Multiplayer Games: Fighting General isnt a good id

[M.Cornelius Marcellus]

Multiplayer Games: Fighting General isnt a good idea?

In Multiplayer Games I always see veteran players using Cav unit for general.
The general is most of times protected and does not engage battle till the final phase as:
1 last resource: to stop final rout of wavering units
2 chasing unit.

But I could verify in almost all the battles fought in MP that:
1) I noticed that In almost every battle the general before being killed or captured begins to run; i. e. the general doesn t die or is captured in melee before routing himself,
2) Once your melee units begin to run 80 % percent of time the battle is lost and
3) the general unit, which was looking at the battle till that moment, could only be employed at last 90 % of time to run after few seconds following all the other troops.

So I want suggest a totally different way of use and deploy your general.

Choose your general as the stronger (i. e. upper valor and morale) unit of your melee shock infantry troops.

Place your general at the center of your line of infantry.

Use your general as any other one of your hand to hand unit , but always in the center of your unit line in the melee phase of the battle.
He will not run as first because he cannot be flanked easily, he is in the center, and he is the best unit on the field in morale and combat capablity.

Now you have one cavalry unit more then your enemy.
It is likely that you can conterattack any of his trying in flanking unit and have one cavarly unit more to cause the first enemy rout.

At this first rout probably your enemy will use his general and will throw him into battle.
But maybe it is too late cause his army is beginning to rout …

I used this tactic many times in MP games even against veterans and seemed to work.
But I couldnt see any veteran thinking of using a different unit type as general than cavalry.

Is this tactic so silly? Or so stupid? Does any veteran think of it? Or do i miss them online?
To all veterans and not: which way do u use ur general?
Good bye all

Marcus Cornelius


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

[son of spam]

Well, using a cav gen has the advantage that your gen can run away faster http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

EDIT: Welcome to the forum http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Nigel]

Wellcome Marcus,

Was it you, who routed me and my allies in the battle the other day ? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-smile.gif

Anyway, I use my general as cav, as it seems to be what everyone else is doing. If you find your alternative tactic is working, it cannot be so silly.

There are posts around here arguing that you can use any cheap unit for general, if you only use him behind your main army anyway. But if you want him to fight along with your soldiers right from the start, you really want to protect him well. Loosing him sends a big morale penalty (8 poits for the first few seconds) through your whole army and can mean the breaking of your fighting melee troops.

As for myself, my generals seem to keep getting themselves killed well in the middle of the battle. But more than half of the time my troops recover and still win the fight. So who needs a general anyway (j/k http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif ).


But I think, whatever works is a good tactic. So there is nothing wrong with a general on foot. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-toff.gif

[katank]

yeah, there is also less need to use your general in wedge which would get him killed. (wedge more for cav).

well, make your general a foot knight or some other tough unit and it should be a good idea.

you should definitely pump him up.

if your center caves, you are screwed anyhow so I don't see much of a problem with this.

all in all, interesting tactic, who needs cav general anyhow? silly rule.

personally, in the SP campaign, I like infantry or even missile commanders as I don't have to risk them. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[Navaros]

i always boost my General to the hilt and make him a Cav unit

i am not gonna take a melee unit for my Gen. that means if he gets engaged and happens to lose, it's over for you, FOR SURE. at least with a Cav Gen then there is the possiblity he will be able to retreat once engaged and live to fight some more

[ichi]

There are two disadvantages to making your General a strong infantry and fighting with him:

First, the General has a tendency to get killed prior to the unit routing, and when the General is killed or captured it can break your entire army's morale.

Second, I want to have a very mobile General, one who can provide support to wherever it is needed. The game counts flags and assigns morale penalties, so just moving a General unit into an area where your troops may be flag-outnumbered can help. Having a unit near to a Gen helps its morale.

And despite what you say, most vets do not wait to commit their General until it is too late. A well-timed flank by a General has broken my back many times. A Cav General, held in reserve, can also defend against a flanking cav. There is a fine line between using your Gen last and waiting too long.

By bringing a Cav Gen that is not pumped up, I save florins to spend on my fighters. I love it when I see pumped up Gens on the other side, because I know that money came from somewhere, and its usually from the front lines.

I can almost guarantee you that if you place your Gen in melee, the good players will focus a little extra energy on him, trying to knock him out. Some vets even use their Gen as bait, knowing that there is a high premium placed on killing Gens in this game. More than once I have seen a Gen unit placed on the edge of jeopardy, only to be pulled back in the nick of time and the chasing enemy units surrounded.

I understand what you are saying, that if you do not use your General you are fighting with 15 units. I use mine, I just use him last. I also play the Hungarians a lot, and usually use a Szek as my Gen, and he shoots instead of just sitting, which effectively adds an archer to my army.

I also understand what you are saying about the vets not looking for change. Some vets are constantly trying new ideas, others are refining the tried and true techniques. There is a lot of discussion and comparison within clans and between the best of the best. After tens of thousands of tests, the consensus is to take a Cav Gen, and that you should not fight with him until absolutely necessary.

ichi

[Gregoshi]

Welcome to the Org Marcus. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

Like the way you challenge convention. I think there is too much Well, everyone else is doing it mentality in the online community. You get an attaboy from me. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pat.gif

I'll move this to the Jousting Field for further discussion. Marcus, you will be able to reply to any posts in the Jousting Field - you just can't start a new topic there.