How exactly do u hide in woods or increase the chance of hiding.

[Mrlin]

Many times I try to hide my troops in woods for surprising ambush, while enemy is still far away.

But no matter how deep I go into the forest, I just couldn't see the tree symble on unit panel.

However, some times at the start of the game, the battle formation stage, I could see my troop in hiding, but it is among only 2 or three trees.

This is very frustrating.

[Procrustes]

It's easiest when you are the defender - just drop them in a wooded area during setup. Sometimes very slight changes in their position or facing will hide/unhide them, so you need to fiddle with them a bit. One thing I've found is to make sure you turn off "fire at will" for any archers/etc. that you hide in the woods, as they will become spotted as soon as they shoot. Also, hidden units may be spotted as the enemy moves near - they generally can't stay hidden forever.

After you've moved it's a bit harder. Try to get to some woods, a little bit back in from the tree line, and don't move - the longer you sit still the better your chances of becoming hidden are.

Note that your general is never hidden. YOu can sometimes use this to your advantage - use the general to lure the enemy past some hidden units on the flanks, or into archer range.

HTH,

[ichi]

Procrustes is right, just a little fiddling will hide a unit. It's important to remember to turn missile units Fire-at-Will off, and set them to Hold form or Engage-at-Will. Either shooting or skirmishing will give their position away, so turn Fire-at-Will off until ready to use.

Sometimes you can just move a unit a tiny bit, or even change the number of ranks, and they'll become hidden.

ichi :bow:

[Odin]

Excellent advice. The only thing I would add (which Procrustes touches on) is steering enemies away from your hidden position. Sometimes as they march closer you get into thier line of side dependant on the terrain.

Using a high value target like knights to get a portion of the enemies force to split from the main is an effective way to keep yourself hidden. Often the pursing troops will be calvary and you can lure them toward your position for the sneak attack, as thier inf support will be further away

Procrustes covered all that. just keep in mind that if your hidding in woods thats in a valley and your enemy is on a hill your position might be given away. To be honest I dont know this for a fact (didnt look in the manual) but I swear sometimes I am hidden and my position is discovered by the repositioning of the enemies troops, not my own.

[Procrustes]

Yes, I've found that if the enemy marches close enough that they will often spot me - you need to time it right and use a good lure. Rolling hills or slight changes in elevation can help keep you hidden if you are behind a crest. Once you start moving you only have a short time while you get the bonus for attacking from a hidden position - I notice that if you hover your cursor over the hidden unit as it charges it will continue to keep saying "concealed" for a bit - I assume that's as long as your bonus lasts. Consequently I've learned not to hide my cavalry too far back in the woods or too far from where I hope to lure the enemy - I can waste their bonus as they stumble through the trees on the way out, or as they cross a big open area. It's all pretty tricky and requires a bit of luck.

Even if you don't get the hidden attacker bonus, you still have the advantage of popping up somewhere where the AI didn't expect you - it can often cause them to halt or reposition their troops, giving you other opportunities.

Besides your general, another good lure is mounted missiles - you can use a unit of horse archers to pull somebody out of formation, lead them past your hidden unit, then charge them from behind.

[antisocialmunky]

The AI loves to send teams of 2 units of archers or spearman or archers and spearman to probe woods and spoil your ambush.

[Patron]

I noticed that. All you need to do is bring 2 cavalry units and flank the 200 strong unit of scouts as they traverse no man's land. Sometime when I am going against rebels the general is so stupid he does this until only his retinue is left.

[Total War Merc]

Only some men can hide.
& Only Some Forests Will let you hide.

(probably no help, but this is what i was doing wrong about a year ago)