[Phalanxes] What am I doing wrong?

[vartan]

How bizarre! So you turn guard mode on if you're attacking, and off if you're defending. Basically against the AI there's no point in using guard mode?

No...did you even read the document? at least its conclusion?

It doesn't matter if you are fighting the AI or a human. In a phalanx vs phalanx fight, on/attack or off/defend. Defending, if you read the document, means you do not order an attack on the enemy with your phalanx unit. You let the enemy engage your phalanx.

Canceling "fighting" status by hitting backspace will reduce the rate at which you kill the enemy now, in return for saving energy. Then when the enemy is exhausted your troops are still fresh, and can hopefully take some revenge.

Another disgusting truth when it comes to Rome: Total War. Find more information here:

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=...NmQ4Nzdj&hl=en

As you can see, for a non-phalanx defender, defending (i.e. idling) will result in a tricky situation. Either you can idly defend, losing more men yet remaining fresh, or you can actively defend (i.e. guard mode disabled), and be more tired yet survive with more men (because you routed the enemy faster). The question is: Do you want less men that are more fresh to be used later in the end game? or do you want more men, albeit tired men, to be used earlier, during the mid game? To be honest, I would go with the latter because fatigue doesn't play nearly as much a role in the game as quantity does.