View Full Version : What unrealistic behaviour have you witnessed on the battlefield?
Dionysus9
05-08-2002, 22:41
I'm bracing myself for the list, because I'm sure it will be huge:
What unrealistic behaviour have you seen your troops display on the battlefield?
I will start with the routing behavior. As much sense as it makes to "run home", it makes no sense to "run" into the enemy army on your way there. Routing troops should run away from the enemy units that made them route-- they should be running every damn which way when it hits the fan. We can only imagine that "home" is at least a few dozen miles away...getting off the bloody map w/ your head is job #1, then getting "home" can be accomplished at your liesure.
Always bothered me and still does.
Or like when you are in the middle of an overwhelming victory and all the sudden for some unknown reason one of your units that isnt even fighting but just standing close to the action acting as a reserve just routs. Then the rest follow. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/frown.gif
Then another unrealistic thing is the movement orders and how they are executed. Order a unit to retreat fast because its about to get overrun.. and the stupid unit just SITS there until its flag-bearer leader crosses the unit to the entire side and then they start to move. By then of course your unit is hit by the enemy, and SINCE your units cant leave 2 men behind while they run, the entire unit gets trapped and butchered.
I find it unrealistic that some in my army will not choose to die for their master when the going gets tough. Fleeing is not an option. Don't they realize that by the time they reach their home, the shrunken heads of their family members will already adorn my necklace, and that I will be waiting for them while drinking their sake?
Dionysus9
05-08-2002, 23:46
Another favorite:
One of your units (lets say YS) is watching your flank, just sitting there while u are busy issuing orders at the main fight. The enemy marches a unit over to your YS, who of course just stand there w/out your guidance. In fact, they stand there while the enemy liesurely walks around behind them and starts cutting them to ribbons.
I understand that they are "following orders" (afterall, u told them to stand there), but at the very least the unit commander would have them spin to face the charge instead of just standing there to get annhilated.
duh. I forgot, lonely units like to take it in the rear.
theforce
05-09-2002, 00:07
That is correct. The team commander should have a minimal contol over the squad and u can give him that power with an option if they incude this in TW2.
Also when u are winning(having 3 times more men in battle) and ur taisho dies they rout or when they rout!!! Well most of the kills someone can have is when routing.
------------------
Don't use only honour, use theforce, too.
Vanya wants to hear those that flee wailing and begging for mercy... and waving their hands in the air... as they get trampled over by the pursuing cavalry.
another thing is the run-stop-run again BS of the cavalry.
Cavalry should kill on-the-move. pass by a soldier and kill it, not stop. Many cowardly enemy samurai have escaped with their 'noggins because my yari cav stopped to kill each fleeing maggot.
A similar problem is the cavalry being UNABLE to overrun & break an enemy formation. Put your yari cav in wedge, on top of a hill, make it rush the archers below... the moment the 2rd row of the yari cav penetrates the archer's formation, the entire 120 man yari cav. unit just STOPS on its tracks. Thats BULLSHIT. THe cavalry should literally split that archer unit in half and massacre them as the entire horse complement runs over and tramples them.
Papewaio
05-09-2002, 08:03
Too many guns when they were rare
Battlefield ninja
Kensai
Castle full of HtH units will not march out and engage a beseiging army of archers. But just stand there and get massacred
Anytime I lose a battle even on expert, outnumbered 100:1 and my guys getting charged from behind while engaging a monk, nagninata and heavy calvary from all other sides.
Lack of yellow puddles forming below troops as the horizon fills with calvary bearing down on them. So many times did the enemy decide to engage my small force and then flee the battlefield that I would have liked to see a trail as they ran!
Bright flashing light above the Taisho.
1) Your Daimyo's Hatamoto get no update while even the peasants can have legendary everything.
2) Crossbows have much longer range than what they should.
3) Missle troops' honor increases their melee ability, instead of their shooting effectiveness.
4) Geishas.
------------------
Pain is weakness leaving the body.
http://members.fortunecity.com/argus1000eyes/fighter.gif
Well, even if the B. Ninja are odd, they do substitute for the ninja used before and after the battles. Many a time a samurai would take a gun and hide in the night and snipe a general's head off the next morning http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif
Orda Khan
05-09-2002, 21:15
Glad to see someone else finds the ninja and kensai units unrealistic. 1 kensai-attacking winning easily...60 heavy cavalry fighting-losing badly. This guy may be a "sword saint" but 60 heavy cavalry would run over one swordsman without realising he was there. Even if he did start hacking and slashing all the dead horses falling on him would soon squash him. As for the ninjas they are a pain in the nether region. I'm sorry but if I spot these little guys sneaking up on my ally why can't I attack them? OK you do eventually but surely if you spot them and send a unit to "investigate" they should discover them and lop off their heads!!! I will think of more.....Orda
------------------
" Send us your ambassadors and thus we shall judge whether you wish to be at peace with us or at war..if you make war on us the Everlasting God, who makes easy what was difficult and makes near what was far, knows that we know what our power is."
When you're playing as the Japanese and you order your cav to charge an enemy archer unit that's close to the enemy spears, but not close enough to keep from getting massacred. The archer unit will be slaughtered but the cav will not disengage so the enemy spears have time to arrive and kill them. This never happens with the mongols. I can order light cav to charge the archers, bring them down to about 15 men or so, and just before the spears make contact back off and start shooting.
Orda Khan
05-10-2002, 04:56
Ah Taohn, my friend, you have discovered as have many that Mongol cavalry are superior. This was a trade-mark feature of Mongol tactics...Engage, feign retreat. Perhaps this feature has been considered during the creation of the unit? I think you will also find they are faster and more accurate. Someone will know...........Orda
------------------
" Send us your ambassadors and thus we shall judge whether you wish to be at peace with us or at war..if you make war on us the Everlasting God, who makes easy what was difficult and makes near what was far, knows that we know what our power is."
neg. orda. Only the mongol light cavalry does what he is describing.. and thats only because they are very fast. The unit leader turns around and runs to the rear of the unit in half the time a yari cav does.
The mongol heavy cav does get trapped in the same way the japanese cav...but since they're so good they usually win anyways http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif
Papewaio
05-10-2002, 06:49
Quote Originally posted by Tac:
neg. orda. Only the mongol light cavalry does what he is describing.. and thats only because they are very fast. The unit leader turns around and runs to the rear of the unit in half the time a yari cav does.
The mongol heavy cav does get trapped in the same way the japanese cav...but since they're so good they usually win anyways http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif[/QUOTE]
So the solution would be to arrange your calvary into a 1 deep line. Change to Wedge, get to the enemy, charge, after contact redeploy into line and then you can turn quickly...
------------------
Victory First, Battle Last
no, thats even worse. 120 horses (or even 60 if 2 rows deep) would get all (or half if 60) of your people engaged in melee. Ordering them to retreat most commonly makes your cavalry pull those non-engaged horses a dozen yards away or so then they WAIT for those that are engaged to either die or disengage before the entire unit is allowed to withdraw farther. Its in that time that the enemy yari units catch up, tangle with those already engaged (keeping the whole cav. unit stuck where it is unable to run even further), and swarm the cavalry cutting it down http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/frown.gif
Kraellin
05-10-2002, 11:52
gothmog,
just a note from a show i was watching tonight about siege engines, including crossbows, and forgive me, but i'm not sure exactly what time period they were talking about, but they stated that crossbows (some) could shoot for as far as 380 yards, which is quite a bit further than a number of normal bows and even a number of muskets. i believe they were talking about around 1400 in europe, but i wont swear to that.
also, just a side interesting item, the last recorded use of crossbows in warfare was in world war 1. (also from that same show)
K.
------------------
The only absolute is that there are no absolutes.
Orda Khan
05-10-2002, 13:12
Yes Tac you are quite right. The Mongol heavy cavalry does fall fowl to this situation also. My fault for not emphasising cavalry archers....Orda
------------------
" Send us your ambassadors and thus we shall judge whether you wish to be at peace with us or at war..if you make war on us the Everlasting God, who makes easy what was difficult and makes near what was far, knows that we know what our power is."
vBulletin® v3.7.1, Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.