Battle in forest

How the hell to efectivly control the units?
I always loose a lot of troops when enemies stay and dont move in the forests. I control one unit and the next moment i see my cavalry that was supposed to go for a rear charge go head on to a pike unit.
I mean those are 2 issues. First the battles that are really confusing in the forests.
Second. The stupid units. Like cavalry going head on into a spike, when i commanded something else all together. Archers that should keep skirmish go head on to the enemy. Falxmen that dont go around as i order they go head on to a unit. Can this be solved somehow or is a way to keep the player attentive so that this stuff does not happen.

I really dislike the forests with those big trees, but it's because they obscure the view. The smaller trees do the same in dense forests, but it isn't nearly as bad.

Is it possible that you've ordered a unit to go somewhere but didn't notice that there was an enemy unit in the way? If they make contact with the enemy while they're moving towards their destination, they'll forget their order and start fighting. As for the archers, the skirmish function doesn't always work properly so that may be unrelated to the forests.

There's a mod that gets rid of the huge trees. It's also included in Jirisys' mod pack.

if you´re on the defensive it works great because the enemies loose a crapload of men from javelins and the sudden appearance of your army will create shock and aw wich will almost automatically make the weakminded fools rout giving you both the surprise effect and alot less units to deal with

when in forest use the perpendecular ambush aproach when you hide 2 halfs of your army on each side of the corridor and then atrack the enemy with your slingers/archers and your general and when the time is right spring and close them down on 2 sides while your missiles keep pelting on another

another aproach is put a few units hidden and wait until the enemies engage your batleline then spring them out of hiding and close in from behinde (remember to use a few cavalaryman to chase down/out their slingers and archers since they can get in the way of your men closing down behinde the enemt (or flanks )

doubleline in L formation should also work for that quick flanking manouver

remember the position of your general determines the general path of the enemy army so use it properly to position the enemy units

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Originally Posted by Vlad-Tudor

How the hell to efectivly control the units?

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simple: you don't. not in dense forests anyways, especially when on the offensive. in woodlands less dense than an outright forest just go a little bit more slowly than you would in open country. I rarely get myself into either position though, so it does not happen often. hence my advice: try to avoid forests as much as possible.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vlad-Tudor

I always loose a lot of troops when enemies stay and dont move in the forests. I control one unit and the next moment i see my cavalry that was supposed to go for a rear charge go head on to a pike unit.

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yeah, that's to do with path-finding or because a beforehand hidden unit got in the way. not much can be done there. again, try not to get into a forest battle, and if forced into it, do it slowly.

or you can always build forts and since the land around the fort is flatened you can use that to have a clean batle in a forested land

I fought many battles in forests even with steppe factions. They are fun you basically have no stern control on the battle enemy units becomes invisible revisible again flanking or skirmishing useless you will get a heavy death toll. The advantage is any cavalry or phalanx faction gets destroyed easily; in contrast to general view I found Getai are better than germans in forest battles thanks to their better armour and falxes.

In fact although I am a cavalry commander I found forest battles eassier to master than the master cavalry armies. Micromanaging horse archers, you need to save amno by cancelling fire at will mode, charging and retreating cataphracts but in forest battles you just place your skirmishes well and your ap and shock infantry if you do it well the battle is yours without much losses.

It is a matter of taste.