Reinforcements

[Selborne]

I love the really huge battles with thousands of men on both sides. But I have trouble managing reinforcements effectively, and I'd be grateful for any tips on how best to handle them.

To call in reinforcements, I need to get some of my active units off the field. Most often, these are units that have been largely depleted, or archers that are out of arrows. My understanding is that having them Rout is the quickest way to get them off the field, but I worry that this will cause dismay among the troops I want to stick around. If I tell them to Withdraw instead, will they be slower to get off the field? And does Withdraw have a negative impact on other troops they might pass by?

The main question I have is: when I call in new reinforcements, how can I control which units are called up? When I click the bring on reinforcements button, I get a new unit added to the field, but I can't seem to control which unit I bring to the fight. This is especially frustrating when I really need a particular unit type, and instead I get some some useless peasants or something, even though I've got like 5 full armies waiting to join the fight. So, when I bring on reinforcements, is there any way to specify the exact unit (or unit type) that comes to the rescue?

Thanks in advance...

[Revenant69]

First question, do you have VI installed? It allows you to manage your reinforcements in the pre-battle screen. This gives you an opportunity to set up the flow of reinforcements the way you like, although a certain amount of guesswork stilll remains.

As far as withdrawing units off field - i never rout them. It bestows morale penalties on nearby friedly units and generally is a very hazardous exercise.

Withdrawing (Ctrl-W) is a much better option IMHO even though it is a bit slower. Remember, Patience is a virtue http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-grin2.gif Also as far as i know, withdrawing does not cause any negative effects on the rest of your army or on the unit being withdrawn, I havent noticed any detrimental effects in my entire time of playing MTW (someone please correct me if i am wrong).

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif
Rev

[Selborne]

No, I don't have VI. My wife (bless her heart) gave me M:TW for Christmas, so I'm playing the original game. I've thought about getting VI, but I know I can have hours of fun with just the basic game, so it hasn't been a priority. However, if VI will solve my reinforcement frustrations, I may just have to pick it up

Short of having VI, is there any way to control which units come onto the field when reinforcements are called up? Or is it just whatever random unit the computer picks?

[Komutan]

I don't think the computer picks them randomly, probably chooses them according to the number of men each unit has.But yes, you have to buy VI to select the order your reinforcements arrive.

Anyway, I think everyone who likes M:TW should buy VI.Just dont forget to install the patch.

[Guthwyn]

I think you also need to download the VI patch for the reinforcements screen to work. If you don't, I think cavalry are automatically the first reinforcements summoned. In MTW (not VI), I have no idea whether you can adjust your reinforcements by shifting unit order in the stack while on the map screen.
I've noticed when I withdraw troops, they will leave the map as fast as they can. This is usually at a fast march or run, unless they are exhausted.
Have fun, I hope you enjoy MTW as much as I do.

Guthwyn http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-thumbsup.gif

[Doug-Thompson]

I recently switched to huge as the unit size simply out of aggravation over reinforcements. Still, that doesn't help in really big battles.

It's better, though.

[chris]

Yeah, get VI I prefer the vikings anyways, but the reinforcements are nice. In the pre battle mode, before you click begin battle, you can slect a unit, and up above, click exchange or something. You still cant change you reinforcemnts, but remeber your siege weapons wont show up if you chose them as reinforcements.

[ichi]

In MTW, try this. Set up all of your units except one. Make as mental note of this unit type and number of men etc.

Pre-battle, with that one unit selected, hit the reinforcements button. The one unit will be replaced by the first reinforcement. Cycle through all the reinforcements, making a note of their order, until you come back to the original one unit. Notice who the computer has picked the 'best' units to arrive first, the weakest last.

This will at least give you an idea of what is coming. You can also replace units on the field pre-battle if you so choose.

In MTW reinforcement order choice is improved considerably. You can set the order pre-battle, but once you start you are locked into that order.

I set my rally point back close to my rear edge, off to one side. This seems to make the arriving units available to command sooner, and keep them off to the side so they aren't affected by routing units. The trade-off is that they may be farther away from the heat of battle when I need them.

Since I play with the clock off, on attack it just a matter of patience. I won't go past midfield with lots of depleted units or with several units withdrawing unless I'm sure the enemy can't rally and is low on reinforcements. Go slow and let your guys get off the map and reinforcements arrive before charging off.

While risky and somewhat extreme, you can also try to let units get totally wiped out on the field - saves a lot of time when it works.

Finally, if you need cav and peasants show up (shouldn't happen cause you should get the best first), just withdraw the pez as soon as you can.

ichi

[Herodotus]

I can't remember if it works but I think you can effect your reinforcements in MTW. It is quite simple, invade the enemy territory with a well organised first stack, then bring in your reinforcements in the order you would like them to appear.
Also you should not invade with useless units such as peasants, if you really need to bring them keep them in their own stack and bring them in last.

[Brutal DLX]

In MTW you also can change the orde rof your reinforcements by constant swapping during the setup phase, but that is a tedious exercise, it's best to keep only one additional stack of troops as reserve, with possibly just two unit types in alternating order (cavalry and spear, for example).
This will at least give you one mobile and one defensive unit for every two units that retreated, which is certainly better than a complete surprise.

Also, withdrawing is preferrable to routing your units, however, to speed things up, you can order your depleted units to run towards your map edge and issue the withdraw command once they arrived there instead of withdrawing them from your frontline already.