Guard mode and charging

[Chris1959]

I play Romani a lot and nearly always have them on guard mode, sacrificing killing ability for their ability to hold formation, die slower and better stamina.
When the enemy are exhausted the time comes for the counter punch and I switch it off, obviously units already in contact can't charge into the enemy, but often when I've manouvred around a phalanx etc I charge a fresh unit in to start the real killing.
Question is do they have more impact in guard mode or as individuals, as I know units have a mass.
My preferred technique is charge in in guard mode then switch off after contact, but is this the most effective?

[SwissBarbar]

an interesting question, i would like to KNOW too, heres what i THINK so far:

you speak of "sacrificing killing ability", i think an impact with a max of killing ability (off guard mode) would be deadlier than one with a sacrificed one (on guard mode). Myself, i attack always off guard mode, but - provided that the enemy is bound by my guard-mode forces in the front - i move them always behind the enemy and wait till their formation is mostly parallel to the enemy rear-line, so they charche in the full breadth

[Chris1959]

Swiss Barbar I understand what your saying, but units have a mass as well as a charge bonus and I just want to clarify when it is most deadly as individuals or a group, logic agrees with you that charging out off guard mode is best, it's how I charge my cavalry. However with the cavalry when they hit as a compact mass they seem to do more damage and if infantry charge out of guard mode they sometimes straggle out.
Just looking for the definative answer.

[craziii]

in guard mode, you just need 1 soldier in your entire unit clipping 1 enemy soldier at any point during the charge, the entire unit stops. same thing during fights, it will keep formation instead of fighting. never use guard mode for anything but the moments you want to keep an orderly battle line.

[seriousbusiness]

in guard mode, you just need 1 soldier in your entire unit clipping 1 enemy soldier at any point during the charge, the entire unit stops. same thing during fights, it will keep formation instead of fighting. never use guard mode for anything but the moments you want to keep an orderly battle line.

This. It usually takes more than one - perhaps two or three, but that's how it goes. More often than not most of your troops will waste their charge. I've been thinking it may be worth it to charge normally then switch to guard to carry on the fighting while flanking is organised. That's especially useful for armies with units especially designed for wearing the enemy down (eg, hastati, libyans/liby-phonecians, lugoae) to make that flanking movement all the more decisive. I would like to know about this myself to make my armies more financially viable - using those few cheaper units to hold things together is more cost effective (therefore more armies) than fielding more elite troops which aren't really necessary.

[Foytaz]

Guard mode works fine when you fight big battle against multiple foes groups advancing from various directions. It is good to hold down your units after repealing one enemy wave if you know another one is coming upon you.