Shuffling Hoplite problem....

[Zorn]

It would make at least a little sense if the phalanx would bend and wrap itself around the enemy unit if it reaches its left end. That way they could attack the enemies left flank. It exposes their own flank too, however, so it won`t help that much.
But since the frontline remains completely straight, the whole manouver is just retarded. I have lost cities because my hoplites, that were perfectly aligned to hold a crucial road push themself against a wall to their right, thus creating a gaping hole to their left in wich countless enemies flood which then quickliy surround and destroy my foolish phalanx.

I would be very very glad if this "feature" would be removed.

[hoof]

It's actually quite simple.

Phalanx units start out in "guard" mode, and "guard" mode forces the unit to maintain facing. This is designed so that you can maintain a spear wall among multiple units without fear of a unit rotating during combat and exposing it's flank (turning sideways to the intended multi-unit spearwall).

The solution is to turn "guard" mode off. The units will still shuffle right, but they will automatically rotate their unit to keep the enemy in the middle of the wall of spears. They do this without doing the "raise pikes, turn, lower" technique too. As an extra bonus, they will actually close range with the enemy rather than simply keeping them at spearpoint, which dramatically increases their killing power.

One of the problems with spearmen in MTW was that unless a unit attacked them square-on, they would rotate as a unit to face the enemy, exposing their flanks. "Guard" mode fixes this problem, at the expense of the problem mentioned by the poster. I suspect that "Guard" mode was put on by default so that those unfamiliar with the guard mode capabilities wouldn't get frustrated when setting up phalanx spearwalls with phalanxes that rotate and expose their line when the player wanted the spearwall to keep a particular direction.

[hoof]

BTW, if you want to see what I'm talking about in action, set up a hoplite-vs-hoplite (or pikemen-vs-pikemen) custom battle on level terrain. The AI keeps its unit in "guard" mode, so if you take yours off of "guard" mode, you should see two things:

1) Your guys close so that actual combat takes place (with both units on "guard" mode, the unit's speartips are in contact but nothing else)

2) As your guys shuffle, they rotate as a unit. It's quite pleasant to see them shuffle to the enemy's flank, and end up spearpoints-into-flank slaughtering them.

[Byzantine Prince]

Why is this such a problem gor you guys? All you have to do is press stop and the hoplites will focus. Trust me it works.

[Ziu]

If you are protecting wooden wall breaches then guard mode on is best.
On way to counter the shuffle is to overlay a standard phalanx formation with a two rank phalanx formation. Phalanges set into a long two rank formation will oddly enough shuffle left. The standard shuffles right. So if you overlay the two units they will counter each others shuffle and stay put. You also get the added effect of more density of spears.

[Mikemyers64]

turn off 'guard' mode and they will push forward which is even more historically acurrate because the idea of the phalanx was to push forward with a wall of spears

[The_Emperor]

turn off 'guard' mode and they will push forward which is even more historically acurrate because the idea of the phalanx was to push forward with a wall of spears

With regard to the Hoplite Phalanx that is very true (hoplites would literally push through the enemy, relying on the collective strength of their formation). But Alexander and his father didn't intend the Macedonian Pike Phalanx to be the deciding arm of the army... They were used more as a pinning force to tie up the enemy with minimal casualties (protected by the sheer length of their Sarissa Pikes) while the Cav flanked.

Sadly though the Successors of Alexander later used them more like a Hoplite Phalanx to push through to victory rather than relying on his combined arms Tactics. But as everyone else was using the same tactics the inherant flaws of doing so were not apparant until Rome arrived.