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View Full Version : Onward to Victory! Runaway!



DojoRat
06-25-2003, 15:42
It had been a great battle. I was caught unprepared in Volynthia,(sp?). The Mongols had me out numbered and I had only two missle units and not a lot of cav. But as their warriors and heavies drew near I unleashed my Huscarles and Chivalric MA's when their battle line turned to meet my flanking cav and Vikings.

The Khan was captured as I sent my own royal knights leader (5 *) into the fray. I chased them for a while but pulled back as the horizon darkened with horse archers.

I used my cav and my vikings to break up their attacks and keep my morale up but couldn't really trap them and a few times an exposed unit was chewed up and routed. This went on for quite a while untill my bolts were spent and my horses exhausted.

But the Mongols were decimated, horses littered the field, and their morale was low. They gathered their last group of warriors and a few heavies to root out my infantry from the small copse of trees used to anchor their line. I would charge again when they drew close and follow them to their death as the sun set in blood. In preperation for this last push I manuevered the remnants of my cav to the left for one final ride to glory.

Or not. It seems fearless leader had had enough and ran screaming like a girl from the field. WTF Would the rest of my troops now panic? No, everthing went as planned and the Mongols were shattered in my counter charge and were chase off the field just before time ran out.

I was hoping my 5* would have gotten a good defender virtue for his efforts but instead he got the -6 girlie man vice. As to why he broke I don't exactly know. I don't think he had any negatives before the battle. I did use him a lot, with the rest of the cav, charging and retreating to keep the horse archers from degrading my infantry. His horses were no more tired than the rest,(1 or 2 bars)but my last move was repositioning him from the safety of the rear to the open spaces on the left flank. But I wasn't attacking yet, thought you never know what you click on when its getting late and you don't use the pause button.

What was really weird was that the rest of the cav, the remnants of three units just said, "Well.. uh see ya" and went went where I told them and then brought home the attack. Oh well, his exploits will be a footnote in the Dannish sagas and his head will serve as a foot rest for the King.

LadyAnn
06-25-2003, 21:29
I think you should not mix 5 stars (5*) with the valor number you have on the units. All 5 stars does is to give the troops that he commands +2 in valor (eac h2 stars give you +1 in valor).

Your general is exhausted (big penalty in morale, a lot of penalty in attack/defend stats), get out numbered (horizon is darken by horse archers, large penalty in morale, and remember the Royals only has half the usual number of men for cavalry, so it is easily out-numbered), got shot (morale penalty), seeing friends running (a large morale penalty if friends are equal or higher quality units), got flanks threaten (morale penalty).

Those are things you would have to think of.

My advice: during such long battle (it is long when your arbalesters or xbows run out of bolts), always rest until your units has at least 2 bars of fatigue before trying to attack, group your units together to bring up morale, keep your five stars general near your main force to boost morale (something like 1 tile or 1.5 near your foot troops), put high morale (high valor or elite troops) on the flanks.

I would ask you to spare the general's head. It is not his fault. Give him commands for small battles to erase "good runner" vice, and you will find 5 stars generals are useful. Also, try to bring your 5 stars general to 6 stars. 5 stars general is close to 4 stars general in performance. 6 stars general is much better.

Annie

The_Emperor
06-25-2003, 21:42
Getting rid of bad vices and virtues is next to impossible... A good general running from the battlefield will never be able to live it down.

So best to make sure he doesn't run in the first place.

Lady Anne has given a very informative explanation of the major factors effecting morale, and she is correct. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pat.gif

My advice is to have your good general near your troops to boost Morale and ready to dash into the fighting when required. of course leading the charge into the fighting against all the odds and prevailing can give some pretty nice V&Vs (such as Magnificent warrior, or utterly fearless), but if he flees the humiliation will be great and can give some crippling Morale penalties

Also your general can gain a bad reputation for not fighting himself in battles, so he must mow down some units each battle... even if they are just lowly peasents running away

I am cautious in big battles with my Generals, but in smaller ones he often leads the charge.

And always make your generals are cavalry units, that way you can be sure he will be a lot more mobile and easier to manage.

LadyAnn
06-25-2003, 22:27
Somehow I got the impression I could erase a good-runner vice by giving the general a lot of smaller battles. Maybe bring a clean 2 stars general to 4 stars is easier and would require about the same amount of battles.

Practice your assassins on him then http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Annie

Red Harvest
06-26-2003, 03:35
Good runner doesn't go away...at least I've never been able to get rid of it on a good general.

pdoan8
06-26-2003, 11:08
It won't go away, but you could off set it (-9 morale) by getting lots of other good ones and some more stars.

The_Emperor
06-26-2003, 11:21
Quote[/b] (pdoan8 @ June 26 2003,11:08)]It won't go away, but you could off set it (-9 morale) by getting lots of other good ones and some more stars.
True, but it is very difficult to do... and given that Morale is everything in this game, sometimes its easier to put another Guy in Command. Especially if the General is only a four stars or so.

Still I am surprised that in VI when generals die off they pass all their V&Vs onto the next guy I would have thought that the replacement would have a similar rank, but no V&V's (To reflect him being a different person).

DojoRat
06-26-2003, 15:08
Thanks for the great replies. I did go to the well once too often. I usually do limit a generals fighting but I really needed his men to give my cav any chance at all.

I just didn't want my line to take the attrition that 6-8 horse archers can bring. It also effects their morale, correct? I just find it odd thet he broke in response to a manuever and not to an actual attack order.

Oh and by the way, my king with his odd number of toes really enjoys his new foot rest.