Deployable Defences

Alrighty, I have a few questions about deployable defences, and I seek your opinions on their usefullness.
Firstly, what are all the types of deployable defences, and what do they all do? I know that chevaux-de-frises/spiky things stop cavalry, but how effective are they in disrupting a bayonet charge? And how effective are the giant sandbag things in a firefight? And are the cannon sandbags meant to be anti-melee or gunfire?

Secondly, can you utilise these defences at any stage of the game, or do some need to be researched? Are there any factors affecting whether you can deploy defences (apart from the obvious one that you have to be defending)?

Finally, a miscellaneous inquiry-can all light infantry lay stakes, and can they lay more than one set of stakes throughout a battle? If so, is there a limit on this?

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Ishmael

Alrighty, I have a few questions about deployable defences, and I seek your opinions on their usefullness.
Firstly, what are all the types of deployable defences, and what do they all do? I know that chevaux-de-frises/spiky things stop cavalry, but how effective are they in disrupting a bayonet charge? And how effective are the giant sandbag things in a firefight? And are the cannon sandbags meant to be anti-melee or gunfire?

Secondly, can you utilise these defences at any stage of the game, or do some need to be researched? Are there any factors affecting whether you can deploy defences (apart from the obvious one that you have to be defending)?

Finally, a miscellaneous inquiry-can all light infantry lay stakes, and can they lay more than one set of stakes throughout a battle? If so, is there a limit on this?

Thanks!

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Infantry can climb over the anti-cav defenses. It would sorta be overpowered if it stopped infantry and cavalry both, you'd win every battle without trying.

The only other type I can think of that you've not mentioned is earthen trenches, which give your troops cover.

Those sand bags will save you from small-arms fire. Mostly. They don't do much about cannonballs, and they don't do anything to melee infantry, since it isn't like they block them from reaching your soft, fleshy, cannon crew.

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Originally Posted by Ishmael

Alrighty, I have a few questions about deployable defences, and I seek your opinions on their usefullness.
Firstly, what are all the types of deployable defences, and what do they all do? I know that chevaux-de-frises/spiky things stop cavalry, but how effective are they in disrupting a bayonet charge? And how effective are the giant sandbag things in a firefight? And are the cannon sandbags meant to be anti-melee or gunfire?

Secondly, can you utilise these defences at any stage of the game, or do some need to be researched? Are there any factors affecting whether you can deploy defences (apart from the obvious one that you have to be defending)?

Finally, a miscellaneous inquiry-can all light infantry lay stakes, and can they lay more than one set of stakes throughout a battle? If so, is there a limit on this?

Thanks!

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I can assure that the chevaux-de-frises are very usefull. Once I sent a unit of cossacks in pursuit of a feeing enemy unit and eventually they got stuck in one of those obstacles resulting in the death of most of the riders and the eventual rout of ...what was left of the unit. Notice that this was a lonely and abandoned chevaux-de-frises....

So yeah very usefull even when ot wasn't supposed to be... :smash:

V.

Just a quick warning - artillery can display bizarre behaviour when place behind a barricade, such as not firing or actually hitting the sandbags themselves.

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Originally Posted by Lusitani

I can assure that the chevaux-de-frises are very usefull. Once I sent a unit of cossacks in pursuit of a feeing enemy unit and eventually they got stuck in one of those obstacles resulting in the death of most of the riders and the eventual rout of ...what was left of the unit. Notice that this was a lonely and abandoned chevaux-de-frises....

So yeah very usefull even when ot wasn't supposed to be... :smash:

V.

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Lol that must have sucked...it kept happening to me on Brandywine with the stakes.
Thanks for the response guys, just another quick question: is it possible to get deployable defences in a custom SP battle? I want to try some stuff out, and its a bit frustrating waiting for an appropriate battle in the campaign.

The artillery sandbag defences are flawed. Every single time I see them zoomed in, the cannon seems to be inside the sanbag, and so the crew just stands there and doesn't fire

Artillery sandbags also narrow the field of fire when they are constructed if I remember correctly. I figure if the opponent is close enough you need the sandbags your artillery is already lost.

For infantry, you have trenches and stakes. Trenches, which are really walls of a sort, work well against ranged weapons, cannonballs included. They are horrible against cavalry, who just run right over them. They work pretty well in general. The stakes stop cavalry. They work pretty well but cavalry haven't been as big a problem for me as in previous Total War games.

Now, the arty sandbags can be a blessing and a curse. Sometimes it doesn't seem to limit their field of fire, sometimes it does. Sometimes they bug up. Still, I've had good success creating a wall with entrenched infantry and sandbagged artillery. Set the artillery to canister shot and you've got a solid wall of fortifications with some really, really big shotguns interspersed throughout. Deploy some artillery behind with round shot and it's a regular shooting gallery.

Trenches and chevaux de frise are available right from the start, as are the artillery defenses. Later on light infantry get fougasse, essentially minefields. Light infantry can also plant stakes, which I believe are essentially chevaux de frise that can be deployed once the battle has started.

As for when you can use them, I believe it has to do with being attacked while your army still has movement points remaining (apart from light infantry stakes, which are always available). Make sure to move your general carefully when there are anti-cavalry obstacles around, I've forgotten about them and marched him over them before; he won't make any effort to avoid them.

what tech/s unlocks fougasse?

What's the criteria for the option to have deployable defences to appear? I had the option for defences in one game but now the option never seems to be there..

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Originally Posted by tibilicus

What's the criteria for the option to have deployable defences to appear? I had the option for defences in one game but now the option never seems to be there..

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You have to be defending, and I think your army has to have either not used up all its movement points, or else not moved at all, in the preceding turn. I generally seem to get them either when defending a city, or else defending against an enemy sally.

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Originally Posted by Ishmael

what tech/s unlocks fougasse?

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My Jaegers seem to have them by default, I think they might just be available to any high-level light infantry.

The best time to deploy the anti-cavalry stakes is when the enemy has been creeping up your flanks with his cavalry. I timed it *perfectly* (total luck, tbh) in a multi-player game and the wall went up at the instant the cavalry hit and it wiped them out almost totally to just charge. I suppose the moral of the story is to keep an eye on the flanks and if you have no cavalry on the flanks, try light infantry to counter them if timed right.

Another dirty trick is to build a anti-cavalry wall BEHIND the sandbag wall and goad them into attacking... ;P

[QUOTE=PBI;2175263]You have to be defending, and I think your army has to have either not used up all its movement points, or else not moved at all, in the preceding turn. I generally seem to get them either when defending a city, or else defending against an enemy sally.
[QUOTE]

You should notice on the campaign map that after not moving for a turn (i think) your stack has a small ring of stakes around it. In this case you can deploy defenses.