Ambushes what types of troops do you use

**Matty** · 07-13-2006, 18:09

Am I correct in thinking you only get the ambush bonuses if your hidden troops are officially 'hidden' (ie with the little tree symbol showing) immediately prior to their attack? Obviously they'll become visible when they move. I usually play on expert and the AI always sends out a scout - if you kill the scouting party (they don't get back to their lines to report) does the AI now know where my men are, or do they return to 'hidden'?

**caravel** · 07-13-2006, 19:14

Originally Posted by Matty

Am I correct in thinking you only get the ambush bonuses if your hidden troops are officially 'hidden' (ie with the little tree symbol showing) immediately prior to their attack? Obviously they'll become visible when they move. I usually play on expert and the AI always sends out a scout - if you kill the scouting party (they don't get back to their lines to report) does the AI now know where my men are, or do they return to 'hidden'?

Correct. Basically trees. And once they return to hidden the rest of the AI units seem to forget about them until they discover them again.

**gaijinalways** · 07-14-2006, 04:11

That's useful to know, that the AI troops don't get suspicious when the scouts don't return. Sometimes it is difficult though to kill all the scouts

.

**Roark** · 07-17-2006, 03:40

One of my favourite ambush teams for moderately forested areas is actually a pair of Steppe Cavalry units.

I keep them hidden for as long as possible and use them to assault infantry scouts in open areas. Because of their speed, one can ensure that no infantry will return to the main body of the army.

**gaijinalways** · 07-17-2006, 08:23

Sometimes the scouting team is a cav unit, so in that case, it might be more difficult to ensure no survivor gets back to the AI main body of troops. Also on the expert level, the AI generally always sends cav units out together, so you might find your cav units getting overrun, especially when you meet the jedi knights (I had 1 run off 20 of my own).

**Ludens** · 07-17-2006, 13:28

Originally Posted by gaijinalways

That's useful to know, that the AI troops don't get suspicious when the scouts don't return. Sometimes it is difficult though to kill all the scouts

.

The A.I. will be aware of the ambushing troops. In fact, at hard and expert difficulty levels it will actively search for them if the number of visible units does not equal that on the pre-battle screen. It is just the enemy units that will be suprised when the ambushers reappear.

**gaijinalways** · 07-17-2006, 15:59

Ah, so the Ai is aware enemy units are missing but the AI is still surprised when the enemy units do finally appear on the radar

?

**Sensei Warrior** · 07-17-2006, 19:12

Yeah I think they tried to mirror a humans reaction on this one. If you fought a battle where the enemy had 16 units in the pre-battle screen, but only 10 on the battlefield, you know that there are probably 6 hiding somewhere.

Now you could probably figure out the most likely spot for them to be. If you scout out to look, and the ambushers charge out, your scout is going to be surprised. You knew they were on the screen you just didn't know where.

**Ludens** · 07-17-2006, 21:00

Originally Posted by gaijinalways

Ah, so the Ai is aware enemy units are missing but the AI is still surprised when the enemy units do finally appear on the radar

?

Sensei Warrior pretty much explained it. The A.I. (at higher difficulty levels at least) will be aware of the missing units and will search for them. But its units will still suffer a morale penalty when ambushed. However, this penalty only applies when you order your units to attack while they are still in hiding. If you first give another order in between, no matter how trivial (like slightly repositioning them for a better angle of attack), there will be no morale penalty other than that caused by the presence of an enemy unit. On the other hand, it doesn't matter how long the ambushers take to reach their target. As long as they went directly from hiding to attacking, their target will suffer a morale penalty, even if the ambushers have to run half the map to reach them.

The A.I. basically has the same view as the human player. It doesn't need its scouts to report back: if one of their units can see something, the A.I. will see it as well.