How to use elephants?

[Cras]

I used to play as the romans and often encounterd elephants, they were very hard to kill and when they rampage or panic seemed to run through my lines and kill many...

Now I am the sassanids and I am the one with the elephants! Guess what, they panic easily and still rampage through my lines!
Why dont they stamp on my opponents? Anyone have any suggestion about using them in a good way?

[The Spartan (Returns)]

sasanids elephants are weaker in BI. hope they make a patch for that!

[gardibolt]

Reconnaisance of the enemy before the battle is your best friend. If there are archers or javelin-chuckers, hold your eles back and let your other cavalry kill the missile units or at least chase them away. When they're safely out of the picture, send your elephants to one flank of the enemy. Click beyond the enemy and send the eles charging through; don't directly attack the enemy, or you'll get bogged down and they'll run amok and charge back into you. That makes hash of the enemy lines and your infantry can mop them up pretty quickly since the formation is broken. It takes a fair amount of micro to maximize, but when it works it works spectacularly.

In sieges of wooden-wall cities, no need to build siege equipment; the eles will do the job faster and more efficiently, making you a blitzkrieging terrror. In that usage, I've found it best to just use the elephants to open the door and not send them into the city; they're not terribly useful in city streets anyway, and you certainly don't want them going nutzoid in a crowded intersection. Usually after they've opened the gate I just send them off to the edge of the map, far from arrow fire to wait out the battle.

[symball]

another use is to utilise their morale penalties for hte enemy. put a unit behind your infantry line and the enemy soldiers will route much quicker- especially usefull at higher dificulty levels.

[Cras]

hey.... I didnt know they could break down a wooden gate... cool!!

:-)

If that works, is it also possible to burn down the gate with flaming arrows??

[Monarch]

hey.... I didnt know they could break down a wooden gate... cool!!

:-)

If that works, is it also possible to burn down the gate with flaming arrows??

No sorry I dont think that works :)