Rotating troops at the front of battle

[duncan.gill]

Does anyone rotate the units engaging with the enemy on the front line during a battle (as the Romans used to do historically)? Does this actually work in EB (do people do this for the effectiveness of the technique rather than just for historical accuracy)? Doesn't the unit being pulled back take a bundle of kills due to the enemy hacking at their backs?

[sanitarium]

Sometimes I'll rotate units in, assuming I have reserves to spare. The way I do it is bring up the replacement and have them engage the target of the unit they're replacing. Once they've started to push forward into the enemy, I'll withdraw the first unit and send them to the rear. Doing it this way minimizes casualties effectively.

[LorDBulA]

I do it very rarely but when I do it I use this approach:

The way I do it is bring up the replacement and have them engage the target of the unit they're replacing. Once they've started to push forward into the enemy, I'll withdraw the first unit and send them to the rear. Doing it this way minimizes casualties effectively.

Just make sure that you use Alt button for retreating units so they dont wheel around before marching off.

[Legosoldier]

I don't rotate units. It's hard to do and it causes extra casualties. what I do is just keep the formation and engage only to reinforce a unit without withdrawing, unless it I'm reinforcing a skirmisher or missile unit.

[Chris1959]

Thank you LorDBula I'd forgotten Alt retreats facing the enemy!

[Tartaros]

i must use this in wall-fightings and only if needed in battles.
i think its very difficult. sometime, if the units are exhausted or have a low moral they try to rout for real. this manoeuvre also cause a little bit more panik, because the other unit don´t like to see comrades rout. a deal with the fire...

[Tollheit]

Sparingly.
When I do it, first I order the replacement to attack, then I give the formerly engaged unit the "hold formation" and "stop" orders, and instead of actively retreating the unit I simply wait for it to drop out of combat.

[konny]

I do this frequently, taking extra casualties into account. Fresh units are fighting better while the exhausted enemy is more likely to rout. The unit that just been pulled can recover behind the front line and join in again as fresh unit.

[Che Roriniho]

I usually do, by flanking the opposing unit with my back-up troops, then withdrawing my tired troops.

Thanks also for reminding me about alt-move.

[Ibrahim]

as romani, all the time; usually though, my attacks are so furious, that the enemy routs before I need the second line

no discipline with the enemy..especially with a horns and breast style attack (of a cattle-its a zulu way of attacking)

[Intranetusa]

I usually do not rotate units at all.
I've found that the best strategy is to have all of your units engaged at once - ie. such as surrounding the enemy

Having all of your units engaging the enemy army at different spots is usually more effective than keeping some troops in reserve and rotating troops.

However, rotating units is more effective in fighting defensive battles, battles you're outnumbered in, city defense, or battles consisting of a lot of troops - where micromanagement & having all your units engaged would be difficult.

[hoom]

Just make sure that you use Alt button for retreating units so they dont wheel around before marching off.

Oh my god, all these years without knowing you can do that

For the above reason I don't often rotate in actual combat.

But I do often switch troops from parts of a line that have been depleted/tired out with fresh unengaged troops either from a different part of the line or reserves.
Also, in city assaults its often very important to use fresh troops to push forward after the initial bridgehead & for the city square if there are some tough troops there.

A powerful but exhausted unit can lose a lot of good troops when engaging a fresh enemy.
Its often better to use a fresh but weaker unit.

[Mediolanicus]

I use it all the time, but sometimes it may cause extra injuries.

I've disabled fatigue because the AI always charges the last mile to my army and I grew tired of fighting exhausted armies, which caused terrible morale and easy routings.

Now I have to roleplay my own troop's fatigue (by rotating them for example) and my battles last longer and are more fun!

[Recoil]

I do it quite a lot, mainly when I've got enough space to move my men about.

As for the problem with men dropping likes flies with their backs turned to the enemy, I find that putting on 'guard mode' means that the units at the back leave first, and a small rear guard stays to cover the others. While it still does lose men I prefer using this method rather than just simply having up to half the unit decimated as they all scramble to get out of there.

[TWFanatic]

I don't get this alt thing. Do you press and hold alt while clicking behind your line? And don't you want your unit to turn around? Does pressing alt make them backpeddle or something?

Sorry for all the questions.

[syct23]

Sometimes I'll rotate units in, assuming I have reserves to spare. The way I do it is bring up the replacement and have them engage the target of the unit they're replacing. Once they've started to push forward into the enemy, I'll withdraw the first unit and send them to the rear. Doing it this way minimizes casualties effectively.

.I also do this, I find it faster to double click behind the enemy your engaging to make your men run through the fighting until their bunched up then pressing attack. This saves a good fifteen to twenty seconds of waiting for your group of men to finally come into contact.. Then once your fresh line is fighting have your engaged units fall back but make sure to have them run even if their tiered I find it helps with less casualties.. Sometimes if you’re lucky and the fighting goes on for a bit longer your men that fell back will completely regain their stamina. I play as Rome a lot and do this in almost every engagement that allows me to and have gotten good at it, it just takes some practice and good timing to be real effective. Really the only men I let fight to the death are my mercenaries.

[LorDBulA]

Do you press and hold alt while clicking behind your line?

Yes.

Does pressing alt make them backpeddle or something?

Normally if you order unit to move in the opposite direction it will rotate around center of formation ( assuming unit is aligned North to South soldier in the most south of the formation will march to the most north position ) and march to the spot and stop facing in the opposite direction then in the beginning.

With alt click all soldiers do about face. March to destination and do about face again. They end up facing the same direction as in the beginning.

[TWFanatic]

Shame I didn't know that earlier.

Muchas Gracias, Senior.