fun tactics

[dacdac]

or funny. Post something that you find is very amusing that makes the AI look more like a baby than it already is or anything else you can think of, such as catching an enemy completely off gaurd, which is my personal favorite
What i like to do is too send units no one would ever expect. Such as sending elephants from Seleucia and attacking Gaul and Spain. It may be hard to keep the civil disorder down, but it is really fun to see a unit of elephants take out a thousand Gauls a battle. Same with chariots. Never seen 'em route so quickly. So, what do you like to do that is really fun?

[Caius]

catching an enemy completely off gaurd, which is my personal favorite

See this photo, it talks for it self:

Caius

[Specialist290]

...catching an enemy completely off gaurd,...

I have a rather interesting story along those lines myself.

I set up a custom battle to set up the Spartacist revolt, with myself (Julii) having an army of Samnite Gladiators only and my foe (Senate Romans) having a fairly typical Roman army. I hid about half of my force in a forest, then engaged the enemy with the other half. As I got pushed back by the enemy and things started to look dire, I sent my men in the forest out to hit their flank... The effect can best be described by comparing it to a tidal wave, sweeping away all resistance in its path.

No screenies, though.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Send my doggies after them just as they jam the far side of the bridge. My doggies stop them mid-span for minutes while my archers/slingers shoot themselves dry. And all I have lost is self-replacing dogs.

Put the unit of rental slingers well out on the flank -- where the enemy general can't resist. As my slingers turn to run, he slams them....and then the arcani on either side stand up and go to work.

Holding a partial unit (8-10 soldiers) right in the gate...so that the ballista positioned behind can fire through.

So many mean tricks....

[Orb]

One of the all-time greats has to be sitting on a really steep hill with four units of balearic slingers and a few infantry units. The enemy won't get near you.

[Caius]

I will explain later The Square of Pergamun, a Caius Flaminius tactic who maked me win a heroic battle with few losses.
Later.
Ok, this is the square of Pergamun:

The image is bad, but it is very explicative

Caius

[Seamus Fermanagh]

One of the all-time greats has to be sitting on a really steep hill with four units of balearic slingers and a few infantry units. The enemy won't get near you.

Agreed. A half-way decent general to buck up their morale, and a Spanish army of the composition you describe is nigh-on unbreakable.

[GottMitUns]

Maybe not so original but three units praetorian cohorts, three archer auxilia, and four onager units to hold a fort against a full stack of gauls, noble cav, swordsman and chosen swordsmen with some missile units thrown in for good measure. I put the cohorts exactly on the edge of the square facing the gate, the archers behind them and the onagers at the very rear of the fort. The praetorians jam up the middle, the gaulic hord just kind of
throbs there, and the onagers fairly quickly thin their ranks.

In the campaign game I'll throw a few of these forts up in an enemy territory I want to take in the next few turns. The enemy grinds its full stacks against the forts (which sometimes get taken) and when my main invasion force arrives its pretty easy going.

[PaulTa]

Nothing really seems as cheap to me as lining up hoplite units in a big V right by the gate, or wall areas where the enemy will break through with rams. What basically happens is the enemy, running through the gaps, wont be able to form up and will get slaughtered running into a wall of pikes on both sides.

Maybe I haven't had enough experience yet though if that's as cheap as I get. :P

[Severous]

Killing the enemy dogs.

- Archery

- Smashing into the handlers with a cavalry attack before they release the dogs.

- Luring dogs that chase you into a hoplite spear wall.

Get it wrong and enemy dogs tend to kill more of my troops than any other type. Thats why its fun when it works.

[Ozzfest20]

I tend to go for phalanxes in front of archers. I like attrition battles not decicive manuvers.

[Motep]

hehehe...my archers are really good at cathng enemy off gaurd. Plus they tke HEAVY casualties.

[dacdac]

just made an elephant army as Carthage, sent it up to Gaul, got control of about 15 cities in less than 40 turns. The only other thing i had was my general, one phalanx, and one Iberian Infantry. Oh yeah baby. Elephant>Swordsmen every day!!!

[Ozzfest20]

Archers are just my favorite unit type!

[Caius]

just made an elephant army as Carthage, sent it up to Gaul, got control of about 15 cities in less than 40 turns. The only other thing i had was my general, one phalanx, and one Iberian Infantry. Oh yeah baby. Elephant>Swordsmen every day!!!

Elephant were good in 1.0, but they are less killer in 1.5

[Motep]

Elephant were good in 1.0, but they are less killer in 1.5

precisely why you edit the edu file!

[Celt Centurion]

An enemy besieges a city with a stone wall.

My general, a night fighter, sallies forth at night.

put 4 units of strong archers on top of the wall, "FIRE AT WILL" in the OFF position, flames extinguished.

Send Cavalry out into the darkness on both the enemies flanks.

Send out weak infantry to form up a line just outside the gate.

The enemy is drawn in to attack the weak infantry.

Just as the enemy closes, set archers to Fire At Will, and let them loose.

The enemy numbers drop rapidly, and they still have not even made contact, and never see the arrows because the flames are out.

Dirty trick, but funny to watch.

Strength and Honor

Celt Centurion

[melvinio]

Not really amusing but satisfying ;)

I read the tactic somewhere in Polybius, think it was Cannae, can't remember.

It works well in battles where both armies are quite large and drawn up in battle lines.

Basically, you deliberately have a weak centre, and hold some impact/high-atttack troops in reserve.

The enemy breaks through your, say mercenary, centre (or you withdraw them) and comes pouring through the gap, only to be surrounded by spears, charging falxmen, etc. A little box is created, quickly filling with your enemies blood (can i get a mwahahaha?)

If the rest of your line holds, the ensuing rout should spread through the enemy line.

Admittedly, there are easier ways to win against the limited AI of RTW, but for 'realism' and a sense of accomplishment, this is grand.

(Ed. I removed the diagram cos it was truly, truly pants)