Fighting in the trees

[ichi]

I find that I have a lot harder time fighting in trees, especially when I am defending a steep slope. When I click on a location the send a unit the trees get in the way and the unit is out of position. When i go to click and drag to change the depth of the unit I spend way too long getting right for the same reason. And it is hard to see when the slope is steeper than my camera angle.

I am in VI so -ian is out. I position my camera as high as possible and look down as steeply as I can.

Archers and pavs also seem to have trouble shooting - I guess they can't see or the shot is blocked. But sometimes enemy units can see in and shoot my guys.

I have trouble seeing enemy units, and my units get doubled or flanked easier. When one of my units routs an enemy, I lose track of it and it chases unitl it runs into another enemy unit - then oruts. I usually set my units in the trees on Hold Posiiton for this reason, but it barely makes any diff.

I have the unit selection for trees working pretty good, since I use a lot of swords and axes, but the rest of my forest fighting is poor and I could use any advice.

aregato

ichi

[Brutal DLX]

When re-arranging your unit positions or formations, hold the Alt key, this will cause your mouse pointer to ignore the trees so you can put the units as you want them and they will assume a position closest to the one you wanted and wrap around possible obstacles. That can kill the rank bonus in some instances, but at least you will have your units where you want them quickly & in the formation you want them in in the heat of the battle.
As for controlling your chasing units, I have no advice other than to get quicker in evaluation the battle situation and possibly setting up your troops in the way they appear in the unit icon bar, so the leftmost unit is also on the left flank etc. When you see one of your units breaking through, then quickly stop it using backspace and have it return to formation or flank the remaining enemies in the line of battle.
Hold back one or two light cavalries on the top and flanks of the slope or forest you are defending and use them to chase down routers in a fire-and-forget manner.

[desdichado]

Quote[/b] (Brutal DLX @ Jan. 12 2004,18:34)]When re-arranging your unit positions or formations, hold the Alt key, this will cause your mouse pointer to ignore the trees so you can put the units as you want them and they will assume a position closest to the one you wanted and wrap around possible obstacles.
that works http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-confused.gif damn I wish I knew that 14 months ago. Goes away and http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-wall.gif

[Oaty]

My favorite is playing the historical battle of Agincourt and the whole reason the British had set up in that spot was becuase both flanks were protected from cavalry by the trees ............. hey whats that cavalry flanking in the woods

[altti]

I don't place my troops in the woods unless i don't have enough archer units to defend a hill. Usually the ai finds a spot with some horse archers to fire volleys without a fear of retaliation and allthough the alt-key deployment works well in the beginning your further movement of troops may result in a small scale disaster.

[ichi]

Thanks Brutal, great ideas

aregato

ichi

[Brutal DLX]

No problem mate. However I wasn't very precise with the Alt key, I remembered it to work like I said, but actually it doesn't completely ignore the trees (but I found it to work better than without holding the key), but what it does (and not only in woods) is that it ignores any friendly and enemy unit when drawing your unit formation, so you don't run into the danger of accidently selecting another friendly unit or ordering an attack on an enemy one when you left click to start drawing the formation. This is very useful when you play without pausing the game and really can't afford any messup when ordering units around.

[makkyo]

I'd try fighting just inside of the forest (to the point where a good deal of the enemy in outside of it). Your units wouldn't have to worry about enemy archers while you yourself have a command of the air and missile units. Enemy formations would fall apart inside of the forest (yours will too though).

[Imperial Buffoon]

Quote[/b] (Brutal DLX @ Jan. 12 2004,02:34)]That can kill the rank bonus in some instances, but at least you will have your units where you want them quickly & in the formation you want them in in the heat of the battle.
Trees..
I thought you lost the rank bonus anyway when fighting in the trees, am I wrong?
I usually try to avoid fighting in the trees because of control issues but when necessary, it can be very useful as it allows some element of surprise and at the same time gives a sizeable penalty to cavalry. I managed to meet some cavalry with a diminished group of billmen in the trees and they barely had time to say goodbye

[Demequis]

Quote[/b] (Imperial Buffoon @ Jan. 15 2004,03:28)]I thought you lost the rank bonus anyway when fighting in the trees, am I wrong?
I usually try to avoid fighting in the trees because of control issues but when necessary, it can be very useful as it allows some element of surprise and at the same time gives a sizeable penalty to cavalry. I managed to meet some cavalry with a diminished group of billmen in the trees and they barely had time to say goodbye
Yes indeed, spearmen and others who rely on rank bonus should be kept away from the forest. As you pointed out, billmen dominate in the forest, and even cmaa can hold their own against cav if in the forest.