Anyone ambushed or been ambushed?

[Jambo]

Anyone managed to ambush an opponent or for that matter been ambushed by the AI? :charge:

Care to share?

[Spino]

Happened to me once. I was sending a general and supporting infantry unit to a far flung settlement and he got ambushed by a 6-8 unit army of Gauls along the way. My units were effectively surrounded with most of the Gauls to our front. The infantry unit was too slow to escape and it got surrounded and massacred by enemy cavalry. I managed to run the general unit unscathed through a gap in the Gaul's forces and thought I was home free until I realized I could not exit him along the map edge he was supposed to travel towards in the first place! I finally issued a withdraw order and he changed directions, barely escaping with his life and half his bodyguards.

[Kraxis]

Could it be that he needed to have a certain amount of the army with him?

[Red Harvest]

After about 150 battles, no ambushes so far. Also, no rain or other weather. All of my work has been in the "sunny" south part of the map. It is sort of the opposite extreme from MTW/VI where nearly every day had rain, snow, or a dust storm even if it was supposed to be "fair."

[Sethik]

The game came out on wednesday and you already fought a 150?!?! ~:eek:

I was ambushed once by Gauls but it said that my general had seen it and I was allowed to organize my troops.

[andrewt]

I have fought 109, more if there was no NFL or college football. A lot of them are small skirmishes and naval battles, though. The Gauls love sending 3-4 unit stacks with only a captain to besiege my cities. I just sally and crush them.

[Oaty]

I ambushed a neutral faction(the gauls) for the short period that we were neutral. Anyways it was a bit odd as the troops were on my land and the gauls on there own land and they were neutral but the army ambushed them and asked if I'd like to attack. I did'nt attack so we stayed neutral. I feel its a bit overpowering for an armies control on a neutral faction mainly for the fact I was in my territory and they were in theres, so if you are netral you armies extent of control should not extend into theres as long as you are not at war with them

[Jambo]

Can any of you guys who've managed to successfully ambush help out in this .com thread: :book:

http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotalwarfrm7.showMessage?topicID=8528.topic

It appears many cannot manage to perform an ambush.

[Morindin]

I've had a reinforcement army ambushed by the Gauls once. Very nasty (Yes I lost).

[Spino]

The game came out on wednesday and you already fought a 150?!?! ~:eek:

I was ambushed once by Gauls but it said that my general had seen it and I was allowed to organize my troops.

Believe it. I've had the game since Thursday afternoon and have fought well over 100 battles in my Julii campaign. CA told us to expect fewer, larger, more important battles in RTW versus previous TW games and the exact opposite is true. Most of the time the AI streams a series of understrengthed armies and navies at your own forces and cities, most of which you can destroy with relative ease. The AI is particularly fond of sending understrengthed armies on suicidal siege missions against cities which are chock full of troops. The end result is the sieging army either gets its ass handed to it on a plate when the garrison sorties out to fight or it retreats some distance from the city and returns to do the same thing over again... ~:rolleyes:

[cegman]

They lied or Activision made them change it what do you expect.

[Morindin]

Believe it. I've had the game since Thursday afternoon and have fought well over 100 battles in my Julii campaign. CA told us to expect fewer, larger, more important battles in RTW versus previous TW games and the exact opposite is true. Most of the time the AI streams a series of understrengthed armies and navies at your own forces and cities, most of which you can destroy with relative ease. The AI is particularly fond of sending understrengthed armies on suicidal siege missions against cities which are chock full of troops. The end result is the sieging army either gets its ass handed to it on a plate when the garrison sorties out to fight or it retreats some distance from the city and returns to do the same thing over again... ~:rolleyes:

Having said all that, the strategic AI is a million times better than in MTW.

[zentuit]

I was partially ambushed once (by Gauls). On the battle map they did not surround me and I could not setup my units. My units however were not in any sort of column as I believe an fully ambushed army will be. A Brutii cavalry army was nearby (I am Julii) and reinforced. They came riding through my lines and smashed into the Gauls' left front line and routed. But they did enough to disrupt the Gauls and let me flank them. Thanks mates :laugh4:

I currently have an ambush in place for a large Gaulish army (2000 or so according to my spy). I'm going to sucker them by the ambush with another weak decoy just out for a stroll. Have to wait for Summer though. Wish me luck.

[Thoros of Myr]

I've been ambushed a few times but only by Guals, they seem to be good at it. I've ambushed enemies a few times. Ambushing is easy to do, just set up your army in trees or mountains, when you see the game piece that represents your army kneeling he is invisable to all but his immediate surroundings and spys/watchtowers. I've fuaght I guess around 70 battles, I've had all kinds of weather and lots of it, rain, snow, dust, fog.

[discovery1]

CA told us to expect fewer, larger, more important battles in RTW versus previous TW games and the exact opposite is true

Really? My campaigns against the brutii and the Thracians were dominated by large battles, at least until the brutii starting landing small forces in attica repeatedly. Problem solved after after I built a good navy. Had a few large, but no where near decisive, sea battles.

[Red Harvest]

Believe it. I've had the game since Thursday afternoon and have fought well over 100 battles in my Julii campaign. CA told us to expect fewer, larger, more important battles in RTW versus previous TW games and the exact opposite is true. Most of the time the AI streams a series of understrengthed armies and navies at your own forces and cities, most of which you can destroy with relative ease. The AI is particularly fond of sending understrengthed armies on suicidal siege missions against cities which are chock full of troops. The end result is the sieging army either gets its ass handed to it on a plate when the garrison sorties out to fight or it retreats some distance from the city and returns to do the same thing over again... ~:rolleyes:

Yep, I've seen exactly the same. There are many more battles to fight, rather than fewer. I often have to fight 3 or 4 per turn, (mostly small) and right now I only have about 10 provinces. I've read that same statement from CA and have to wonder what they were thinking.

[Tamur]

Same experience here, tons of skirmishes with 5-8 unit armies, strategic movement of small reserve forces, that sort of thing. I suppose maybe toward middle/endgame there will be gigantic clashes along large, well-defined borders as in MTW, but for now it's really fluid -- borders are nearly meaningless which makes all the campaign-level strategies very dynamic.

Just to give it a go, I tried an MTW-style 20-unit stack on a raiding spree through Patavium and westward (as Julii), and they got hacked down to nothing in two turns. The Gauls kept triple-teaming them with swarms of little armies, two battles per turn. My general limped back to Segestica very battle-weary and went into early retirement ~:)

[Sir Toma of Spain]

I have only been ambushed once... and i won (lukily)

I was destroying the gauls merryly when i discover a few units of gauls just south of one of my towns, so i send my best general and about 200 other guys to deal with them. Well i was ambushed and outnumbered 1024 to 220. My general died and most of my army (i was left with 3 units of 10 principles, playing on normal unit sizes) but i destroyed 800 of the ambushing gauls. Even though i had lost my seven command general with a ton of super traits i ended up winning a heroic victory

[TonkaToys]

... Even though i had lost my seven command general with a ton of super traits i ended up winning a heroic victory

Using my vast knowledge of Ancient History... could this turn out to be a Pyrrhic Victory?

OK I used Google. :laugh4:



Pyrrhic victory
- definition, meaning, explanation & information in free-definition.com -


A Pyrrhic victory is a victory which is only achieved with heavy losses on one's own side.

This alludes to the Battle of Ausculum (Ascoli Satriano, in Apulia). in 279 BCE, when the Epirote King Pyrrhus, aiding the Tarentines, defeated the Romans but with severe casualties. After the battle, Pyrrhus is recorded to have commented: "If we win another such battle against the Romans, we will be completely lost" (Plutarch, Pyrrhus 21,14).

[Krosword]

Happened to me in barabrian lands, can't remember where. I had about 1000people in the army (playing Julii) and was heading to deal with a by a large Gaul force from north, and at the time, they sort of made the first move, and attacked me. So I was on the defence, but I also noticed another 'soldier' kneeling down behind my troops as soon as I was attacked - I thought 'Has to be an ambush'. So I preapred for deployment as normal, thinking I'll deal with them all head on, hide in treese on different sides, etc... Well, I didn't look at the map closely. Gauls are in green, and kind of got matched with terrain... Therefore when battle started I had the 3 warband units and warlord cavalry charing my back, and the main force I was getting ready to fight was waaaay upfrong marching up hill... It totally threw off my hide and wait strategy, I had to come out and deal with bastards. I won, regrouped, and smashed those who were coming up the hill next. Great battle really. But I was pissed. When I took the town, I crusified the population... Mean... But it was the roman way.

[Bob the Insane]

So I preapred for deployment as normal


umm... Thought that you couldn't depoly as normal when ambushed???

But maybe you could deploy because you where fighting a normal battle and the ambushing troops just joined the battle... Shame they flashed up on the strat map giving you a warning about the ambush to the rear of your army before the battle started....

[DisruptorX]

Having said all that, the strategic AI is a million times better than in MTW.


Not at all, its exactly the same. I can pretty much predict exactly what a computer player will do. Also, the AI no longer uses naval assaults. I have never seen any non romans even attempt to use boats to transport troops. Don't even get me started on how to abuse the AI during actual battles with cheap tricks.

[Sir Toma of Spain]

Not at all, its exactly the same. I can pretty much predict exactly what a computer player will do. Also, the AI no longer uses naval assaults. I have never seen any non romans even attempt to use boats to transport troops. Don't even get me started on how to abuse the AI during actual battles with cheap tricks.

Not true, I have seen the carthagians ships carrying around whole armies, but they don't really do anything.
Untill i sink the ships that is

[pyhhricvictory]

Using my vast knowledge of Ancient History... could this turn out to be a Pyrrhic Victory?

OK I used Google. :laugh4:



Yippee Pyhhricvictory!!!!!

[Tricky Lady]

I was playing my first "real" campaign for barely one hour or so (Julii campaign), when one of my armies got ambushed by some Gauls near the mountains a bit north of the Julii capital. I played two battles and got ambushed in the third one already. :cry: Of course I lost, but luckily my general (a not-so-bad governor) managed to escape.

[Soulflame]

As the Scipii I didn't have an ambush yet. All that open terrain in Africa ~;). I tried once to ambush someone else when there was a small peck of forests on the battlefield (so not my entire army was hidden, but there were about 20 trees on the left of the battlefield). I put my general and 2 hastati there, but they were seen. After reading the manual... I realised that generals can't hide.. Doh! Luckily I still won that battle, since the "ambush" diverted enough men so that my right side won and could help out the spotted ambush. Unfortunately, my general died (but he wasn't a good governer, so it was not THAT bad). Ambushes are nice, even when foiled ~;)