The problem with elephants..

[The_Emperor]

Ok guys i have done a bit of testing in the demo...

All units were V0, no mismatches and the battle was out in the open on the tutorial map.

Two units of Triarii engaged a unit of Armoured Elephants in Loose formation. End result, a lot of dead Triarii and one elephant being slain.

I replayed the same battle with the troops in close formation and a unit of Hastati thrown in, here is what happened...

The Elephants charged right past the Hastatii who were placed right out in front and aimed for the General's unit of Triarii, he took a heavy beating all throughout the battle. The Hastati threw their Pila in as the Second unit of Triarii engaged the Elephants from the rear... One elephant went down, another one swiftly followed.

The battle dragged on as the General's unit suffered the brunt of the attack... So finally the Hastati charged in (yeah fat load of good they would do with their puny swords), after that Two more Armoured Elephants fell including the one that carried the Carthaginian General!!

The Armoured Elephants were then routed. My units started off at full strength of 60 men... I wound up with 10 men in the general's Triarii Unit (told you he suffered badly), 47 men in the other Triarii unit, (that means effectivley I had enough Triarii survivors to nearly make a full unit of them) The Hastati were down to 35 men.

The armoured Elephants were the standard unit size of 9 elephants... Effectively I had delt with them by sacrificing a unit of Triarii and half a unit of Hastati!!

Had I been more careful and put the general to loose formation when the Elephants charged him, I would certainly have lost fewer men in that initial charge.