Withdrawal Order

[r johnson]

I don't know, really. A tactical withdrawal was a very tricky and risky operation for any commander to undertake. Wouldn't it be belittling that fact to give the entire concept a simple button?

it'd be alot easier though

[poo_for_brains]

I think an ordered withdrawal would be a good idea, but first I woud like an ordered advance, wherein your battle line advances as a battle line, and engages as a battleline, instead of having to target individual units at individual enemy units. If they could implement that, it would be great, and tactical withdrawal could easiy be added - it would be the same thing in reverse.

[Tamur]

hi damiekpe,

Unless I'm misunderstanding you (which is entirely possible), an ordered advance as you describe is possible. Simply group your units in whatever formation you wish, then alt-click some point past the enemy army, in the direction you wish them to attack from. When they reach the enemy, they will start fighting whatever unit they happen to run into.

Just to be sure, I tried three battles yesterday doing the same thing in reverse (i.e. engaging my troops, then alt-clicking in the back of my units to try to move them backward in an ordered withdrawal). In all cases, they simply turned around and started walking -- forward -- toward their destination. Ah well.

Hows about a "chase the nearest routing enemy unit button"?

This would be *very* handy, yes, having just finished a few battles against the Macedonians where I had to spend most of my time at the end scanning the field for small fleeing units.

[poo_for_brains]

cheers for the alt-click thing, Tamur, didn't know that.
In that case, they should definitely have ordered withdrawal: it wouldn't be very hard for them to put it in, and they haven't provided any new controls for the battle UI - it's about time they did.

[|Heerbann|_Di3Hard]

cheers for the alt-click thing, Tamur, didn't know that.
In that case, they should definitely have ordered withdrawal: it wouldn't be very hard for them to put it in, and they haven't provided any new controls for the battle UI - it's about time they did.

And it has an other impact on the morals. Routing units makes other units fear (penalty on morals). Ordered withdrawal shouldn't.

[sunsmountain]

This would have to be tested. It's a little unrealistic though: What is to stop me from pushing you when you move backwards? Or flanking your buddy who isn't moving back at the same speed you are? There would also have to be a limit, reaching the map border with this tactic is way too good, the width of two standard deployed units should be the maximum length* you can do that before you're routing!

Or his losing center pulled back as losing units normally would. According to the few sources, holes even appeared in the center as some units started routing.

Thanks CBR, you're knowledgeable!

*unfortunately, units have no memory! This cannot be programmed because the TW engine is limited in this respect. You could easily order a withdrawal, halt, order withdrawal, halt, infinitely.

[Tamur]

A bit of news on this: the AI in 1.5 successfully accomplishes a clean pull-back once engaged. They don't step backward (i.e. they turn and run to the new position, then turn again), but they are able to get every man in the unit disengaged and into a position behind the usual line in less than ten seconds, without losing a man.

While doing some research testing on morale, I was surprised and a little dismayed when the AI general unit in half of my tests cleanly pulled out of combat, stepped back five to twenty paces, and pulled their pilae out. I've seen them pull pilae out while in combat (something heavily commented on) but to have an entire engaged unit pull back in perfect order without losing anyone was something I had not seen.

If only the player could do the same thing.