The problem with elephants..

[Morindin]

LOL, Morindin. You just proved my point. THANKS!!! Look at what those elephants did despite the confined space and number of units they were facing. And I don't see other troops on the ground supporting the elephants (just dead men.) When I face them I don't get a nice little set piece like this. Talk about a stacked deck, and it was still ugly. How long would the triarii have survived in loose formation vs. infantry supporting the elephants? Not long.

This is a circular argument you realise. If there was no breach he could get his troops in to support his elephants but I could also use mine to support my Triarii!

Fact of the matter, Elephants are tough to take down but not impossible. Your infantry should be fighting their infantry, I know its not as simple as that but there you go. I have played heaps of games against Elephants in a combined arms situation (such as the historical battle from the Demo) against the AI and human opponents and guess what, Triarii STILL kick their butts (especially the non armoured ones).

You cant just make blanket statements that "Elephants + soldiers kill triarii". Of COURSE they do. But do "Elephants + Soldiers kill Triarii + Cavalry" ? No.

In that matchup situation the later would win, but again this is a circular argument and we could go on all day. I have provided evidence of Elephants losing against thier matchup. What have you provided apart from arrogence?

A unit is only "overpowered" if it beats its matchup at a cost effective ratio, i.e. FMAA in MTW is a classic example. Not only do elephants lose against their matchup, but two units of Triarii cost about 1500 and one unit of Elephants is what, over 2000?

If you are losing in a combined arms situation and Elephants are the main contributor to that, I suggest you either use better tactics such as isolating his main force FROM his elephants using bait, or, revise your own armies to make the matchup more suitable.

What exactly is your problem with them anyway? Do they wipe out your infantry too quickly? If they have a lot of elephants you should have an advantage in numbers somewhere, and be ready for the fact your going to sustain a lot of casualties. Who cares though if the amount of men you lose on a cost based ratio is less than the cost of those Elephants.

Oh and I won that game BTW. I managed to rout his other groups of Elephants using fire from my siege. Elephants are definately a double edged sword. All it requires is adaptive thinking to meet the challange.