loose and tight formation

[ludwag]

hey. I think it is best I ask here becouse I dont know very much of the other forumst. just a fast question.

What is the difference with loose and close formation? i know loose is better when under fire, becouse there is more room between them? but what does this infect in close combat?

[Ludens]

We are not sure what the exact bonuses (if any) of close and loose formation are. However, units in loose formation perform poorly in close combat because the individual soldiers are easily swarmed. Does that answer your question?

[Celtic_Punk]

if you are attacked by cavalry, go loose, tehn when they get inside your formation go tight, youll lock them in. the ai is too stupid to change their weapons to swords.

[Valion]

All Hail Celtic Punk for giving me another tip to take advantage of the AI's stupidity!!! Oh i love the forums hehehe

[Celtic_Punk]

you know wahts twice as funny? ive seen threads on cavalry being absolutely worthless... and ill tell why thats so... those players are too retarded to switch to swords...

[Megas Methuselah]

And they let themselves get stuck in melee too long. Cavalry are best used to charge, charge, charge again, etc.

[Valion]

You tell me... thats the reason why i mainly focus on infantry. elephants do a better jop in killing the enemy Lol.

[Megas Methuselah]

Dude, cavalry are awesome. you just don't know how to use them. Wait a second, I'll find some link...

Here: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=103172

Remember, never let your cavalry get caught down in melee too long. Always pull out, and do another proper(i.e. with their spears lowered) charge, and repeat. This should be done from behind an enemy infantry while your own infantry have them anchored.

[Valion]

I already read the guide to use cavalry... the method of charging then withdraw then charging again, vice versa until the enemy routs. The thing is i need units usefull enough to pin the enemy, rather than waste precious money on examply Equites that cost 3000 with that amount i could raise 3 hastati/princeps units. Don't take me wrong i do use cavaly but only a few of them and mostly for chasing down routing units.

[Megas Methuselah]

You need a versatile army. Mostly infantry, but a few cavalry units(including bodyguards). Usually, my only cavalry arm is composed of bodyguard troops. I roleplay it with every family member serving in the military until they're 30 yrs old, or 40 in the case of a national emergency. Doing this, my individual armies have at least 2 FM's each, maybe 3 or 4.

[Valion]

Yeah i prefer to use my FM bodyguards as cavalry since not only do they get experience but some good retinue and traits aswell^_^

[ziegenpeter]

Plus, they automatically "regrow" after a battle, when you end the turn in a town

[chenkai11]

I thought this is a loose and tight formation thread?

Anyways, sometimes loose formation is really effective against enemy which outnumber you. You can cover more ground to avoid flanking moves, and get enough time to get your cavalry to charge in.

If my army compose of phalanx (in the center), with heavy peltast (behind the phalanx), but without any spearmen or heavy spearmen, I always use peltast loose formation at the right flank and slingers loose formation at the left flank. They will hold a little longer with guard mode and loose formation. Hold long enough for my heavy peltast to engage, and my cavalry to charge in.

[ludwag]

but what about phalanx in loose formation? is that any difference from normal phalanx exept, that they get faster into close combat becouse they run trough the pikes?

[Nobo]

I don't think you can put them in loose formation, while they are in phalanx mode

[SwissBarbar]

even if you could (idk) , it would totally miss the sense of the tactical use of a (macedonian type of) phalanx

[ludwag]

they can. just put on loose formation before going in phalanx. used to do that when playing getai and dacian phalanx. so that i could take their missile fire and make a longer line. and i diddnt need the phalanx to hold for very long, beocuse i had lots of bastarnae and skirmishers

[chenkai11]

one of the function of loose formation is to let you cover more ground with a limited numbers of men on the battle field. And "may be" able to intimidate enemies that they are facing great numbers. Another is to have less casualties when under fire. It applies to all kinds of units.

But when engaging in battle, heavy infantry prefer tight formation as they can represent a solid wall, and phalanx is to represent a solid wall of spears.

For light infantry especially being outnumbered, I always preferred loose formation. It sometimes buy me sometime to react on the situation especially when the enemy is wasting more time to kill my light infantry when in loose formation.