends on the types of resources both sides hold and the size of the market	Sign with resource-complementary strong neighbours as early as possible to secure the basic position first	The opening phase of any faction
Raiding for cash flow	Raiding brings in money immediately and weakens enemy regions, at the cost of diplomatic deterioration and devastation	Hit rich enemy provinces in wartime and stop before peace talks	When finances are tight and you are already at war
Buying time with tribute	Regular tribute can be paid or demanded in diplomacy	When you are outmatched, concede benefits to a strong neighbour for peace and avoid a two-front war	Difficult periods of pressure on several fronts
Disbanding and merging	Army upkeep is the largest expenditure; merging battered remnants saves upkeep but costs some experience	Merge remnants after battles and disband redundant armies	The post-war reorganisation period
The building and technology ledger	Buildings themselves carry maintenance costs, while economic and military technologies cut costs and raise output	Prioritise technologies that save money and raise output rather than mindlessly spamming buildings	Mid-game development

Public Order and Internal Management#

Public order is determined jointly by many factors — tax rate, garrison, religious conformity, sanitation, buildings and edicts — and each contribution varies with faction and version, as shown on the in-game province panel. On the internal management side, an imbalance between general loyalty and family prestige plants the seeds of civil war, with the exact trigger conditions shown in the in-game tooltips.

Tip	Mechanical basis	Practical points	When to use it
Garrisons and edicts	Garrisons and order-oriented edicts are the cheapest means of stabilisation	Leave a garrison and issue an order edict in newly taken provinces, and withdraw only once they are secure	Recently conquered regions
Religion first	A mismatch of faith continuously depresses order	Build conversion buildings in newly taken provinces of another faith before talking about development	Fronts with a complex religious map
Adjusting the tax rate	The tax rate tier affects income and order at the same time	Keep the tier low in peacetime to build order, and raise it briefly in wartime as an emergency measure	When finances and stability are both wobbling
Entertainment buildings	Entertainment and social building chains provide a steady source of order	Keep one entertainment chain slot in large settlements, developed at a different time from sanitation buildings	Populous provinces, core cities
Watching loyalty	Very low general loyalty is an important cause of civil war	Use offices and gifts regularly to keep important generals steady	Phases of over-rapid expansion

Frequently Asked Questions#

How Do You Deal with the Hun Invasion?#

The Huns burn settlements rather than build them and wear opponents down through mobility and attrition; rather than hoping your frontier defences will grind them down layer by layer, it is better to concentrate your resources on winning a few key defensive battles.

Step	Action
1	Shift border provinces over to military buildings and buy time with defences and garrisons
2	Avoid meeting full Hunnic stacks in open ground with your main force; hold points on rivers and slopes instead
3	Field spearmen to counter their cavalry and use ranged fire to suppress their light horse
4	Seize the window when they split their forces or stall against a stronghold to counterattack in force
5	Do not stray too far from the main force when chasing routers, or you invite a counterblow

How Do You Manage a Multi-Front War?#

Strategy	Explanation
Prioritising	Judge which front losing would mean losing the war, and concentrate your forces on holding it
Trading depth for time	Use fortifications and garrisons to delay on secondary fronts and reduce the demand on the main force
Diplomatic pressure relief	Alliances, vassalisation or tribute turn the enemy on one side into a buffer
Strategic withdrawal	Contract voluntarily on fronts you cannot win; troops are worth more than land

How Do You Cope with Food and Climate Pressure?#

Measure	Explanation
Agricultural upgrades	Upgrade food and fishing buildings before a shortfall appears, and compensate in advance for falling fertility
Population rhythm	Recruiting draws on province population, while population growth pushes food consumption up — watch both ends
Trading for food	Use trade income to balance a deficit, and obtain food through diplomacy when necessary
Abandoning the corners	Low-yield provinces that keep losing money can be abandoned or handed over; cutting losses is also a gain

How Do You Prevent Rebellions?#

Measure	Explanation
Standing garrison	The cheapest source of order, essential in newly taken provinces
Conversion buildings	Reduce the order loss caused by religious conflict
Entertainment and sanitation	Work on order and province sanitation together, since negative sanitation itself drags order down
Conceding on tax rate	Dropping a tax tier buys order directly, at the cost of falling income

How Do You Improve Your Battle Win Rate?#

Point	Explanation
Pre-battle scouting	See the enemy’s force composition and the terrain before deciding whether to fight manually or auto-resolve
Unit counters	Spears against cavalry, heavy infantry holding the line, ranged suppression — do not put unit types in the wrong place
Terrain initiative	Seize high ground and passes and make the enemy attack uphill
Morale first	The goal is to rout, not to annihilate; killing the general and outflanking work fastest
Keep a reserve	Every plan needs one unit to deal with the unexpected

Version and DLC#

The base game was released in February 2015 and has since been expanded continuously through several batches of free and paid content, with balance adjusted many times. This page describes only the direction of the mechanics; the specific coefficients follow the current version.

Content pack	Type	Direction of the content
Viking Forefathers	Culture pack	Nordic migrating powers
Longbeards, Celts	Culture pack	Central European and Celtic factions
Empires of Sand	Culture pack	Desert factions and desert environments
Slavic Nations	Culture pack	Slavic migrating powers
The Last Roman	Campaign pack	A new campaign following the Eastern Roman expedition
Age of Charlemagne	Campaign pack	A new campaign set in 768 AD

Recommended Mods#

Mods change as the base game is updated, so follow the description on the Workshop page before installing.

Mod	Type	Explanation
Medieval Kingdoms 1212	Total conversion	Moves the campaign to medieval Europe, with factions and unit rosters fully replaced
Fall of the Eagles	Balance overhaul	Reworks unit balance and battle pacing, with historical corrections
Radious	Comprehensive enhancement	Lowers the barrier to entry and expands the unit roster and buildings
The Winter King	Total conversion	A refined campaign set in the legends of Britain

Glossary#

Term	Original English name
Raiding	Pillage
Razing	Raze
Devastation	Devastation
Vassal	Vassal
Tribute	Tribute
Morale	Morale
Attrition	Attrition
Public order	Public Order
Province sanitation	Sanitation
Plague	Plague
Fertility	Fertility
Charge bonus	Charge Bonus
Auto-resolve	Auto-resolve
Campaign map	Campaign Map
Battle map	Battle Map

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