Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Triarii vs Cavalry

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Alienated Senior Member Member Red Harvest's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Searching for the ORG's lost honor
    Posts
    4,657

    Default Re: Triarii vs Cavalry

    Good informative post. The new engine really likes charges and countercharges. I've seen highly variable results testing units charging vs. standing still or countercharge.

    Your results explain a lot about the AI. It uses a mass rush pretty much every time. Since this takes all of a few seconds to hit your line, there is little time for a human to stop and countercharge. Too bad we don't have some sort of "charge closest opposing unit command for battle lines." Deployment be damned, because if you aren't charging, even defensive troops buckle. There is some presidence for this with sword armed infantry. Caeser said that charges should be met with a charge, rather than lying there and taking it.

    No wonder my cav tactics work so well in SP. I end up charging everything and am not getting stuck defensive. If the AI rushes I withdraw the cav and hack at the chargers flanks with my own charge. You can't do that with infantry, because you lack a speed advantage. I rarely hit spears/infantry frontally unless I need to hold a unit for a few seconds while flanking cav destroys it.

    One has to wonder why the cav is allowed to charge completely at close formation spears or pikes *frontally* in the first place...not too historical. Perhaps some heavy cav would if trained, but I doubt light cav would. Horses are smart animals--although it has been a very long time since we've owned any.
    Rome Total War, it's not a game, it's a do-it-yourself project.

  2. #2
    Member Member Morindin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    279

    Default Re: Triarii vs Cavalry

    As per discussed in the MTW threads horses would charge a wall of spikes, its the Humans that might not want to.

    You can still play defensively. It just depends what you're coming up against.
    And yes receiving a charge doesnt work as well in RTW as MTW, but on the other hand countercharging puts all sorts of holes in your line.
    This is why I always deploy with two lines when fighting defensively. One line up front (Triarii or Infantry depending on what im facing) to "counter charge" and one line behind to plug the holes. If your "countercharge" troops are getting isolated and picked off you can always send in your second line or have the opportunity to use some flanking manouvers. Because I dont seem to have the 20 second fight problem most people have, this works well.

    Also I always use guard mode on ALL my infantry even when on the offensive, which might have something to do with it. Chasing down routers is not infantries job, skirmishers/cavalry/wardogs yes.
    Talk is cheap - Supply exceeds Demand.

  3. #3
    Alienated Senior Member Member Red Harvest's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Searching for the ORG's lost honor
    Posts
    4,657

    Default Re: Triarii vs Cavalry

    Funny, I remember horses stopping suddenly if they didn't like where they were headed. The rider might end up on the pikes while the horse stands there after balking. I've seen horses balk at jumps before, throwing riders.
    Rome Total War, it's not a game, it's a do-it-yourself project.

  4. #4
    Member Member Morindin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    279

    Default Re: Triarii vs Cavalry

    Quote Originally Posted by Red Harvest
    Funny, I remember horses stopping suddenly if they didn't like where they were headed. The rider might end up on the pikes while the horse stands there after balking. I've seen horses balk at jumps before, throwing riders.
    I guess it depends on the training of the horse, but war horses were often braver then their riders and trained to be completely trusting in them.

    This is medieval times of course, not sure if the horses in Roman times being smaller and all that would be as brave.
    Horses arnt as smart as people give them credit for, some of them sure have an attitude though :)
    Talk is cheap - Supply exceeds Demand.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Triarii vs Cavalry

    From this post and other posts, it seems CA went overboard with the charging bonuses, don't you think?

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Single Sign On provided by vBSSO