What is your favorite trap with which to nail the AI?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

My favorite is to place a batch of skirmishers (cheap) in front of a unit of spears at the flank.

From what I can tell, the AI can't resist mowing down the shooters but the follow through lands them on the hoplite's point sticks....and there was much rejoicing.

What's your favorite trick?

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Put a spear/missile heavy army on a bridge and see hordes comit suicide.
.

[Rilder]

going on the defensive with a phalanx based faction in a war against the romans and watching infinite Romans throw themselves Willingly onto my spears, those brave stupid romans....


Rilder-Taking the Flanks outta the Phalanx

[Ianofsmeg16]

Encircling a foolish barbarian army as the greeks and watch them get impaled from all sides, phalanxes can be manouverable!

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Making phalanx ham out of stupid hoplites with my horse archers.
.

[Revenant69]

Making hoplites chase my velites, while another unit of velites sneaks in behind the hoplites and unloads volley after volley of javelins right into their arses. If hoplites turn to face the velites #2, the the velites #1 do the same. This tactic works with any other skirmishing unit, as long as the unit is fast, or faster than the target.

[Doug-Thompson]

.
Put a spear/missile heavy army on a bridge and see hordes comit suicide.
.

Bingo.

A close second would be using HA to goad the enemy general into a charge, then flee straight back into a unit of mounted camels.

[TinCow]

When defending a city with stone walls that has had its gates opened by a spy, I like to abandon the main gate area. I stick archers along the walls that line the most direct route to the city square so that they can shoot down inside the city. Then I plug the street at the very end of this archer alley with whatever I have that can hold for the longest period of time. I get far more archer kills this way than I could ever hope to achieve by trying to hold the gateway and I've prevailed in a few rather dire situations this way.

[Geoffrey S]

Setting up skirmishers within the range of pikemen or some kind of heavy infantry. Gets them every time. Or, since I've always got unlimited time switched on, sallying forth from a siege and wasting the enemy with archers as they attempt to get near the wall without siege equipment; this is something I no longer do since it makes sieges far less threatening.

[demon rob]

the real answer is - start the program.
from that point on the AI is nailed!

[Ragnor_Lodbrok]

In my Carthage campaign I often hid my army in forest and ambushed the Romans.
Sounds stupid but it's most useful because of the moral mali.

[Dutch_guy]

well put some juicy archers or skirmisher units in front of my main battle line, then wait for the enemy general to charge the ''defensless'' unit all by him self

[Rilder]

the real answer is - start the program.
from that point on the AI is nailed!

I'm Getting soo BLOODY tired of everyone saying the AI is bad in RTW, ITS NOT THAT BAD, maby you should set the Campaign Difficulty To VH then it wouldnt seem so bad...

sorry i had to vent

heres a trap i do, i play nicly and fight without giving myself any advantages, and i dont cheat!

[aw89]

VH doesn't improve the AI, just gives it a stat boost. (+7 attack + 3 morale?)

[Red Harvest]

I'm Getting soo BLOODY tired of everyone saying the AI is bad in RTW, ITS NOT THAT BAD, maby you should set the Campaign Difficulty To VH then it wouldnt seem so bad...

sorry i had to vent

heres a trap i do, i play nicly and fight without giving myself any advantages, and i dont cheat!

I always play on VH/VH and the AI is bad. Take it into custom battle 1 vs. 1 with identical units and try to run a straight forward test. You will quickly get a feel for just how bad it is. Last night I did a slinger vs. slinger test for some new funditores where I destroyed the entire identical AI unit without it ever firing back...it just stood there, in range, dying. This is something that might be addressed in 1.5 (I'm keeping my fingers crossed.)

You don't get a different AI with different difficulty levels. It just gets some various advantages (or the player is handicapped) by the different levels. On the battle map that will change some of its decisions...like producing an AI infatuation for fire arrows that becomes tiresome. On the campaign map it has the ability to support about 2x to 3x the force level that the human can support with similar territories and ugrades.

[C-F]

....

heres a trap i do, i play nicly and fight without giving myself any advantages, and i dont cheat!

I cheat when the AI cheats:



as in: showing up from nowhere...

[Lanemerkel1]

My favorite is to place a batch of skirmishers (cheap) in front of a unit of spears at the flank.

From what I can tell, the AI can't resist mowing down the shooters but the follow through lands them on the hoplite's point sticks....and there was much rejoicing.

What's your favorite trick?

my favorite is to use the Cavalry Auxilia (4 Units per each Army) to harass the enemy while I move my Urban Cohorts (10 Units per each Army) and Praetorian Cavalry (5 Units per each army, 1 being the General) into position, once that's done I tell the Cavalry Auxilia to rout (they almost always run straight to my Cohorts/Praetorians which are hidden in the forest) since their not needed any more and then I send my Cohorts charging straight into the enemy ranks (unless I'm facing a Phalanx in which case I at all costs try to charge them from the side) while my Praetorians charge straight into the enemy flank or (in the case of a phalanx when the cohorts are getting the flanks) the rear.


some times when I am short on Denarii I trade Roman/Legionary Cavalry for Praetoriand Cavalry and Early/Legionary/Praetorian/First Cohorts for my Urban Cohorts.

and before the marian reforms I use Princepes (or Hastati when I'm short on cash), Equites and Cavalry Auxilia


sure the Cohorts/Marian Cavalry are expensive, but one time 3 units of Urbans sent an entire gaul army of 500 men to flight

another time 10 units of Roman Cavalry sent an entire gaul army of almost 1500 men to flight 4 seconds after my charge hit their lines


usually this works like a charm seeing as how the Urbans/Praetorians are heavily armed AND armored so they inflict maximum damage and minimal losses and the Auxilia are quick enough that they can outrun ANYTHING so due to their status as skirmishers I hardly ever lose ANY of them

[Just A Girl]

My fave trick to totaly destroy the Ai army is....

To turn up on the battel feild in person and not use auto calk,

100% Victory every time.