Oh, wow!

[aleh]

Holy smokes. I've been playing for a while now, and I love the level of realism behind this game. But here are some thoughts I have, well questions actually.

My god is it difficult fighting against the Epeirotes, we've been going back and forth for the past five to ten years. I've recently captured Ambrakia with my second best general(Cotta the original). I'm defending against a siege right now, but I have a question. If I let the timer(X turns) run out on a siege, just what the heck happens? Do I lose the town, or does the AI attack and we go to the battle map?

How does four accensiand two rorarii sound for a garrison? That way it's an even two hundred.

Also, my armies right now are halfstacks. 1 equites consulares(or consulari), two hastati, two princepes, two triarii, one celtic archer(the really good ones), one samnite spearmen(or heavy infantry if I can find them), and one other unit(depending on the enemy I'm fighting, against the Hellenes I use another cavalry unit). Is this alright?

My battles, against phalanx-armies at least, are usually fought with Phalanxes in the center and infantry on the sides to stop them from being flanked, and my missile infantry I deploy after the battle lines have met. Is this alright? Or is this anachronistic for the Romans? If so, how should I fight?

Oh, and congrats again for making this fun.

[Dayve]

If you do not sally against the enemy before the timer reaches 0, you will lose the town and the army inside of it. Including the family member.

Accensi are useless for garrison, defence wise... Ranged troops aren't much good in city defence unless they can be put on top of walls. Numbers count in keeping a population happy, not quality, so use units with high numbers of men in them that are cheap, such as leves.

Why are you using half stacks? Use a full one. You know how the Romans did things right? They had a front line of hastati, a second line of principes and a third line of triarii, but half the number of triarii as hastati/principes... There would be leves in front fighting as skirmishers and cavalry on the wings.

Against phalanx basically just use the formation above... Pin them down with your hastati and use cavalry or mercenaries or something to move around and hit their flanks.

[Avicenna]

You don't lose the whole army, you just lose the battle. I had that before in RTR, and I got really angry. Was fighting in the square, and the Illyrians had a unit at half strength and the timer just ran out and my general gained a trait which took off a command star when attacking walls. Fortunately the taking of that city afterwards and a few more cured this.

The Illyrian cities did really get me worked up though, because the timer ran out if you didn't make your troops run all the way up.

[Dayve]

Oh you mean in battle? I thought he meant if your city is under siege, like, turns until the city will fall.

[aleh]

I meant when a town is under siege, not the actual battles.
Oh, and I use half-stacks because I was told anymore than that and the AI won't pose any challenge. But if I can use more, well alright. :D

[Dayve]

If you are laying siege to an enemy town and there is 1 turn left before its supplies run out and you end the turn, they will either sally forth and attack your besieging forces, or simply 'surrender' without a fight... If it is you they are besieging, then you have to sally forth before that last turn runs out, otherwise your forces will 'surrender' and you'll lose the whole army and family member, as well as the town.

Also, using a full stack still poses a challenge. Roman troops can only be retrained in Italy, so the challenge is getting them back to retrain them and getting new troops to the front. Also you can just limit the number of legions you have, like an ironman rule. But EB is challenging even when you use full stacks.