Units celebrating = units non-responsive

**zhuge** · 12-01-2004, 02:02

The title says it all. I was besieging Cirta when the Numidian army made a sally against by Greek army. Being outnumbered I decided to wait with my Hoplites, hoping to lure their 4 units of Numidian cavalry with my Militia Cavalry to get them impaled on the phalanx. Plan was working well but I had to engage a cavalry unit with my General and a Militia cavalry becuase my general couldn't outrun it. Finished it off and clicked every unit back to the safety of the infantry line but couple of seconds later when I looked again, all units did exactly as they were told except my general. Thinking maybe I didn't click properly the first time, I did it again and again and a few more times but my general didn't budge an inch. Looked at the unit more closely and noticed the status as: Celebrating.
What in the 9 hells was he doing celebrating right in the middle of a battlefield after killing an enemy unit or two when there were like about 7 remaining enemy units???

Sure enough, those other 3 Numidian cavalry units charged my general followed by their own general and as expected he got his ass totally and utterly kicked and handed to him on a platter.

Anyway, I've noticed the non-responsive complaints for units before, so this might be a likely reason along with the other known reasons like grouped units and ranged units put on skirmish. More importantly, is there a way to cancel: Celebrating and go right into: Run for your life... in case it happens again. Haven't found a way as 1)I was too busy clicking like madman to try to get my general to respond and 2)it doesn't seem to happen very often.

Would appreciate some help/advice.

**Tora** · 01-09-2006, 12:29

Have just had this very problem and this is the only thing I've found on it after searching, so 2 years and a patch or two later it still seems to happen, this being BI 1.6

My small Brutii force attacked and annihilated a Macedonian phalanx then I sent them to join my larger reinforcements before over 2000 irate Macs got to them. Everyone made it except my generals unit, who seemed to be recreating Glastonbury Festival in the middle of the plain. Their icon had crossed swords on it, although the enemy were all deceased, and the tool tip revealed they were "Celebrating". The enemy archers and pelasts opened up and only 10 out of 49 made it back to the safety of their own lines, the party having lasted well over a minute despite repeated right clicking.

What to do?

**symball** · 01-09-2006, 14:43

when units get bogged down in an order something that helps occasionally is pausing, backspace to clear any order that is freezing them, right clicking somewhere nearby un-pausing them for long enough for the order to kick in then they are usually able to respond to another order.

I use this when the pathfinder goes a bit screwy but it might work for the celebrating as well.

**x-dANGEr** · 01-09-2006, 15:30

Backspace then run them back. And even if that doesn't solve it, you must try to adapte, as I don't think it is a problem/bug anyway.

**Seamus Fermanagh** · 01-09-2006, 16:03

Not completely without realism either.

They've just finished HAND-TO-HAND combat.

Adrenalin drop-off, short-term muscle fatigue, emotional sigh of relief, suddenly going from 100% effort to about 20%. "Celebrating" doesn't mean they were necessarily mixing a batch of martinis.

Now, I agree that 1 minute plus on a 30 minute timer battle seems a bit in-ordinate, so there may be a real issue here, but I don't think any of us would do a 400 meter sprint in competition, cross the line, and then jog on over to the high-jump for a quick Fosberry flop without a bit of down-time to "celebrate."

**Watchman** · 01-09-2006, 16:36

Well, they just massacred a whole bunch of enemies. That tended to make most people rather cheerful, and yes, at least temporary loss of control over victorious troops was a historical problem too. Probably contributed to a fair few defeats on the side - a formation routs and wipes out its initial opponent, and gets caught pants down when they're busy slapping each other on the back and generally strutting their stuff (and drawing breath, trqying to redress the ranks, and so on and so on).

Incidentally, I wonder if the "training" attribute (you know, untrained/trained/highly trained) affects how often that effect happens ?

**Tora** · 01-09-2006, 19:46

As the original poster had the same trouble with a generals unit too, perhaps celebrating at an inappropriate moment might be something to do with one or some of his traits. Just a thought.

Sadly I can't check mine as he is no longer with us

**x-dANGEr** · 01-09-2006, 21:16

It is a normal thing, and happens many times if that unit(s) had a very hard close battle and won it.

**Mattisius Carsonius** · 01-10-2006, 00:16

Yeah, I've had this happen often, but never to the point where I've lost a unit....Usually they're done raising weapons in the air and cheering after about 3 and a half seconds.

**The Hun** · 01-10-2006, 18:03

Originally Posted by Mattisius Carsonius

Usually they're done raising weapons in the air and cheering after about 3 and a half seconds.

Same here.

**Ciaran** · 01-12-2006, 13:23

Strictly speaking, in my opinion at least, units should also be nonresponsive to any orders when engaged in combat as well. They´re fighting for their life, after all, and then this fellow in charge (the player) tells them to turn the back to the enemy? It´s especially an issue with cavalry, you can crash it in the rear of an enemy, pull back, crash again... Normally, I´d expect them to crash in once and then slug it out, killing ( or rather routing) the enemy or die trying. I can´t even start to count the battles I´ve won with this "cheat".

**Kickius Buttius** · 01-12-2006, 22:18

This reaction, although possibly a bug, is in fact historically accurate. It was quite common for units to stop to ravage a baggage train, loot tents or corpses, or pursue small groups of survivors when logic would have dictated that they look to their general for orders regarding the still ongoing battle. More than a few battles were lost because Generals were unable to get their troops to stop focusing on looting or celebration and instead look to the remaining enemy units or oncoming enemy reinforcements.

Not saying this isn't a bug, but just pointing out that it is similar to something often experienced in ancient battles. I presume that the celebrating units, however, were rarely the generals themselves.......