Army formations

[Lusitani]

I have been to ask this question for some time....do you guys spend too much time setting up the army at deployment phase?...or just go for the pre chosen possibilities...2 infantry lines..missile troop behind stuff?

[Fenrhyl]

It al depends of th enature of my army and of the enemy's one. If i want to use hidden troops and laya trap, i always deploy the troops myself. If not then there is no absolute rule.

[Lusitani]

Yeah i do that sometimes ....but usually i use the pre-made formations....is there a way to edit those by the way?

[Moros]

Yes there's a way to edit those. Don't know how. Check the scriptorium.

I always deploy them and put a lot of time in the fromations. Also during the battlefields. Unless I need to have them in a formation verry quick (when there's more then 1 enemy army. After fighting the first one you sometimes need to get in formation again quick.). But normally I always deploy them in detail.

[iberus_generalis]

a good disposition of your army is half way done to victory...so i spend quite a lot of time in deployment phase...i study the terrain, looking for ambush places, and hilly areas where i can put my archers/slingers protected by cavalary...
so i guess to me this is most important part of a battle...and normally i stick with my initial plan, only changing it when i get surprised by the existence of certain units like certain kinds of hoplites, and elefants and such...in that case i order my triarii forward in a 3 rank line, with my priniciple at the extremes of the formation, ready to strike the flanks of the enemy units, plus cavalry as in the macedonian formations to make the hammer and anvil thing...i know it is not much of a roman formation but i works most of the time...after the polibian and marian reforms then the triarii start to suck, so i tend to eliminate them from my armies...and make archer, principes/legionary armys, in manipular formations...

but i never underestimate an army so i always plan very carefully the disposition of my armies...and in sieges i never give my self the work of defending walls...its a loss of time, and men..so when i see that i cannot repulse them, i man my archers in walls, so they can kill as much enemies as possible and have some of them engage the invaders on the walls so that the rest of the archers have time to actually run away to the center of the city, and put my shock troops stratigically clogging the streets at specific narrow streets, and make my stand there, killing thousands with few casualties on my side...it might not be as loyal, or honest, but i don't care...my armies must always be at fighting readyness so keeping casualties low is always welcome, and i don't fancy loosing towns garriosoned with a medium/large amount of soldiers...but sometime it happens...=( lol


@lusitanni- És mesmo tuga man?n se veem mts de nós por ca..a kt temp andas nisto do Rome Total War?

(sorry ppl for who can't speak portuguese, im only gretting him, asking if he really is my countryman, and for how long he plays RTW...)

[Cheexsta]

I actually like defending walls. Feels more realistic; in history, if the walls of a city fell then the defenders would likely surrender. None of this "fight to the death" bull in the city square.

And hell, it's more fun to hold the walls at all costs ;) I had one battle in RTRPE against the Seleucids. About 900 Roman defenders in vastly under-strength squads managing to barely hold the walls against some 3000 enemies. Most of my troops were missile troops or cavalry, so I just threw everything on the walls to try and hold the gatehouse. At the end of the battle, the Seleucids held the entire section of the wall, while I still had a handful of troops valiantly defending the gates. Friggin awesome.

In field battles, I generally deploy however I feel like it. My Roman armies normally form the quincux, though they usually form into a solid line as the enemy approaches (except against Phalanxes; splitting my army up makes them do the same, which is better for me). As such, I rarely select an army formation for the *whole* army, rather I split the army into groups and deploy them wherever necessary and with whatever formation they need. Once you've found a formation that you like, it should be pretty easy to replecate each battle.

Another tip: don't leave units grouped together. Groups are bugged something savage, so just un-group them when you're finished setting up the group formation.