Aaarghhhh ... battlefield frustrations

[RJV]

Hello,

(Bear with me, ranting.... )

Attacking Arkasias (sp? Parthian capital) with a couple of hundred troops against their 80 odd. No walls. They send 2 HA out, and I counter with the same. My HA wander up to theirs, steadfastly REFUSING to go into cantabrian circle, whether grouped, ungrouped, skirmishing, not skirmishing. Ended up in a HA melee outside the city. Very annoying, especially as all of mine were killed and more than half the battle time was used up.

Then...

Parthian slingers rushed my General - I killed them all of course - while their own General ran off, pursued by mine. This left the city square empty. I then spent the next three minutes trying to convince my Peltast unit to go into the square, but they kept walking up to it, stopping, and turning round. Why, I have no idea. Eventually I ran some cavalry in, and the 3 minute timer started. I then clicked my Peltasts, clicked the town square, and they walked in nice as you like.....

Anyway I held the square for three minutes. They still had a handful of cavalry left outside the city, and then a second timer started, this time for 1 minute 30 secs. 4 seconds in, and the battle timer ended, with a close defeat for me, despite the fact that I had almost wiped them out.

So....

Why HA refuse to go to CC?
Why peltasts refuse to walk into the town square?
What is the rule regarding timers etc and holding the city square? (I usually auto-resolve)

Any assistance appreciated.

Cheers,

Rob.

[patish]

If you are attacking u must win before the battle time ends, i dont know why the second timer started but i think that if u beat that timer before the battke time ended, u should have won.
as for your peltasts, maybe ther's some distance limit betwin units - while your general chasing in one direction . . . . .

[Blitz]

no, i think the problem is that you never turn off your skirmish mode. in a skirmish mode your army/ unit will run away if they are too close to an enemy. So you must turn off your skirmish mode. Skirmish mode usually enabled on all misllie unit so you have to turn it off manually

[RJV]

no, i think the problem is that you never turn off your skirmish mode. in a skirmish mode your army/ unit will run away if they are too close to an enemy. So you must turn off your skirmish mode. Skirmish mode usually enabled on all misllie unit so you have to turn it off manually

I think you may be right re: the Pelast problem. There were probably one or two stragglers from the Parthian slingers floating around so perhaps they were interfering. Very annoying.

Can anyone explain (in very simple terms) the mechanics of how the 3 minute timer works (and the 1 min 30 timer which followed)?

Cheers,

Rob.

[Sin Qua Non]

Can anyone explain (in very simple terms) the mechanics of how the 3 minute timer works (and the 1 min 30 timer which followed)?

I play with the timer off, but let me see if I've got the mechanics down...

The second that your units and only your units occupy the flagged center of the town, the 3 minute timer starts, showing your standard in the center. As long as you remain the only occupant during the entire 3 minutes, you will win. If even a single enemy soldier runs into that flagged area, routing or not, the timer will be reset, and start again once he leaves. To complicate matters, if the overall timer for the entire battle has less time remaining than the town center timer, you will lose. Ex., you have secured the center with 2:30 left on the battle timer, then you will lose. Try to act surprised.

I believe you can leave the town center to defend it better once it has been secured and the timer started. This is usually a good idea, since this enables you to keep any stray enemy units away from restarting the timer.

A good idea for fixing the irrational timer issues (such as last minute defeats with no opposition) might be to adopt a battle timer like the ones in Sid Meier's Gettysburg and Antetiam. In those games the actions of the armies, and capturing/loosing of victory points will lengthen the battle timer accordingly. I'm thinking a timer lengthening for breaching walls, gates, and the town center would stop the irrational timer issues, while still keeping the timer for pacing.

[Oaty]

As far as the cantebarian circle, your troops have to be close to enemy troops. They will not go into the circle if you are just in firing range. The CC was meant for closeup harassment of troops and not from a distance.

[RJV]

I play with the timer off, but let me see if I've got the mechanics down...

The second that your units and only your units occupy the flagged center of the town, the 3 minute timer starts, showing your standard in the center. As long as you remain the only occupant during the entire 3 minutes, you will win. If even a single enemy soldier runs into that flagged area, routing or not, the timer will be reset, and start again once he leaves. To complicate matters, if the overall timer for the entire battle has less time remaining than the town center timer, you will lose. Ex., you have secured the center with 2:30 left on the battle timer, then you will lose. Try to act surprised.

I believe you can leave the town center to defend it better once it has been secured and the timer started. This is usually a good idea, since this enables you to keep any stray enemy units away from restarting the timer.

A good idea for fixing the irrational timer issues (such as last minute defeats with no opposition) might be to adopt a battle timer like the ones in Sid Meier's Gettysburg and Antetiam. In those games the actions of the armies, and capturing/loosing of victory points will lengthen the battle timer accordingly. I'm thinking a timer lengthening for breaching walls, gates, and the town center would stop the irrational timer issues, while still keeping the timer for pacing.

Well strangely enough I refought that battle, the Parthians did the same (evacuated the square), I occupied it and the 3 minute timer started. When that ran out, end of battle (as expected).
The weird thing about the first time was that when I occupied the square the flag that appears in the top right corner was a Parthian flag, which changed to my Armenian flag once the second timer started....

Oh and units not going into CC if not up close - my experience does reflect this now you mention it Oaty, I just hadn't looked at it that way - thanks.

Cheers,

Rob.