Combat

[PoLsKa_HuSaRiA]

I was just wondering if there is a pause button that can be used while fighting? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[chilliwilli]

Yes, the pause button on the upper right of your keyboard(pause/break on my keyboard) next to F1-F12 does the trick.

[PoLsKa_HuSaRiA]

I was also wondering if its possible to group units into one element: What i mean by that is if you had 100 Spearman can you group them together so that when they go onto the field of battle they are 1 unit of 200 spearmen, rather then 2 units of 100 each?

Any help is much appreciated

[chilliwilli]

Quote[/b] (PoLsKa_HuSaRiA @ Feb. 21 2003,20:18)]I was also wondering if its possible to group units into one element: What i mean by that is if you had 100 Spearman can you group them together so that when they go onto the field of battle they are 1 unit of 200 spearmen, rather then 2 units of 100 each?

Any help is much appreciated
No that is not possible. If you use huge unit size though, you can build 200 spearmen right off the bat though.

[PoLsKa_HuSaRiA]

Quote[/b] (chilliwilli @ Feb. 21 2003,20:20)]No that is not possible. If you use huge unit size though, you can build 200 spearmen right off the bat though.
When your talking about Huge Unit size so you mean the one in the options? And what is the purpose of unit size adjustment? Does that mean you will build different amounts of units at one time?

[Gregoshi]

Hi PoLsKa. Thanks for becoming part of the Org.

I think the P key also pauses the game.

The unit size is one of the sliders in the game Options menu under Performance I believe. Once you start a campaign, the unit size is fixed so you can't change it during the game. This adjustment controls the sizes of the units but they all remain the same relative size.

BTW, in case you haven't, the tutorials will take you through the basic commands of the game.

[PoLsKa_HuSaRiA]

Thanks Gregoshi and chilliwilli for the help.

Much appreciated.

[Portuguese Rebel]

I dont allow myself to pause and issue orders, i like to make mistakes in the heat of battle. Some guys just go on telling how they are the best and the AI is no challenge and so on... I bet some of this guys are pausing their battles. Imagine if a general had the possibility to pause his battles and rethink his strategy... I like chess but MTW ain't it. I would be bored if i paused my battles.

[Rob The Bastard]

It is handy when the wife says It's time to go...how long will you be???

the truthful answer Oh... another 40 minutes should do it is not always appropriate.


Pause is good.
real good.
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[econ21]

Huge units take 2 turns to build, which may be unattractive. I like large units, as they are 2/3 bigger but same build time. The purpose of having large units, apart from cosmetic appearance, is to increase the stacking limits for battles. You can get more men on the battle map and thus numbers count more - it is harder to hold off the AI with a small army of high quality, and there are fewer frustrating two part battles, with a first wave and a second.

By the way, you can group units which is sort of like making two 100 units act as one. Despite being a STW devotee, I confess I only learnt this when I taught my 7 year old how to play the MTW tutorials So, yes, Gregoshi is right - play the tutorials, they make managing the game so much easier. The learning curve for managing the battlefield maps is a little steep and the tutorials help a lot.

[TheDuck]

Portuguese Rebel: I so agree with this... When I first started learning the game I would pause it to think. Now I do not EVER do it. On attack it makes it challenging.

If I am defending though.. I whoop the computers sorry butt unless its a suprise attack in lightly defended territory (say lower italy right at the start of the game for byzantines).

But I also agree with Rob The Bastard... when my wife be a-callin, I be a-pausin.. after 15+ years of marriage, I KNOW better http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Rhysy]

I have to disagree with Portuguese Rebel. The AI can control all its units simulatenously (though usually not very well &#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif, but humans can't do this. This can (sometimes) give the AI a big advantage, especially if it's a big, spread-out battle with units all over the place. True, a medieval general could not issue orders instantly to units half a mile or more away. But if you don't, the AI will flank you.... and your units, dumb as planks the poor things, will get slaughtered and/or run off. So even though it's not realistic to command all your units at once like this, I think it's a pretty sensible and fair way to beat the computer. Some kind of intelligent (or rather, non-stupid) unit leaders feature would be nice, but there we are. Even with pausing though, it's still possible to forget you have 300 troops hidden in a forest over the other side of the field

On the other hand, there's no need for this in small battles as it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference.

[PoLsKa_HuSaRiA]

I agree with Rhysy. Small battles definately do not require a pause button. however on a fairly large, important battle the pause button does have its advantages. Making a co-ordinated attack is much more effective in my opinion then having all of your forces let loose upon the battlefield in an attempt to quickly rout the enemy. Also some kind or unit leader intelligence would be interesting. Such as haveing the whole unit turn to face the attack force rather then just stand there. I know that they will stand there while the stand ground: button is pressed, but don't you think that if you were standing alongside a group of soldiers and you were suddenly attacked from the side you would be more then likely to break rank and try and fend off the attacker? I know i would... but then again i might just stand still and die for King and country... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

[Portuguese Rebel]

Using the pause i would risk not losing a single battle (unless facing very superior forces). And if i did not lose a single battle this game would be a total drag. And where is the element of surprise while pausing? that unit you did not see (perhaps some nasty royal knights) coming out of the trees in your flank.
So the AI controls all the army at once, it still doesn't do a very good job at it, since it mainly march in set formations and only micromanages when its real close to your army. I once was on defense and placed my army on a hill, but there was another hill with trees at my right flank. I could have used that hill for defense, but didn't cause i had lots of cavlary (armenians). The AI rushed its infantry at me and i began to cream them (it was mostly poor infantry with little spears and my armenians where smashing them. Then, from that forest hill, came a bunch of persian cavlary, it almost ruin my day (3 regiments of charging persians are bad news). I could only win the battle because i had a unit of nubians and my general and his bodyguards on reserve, wich i used to counter and hold those persians while i allocated more forces to help them. If i had paused and looked, what would have happened? I would have seen them and then i would have won a boring battle wich i wouldn't even be proud of. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Sir Black Raven]

u right m8. On the heat of battle there's blood all over. No time for tea or chat. Thats why wise generals consider the plans for the battle before and not after. A wise general always do his home work before. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[PoLsKa_HuSaRiA]

Quote[/b] (Portuguese Rebel @ Mar. 01 2003,08:24)]Using the pause i would risk not losing a single battle (unless facing very superior forces). And if i did not lose a single battle this game would be a total drag. And where is the element of surprise while pausing? that unit you did not see (perhaps some nasty royal knights) coming out of the trees in your flank.
So the AI controls all the army at once, it still doesn't do a very good job at it, since it mainly march in set formations and only micromanages when its real close to your army. I once was on defense and placed my army on a hill, but there was another hill with trees at my right flank. I could have used that hill for defense, but didn't cause i had lots of cavlary (armenians). The AI rushed its infantry at me and i began to cream them (it was mostly poor infantry with little spears and my armenians where smashing them. Then, from that forest hill, came a bunch of persian cavlary, it almost ruin my day (3 regiments of charging persians are bad news). I could only win the battle because i had a unit of nubians and my general and his bodyguards on reserve, wich i used to counter and hold those persians while i allocated more forces to help them. If i had paused and looked, what would have happened? I would have seen them and then i would have won a boring battle wich i wouldn't even be proud of. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Touche http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[rory_20_uk]

I think that these things are up to personal preferance. Without using a pause key, the PC will get a considerable avantage the bigger the battle gets, as just keeping all the units from doing something stupid is difficult in itself, let alone trying to get reinforcements into the correct positionsPersonally, I like to pause, although I freely admit that this means that I would be whopped in MP. I like to have less troops than the PC, so it means that to win the positioning of all forces must be very carefully thought through. If I were not to pause, I would require far more troops to defend.