Problem with phalanx armies

[Unseen Potato]

I have been playing for while on my greek campaign, which is going pretty well .Greece and Italy is under my control, and I get 15000 dinars in every turn. I Love to use the hoplites, particualry in the streets where my enemy are forced to attack the phalanx head on, with no possibilities for flanking .

But I Am having problems when attacking with large phalanx armies ( 7-8 Hoplites units). Phalanxses are very vulnrable to attacks from the flanks or rear. Therefore its very important to keep them in a battleline, so the enemy cant flank them unnless they go around the whole formation.

So how do you attack with a phalanx battle line? If I pause the game and tell every unit to attack the the closest enemy unit, they start walking apart, leaving big gaps in the battleline so that the enemy can easly flank them. If I try to get them to attack by ordering to move through the enemy army(Which worked perfectly well in Medival total war), they will simply try to walk through the enemy units instead of attacking.

Isnt there some kind of attack move that allows phalanxes to stay in the battleline when attacking?

Please help! I have already lost several armies full of armoured hoplites because I was unable to hold the battleline while attacking!


And by the way, Do phalanxses suffer penalties to their stats when fighting in close combat with their swords? I have seen my exp 2 armoured hoplites with weapon and armour upgrades ( attack 15 defence 26 I think) getting massacered on my city walls by ordinary hastaties ( attack 9 defence 17 I think)

[Bacchon]

Sounds an awful lot like exactly where my Greek campaign is at. : )

I've found that easiest way to attack with a phalanx line is to have a unit or two of peltasts out front to soften up the enemy and break up their formations, and to take the pila fire from those filthy Roman upstarts. Filthy Romans. They can take up position on the flanks to protect the phalanxes/flank-charge enemy units once they're engaged/chase down routers. Having big blocks of Greek Cavalry on the flanks is good, too. : )

But as for advancing, just tell the group to move to a position just behind the enemy, that way they'll just walk straight into them, in formation, with their nice pointy spears held out in front. Roman-kebab! Once this happens, they will automatically engage enemy units, and no breaking formation! Plus, once one unit breaks, you can wheel the corresponding phalanx into the next enemy's flank.

I've been playing on Huge unit size, so I've found that all but the most concentrated missile fire can largely be ignored by Armoured Hoplites.

On the other hand, it sounds like you've had a much easier time with seiges than me. All my formations get broken up and dispersed, and I end up in hand-to-hand with the enemy, and take higher casualties than I should. I've found that even upgraded and experienced Armoured Hoplites get chewed up in swordy combat, like you mentioned. I've taken to just starving cities out, unless I can get ahold of a decent number of Thracian mercs. How do you run your seiges?


Cheers,

Bacchon

[Colovion]

If you click to move your phalanx untis past the enemy, they'll just walk through, engaging as they run into enemy units - this breaks up the phalanx formation and will decimate your ranks especially when fighting another phalanx army.

Besides walking up to the enemy and then pausing at the last moment to redirect my phalanx units there aren't too many other ways to do it.

[Shottie]

They should fix this in the patch, where you can press a button to have your phalanx to move with their spears down in 'contact mode' and it should have a little morale booster for your men. Your men marching heroically into the enemy lines without a single fear but getting the lowest body count!!

[master of the puppets]

i have had these problems too but my choice for formation assaults is get them in a line and put put melee infanty (mercs, hoplites with swords watever) that either gets all those guys killed or draw the enemies into a close group.after that move your phalanx right into the enemies faces still in formation and once those guys (mercs, hoplites with swords watever) hit even one man of that unit they all charge right into the pikes after that many route you break phalanxe and hunt them down



BOW TO THE WRATH OF ARES

[Bacchon]

If you click to move your phalanx untis past the enemy, they'll just walk through, engaging as they run into enemy units - this breaks up the phalanx formation and will decimate your ranks especially when fighting another phalanx army.

Besides walking up to the enemy and then pausing at the last moment to redirect my phalanx units there aren't too many other ways to do it.

Walk through? Run up to? Are you using your phalanxes with phalanx mode turned on? Because if you do have phalanx mode, nothing save terrain or enemy charges should break up your formations. I do this all the time and it works like a charm. I got the idea for it off of the totalwar.com frontpage, on the Victoria daily advice thing.


@master of puppets--Really... I can never get my phalanxes to handle street corners properly. The turn always breaks them up and they don't reform properly in the narrow streets. Oh, and what do you call the guy who performed Kermit and Miss Piggy's wedding ceremony? The pastor of muppets.

...

Sorry. ; )

[Unseen Potato]

On the other hand, it sounds like you've had a much easier time with seiges than me. All my formations get broken up and dispersed, and I end up in hand-to-hand with the enemy, and take higher casualties than I should. I've found that even upgraded and experienced Armoured Hoplites get chewed up in swordy combat, like you mentioned. I've taken to just starving cities out, unless I can get ahold of a decent number of Thracian mercs. How do you run your seiges?

Cheers,

Bacchon

The sieges I have played is mostly against cities with wooden walls, which I think is easier to assault with phalanx armies.

The tricky part about is to get the phalanxses through the wooden wall, because phalanxses tend to come in disorder by walking through a hole in the wall and The A.I wont let you reform before they attack.

But here is how I do it. I allways bring 3 "expendable" units with millita hoplites. The milita hoplites bring the ram up to wall while my archers shower any enemy standing close the wall. This will often make the enemy withdraw into the city. when the millita hopiltes have rammed down the wall( usually go for the gate and the two wall sections besides it), the enemy units will hopefully have withdrawn into the city. If not, bring the archers closer and shower them some more. when there is no more units left in the street facing the wall, I turn off the millita hoplite phalanx formation and make them run through the wall and set up a phalanx to the left and right and the street going into the into the city right behind the gate.


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Hopefully the milita hopiltes will manage to lower their spears before they get charged by the enemy cavalry. While the millita hoplites hold against the enemy, I make all my armoured hoplites run through the wall, and set up a phalanx behind the millita hoplites. When the milita hoplites breake, the enemy they wil face a solid phalanx of armoured hoplites.

When you have fought off the enemy you can begin to march to the city center. By now most of the enemy units will consist of a few men who rout when they get within 100 meters of your units. When you come up to the city center, the A.I will probably have kept one unit of cavalry in the center(usually the general). This can be alittle tricky because phalanxses tend to come in disorder when entering the city plaza, and the cavaly unit will charge you the moment you enter the city plaza. So if you dont watch up you can lose many men on this final charge.

I usually try to set as many armouredhoplite units around the center as possible, paying very close attention to not entering the center (If only one man gets inside the center, the cavalry will charge you). Then I order millita hoplite unit to enter the ring ( an archer unit if there is milita hopllites left). They will be charged by the enemy cavaly, and they will breake pretty fast. when the enemy try to pursue, they will run straight into one of your armoured hoplites unit and get killed.

This tactic works pretty well for me, and I have taken many cities without losing to many men ( except the millita hoplites, but they are easly retrained)

[Unseen Potato]

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Okay The exsample thing didnt work, but you get the picture.