Weird Battles

**bamff** · 04-03-2006, 00:15

So here I am in MTW, with my Italian faction troops being invaded by the Hungarians....and I find myself caught with two catapults in my small stack.

I normally replace these straight away for a field battle due to their inaccuracy and limited effectiveness....but no chance of doing that here, so I just gritted my teeth and started the battle.

The Hungarians appear, and really just for my own amusement I order my catapults to fire...

One shot is loosed and I get the message "The enemy general lies dead slain before the pox can kill him"....my archers/crossbows loose one volley at the advancing Hungarian knights....and the whole Hungarian army breaks and flees!!!!

I hold station, thinking it to be a trap to lure me into a chase, but no, they run right off the field...

You gotta be kidding me!!!!

Any other weird battle stories out there?

**Evil_Maniac From Mars** · 04-03-2006, 00:39

Roughly the same thing happened to me. I'd managed to hold the Mongols at bay long enough to build a fortress in one of my provinces (IE: for ages). They massed their armies and invaded. The fortress was equipped....with cannon. First thing I hear is...

*BANG*
*Grey smoke around a tower*
Man in entourage: The enemy King lies dead!

I still had to fight the army, but they broke earlier then was to be expected. This was an army thousands strong against my four or five hundred.

**Barbarossa1221** · 04-03-2006, 02:26

Ive had the same thing happen to me except it was my king!
I was really pissed off, they had 2 catapaults and *whooosh* let them loose and there lies a dead king.
I won the battle but I was really pissed about losing good ol Henry IV

**bamff** · 04-03-2006, 03:57

That would suck big time!

**Peasant Phill** · 04-03-2006, 08:19

It is a well known bug (?) that generals are more easily killed by artillery of any kind than any other unit. I think Ludens called it 'the jedi general gravitation effect' or something like that. It's kind of cheesy when you use it and sucks enormously when your on the receiving end.

**Thracian 06** · 04-03-2006, 22:00

It's realistic. An army morale would drop greatly if the general died, although sometimes in MTW too great.

**Martok** · 04-04-2006, 02:52

Originally Posted by Thracian 06

It's realistic. An army morale would drop greatly if the general died, although sometimes in MTW too great.

It's not realistic, however, that artillery--particularly pre-gunpowder units--would be so consistently accurate in finding and targeting enemy generals. I've seen it happen in the game far too often (to both my opponents and myself) for it to be even remotely realistic. Sure, a catapult crew might get a lucky shot now and then, but not every other time they're on the field!

**bamff** · 04-04-2006, 03:40

True - let's face it, they often can't even manage to hit the arrow/ballista/catapult tower that you need them to take out in a castle assault.....sometimes they even struggle to hit a whole wall!

**Ludens** · 04-05-2006, 20:29

Originally Posted by Peasant Phill

It is a well known bug (?) that generals are more easily killed by artillery of any kind than any other unit. I think Ludens called it 'the jedi general gravitation effect' or something like that. It's kind of cheesy when you use it and sucks enormously when your on the receiving end.

Actually, that was someone elses phrase, though I can't for the life of me remember who.

Otherwise: yes, artillery get an accuracy bonus when targetting the general, and yes, it is cheesy and unrealistic as it becomes very easy to take out the enemy general in defensive battles.