Carrhae possible or not ?

[kungfuserge]

Hello
I wish to know if any one has won the Historical Battle of Carrhae on Very hard with the original game ?
... and if possible indicate which strategy to apply

[Roman_Man#3]

which one is carrhae?

[kungfuserge]

Hi; the one where you play Roman in square surrounded by mounted archers and charged at the same time by 4 units of Cataphalcs in the middle of the Dunes. Roman starts in "turtle formation"
you have 7 units of legonnaries and 2 units of cavalry
I personally see no issue to this one (if you brake the turtle formation the charge of cataphalcs is so devastating that it root the units)
(if you stay in formation , you can't move)
The best result I have is retiring on the hill behind...and I got smash ; but not as quick
I play on very hard; Sparta is very difficult but interesting and I can make it....Telamon is very Hard I win it twice (upon maybe 50 try); but this one doesn't leave any hope

[Afkazar]

so im assuming that this is a battle that you hafta go agaisnt the history books
THe battle a carrhae was a major loss for the romans because if they formed a testudo the cataphracts would charge.If you weren in testudo you would get shot.The parthians were using new compound bows which were strong enoguhe to penetrate roman shields and armor. Some soilders ended up with their shield nailed to there hands.With the parthian arrows were lethal the hot desert sun was also lethal.

[Craterus]

It's been done..

[kungfuserge]

So, if is it possible to beat the IA ? HOWWWWWWW ????

[Geoffrey S]

Set up a line of legionaries to the front, and another one slightly behind. Set all to fire at will. That is what I remember doing, it broke the initial cataphract charge and allowed a countercharge against the stationary enemy, and also some flanking with my own cavalry. Then I retreated to the hill to the front-right of the initial starting postition and used fire at will to thin out the remaining parthian horsearchers.

It's a tough nut, definitely, but certainly possible to finish with more than half the army intact.

[Lord Comnenus]

Hey SERGE remember me! Comnenus from TWCENTER hell you are really serious about thei carrhae do you? maybe you just want to know so you can make a vid and upload it to youtube right?

[Oaty]

Been ages but guard mode for infantry is the best counter to cavalry (RTW). As soon as it starts you have to take them out of testudo and guard mode and when the cataphracts hit make sure you tell the infantry to halt. If you dont use halt they will keep moving into thier new formation making them take more casualties than needed from the cavalry. You have to quickly doubleteam the cats as quickly as possible. you can end this battle quickly by suckering an all out attack wich is probably best as HA's will wittle your army down to nothing. As the Cat's charge first this leaves the AI's HA's free. If you ignore the HA's they will just sit there shooting you up. From my memory when I played this I lured the AI to Engage in melee with there HA'S by quickly having my whole army engaged with the cats minus the general but running my general to where he cant be shot up. With plenty of engaed backs turned to the AI it charges it's HA's in.

The whole trick is to get the AI to take it's HA's out of the equation so it is a pure battle vs melee cavalry.

[kungfuserge]

Hi you guys; I'm happy you remember me; I'm quite near to present I Video of Carrhae won on VH... I already did it but I have no Video of it, I have a video on Hard;
Here are the links on YouTube if you want to see it won at Medium:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt7W8YgPnLE (part1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXLvNmakpKo (part2)

I had to cut the video in 2, so it fits 10mo each...etc..., the quality is OK
I also won Telamon on Very Hard, I am happy about this one
here are the links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLrFVAoSPsI (part1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GFhrNHRx1Q (part2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK8FssFNqCM (part3)

I am using a lot of Pause, but I can't help, I need to brows on each part of the battle as quick as the IA...
So beleive me I WILL win Carrhae on Very Hard and I will present a video of it...
keep in touch

[Lord Comnenus]

You do that cause i'm getting myself really pissed losing all the time!

[HumphreysCraig00]

I did win this once on Vh but it was more due to luck and incompetant ai than any skill on my part

[HumphreysCraig00]

I'll add this here as I cant see how to edit my post.

The hill imediately behind your army at the start was what i used to give my army a fighting change as when I had tried staying put or any other hill I had been flattened

[kungfuserge]

It's true, I think you can only win by luck or incompetance of the AI there is no sign of Strategy in that battle...
I won this battle only 3 times on VH over more than 600 try (I only play the 30 first second, than I know it's useless) .I have throw the video because it wasn't nice looking. I have a video of winning on Hard (if anyone is interested...)
It's true I confirm The try, is on the Hill behind, You must smash at least 1 Archer Cavalary parth (the one on the right) (and the one behind you) (if you can.. sometime it works some time it doesn't...that depends on the AI's mood .
For some unknown reasons once you smash one of those, immediately after 1 Pathian Archer Cavalary routes.
Place the legionnaries on 1 or 2 ranks on the hill, (fire at will)(en guard)
Than if you are still lucky bring back (what remains) your 2 romans cav on the hill and try to smash the Pathian general . ... than only than , you can have an option...I've been in this situation over 50 times .

I give you a Tip... go into the preference texte (there are 2: on in the main folder and on in the folder "Preferences")
replace" Limited_Ammo:True " to "Limited_Ammo:False" that will at least rebalance the odds because the AI has as much arrows as it needs (which is not realistic).

[kungfuserge]

Hi Comnenus; I've got one but with Unlimited Ammo. Do you want it .

[Severous]

On vh difficulty without any moddification ive got a close defeat. That was my best go in about 20 attempts.

Ive seen the strange routing of a horse archer that you mention.

I fought on the hill as you recommend.

On VH only the infantry pila fired downhill into flanks/rear seems to have any reasonable chance of killing the Cat's.

[kungfuserge]

It's about the same result I found without Modification...If I try the game with "limited_AMMO:False" than I have a victory every 5 or 6 times and it's more fun at last...
Is there a way to turn the opposite side to have "limited Ammo:True" ? so it would be realistic
I can provide a video WINNING on VH with both side unlimited ammo in case anyone interested I can upload it on YouTube.
Regards
serge

[Lord Comnenus]

thanks for the ammo but thats not what i need casue when playing carrhae ill wait my ass off from those ARCHERS!!!!!

[kungfuserge]

Hi; you can also help your army by passing:
into the preference text:
MORALE:TRUE to FALSE
FATIGUE:TRUE to FALSE
As I wrote I have a shot won at Very HARD with Unlimited Ammo, Would that help ?
(it look just like the one I have put on Youtube on the hill behind).
Courage !!!

[Lord Comnenus]

dont turn off morale cause them legions have better morale than those horses, when you do set it off youll face a rather stubburn enemy.............