Best unit to receive a chariot charge?

**Hurin_Rules** · 10-21-2004, 08:03

I'm slogging through my campaign as the Julii and things seem to be going well. I've taken everything from Spain to the Baltic sea, but to get to 50 provinces I had to invade Egypt. I thought I had chariots under control when I was fighting the Britons, but the Egyptian ones seem even more deadly. I've been trying to hold them back with praetorian cohorts and such, but they still seem to wreak havoc. Is there a better unit to hold them off? Do other factions have an easier time or better units against the chariots?

**USMCNJ** · 10-21-2004, 08:28

i think phalanx are the best unit for this.
so get some mercenary phalanx from the greek peninsula.
my opinion.

**Oaty** · 10-21-2004, 08:53

Elephants I heard or the best but are expensive as mercenaries. But for me I find wardogs wreak havoc on the chariots loose order formation and the nice thing is wardogs outrun everything, at least it seems they do.

Also it looks great zoomed out, the dogs look like a bunch of maggots going for the fresh meat

**The_Emperor** · 10-21-2004, 09:09

Camels also cut up chariots well in my opinion. Get some Bedouin Archers and Bedouin Warriors and let those smelly camels use their anti-horse bonuses!

**Colovion** · 10-21-2004, 09:32

Best Chariot counter = archers

Melee - probably phalanx. With your units if you can't find any phalanx mercs or archers then just be aware you'll be losing a lot of troops - or lure them out with a garbage unit and then countercharge with another unit

**Doug-Thompson** · 10-21-2004, 15:28

Me too on camels, but I can only find them in Arabian provinces.

Chariots can panic, like elephants. Camels strange effects seem much worse on chariorts than on single-horse units. Panic them with camels, then hit them from behind with the best melee cav you can get. They'll disappear.

**Khorak** · 10-21-2004, 16:35

I just swamp the bastards with crap cavalry. Chariots blow when they get bogged down by superior numbers, and it's easy for light cavalry to do this seeing as they're just as fast. Plus chariots are about as well defended as everything north of the Maginot Line so they die easy when you catch them with...anything.

EDIT: God damn it. You accidentally miss the m out of swamp and all of sudden you're saing something different....

**Lord Ovaat** · 10-21-2004, 17:13

Egyptian chariots are a major nuisance, but I've had good success with Roman troops just using my cav. Of course, I always have archers out front to soften the chariots up, but if they decide to actually attack rather than skirmish with my archers (they lose if they skirmish), then I stop my archers (easier said than done, but if you make them march even a few feet, they stop firing) and charge into the middle of their line with my cav on wedge. That splits them, and then I take the cav off of wedge and attack either flank. Works well. Yeah, you do lose a lot of cav, but cav are cheap in RTW and you seem to be able to build them just about anywhere. And if the chariots are close enough while pre-occupied with my cav, I'll hit them with a legion unit SET ON MELEE. NO PILA! Taking out their chariots is never easy, but you must catch them first. On the other hand, even when short of cav, I've only once had them "break through" my legionaires. In that instance, they had more chariot units than I had infantry! Perhaps they are too cheap? I do keep my heavies about five ranks deep in that situation, though, and it makes for a pretty tough nut to crack, particulary when the units are side-by-side in rank.

**Oleander Ardens** · 10-21-2004, 18:25

Yes, this may now sound herretic but one of the best ways to kill Chariots cleanly is to charge them with high shock cavalry. Strech them out in two ranks and it is very likely that you can route them at once. This does work very well against scythed chariots. Problem is that if it doesn't work out you will be in the hell of a mess, as chariots kill easily standing horses like I found out with the Seleucids. Light cavalry isn't much worse than heavy once melee is joint, due to the Ap bonus..

My fav Chariot killer is the Numidian camel lancer, very nice unit, fits perfectly with the Num. cavalry btw

Chariot archers seem to be more difficult to kill as their melee comrades, as the charge doesn't seem to work that fine against them...

OA

**hoof** · 10-21-2004, 18:34

Horse Archers are usually good vs Chariots. They are better than regular archers for this work because they can actually stay away from the Chariots (at least when the AI is controlling the chariots). Put the Horse Archers in Cantebury Circle when going against the archer-Chariots, and they do quite well (take them off that mode if the enemy archer-Chariots start shooting at something else).

For ground troops, I 2nd the Phalanx choice. As a Roman faction, swing a general through original Greek territory (territory that the Greek Cities originally occupy) and you can usually find some Merc Hoplites.

**LordKhaine** · 10-21-2004, 18:35

Cataphract Camels all the way baby!

I find it's easier to attack them with cavalry before they attack. Chariots may slaughter infantry but they're not nearly as effective against cavalry. Expect loses in the charge, but when it gets reduced to a melee the chariots will get slaughtered very quickly.

I wouldn't rely on archers to keep chariots away. They usually don't hang around long enough to get shot up. Plus you just know your archers will shoot at the chariots once they're in the middle of your men....

**Jacque Schtrapp** · 10-21-2004, 23:19

Bedouin Camel Archers on cantabrian circle. Otherwise even phalanx troops will get rolled over.

You should also hit them hard with cavalry when they are slowed down by rolling over your previoulsy neat formation of foot soldiers.