What do the commands do?

[Robin Locksly]

I have never found out what 'engage at will', 'hold formation' and 'skirmish' commands do http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-blush.gif

Can anyone explian to me what they do and also what units benifit these from these commands and when to use them to best effect?

Thanks in advance.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Hold formation means that your men will attempt to stay ranked up and in formation. This confers bonuses for things like spears, and also gives a defensive bonus, I think...

Engage at will means that your men will spread out to engage the enemy in combat. This results in more attacks being brought to bear, but is less strong defensively.

Skirmish means that the unit will try and retreat from an enemy a certain distance away-useful for missile units and such which you do not wish to become involved in fighting.

For mopre information consult Lady Frogbeastegg's beginner's guid, at the top of the page. Hope that helps.

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

[John86]

Hello. Il give you an example from that relates to arqubuisers: If you have a line of arqs and put them on stand formation and hold position, when a enemy attacks, they will not charge and will not attack unitl attacked, and the entire unit will not attack, just the first couple of rows (depends on unit) but if engage at will and fire at will are on, they will attempt to attack and will be able to charge without your command.

[Robin Locksly]

Quote[/b] (WarlordMasterHiji @ Feb. 18 2004,15:32)]Hello. Il give you an example from that relates to arqubuisers: If you have a line of arqs and put them on stand formation and hold position, when a enemy attacks, they will not charge and will not attack unitl attacked, and the entire unit will not attack, just the first couple of rows (depends on unit) but if engage at will and fire at will are on, they will attempt to attack and will be able to charge without your command.
Cheers, thats pretty much what i needed to know http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[The Proconsul]

However, AFAIK, units on skirmish will ONLY retreat from their targets (i. e., if you set your achers to skirmish, and have them shoot at some spears, they'll still ignore the enemy sneaking on them from behind, or anywhere else for that matter...)

[Sasaki Kojiro]

No they will retreat from any unit that comes with in a certain distance of them from any direction.

[John86]

Locksley,
Skirmish can be very powerful: lets say you have 3 archers, 1 enemy unit of Gazi inf runs at it. Put it on Skirmish annd it will run away. While the enemy inf is chasing it, the other archers around it can fire at it, forcing the inf to attack the other 2 archers, then they will run away when the enemy comes near, and the first unit that ran can shoot. You can easily use this tactic to destry an entire unit http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[Kropazz]

One problem with a skirmishers like shekely - if your opponent will surround them, they get confused and wan't listen to your orders. U got to take them of skirmish to help them escape.

[The_Emperor]

I always hold formation with Archers and stuff, they do get a defensive bonus and tend to survive for longer when hit.

When Skirmishing a unit exposes its rear to the enemy and also gains a morale penalty for the retreat... a charge in the rear while running would probably seal the fate of said unit.

[katar]

iv`e had too many units freeze on me when they were set to skirmish mode, i never use it at all nowadays.

multiple enemy attacks from several directions just gets them confused.

always keep them on hold or engage and do a bit more micromanagement, it works out better in the long run. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-yes.gif