Roman Line won't hold...what am I doing wrong.

[ericostermann]

I try to build my armies as close to hsitory as possible and play it that way so I do not always win, but I have detected a terrible weakness in my Army. I am still Republican and my Army is composed of 4 units Hastati (1st rank), 4 Units of Principes (2nd Rank), 2 Units Velites (Behind 1st Rank or 2nd), 4 units (Triarri) 3rd Rank). General in middle 2nd or 3rd Rank, Unit of Elite sto Protect 1 Flank and Barb Cav on the other. 1 Unit of Archers in rear to shoot over everyone and 2 Units BArb Merc usually Spear Warband to cover Flanks. It seems to work well against Rebels and Even Gaul Armies, but thos eguys mostly come in 2 -1 ratio in their favor.....lots of them and I have no ide ahow they breed so fast, but surprisingly in 5 plus battles the Gaul Warbands/Swordsmen crashed my 1st Line and break 2 or 3 units within seconds! They just crumple them even with upgrades Armor/Weapon and some experience. My Merc BArb spear take the charge sbetter it seems so I am thinking o fmaking them the 1st wall. I usually move my Principes up as I notice my Hastati wavering or taking 25% casualties, but I thought the Roman Line would hold better on thos echarges. Do not get me wrong! It is fun and exciting an dthrilling especiallly to zoom in and watch. I realize tha the Warband charge is the key to winning and maybe I need to acccept those losses as when the line holds I win, but it never holds, but anyone have any other ideas? It seems the rout starts an d then 1 by 1 the rest follow as ther eflanks get exposed. I am playing Med or HArd I cannot remember. I am also not complaining just looking for a tactical tip without skewing to an unhistorical army...then again maybe the weakness I see helped the MArian Reforms. This is even worse when a Warlords Cav Hits!..Ouch!

[Death or Glory]

Well, if you are indeed playing on hard, the computer isn't necessarily smarter, but it does receive a moral and attack rating boost (I'm not certain if your troops receive a moral hit though), but that could explain why your guys are taking such a beating and routing somewhat easily.

Another point is that you mentioned most of your battles are two-to-one in favor of the Gauls. That means if you're setting up your battle lines in the traditional Republic army fashion (Hastati in front, Principes next, etc.), then the Gaul line (which the AI ALWAYS lays out in one reeeeeeally long line, one unit deep generally) will most likely totally envelope and flank your front line, causing massive moral damage to your Hastati.

I've found, to be most effective against the Gauls, it's best to stretch my line to match (or at least come close) theirs, and let the superiority of Roman training show those Gallic monsters who's boss, and a couple of Equites flanking the line to seal the deal.

Hope that helped.

[Tamur]

Yes, against the "barbarian" factions you have to bring along Numbers as much as training, and spread your line, or they'll overwhelm you. I finished off a campaign as the Brutii where I simply avoided fighting the Gauls and Germans because they would field so many troops.

Now, as the Brits, I'm using that tactic against Roman armies. It's been interesting to see that the AI spreads the Roman line out as wide as it can when facing my hairy woad-painted hoards.

[Slaists]

Yes, I think, the explanation is the difficulty level. On hard +4 attack bonus to the AI side (on very-hard +7 attack bonus). On very hard, a gaul warband/chosen sword-men charge would send my hastati routing in no time. On normal difficulty, my hastati would throw their pila, the lines would clash, the second line would throw their pila into the thick of it (killing off some of my own troops) and the barbarians would rout on the sight of my general flanking their army.

stretching out the roman battle-line does not solve the topic issue: the author wants to fight in the historical roman way... in rtw, it does not really work :(

[dedmoroz]

2 more tips -
1- always put your hastati and principes on fire at will mode. when fighting barbarian armies, they will charge and suffer major losses before they hit your line.
2- you can stretch your line, but always keep spare units on both flanks because AI tends to focus on flanks and if they are able to smash and overrun 1 of your flanks its a domino effect to your other troops when they attacked from the side they will start to rout.

[Red Harvest]

In RTW the charge is very powerful and speed is king. The Gaul units will hit you en masse and cause units to rout in seconds. You can't present a long enough front using traditional Roman methods in RTW. Better to put tougher units on the ends, weaker in the center and present a long line. Otherwise you have two units hitting each of yours and they won't last long.

What you really need is for the line to hold long enough that cav can decide things on the flanks. You are giving up +4 attack to the AI on hard. Cav is overly powerful in RTW.

[ToranagaSama]

What you're doing wrong is continuing to play this lame game the way CA has set it up.

Do the right thing and d/l theTotal Realism Mod 2.2

Red Harvest, have you tried this mod?