Ambushes

[shlin28]

Restarted a Julii campaign, sent 600 men under a decent adoptee to get Patavium, and as I marched near the forest, a 1000 Gaul army appeared and ambushed me!!!

My army got trashed in the slaughter that followed

So my question is, when you are ambushed by a superior force, how do you win?

[grwn]

I assume you would win with superior tactics. Ambushes are definitely annoying, many of my armies were slaughtered during one. Some units are able to hide in forests, use this to your advantage, the enemy can't see you this way (neither can you if the camera screws up on you ).

cheers,
grwn

[The Black Sheep]

First, you'll have to stay calm, always!

As an tactic, you van use a cirkel formation, with your best infantery facing their best, and hope that at those critical points you will win. Put your archers and general in the middle. You will need your general because being ambushed has major impact on morale, so your general needs to rally his man.

You can best put the game in pause mode as soon as the battle starts and let your units run to their position. Your cavalary is often best used to sweep away their archers, so hide them in the woods an make this your advantage, as soon as the real fight begins, charge in at their archers, and after that in the backs of the infantery which is trying to breach your defensive cirkel formation.

[shlin28]

But I can't deploy my troops in an ambush , the only thing I could do before the enemy smashes into my line is to turn my Hastatis to face the enemy.

[Celt Centurion]

There are actually several things that you can do.

1. As Julii, you have some of what we could call "secure ground" which is usually the territory between the cities which you have up North. You were heading for Patavium which means that you have probably secured Arretium and Ariminum. Do you have a blacksmith at one or both? Do you have an armorer at one or both? Before marching on Patavium, you would do well to send all units to whichever has the better blacksmith/armor facilities. With upgraded weapons and armor, you ought to be able to cut up the Gaulish armies very well. If one of your nearby cities has a temple which adds experience, send them through that as well.

2. Before sending your army, send a spy, very slowly, point to point getting a good look around the surrounding area of the march route. He may find the army out there and actually prevent the ambush.

3. Recon in force. Unless Patavium only has a small contingent of barbarian spearmen, you might want to consider sending more than 600 men. I do not know what your army consists of, but it actually looks inadequate. The minimum for attacking a fortified army should be at least a 3:1 ratio.

4. Always keep in mind that the Gauls and Rebels set up lots of ambushes in that area.

5. With just the armor and weapon upgrades, you should be able to cut up 1000 Gallic warriors unless the AI gets meticulously careful about weapons and armor.

Strength and Honor

Celt Centurion

[shlin28]

I already spied Patavium, and found it to contain just two warbands, so I sent my 600 men, hoping for an easy battle.

Oh well, I will exact my revenge against the Gauls tomorrow

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

You could attempt to avoid ambushes all together shlin if you can find a way to keep out of the scattered forests on the map. These are indicated by sets of sparcley populated trees - often hard to miss so you may have to zoom in closely to find them.

For some reason I've always found cavalry units to be useful in ambushes. If you can rapidly get your cavalry out of the ring the enemy seem to form around you and then can form your own units up with minimally exposed flanks, your cavalry can get behind the enemy and, hopefully, cause a fair amount of damage.

You may struggle considering the quality of early Roman cavalry though. Try to avoid prolonged combat with them - simply charge and withdraw and then charge and withdraw again.

[placenik]

It is a shame that romans can't do standard legionary tactic for defending when attacked at march. They were marching in organized columns, so when they get attacked, legions just turn their shields towards enemy, forming regular battle line. But in RTW it looks like that evan romans march in big square boxes formation.

[Korlon]

I've played RTW for years and I've only been ambushed twice. AI doesn't seem to like to ambush me that much.

Anyways, if you do get ambushed, pause immediately. Start ordering your troops to make circle or oval facing outward in your formation's center. Make them run.

[Brave]

The game will ambush you more on higher difficulties. Still if you see a full stack coming your way just muster a reasonable force and lay in wait.