Request for new "set-unit-ranks feature" in the next patch

[Proletariat]

Well line up your infantry 2 deep against a cavalry superior army and then tell me there are no rank bonuses

Right. Then I'll line up two ranks of peasants vs a block of elephants to verify this.

I know that was a 'throw away' comment, but really... I'm not sure how relevant it is to the original poster's query.

Seriously, try two equal phalanx units against each other. Have one in the default ranks and depth, and have the other spread out into two ranks. They will never flank the latter, and will be destroyed.

[Herakleitos]

Right. Then I'll line up two ranks of peasants vs a block of elephants to verify this.

And how were you planning to accomplish this?!

[Ar7]

To Proletariat

It is indeed true that when you put two equal strenght phalanx units againts each other and stretch one out, it will win, because it will wrap around the other phalanx and flank it. But the people here were talking about a cavalry charge, which changes the situation. If you put a stretched two line phalanx up against a cavalry charge, it will do worse than a compact phalanx. Because the cavalry will brake through it's lines and will have the center spearmen surrounded and fighting with swords, while the men on the flanks of the phalanx will not even see the fight as they are so far away. This will lead to cavalry picking phalanx men one by one and not even facing spears after the initial clash.

Thus it obvious that the number of lines and the depth of the formation both matter when facing different enemies, the unit stats won't change, but it will fight with different effeciancy based on its formation and the enemy.

[Crutis]

I would like to have a way to set my units in a custom formation simular to this: First line, [Spear] [Heavy Infantry] [Heavy Infantry] [Heavy Infantry] [Spear] Second line [Spear] [Archers] [Archers] [Archers] [Spear]. I have tried to do this but as soon as I move the line everything gets rearranged and of course the AI takes advantage of the chaos in my formation. I feel this would offer some protection on my flanks against cavalry, read on.

I'm playing the Julii right now and I have been attacked by the British I held my ground fairly well until the chariots attacked then every thing went to pieces. The chariots went through my ranks like a knife through butter, my archers ran from the advancing chariots and my spearmen seemed useless as the steeds sliced through them just as easily as the archers and even the praetorian cohorts! The one thing I don't understand is the chariots suffered only moderate losses. Does the auxilia spearmens bonus defence against calvary actually work? everything I have read says don't attack spearmen with calvary it WILL be disastrous

How do I fight these chariots??? I have experimented with several custom battles one of which I played medium difficulty on british grasslands with 100000 denarii and purchased 19 spearmen (Auxilia) and one general. I let the computer choose the british army and I've noticed the british army always gets nine chariot units with random pics. The british army gave me a severe SMACKUS MAXIMUS the spearmen hardly scratched them! I also tried other unit types and mixes but so far nothing seems to stop them. Archers seem to work best at killing the chariots but they are so fast that they are attacking before I can kill them off and then my archers scatter and run! I tried flaming arrows too but it didn't work either

I have found that the trees help slow the chariots down a bit but I want to be able to stop them in open terrain and this is one of the reasons I would like custom formations. As for the spearmen, they just don't seem to be working right otherwise I think they would have done a far better job of stopping those chariots.

Someone give it a try and let me know what happened I need a solid tactic that works

[Duke John]

Crutis
Try using the [G]roup command. The computer will then remember the formation and you can drag your entire army formation onto a new location. There are bugs in version 1.0/1.1 but they are fixed 1.2 *crossesfingers*.

Your best bet to hold chariots with Romans Auxilia Spears is to make deep formations, 6+, and place your units side by side. The chariots will bash through, but they will lose eventually. I did 2 tests with 3 Heavy Chariots + 3 British Warlords versus 8 Auxilias and the latter only lost 15 or so soldiers per unit.