Do you like to use elefants?

[Tartaros]

Hello,

i just wanna know, if you use elefants in whatever faction. i for myself like this untis, because they can break wooden palisades and have a nice fear factor, are good cav-killers and if they have bows, they are also good archers.
melee is diffrent. i only charge with them, when the mainbattle has started for a while. they are my reserve for the "hammer".
if not protected they are vulnerable and very expensive.

[Hax]

I used them extensively in my Illyrian and Italian campaigns while playing as Epeiros. Most of the battles they didn't really even do anything, aside from standing at my flank. The fact that I FIELD elephants was enough for the enemies to have their morale sink.

[konny]

No, never.

[Che Roriniho]

yes, when I can afford the buggers. I know from facing them, that, whencharging, you're basically f*cked, even if you have phalanx. Romanoi are good because almost everyone has javelins, which are very effective against them.

[Maion Maroneios]

I certainly do. I've even enabled their recruitment as Makedonia and they proved to be extremely effective against my western foes, provided that I used them correctly.

Maion

[Tartaros]

year, javelins are there nightmire.
thats why i´m very affraid to use them to early in the battles. later on, most enemy units don´t have time to reaked.

also the epirotes one are really good for fast village-rumbling, because most of the rebeltowns don´t have stonewalls.

as seuleukid i like to use these elephantes kataphraktoi indikoi against the steppe panzers. they mostly absurb the fist contact (when no phalanx available).

[Maion Maroneios]

Yeah, the Kataphraktoi ar real giants... I mean I once saw a Seleukid army with 2 of 'em, as well as Argyraspides, Pezhetairoi and some very good cavalry and I immediately retreated my forces from Mikra Asia... It's like I have a fear from them, however more powerful my army may be...

Maion

[QuintusSertorius]

Nope, I think they're expensive and a waste of time. I've got lots of better uses for the slot in my stack.

[Martelus Flavius]

Only as a political and prestige weapon!!!

They are very useful to communicate some basic idea to your foes!!!

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

I've never used them, but plan to do it anyway in small quantities, since they are incredibly expensive.

[LorDBulA]

I used them but only against AI full stacks packed with heavy infantry.

I group elephants with cavalry in one big wing.
Then they charge, cavalry is sweeping all units that can danger elephants, elephants wheel on the level of enemy line and start to run along enemy line. Any unit that doesn't rout after elephant charge is finished of by cavalry charge.
In seconds whole enemy army is fleeing in panic.

They are terrifying weapons. One army with those beasts can annihilate whole enemy military force in few large scale engagements, virtually without any need for reinforcements from home ( since casualties in such army are minimal ).

[Maion Maroneios]

One army with those beasts can annihilate whole enemy military force in few large scale engagements, virtually without any need for reinforcements from home ( since casualties in such army are minimal ).

Yeah, basically that was the reason why I conquered all of Italia single-handedly with just my Faction Leader and his one army with a unit of Elephantes Indikoi

Maion

[satalexton]

kinda off topic, but can a mod correct the spelling on the title..? It's really jarring to my eyes =/

[Tollheit]

I use them as a prestige object/unit for my faction leader's and faction heir's stack. Like strategos Haxios I usually keep them safely in the backround, just close enough for the fear effect.

[DeathEmperor]

Whenever I can afford them. I like to roleplay with how I use them by having them only in the 'royal armies' of the megas basileus and his heir when I play as Arche Seleukeia. Like Flavius and Tollheit I also think of them as prestige units that reflect the wealth and power of my empire.

Oddly enough I don't use them too often in my Baktrian campaigns despite being so close to India, and having so much income from mines. Regardless of the faction if you know how and when to use them they can make your armies invincible.

[Tartaros]

kinda off topic, but can a mod correct the spelling on the title..? It's really jarring to my eyes =/

i´m Sorry! but english is not my first language but i do my best...

just tried to correct f to ph... doesn´t work...

[Grriffon]

I LOVE elephants.

I don't always use them, because of availability and/or cost, but they can singlehandedly turn the tide of any battle if employed right. The Seleukids Kataphraktoi Elephants are even more unreal, since they are quite as vulnerable to missile fire.

At the height of one of my Seleukid campaigns, I had an army of nothing but their Elite Spearmen, Cretan Archers, and 2 units of Kataphract Elephants. It completely anihilated ANYTHING I threw it against. I doubt I'll ever field a more powerful army as any faction.

Using them as a cavalry screen does work, and is effective sometimes, but I think they make a "hammer" better than anything else out there. The destruction a full charge of elephants does to a tightly packed group of infantry is amazing.

[Ludens]

Only when I am facing an enemy that is spamming stacks of heavy infantry and cavalry. Because of their expense I want to be certain that they are going to be needed in multiple battles of a single campaign.

[Ibrahim]

I use them as a psychological weapon, whenever those punks threaten to rout my lines..that's if i have money to make them.

[MerlinusCDXX]

I do use them, but rarely.

I limit myself to 1 unit in the Basileus' army stack, mostly using them as a psychological weapon and an "attacker of opportunity" ie if the battle flows as to put the ele's into position for an "enfillade charge", I let them loose, otherwise I just put 'em close enough to the battle lines to scare the crap out of the enemy. My use of them is more of a "prestige" roleplaying aid than anything else.

I also do the same thing as Pontos with the Harmata Drepanophoroi (chariots), and as the Arkhe Seleukeia, the Basileus gets the ele's and the Heir gets a unit of chariotry. Also, the Hypaspistai and Elite Thorakitai ONLY get assigned to royal armies or Satrapal armies led by an Hetairos general, and only if that Satrapy is one of the major ones ie. Mikra Asia, Egypt, Makedonia, or one of the "heartland satrapies" (Babylonia, Syria...not sure which ones exist in game, have only ever gotten the Babylonian title in that region)

sorry for the ramble, but that's how I "role" (play).

[satalexton]

I never use them, since i find elephants far far too easy to kill in my current campaign as blue death. A few pointy sticks here, a shower of javalin there, a bit of flaming arrow for luck, and they're all gone.

In fact, I took those Indian cities by making the elephants run amok and trample up most of their own men in their cities using flaming arrows...

[roman]

I would like to use them, but i am a cheap bastard and have yet to recruit a single unit.

[Megas Methuselah]

Elephants are great for use in a phalanx battle. Try the historical battles, in particular the ones available for download in the sticked thread above in the main EB forum. When the enemy phalanxes are engaged, elephants can just tear right through their flanks. Inevitably, friendly troops will be lost, but the stunning effect and rout from a proper elephant charge is simply well worth it... The violence is gorgeous!


In my more recent campaign, I'm going to recruit a unit of elephants as soon as I am able. Btw, I tend to avoid the Cataphract elephants. I just see them as being too much...

[Zarax]

As infantry commander I use them mostly as anti-cavalry guards or when the battle is going badly and I need a gamble.

[Fondor_Yards]

Yes, they are great.

[Chris_]

In fact, I took those Indian cities by making the elephants run amok and trample up most of their own men in their cities using flaming arrows...

I did the same thing in my Lusoatanna migration. They had 2 elephant units standing together. One was the general, so I flaming arrowed the other one. They run amok, instantly kill the general . Also, I had 1000 skirmishers, which helped for cleaning up the enemy.

[Rilder]

Honestly I don't think I've used elephants in EB yet.

Never really played any faction that had access to them.

[pezhetairoi]

Nope, I don't do elephants. Too expensive for me, and not worth the trouble. Too difficult to manage too, they're loose cannons.

[Tiberius Aurelius Cotta]

oh gosh, yes...

I'm now going to spam them against the Ptolemaioi after the battles for Antiocheia and Tarsos they made me face...

Hypaspistai and two stacks of elephants take are of absolutely ANYTHING they can send at me...

i actually managed to surround 3 phalanxes with the hypaspistai, and sent in the elephants into the middle... Killed every single person in there... ANd then there was the time i locked a ptolemaioi elite phalanx with my hypaspistai from their front and left, and sent in my elephants to gore them from the right... and there was the time... i could go on and on... Put simply, these guys are the best

[Intranetusa]

Doesn't TW Fanatic's phalanx-chariot-elephant mod solve the problem of weak elephants?

Or is this already incorporated into EB 1.1?