Alan Mercenary Cav.

[Sir Chauncy]

Well are they? The reason that makes me think this is because I had a bit of a revolt in Kazar and they had a few ( 16 ) units of Alans. I was defending so i wasn't too fussed, so I stocked up on heavy cav and spears (spearmen, feudals and Italian Light) the problem was that the Alans came running acroos the battlefield full tilt the whole way and attacked a unit of Kazmawrahimlala Cavalry. Both units were green and The heavy cav got butchered. Why? No problem says me, I have italian light here, so i sent them in, they lost forty of their number fighting down hill. How is this possible? There was nothing wierd going on that I could see. So how? The only way that I won was by going to the trees and using all of my spears in there. Surely this should not have happened?
Before you ask, no, there were no bad vices on either general.

[A.Saturnus]

I have no idea what that was. Had never big problems with Alans (never used them myself). Kwarazmiam should go through like butter. Maybe you had just very bad luck or your pc went crazy, I don`t know.

P.S. Did that help you? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Daevyll]

There are so many factors that influence combat; valour levels, formation integrity, upgrades, proximity of other troops etc etc to name but a few.

Whenever people encounter something that to their mind shouldnt happen, they tend to assume a bug or 'inbalanced' stats. I've had the same impulsive reaction a few times, but in the end everything has always made sense, thee was just some factor or another that I had not taken into account (or simply did not know about, thanks to the wonderful manual...).

[Sir Chauncy]

I would normally agree with you, the problem was that this is not the only time that it has happened. Throughtout the whole battle a unit more than twice the size of the the Alans that supposedly speciallizes in killing cavalry was being beaten whilst fighting downhill against a foe that was cream crackered. When they did eventually turn and run after being beated down to about 5 men, they had killed 40 of my Italian light and were running so slow that the tortoise would have been proud. This happened so frequently during the battle that I genuinely thought that I would lose. The only way that I actually won was by exploiting all of the things that horsemen hate: trees, uphill spears, and I still had to fight very very hard. It just didn't seem quite right.

[MizuKokami]

i don't know, but i swear that the ai doesn't suffer from fatigue. as sir chauncy had said... "they came running full tilt". i've had battles like that where the enemy has marched quickly the whole way across the battlefield. five minutes into the battle, my men are exhausted and routing, and being chased down alot faster then i've been able to chase down routers in return. i've also had battles where their 8 star general withdrew from the field before the actual battle begins, and his men still are capable of fighting as if he were still there, and, i lost my chance to gain that advantage of killing an enemy superstar in battle. i thought that the general had to be somewhat near his army in order to grant his command bonus. does anyone know about that? i have the latest battle recorded where the general withdrew from the battle, as well as screenshots. it took me five years and a lot of men in a castle assault to kill that general.

[desdichado]

I experimented with my own army led by a 7 star general who gave all the units a +2 valour increase. I had him retreat from the battle immediately and they kept the valour bonus for the battle.

Its very annoying as I am currentlt trading blows with a 4 star Egyptiona general lead a unit of urban milita with only one other man in the unit. As soon as battle starts he ducks out back and off the map leaving his men to fight on with bonuses intact.

I personally think that when the general leaves the field a sub commander should take over. More realistic and would force you to not concentrate soley on a developing a couple of superman generals but have to ensure some adequate sub-generals also come along for the ride.

Just a thought for the devs?

[Kraxis]

I remember that in STW the bonusses went away when the general died or went off the map. I even noticed that the next best general took over (I had Uesugi Kenshin commanding and he died while trying to soak up too maky arrows http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif when a Rank 4 general took over and my troops lost 1 Honour).

But I too have noticed the bonusses stay in MTW... well if the general in not there how can he give bonusses? This will promote retreating one man general units to get a full unit and the bonusses at the same time. Personally I don't do this, as I would rather lose the guy than let him sit in his tent listening to reports of the battle. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif