An outrageous cheat!

[ReturnOfTheJordi]

Just discovered a terrible cheat tactic while playing the campaign game. I expect many of you have discovered this before and it may well have been mentioned on here but for relative newbies like me it might be news.
Got attacked by Ronin in one of my areas. I was defending with just 40 SA and 35 YS against 120 opposition. Parked my SA's on a hill at the back and my YS alongside. As they came towards me I saw that this was 120 WM's and realised that all I could do was thin their number with a few arrows and then gracefully withdraw. The Monks are a bit fast aren't they [it's their habit I guess ;-)] and after a few volleys I ordered a withdrawal. A few seconds later I think I accidentally pressed the wrong key and found my archers were firing at the WM's from the "red zone" at the edge of the map and the WM's couldn't attack them. The Monkees were falling like flies and just standing there taking it! After a few more volleys directed at their leader they turned and ran. I won with 80 heads taken and no losses!
Good fun but obviously not the way to play. ;-)

[BSM_Skkzarg]

Okie... what did ya hit??!!?!?!
In all honesty, I have never seen this - I tell my guys to retreat (rout) and they either stop way before the last tile, or go thru it all the time. Never seen em stop on it - what key do I use for THAT? Could come in handy!


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BSM_Skkzarg
"A mind is a terrible thing to taste."

[Kiwi]

I have noticed with the new game that the AI can retreat to the nearest red zone so you can not attack them, but you can not do it to them. This is especially annoying when the replacements for the AI do it - not all of the time - just sometimes.
p.s. I do not want to know the cheat - I might be tempted http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

[solypsist]

i've encountered this before, but in a different way and in different circumstances: chased the enemy off the field, followed his routers all the way to his deployment zone. enemy reinforcements come on (archers, naturally). my guys are as far up as the rules allow, enemy archers are blocked from entering due to my units. the enemy archers the begin to fire at my blocking units. it took me second to figure this out (kept clicking attack button with no response) but eventually backed up a bit to give them entry room and was able to engage from there. this might have been the case with your archers, depending on how close the monks were when you aborted your withdraw.

[ReturnOfTheJordi]

On replaying this scenario I see it's quite easy to do so I'll explain it here for those of you who wish to carefully avoid using it. :-)
To get into the "red zone" you need to use CTL W to withdraw. As soon as your archers have reached the edge simply select them and then click the enemy to be attacked. Timing is crucial because they might disappear altogether if you're not careful. The SA's fire their arrows at a docile enemy who will make no attempt to enter the edge zone.
Totally lacking in honour but great fun! :-)

[Catiline]

Don't try it in MP you won't be popular, which will soon amount to not getting played. I'm not suggesting anyone would, just a friendly warning there have been problems in the past with stuff like redzone flanking. THe main problem I've had like this is on the new coastal maps. THey're what is known in polite parlance as bugged, and it certainly isn't a feature http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif some of the very corner tiles the shore is inside the redzone. The aI likes to try and go paddling anyhow so units go a bit screwy on the beaches, but in the corners the beach is inside the redzone. It's very irritating having to esc out of a battle having killed 1000 at a 100-1 ratio (so I was using mainly uberkensai http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif maybe it was justice)but what ranged units I had wouldn't shoot them

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Oderint dum metuant

[Erado San]

Cat, if the AI is going into the red zone on coastal maps I have no problem in defeating them.

Try first destroying all the other enemy units. Then MOVE one or more of your units close to the enemy unit in the red zone. They won't engage. But as soon as they stand still they are in contact with the enemy and they will start fighting.

This works all the time for me.

[The Scourge]

That works for me to.Its just a bugger when your waiting for the battle to end,and then realize that the last enermy unit's all the way over the other side of the map,stuck on that little jetty,and you've got to bring your already half dead troops right down onto them.
I sometimes aviod playing these maps for that very reason.Which is a shame,because they are very nice looking maps,and i love all that extra space.

[Catiline]

No go, I tried all that, they were completely out of reach in the red zone. THey were all caught up against the coast and were trying to muve/ change formation , but in fact were just milling around and climbing aall over each other

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Oderint dum metuant