Surprises - both terrible and pleasant

[Colovion]

- It really sucks when you try to save your Generals for the end of the battle or at a pivotal part of the battle and charge into their flanks/rear and twice in a row, with your best Generals - they don't even get past the charge, they die as they make contact. Uhhhgg. It sucks when it was a 62 Year old General with 10 Stars and you lose your whole elite army because of it. Annoying also how suddenly when the General's death immediatly routs your troops; how the hell does everyone figure out about it at once? Do they have some sort of microphone in their helmets to tell them when the General routs/dies? Much better if the panic spreads instead of suddenly inflicting every single troop on the battlefield.


- but it's great when you're Greece and Thrace accepts your proposal of becoming your Protectorate. Their financial situation went from one of the last in the game to better than mine in two turns! talk about skyrocketing!

- I was surprised when Pontus sieged my town and sent up another unit up the ladders, usually it's just the one - too bad the rest all sat where they were and got pelted by my tower defences

I was fighting a battle last night and seriously got a headache because of a number of things. Firstly, the map was.... well very inclined. The AI ran up nearly a cliff and sat up on teh top waiting for me. As I trudged up the cliff they never attacked me but ended up running away. I had to use the faux TotalWar Cam and it is deffinately not bug free when traversing mountain and steep inclines - it was flying me all over the place, swinging wildly at the slightest touch. I hate fighting on hills because you're too close to see anything and - well you go try fighting a battle against a force of troops on a 50+ degree incline.

If that wasn't bad enough the next battle was against some troops on marvelously strange map. It was awe-inspiring but at the same time I couldn't help but think "wtf? who would choose this area to fight?" it was strange. Here's an artists rendition of the scene:



The hole was so deep - the only thing I can think of it was that a meteor hit the earth thousands of years ago and created it...

[Jeanne d'arc]

I had a 62 years old faction leader and i used him at some battle vs rebels, he had loads of cavalry in his unit so i slammed him in some rebel unit(dont remember wich one) , my faction leader died in like 10 seconds.Maybe this is just normal, i can imagine a 62 year old guy in armour on a horse could get a hearthattack at some point in battle.He will not posses the skills that he had when he was younger thus making him a easy target.

[Orvis Tertia]

None of these things has ever happened to me.

[metatron]

Occasionally I have lost generals right when they hit the enemy. I'm slowly learning they are not Jedi anymore...

[andrewt]

I had that happen once. My general's unit was actually winning in a melee when he suddenly got killed.

[Basileus]

Your generals can have Vices that lower their HP so be carefull how you use them if so cause they will die easely. Something similar happend to me, was about to charge and some chariots archers started shooting at my general and in the first volley they got my general and a mass rout came just while i was about to win heh

[andrewt]

IIRC, that general had a plus to his hp, which made it all the more annoying.

[Soulflame]

I only use my generals one routing troops... just to be safe... Or if I'm actually on the verge of losing a battle and the general can make a difference (and then I don't really care that he dies, only that I win the battle... usually the all out faction vs faction clashes, and usually the general does die an honorable death ).
Oh.. and generals can't hide in woods/grass for ambushes, I lost one general that way too when the whole force turned and attacked my ambush force (but I won the battle .. heh..)

[Orvis Tertia]

I am pleased that generals are vulnerable to getting killed easily on combat. After all, how many great battles saw the death of generals or other important commanders? Many. Even great victories throughout history were tempered by the death of the commanders.

The American Civil War comes to mind. There are many stories of commanding officers being killed by sniper fire, etc.

[Spino]

I am pleased that generals are vulnerable to getting killed easily on combat. After all, how many great battles saw the death of generals or other important commanders? Many. Even great victories throughout history were tempered by the death of the commanders.

The American Civil War comes to mind. There are many stories of commanding officers being killed by sniper fire, etc.

All true but the AI is at a serious disadvantage because it loves to use its general units in senseless, unsupported frontal banzai charges into your infantry units. A sensible noble death is one thing, a senseless wasteful death is another.

Furthermore human players are alot more careful with their general unit thus putting the AI at an even greater disadvantage.

[Orvis Tertia]

All true but the AI is at a serious disadvantage because it loves to use its general units in senseless, unsupported frontal banzai charges into your infantry units. A sensible noble death is one thing, a senseless wasteful death is another.

Furthermore human players are alot more careful with their general unit thus putting the AI at an even greater disadvantage.

Ah, I was just referring to player-controlled generals. I should have said that I like the idea of my generals being vulnerable.

[Colovion]

I find it depends on what kind of unit that the enemy General is - if they are NOT the Generic Heavy Cav I find they have exactly the same AI as MTW generals. I fought a battle against some Militia Cav General led troops and he hung back and fired at me from behind his lines. Eventually he did come out and charge but it wasnt' until near the end of the battle. This is also true of any infantry Generals.

[Oaty]

I have a bit of a different problem with my faction heir. I believe he would be a 15 star general with all the extras but it seems theres a 10 star max, anyways his vices/virtues and his retinue completely kick butt exept for 1 thing ....................... he has total of minus 7 to personal security....... doooooh!!!!!!!

I guess its really minus 6 since faction hiers get plus 1 to personal security. I hope the Eggy's do'nt seek revenge because I asassinated 7 of their heirs damaged about 15 awesome temples throwing the garison out due to revolt due to lack of happiness. And also damaged 6 or 7 high quality buildings(most of them markets wich drastically dropped that cities income. The best part this was all duee to 1 asassin, unfortanately all the other asassins I tried to train up got caught, this guy was caught in the act a few times but always evaded capture. He has a 9 subterfuge and works with a 10 subterfuge spy and everytime the Eggies train a spy or asassin to detect these guys they end up in the afterlife.

[Ktonos]

Well it was I very good surprise to see my small hoplite garrison of Athens sallying out of the city after a 5 year roman siege and my Macedonian allies to assist me. This could never happen in STW or MTW with the risk like province system.

[Colovion]

I was also once surprised when I attacked an enemy fleet and my ally came out of nowhere to help out - he wasn't even visible to me but he crossed the ocean to help my sailors beat off those damned Macedonians. It's good to see that the AI allies help you out that way on water as well.

[Colovion]

Here's two more:

Don't try to get a unit to attack a unit that is up on the walls, you need to make them go up there and then attack - or else you'll just have your unit walking around and bunched up at the gate and if they are on either side and get caught, they ain't movin'. You have to make them go up onto the wall before attacking the enemy.

I was fighting a battle against the Brutii. I had a bunch of skirmishers up front keeping the enemy busy and some archers shooting into their ranks. I am waiting for my Phalanx to get towards the front and decide to throw on Fire Arrows which I barely ever use. The enemy had been under fire for a while and I am looking around the battlefield after clicking the Fire Arrows - I look back after a volley has landed and there's a unit of Hastati running away - only 20 men left. Note to self: Fire arrows work much better against tired or Wavering troops - both for kills and for panic.