A couple questions

Yesterday I was playing as Makedon and sent my army which was besieging a city (I think it was Pergamon) to assault and take it. During the assault, I sent a full group of Peltastai Makedonikai to go finish off a ~50 man group of Thracian Peltasts.

My Peltastai Makedonikai were completely wiped out by this group in melee and it made me wonder what I'm doing wrong.*

Suffice it to say, I took the city and enslaved the populace for having the gaul to wipe out my precious, precious peltastai.

Here are the questions that came to mind as a result of this debacle:

1) What effect do the number of command stars on a general have on the army he commands?

2a) Are Peltastai Makedonikai strictly a flanking unit, regardless of their high defensive stats?

2b) What does each specific defensive stat entail? I.E. does a unit with a larger shield number, 7 for instance, have a better chance at surviving against projectiles/swords/whatever than one that has a lower shield number?

* Before I assaulted the city, I did not send in a spy to see the army inside. Therefore, it may very well be the case that this group of Thracian Peltasts had several silver (or possibly gold) experience chevrons.

Command stars do affect morale - how ready your troops are to flee. But in practice, they have much less effect in player controlled battles than they do in auto-calc battles.

Makedonikai do work far better as a flanking unit, but they are well armoured. Generally a good thing, but Thracian peltasts have an armour piercing attribute on their swords. This makes them far more effective against units if that unit has a high armour stat. Armour stats are all-around protection, while the shield value is specifically in the direction of the sheild - making flanking attacks valuable.

Oh, nearly forgot. If the peltasts were defending a wall, this gives them a further advantage. Wall defenders get a defense bonus.

Well, that pretty much answers that.

Thank you!