Arcani

[patish]

I need help using this unit, playing the brutii i declared war on egypt and sent an army with 6 of these units along with legonary cohort and some cavalry the egyptians kicked my with those underweight skinny axemen !
what's the use of these Arcani, maybe i'm not using them right - they sure cost alot and take alot of time to build.
please
i need to restore my Dignity. ROMA VICTOR !

[hrvojej]

I'm not too experienced with them either, but a few suggestions that might help:
- they can hide anywhere; during deployment you can put them somewhere from where they will have a good flanking position later when the enemy engages your frontline
- they have 2 HP; very useful in charges with all the quick-routing going on; might even be useful vs. chariots?
- you can try hiding them and taking out the enemy general... if he doesn't suicide himself first, that is
- since they have few men in a unit, they're not very good as main battle line troops, rather use them in some or other auxillary role

[Productivity]

I need help using this unit, playing the brutii i declared war on egypt and sent an army with 6 of these units along with legonary cohort and some cavalry the egyptians kicked my with those underweight skinny axemen !
what's the use of these Arcani, maybe i'm not using them right - they sure cost alot and take alot of time to build.
please
i need to restore my Dignity. ROMA VICTOR !

They aren't frontline troops. They will never and can never replace legions.

[patish]

They aren't frontline troops. They will never and can never replace legions.

i used them to flank the axemen but they were faster and manged to face my troops, in frontal they are useless.
besides why should i pay more and wait for their construction when every unit (including twon militia) are good in rear attack.

[LegolasII]

they are mainly a defensive force i think.... not much for offensive unless u can get the army to charge u which then u have them hiding in a flank position then wen the army reaches ur main army i usually just surprise em from behind.

[Zorn]

A question coincerning their hiding ability: Does the AI see hidden troops, or can you really fool it? In many games, the AI has a super vision, and can see everything.
I have laid very few ambushes (on tactical map, that is) so far, but none of them worked really well. That doesn`t nessecarily mean the AI cheats, but I am wondering.

[hrvojej]

A question coincerning their hiding ability: Does the AI see hidden troops, or can you really fool it? In many games, the AI has a super vision, and can see everything.
I have laid very few ambushes (on tactical map, that is) so far, but none of them worked really well. That doesn`t nessecarily mean the AI cheats, but I am wondering.

As far as I can remember from MTW: the AI doesn't see your hidden units, and springing an ambush (units that were hidden suddenly charging forth) gave a temporary bonus in fighting the "surprised" enemy. With RTW I don't know any more.

[The_Emperor]

actually I had an ambush laid in MTW once and the Ai charged at that and not at my visible army...

The AI did see your hidden units in MTW.

[hrvojej]

actually I had an ambush laid in MTW once and the Ai charged at that and not at my visible army...

The AI did see your hidden units in MTW.

For what I remember when I was having fun with hashishin, it didn't appear so. And AFAIK, there were battle modifiers related to hidden/revealed status.

[BDC]

Quite often with hidden units I see the ai sending some units towards them, then deciding they are actually hidden and just sitting there just out of vision range until they move...

[DukeofSerbia]

AI don't see invisible units - in my evry ambush they never attacked troops that I hided - only visible.

[Dutch_guy]

arcani are great on walls , because they have twice as much hitpoints as regular infantry.
and they are great when defending, as said use them to attack once the fight has started, when used like that they are great.
Arcani aren't good when assaulting, because well they won't hide when walking..

And it does seem that the AI knows when U hide units.. they usually send troops and well when I see that I pull my ''hidden in forrest '' troops ( mostly cavalry ) back to the front line.

[Quietus]

From what I recall, hidden troops in MTW depends on its range from the enemy AI. If they get too close, you will be discovered. I've used it all the time in MTW. I haven't been doing it in RTW since the units are way too fast.

[Kaldhore]

Ive used arcani on the open plains as a means to lure the enemy infantry in the direction I want them to go.

The AI sees hidden units when they are in a certain range.

Never use them against Cav or chariots.

I think they are very good for MP as they can be hidden for the most part of an ambush.

Anyway - I had 3 Arcani units and 2 Equites. I place the Equites far back and let the enemy infantry advance. The Arcani were much farther forward.

(Enemy InF)
(Enemy InF)
(Enemy InF)


A A
A


E E

I didnt charge the Inf with my Arcani, I just let them see 1 unit of A when the inf got in close to the equites, I just kinda walked them towards then Inf. - All the enemy inf turned to this new threat - and thats when I pounced the Equites into their rear. I quickly withdrew those arcani and they hid again. Then I moved one of the other Arcani, so the inf turned to greet those. Again the Equites got them in the rear. Repeated this one more time and I had an enemy army routed.

By the way the 3 enemy inf were Armoured Hoplites in phalanx formation.

Its a case of now you see me now you dont, and confuse the enemy of were to face.

I finally lost 2 of those Arcani units in a seige that I was defending. But not after routing 6 enemy A/Hoplites on the walls.

After thinking about it I should have used them hidden in streets at junctions - luring alleyway ambushes.

[Kaldhore]

Doh ignore the above setup it came out wrong...and I still Cant edit !!

[Kraxis]

Arcani and gladiators are great in small cities as well where the streets are confined. It is like the good old Berserkers of VI figthing Spearmen... They carve a path into the enemy. Just keep them a long way away from cavalry.

[Productivity]

why should i pay more and wait for their construction when every unit (including twon militia) are good in rear attack.

Then don't, however don't blame the unit if you take too many of them and can't be bothered to experiment and find out how to use them.

[HarunTaiwan]

Yes, I always wanted to use arcani in city streets...specifically hide them in an alley and watch the enemy units pass on the way to the square, then the arcani close and kill from behind.

It hasn't worked yet.

[The Stranger]

duh if just put sime hoplites in a street and two cavalry in another the hoplites keep the main army busy and you attack them in the rear with your cavalry

[soda]

I'm not really a big fan of these small specialized units like arcani and gladiators. They never seem to work well for the cost.

[The Stranger]

i can't even build them.

[Kraxis]

duh if just put sime hoplites in a street and two cavalry in another the hoplites keep the main army busy and you attack them in the rear with your cavalry

You don't always have that choice... Especially if you face a large garrison such as in Rome.

[pyrocryo]

Arcana are flankers. They are small in number yet have a very high effect both in attack and morale. I usually use my legions for to hold my line, while the arcani will try to move and roll up enemy's line.

[The Stranger]

You don't always have that choice... Especially if you face a large garrison such as in Rome.

then lure the main army out of Rome and a second army marches on to rome.

btw i never faced a large army in Rome always outside it.

[Chrissium Julius]

Using the arcani can be pretty difficult, if you dont know what youre doing, that is. I find that a nifty little trick is to hide them in the woods, and when an enemy gets close enough, charge them, it scares the out of them!! Hehe. Then as the enemy is running away, box them in with some legionary or urban cohorts. It works every time for me.

[Sinner]

I have played with Arcani and Gladiators purely as the initial assault troops when taking the battlements of stone walls. It's not so much their combat capability that I want but their small unit size; this makes them far more agile when manoeuvering since they suffer less from the delays caused by trying to cram an entire unit up a siege tower or through a doorway in or out of a tower.

By preference I use purposefully understrength cohorts, even to the extent of allowing a spare unit to be chewed up a bit in battle. As long as you keep them on the walls if there are any cavalry around, they rarely get killed off and they tend to rack up lots of kills when they do fight, standing them in good stead when I finally retrain the unit up to full strength.