Question: Druid & Chariot

[Maltz]

Hello:

I recall in my previous Parthia campaign that the enemy's chariot run over my infantry like little lawn mowers. So after finishing that campaign, I now play as the Brits (very hard/very hard). I found two strange things:

I first tried it on the Gaelic warband. I was expecting 9 little lawn mowers cutting through the dense, half-naked population... but it turned out that my wagon just pushed these guys around. It was hilarious to see it, because when people are hit by a car, they don't really just get "pushed around". I charged a few times to get only 5 or 6 muscle men killed... the weakest attacking power I have ever seen.

Then, in another setting I encountered a group of 7 Gaul druids in the woods. Now sice RTW trees are HUGE, I think there should be enough rooms to run my wagons in between. It indeed worked, and my wagon threw these druids up 10 feet high! But, these druids fell on the ground, and stood up to fight in one seconed! They just keep doing that and refuses to die! It even works on the ground - they just don't die even when they are routing. I ran over the enemy general ~ 20 times before he finally stayed down. It was the longest duel I have ever seen.

I wonder maybe (1) in the very hard setting Chariot (in players' control) is just an almost harmless unit & (2) druids are suppose to have a high chance of self-revival?

Thanks ~:)

[Sethik]

I'm not sure if it's the same in R:TW, but in M:TW I think that the harder the difficulty the greater bonus your enemy gets. I think it might be something like 4 or 6 morale bonus, although it might be attack and defense too.


And yeah British chariots suck. Egypt is the way to go. The Egyptian chariots are extremely overpowered.

If you want a more realistic experience dl R:TW realism mod from twcenter.net.

[bigredlemon]

Have you tried egyptian chariots? British chariots are known to be a bit of a joke...

[sapi]

Try attacking past the enemy with the chariots, it makes them do SLIGHTLY more damage

[Didz]

Well in my opinion none of these chariots should be able to mow down enemy troops anyway. Chariots were little more that personel carriers on the battlefield, charging them into groups of massed troops would be suicidal for both the team and the crew.

But I suspect CA felt they needed to allow it becuase thats what people expect chariots to do from watching cheap movies.

Its the same as the issue of armoured knights riding over enemy spearmen, it never happened in real life but we expect it to in wargames because thats what happened in Hollywood.

[Oleander Ardens]

I use melee chariots only togheter with cavalry; The chariots are there to break up the formation and to cause chaos and panic while the the Cavalry does the killing and the persue... So get some Barb. cav. mercs ~;)

Works very well indeed

OA

[Excalibur Bane]

Well in my opinion none of these chariots should be able to mow down enemy troops anyway. Chariots were little more that personel carriers on the battlefield, charging them into groups of massed troops would be suicidal for both the team and the crew.

But I suspect CA felt they needed to allow it becuase thats what people expect chariots to do from watching cheap movies.

Its the same as the issue of armoured knights riding over enemy spearmen, it never happened in real life but we expect it to in wargames because thats what happened in Hollywood.

Well, last I checked Gladiator wasn't a cheap movie to make and it definately seems like there is alot of inspiration taken from it. The napalm tossing Onagers and the archers shooting fireballs for example. Kinda funny really. I don't mind it though. I love most of the implementations ~;)

[The_Emperor]

Yeah the Briton Chariots knock people down but don't kill many people (understandable when you only have one guy on the back of each one waving his sword about)

The way to use them is to charge them in, with infantry following close behind (but be careful with your generals), when the chariots knock everyone off their feet, the infantry will hack them up, even if they are still on the ground.

Light chariots are much better though, their archers can make pincushions out of anyone and can chase down routers very well.

As always its about how you use them, but melee chariots generally suck.

[chunkynut]

I use melee chariots only togheter with cavalry; The chariots are there to break up the formation and to cause chaos and panic while the the Cavalry does the killing and the persue... So get some Barb. cav. mercs ~;)

Works very well indeed

OA

This is also true of the elephants, break the formation and a charge with even a light cav unit will cause a lot of units to route within seconds.

Do the scythed chariots fare any better? I've just started a selucioid campaign.

[The_Emperor]

Do the scythed chariots fare any better? I've just started a selucioid campaign.

Not really but unlike other chariots they can run amok like elephants do... So be warned.

[GonzoDave]

And unlike elephants you can't order them to suicide when they do, and you can't target them.

[Slaists]

Well, VH difficulty gives significant attack and defense bonuses to the AI troops. So significant that the autocalc calculates it in AI's favor even if you have far superior troops. I am afraid, the bonuses are something that would make a unit of peasants become a fair game for a unit of hastatii...

On another note, on VH hastatii and principes stand no chance to win a head-on charge by warbands... Similarly, on VH phalangs lose head-on against cavalry...

[Colovion]

Pontic scythed chariots make me cry.

5 Deep Armoured Hoplites waiting for the charge = Grass.

[andrewt]

It isn't just Pontic scythed chariots. Anything can break phalanx formations in this game. I wouldn't be surprised if peasants can break the formation of Spartan hoplites in a frontal charge.