How do you ambush?

**Piko** · 03-04-2005, 20:46

please help!

**BDC** · 03-04-2005, 21:00

Put an army in those little trees, and then they crouch down and go "Ambush set" or something.

**Old Celt** · 03-04-2005, 21:22

I like to hide in the bushes and jump out at a time when the enemy doesn't expect it... but that's just me

Seriously, it's automatic. Just stop at a place with thin vegetation on the campaign map, and your character will crouch and say: "Ambush in place!"

**Count Belisarius** · 03-04-2005, 21:34

Usually, if a human player is careless enough to get ambushed, his army is caught in line of march, and the enemy springs up almost within melee range with no time to reform or arrange battle groups. It used to happen to me all the time before I began scouting the lay of the land with spies before moving my armies. RTW 101, I know, but I refuse to read game manuals, and I was still learning.

Anyhow, the point is, you want to be careful when you turn the tables on the computer and ambush him. Sometimes you won't get equal treatment. Example: using a small Julii army, I trailed my coat in front of a large Spanish army, hoping to lure them into an ambush. I was successful in setting the ambush, but for some reason, the battle deployed both armies in the normal set-piece fashion. This may be a bug, I have no idea. I mauled the Spanish barbarians terribly, but eventually their numbers and superiority in cavalry turned the tide against me. And once the rout is on, you know how that goes. I really couldn't afford to lose that battle, being embroiled in conflicts with the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Gauls already at the time. They paid the price a few years later, of course, the insolent dogs.

**Malrubius** · 03-05-2005, 06:54

Originally Posted by Count Belisarius

Usually, if a human player is careless enough to get ambushed, his army is caught in line of march, and the enemy springs up almost within melee range with no time to reform or arrange battle groups. It used to happen to me all the time before I began scouting the lay of the land with spies before moving my armies. RTW 101, I know, but I refuse to read game manuals, and I was still learning.

I once had a spy (at least 3 eyes) not notice a German army hidden right next to his path and then my army following him got ambushed. It was the most exciting battle I'd had in a while, surrounded on 3 sides.

Playing this battle over and over, since it was so challenging and fun, I noticed that the autoresolve would let me get away with half my army intact. To do this well myself took me many attempts and a lot of failure. It must be similar to the seige autoresolve, that autocalc doesn't take the situation on the ground into account when it performs the calculations and you can come out ahead by autoresolving.