RTW unit rank depth?

[Marquis of Roland]

I've never got around to asking this, and its probably in the guides, but what's the best rank-depth (number of ranks in your unit) for certain units?

As we know in MTW swords are 2-3 ranks deep, spears 4-5, pikes 6-7(?).

I am interested in rank-depth of following groups:
Roman legions (hastati to urban cohorts, their depth is probably the same right?)
Non-phalanx spear-armed infantry (triarii, libyans, gallic warbands, etc.)
non-roman infantry (chosen swords, chosen axe, iberians, etc.)
light and heavy cavalry
different types of missile units (I deploy these 2 ranks deep regardless of type tell me if that is wrong)

Phalanx-type units I assume should be the number of effective ranks plus maybe 3-4 ranks reserve (to prevent a cav. charge breakthrough, I've had Praetorian cav break through 6 ranks of pikemen).

Thanks

[professorspatula]

Ranks don't tend to be as important as in MTW. Aside from phalanx units, I don't recall there being any noticable rank bonuses or penalties.

Hoplites should ideally be in 3 ranks minimum (I recommend 5, 6-7 if the hoplite is a low level and the enemy has lots of strong cavalry ), and Pikes should be 4-5 ranks minimum, with another couple extra for reserves/absorbing enemy charge.

I typically use 4 ranks for Legionary/Pilum units, and 4 for most other units to be honest, except archers and skirmishers which I use less and spread them out. I don't think there are accuracy penalties for having deep ranks for missile troops in RTW though.

Ranks should really just be set to match whatever the enemy has to throw at you. If you're worried about cavalry, use more ranks; if you have better infantry, you can use less ranks and use a wider line and hope any excess units automatically start to flank and wrap around the opposing unit. As there are no penalties for having numerous units occuping the same space, you can just mass-attack the enemy in one big cluster anyway, thus removing the need for rank bonuses.

I find cavalry and chariots are often better with several ranks for a frontal charge, although if you are charging the rear of a unit, having a wider front rank instead of lots of narrow ranks means you'll probably kill a lot more troops when the cavalry smashes into the back of the enemy unit. That applies to most of the other units too really. There's no great science to ranks in RTW. I'd add that more ranks tend to be for more defensive reasons (withstanding attacks), and less for more offensive manoeuvres.

[Quietus]

Personally, I just approximate. Deep enough to absorb frontal assaults and wide enough to prevent the enemy unit from wrapping around your unit.

[The Stranger]

i use 5 for hoplites, 6-8 for pikemen, 4 for legionaries. for other i don't really have a typical rank depth. i would recommend 2-3 rows for heavy cav. this increases the shock value.

[bodidley]

Theoretically, if you increase the frontal "surface" of a missle unit then the men in front would be able to use their weapons more effectively. However, because of the way units hit targets as a mass in RTW, if the unit is in a dense block or column, the strike pattern of the missiles will be much denser and therefore achieve more kills. Try it with the legionary pila

[The Stranger]

the pilum is so awesome, i eliminated 240 men with 6 volleys. that's 40 men per volley and a average of 1 out of 4 pilum kills.