Charge in a single rank!

**BERSERK_Yas** · 10-13-2006, 10:56

I'm sorry if this was ever discussed before.

I miss cavs' beautiful charges in a single rank.

Some like:

What's up with that formation?

**Prince of the Poodles** · 10-13-2006, 11:03

As far as I know you can spread your cav to 2 ranks in the demo. Im not sure about 1 rank though.

I remember in MTW, the biggest found "cheat" was spreading your troops in one line and clipping the enemy with one end causing an unfair amount of death... i cant remember the name of it, but it was fixed in VI or a patch or something.

**Peasant Phill** · 10-13-2006, 12:18

it was called the swipe bug. The cav unit would fold around the flanks of the receiving end of your charge without losing speed and thus slamming in to the flanks and rear still at top speed.

**CBR** · 10-13-2006, 12:40

Actually the bug was that as long as the center banner man did not get engaged, everyone else in the unit continued too causing an infinite charge bonus. There was no need to actually attack but just let the unit run and done correctly one could wipe out enemy units in an instant.

It was introduced with the MTW 1.1 patch and removed in the VI 2.01 patch.

Since RTW it has not been possible to drag out a unit in less than 2 ranks.

CBR

**Kraxis** · 10-13-2006, 16:31

Originally Posted by CBR

Actually the bug was that as long as the center banner man did not get engaged, everyone else in the unit continued too causing an infinite charge bonus. There was no need to actually attack but just let the unit run and done correctly one could wipe out enemy units in an instant.

Which tended to make battles a haphasard thing if both sides attempted it. Who would swipe who... All down to luck.

**CBR** · 10-13-2006, 17:12

Originally Posted by Kraxis

Which tended to make battles a haphasard thing if both sides attempted it. Who would swipe who... All down to luck.

No! it took a highly developed skill to be good at it

CBR

**Puzz3D** · 10-13-2006, 17:56

I remember back in MTW v1.1 taking a chiv knight out to the flank, putting it in a wide line and then coming down the enemy line letting the tip of the chiv knight clip the enemy xbow units. I wiped out all 5 enemy xbow units, and didn't loose a single man in the chiv knight. This was before I realized it was a bug. Once I realized it was a bug, I never used it again, but I know top players who used it all the time so you were at a severe disadvantage if you didn't use it when going up against these players.

**BERSERK_Yas** · 10-14-2006, 17:43

Thanks for the answers.

But the scenary was So Beautiful..
I miss so much.
We cannot see the single rank formation - without bug - any more then?

**Puzz3D** · 10-14-2006, 18:06

Originally Posted by BERSERK_Yas

We cannot see the single rank formation - without bug - any more then?

The bug is gone, but there might be other exploits with very wide single rank formations such as wrapping around a unit that isn't in single rank.

**econ21** · 10-15-2006, 00:11

Originally Posted by Puzz3D

The bug is gone, but there might be other exploits with very wide single rank formations such as wrapping around a unit that isn't in single rank.

I remember in MTW that a long row (maybe double row) of AUM, for example, could be pretty nasty against the AI infantry. But my impression in RTW is that there may be more of a benefit of having a sufficiently deep mass of troops. I don't know if that is just because cav is more prevalent and lethal in RTW, or if the engine as changed in someway to make issues of penetrating a formation etc more important. Did STW/MTW have a "mass" parameter for a unit? In RTW, it seems quite important. I don't know if mass matters only on an individual per soldier basis, but realistically depth of formation should come into it.

**Puzz3D** · 10-15-2006, 13:40

Originally Posted by econ21

Did STW/MTW have a "mass" parameter for a unit?

No. It was modeled as a probability to cause a pushback. However, the men in a unit had a strong elastic modulus, so it was relatively hard to break a single line formation. I think this made single line formations overly effective, and if they were in hold formation they never broke apart as I recall.