bridge marching

I found myself in the situation where an invading force was on the other side of a bridge while I attacked him.
I moved 2 units of militia spearman on the bridge, followed by 2 units of archers. This provoked my enemy in sending 2 separate charges of horse units, which they bravely withstood and routed.

Then I wanted to move the spearmen further along the bridge so I selected them both and rightclicked a further away section of the bridge. However, they started to move in the opposite direction, away from the enemy! Oddly, shouting at the screen and pointing didn't alleviate this problem.
In the end I got one of the units to get where he was supposed to but the other one took a lot longer which led to the first unit being routed.
(in the end I won a good victory, not in the last part because of one particular brave norse war cleric that had lost all of its comrades but didn't route and received a gold chevron because of it)

Why did these spearmen walk in the wrong direction and how should I have pointclicked to prevent that?

I usually have to click on the land on the other side of the bridge, and hit the backspace key to stop them when they get far enough along to be where I want them to be.

I rarely fight bridge battles though, unless I'm defending, or have artillery/seige weaponry. They are total meat grinders, and I don't like taking the casualties.

Clicking ON the bridge itself, sometimes (actually a lot of the time for me) creates pathfinding issues. There is no way to avoid it that I know of.

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Originally Posted by TeutonicKnight

I usually have to click on the land on the other side of the bridge, and hit the backspace key to stop them when they get far enough along to be where I want them to be.

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This the method I use. Even if I am the attacking party this is usually sufficiant to provoke the defenders into rushing you on the bridge. This sets up a decent "defending" situation even if you are attacking. grind the enemy away and when they rout, charge across! :charge:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Philbert

Oddly, shouting at the screen and pointing didn't alleviate this problem.

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You know I keep trying that too, but it never works. Then my wife usually walks in and wonders who I am swearing so loudly at. :embarassed: :shame:

The unit movement problem has been with us since RTW came out. Sometimes units, esp. in front of walls, bridges, and other obstacles, will do some really stupid crap in terms of pathing. I've never found an honest good way to consistently prevent this from happening.

:balloon2:

It also happens with siege towers, if it's at the wall, sometimes you're frantically clicking to get people up there but they just stand around getting shot up at the bottom of the tower. Then, once one unit is on the wall fighting, and you want to get another one up there, no way.. they just stand there.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong ? What do you do click the wall right ?

That's what I do, Sinan.

I did several assaults last night, and I'm noticing the same issue. Even from inside the town, you basically have to set them next to a tower, and then click on top of the wall next to the tower. So move them in. Move them to the tower. Move them up on the wall. Move them to the attack. Very cumbersome - thank goodness for pause. If you haven't yet gained control of the gates, you have to flood the walls with attackers. Seems once they are on the walls, the pathfinding is a lot simpler.

Considering I'm playing the Danes, you would'nt think I'd have such a hard time getting them to go kill someone. Damn Catholics lost their fire.