The lone ranger

[mightilyoats]

I tried something different (stop me if you've heard this one.)

Every time I had a battle, I took only the general. The rest of the army was put on AI. Also, I used the del button (follow unit), so that I had a general only point of view.

It was quite a challenge, and I did not have much success... I did try to improvise by giving (shouting) quick orders to some units.

Any ideas?

[bedlam28]

Hiya mightilyoats,

Sorry to be slow, but why would you be doing this? knowing how suicidal AI is on most occasions, I would hate to be in a situation to be running around watching my men get massacred.

Were you aiming for something that I've missed ?

[Poulp']

try a campaign with the camera locked on the general (video options IIRC)

your main battle line will require all your attention and your cav on the wings will almost always be out of sight (and will often get crushed...)

it's really challenging though, it forces you to use new tactics; peltasts on the wings with skirmish turned on to channel the enemy's forces towards your line (or just to buy time); using the tooltip to see how fights are gonig on out of your sight...

And you'll commit your general very rarely into fights, because you need him to ride across all the battlefield if you want to check the enemy's position.

Assaulting cities becomes really hard because you can't see the paths to the town square

just don't turn on comp AI, it's just frustating to see your men running into the enemy's spearpoints like lemmings

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi,
May I suggest that you try not placing the rest of your army under AI assistance. It is always much, much more fun if you command it yourself. You also have a higher chance of winning, when it comes to fighting - the AI is not as intelligent as a real human being such as yourself.

Sadly if you have your soilders under AI assistance then they very often ignore orders and follow the computer's, sometimes abnormal, orders instead. You have to take the unit away from AI assistance before they will listen properly.

You can also set the camera to follow the general during the battle. To do this go into options on the main menu - camera options and select General Camera.

I hope that you enjoy your battles. Good luck and cheers.

[mightilyoats]

Ok, I know all about controlling my own army. I've been doing that for ages. I was looking for a challenge. So far it's only been custom battles.

The idea is to send a "lone unit" - the general - into a fray. All you can do is watch, and help where you can. It can fail, or you can come out as the hero.

I had some success with upgraded cataphracts...

Anyway, it was just a thought. Something to do when I am bored. I like the idea of setting the game to general's view. Will try that tonight...

Thanks all

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

You are beyond welcome!

[professorspatula]

The idea of controlling a lone general/hero is interesting, but to really have a decent affect and to feel like you had some control over the outcome, I'd want my general to have a boost to his stats so he can make a bigger impact whenever he gets stuck in. But obviously not too great a boost that the unit wipes out half the enemy on his own. Heh, imagine playing an entire campaign where you just controlled 'hero' characters on the battlemap! Would be crazy.

[mightilyoats]

The professor has got the idea spot on. I was thinking of starting a campaign where I just control 'hero' units.

Maybe I should mod the general's unit...

Anyway, I can't conceive actually finishing a campaign like that. Maybe a short campaign. Who knows.

[professorspatula]

I actually attempted a lone ranger battle after reading your post. It was the Romano British versus the Celts (Barbarian Invasion installed). I have a few minor mods, such as slowed down combat, a few new or altered units, but it's basically standard RTW BI. And I'll tell you something, it was blimmin' good fun!

Here's what happened in a dozen or so boring pictures!

This is my army, the not entirely fantastic Romano-British. Compared to the West and East Roman empire armies, our troops are second rate, although we have very strong cavalry thanks to the Sarmatians and Graal Knights. I'm taking control of the Graal Knights (cavalry unit second from bottom). They're a small unit of elite horsemen. I've given them 4 exp to start and gold upgrades. The majority of my army has just bronze upgrades and 2 exp.


There they are up close. An ugly bunch. Heavily armoured, their main foe is rain and rust.


The left flank of the Celts. Some chariots are out of picture to the left of their horsemen. The Celts aren't generally as good in a one on one encounter, but make up for it in numbers.


The Celts approach as the Romano-British army, now under AI control reorganize themselves.


Brave/Foolish Gallowglasses lead the Celtic charge. These swordsmen will defeat any of the Romano-British units in a straight fight, thanks largely to their ridiculously big sword. Sadly, without shields they make for excellent pincushions and they soon start falling to the ground under a storm of arrows.


What the heck?! The Stupid AI totally ignores the immediate threat of the enemy and starts to totally rearrange the army's formation. Perhaps it feels over-confident, but a few mothers will be unnecessarily burying their sons with this blunder.


Time to intervene! The Graal Knights punch their way into the terrifying celtic berserkers as the battle gets underway.


A minute or two later, and those pesky Gallowglasses are back causing trouble in the middle of the battlefield. Much of the Sarmatian cavalry has been routed so the only rapid response available is my Graal Knights.... and the Warlord who seems to be keeping out of mischief. Time to send these Celts packing!


Away with ye! My Graal Knights are enough to rout the enemy swordsmen as the last of the Sarmatians and some battered levies breathe a sigh of relief!


Here I am most impressed with my AI controlled force. You'll note my Graal knights are chasing down routers at the bottom. The Celts aren't beaten yet and have a strong presence on the right of the map, and their chariots, spearmen and cavalry are still provoking us on the left hand side. But my AI controlled army is REFORMING INTO BATTLELINES! Incredible. I finally feel like I have some faith in my AI chum.

The Celts are too strong in number on our left flank. I charge my tired Graal Knights into their skirmishers. I take casualties, but the heavy armour of my clanking horsemen sees them off, although there are more slingers and swordsmen I can't fight on my own.


I race my now very tired Graal Knights back to the centre of the battlefield to take on the Celtic warlord who momentarily got stranded. A solid charge is enough to beat his bodyguard, and although his brave clansmen rally and attempt to kill my knights, the Celtic warlord perishes by our blooded blades!


Fast approaching exhaustion, the knights charge once more into a melee between brave British levies and celtic spearmen and crossbowmen. Despite tiredness and heavy casualties, we rout the celts, surely putting the battle beyond the reach of the enemy.


The Romano-British battlelines are perfectly formed for the final push. Exhausted and isolated, I move my knights back to the safety of our frontline. Some levies are still involved in bitter fighting, but I can't risk my knights again, so they'll just have to stick it out as long as they can.


The Celts, after being unable to break down the reformed Romano-British frontline, perish under missile fire and a final charge from my brave Knights. I think wey'll be wanting a pay-rise after this.


Victory is ours! The last of the celts have routed and it's time to loot the dead and get bladdered and blind drunk on cheap booze!


As you can see, my Knights were incredibly deadly. They make for a good solo unit because their heavy armour makes them resilient against missile fire and most other units one on one. And they have just enough men and strength to turn the tide of any melee going on, but not too much that you can just leave them there. They need to charge, pull out, reform, re-charge or seek cover if they're endanger of becoming overwhelmed.

Things to note:

The AI actually was able to keep to a decent formation even though a few units got isolated. Which is to nice to know can happen.

The Warlord/General which I didn't control kept out of danger and with the rest of the army, making sure his command bonus was felt for those nearest to him. If my knights were the general, units far away from them wouldn't get the morale bonus.

When my army reformed it's battlelines, it was similar to what the formation of the group was originally in - ie: spearmen front row, legionaries, archers and general behind.

Although my army was superior in fighting ability, we were outnumbered but still won comfortably, suggesting in a campaign battle, this would have been a reasonable outcome.

Final thoughts
I think a solo campaign might be possible actually. It gives a different slant and perspective on things. So what if you lose lots of battles or suffer heavy casualties - the AI usually suffers massive casualties against you, this evens it up. I wouldn't want to control the general though, I'd want some kind of specialist elite unit. The general should stick with the main force where his command bonus can take effect, but the solo unit needs to be everywhere.

I'd personally make a new unit, based on an existing one. Add 3 extra points of armour perhaps, maybe a little extra attack, or give them 2 hitpoints instead of 1 and less men per unit. They'd need to have the best stamina, and possibly the bonus of the 'command' attribute to give them a positive morale boosting effect for when they do fight near your own troops. I'd make them recruitable in any city that has a barracks or blacksmith or something, but only recruit one such unit per settlement. Easy recruitment requirments means you can retrain them easily, although if they start getting high valour too soon, that's no good.

Any battle that doesn't involve your hero unit, you auto-resolve. Any battle they're involved in, you fight - as only them. The only problem is siege battles. You can't group men on walls, so I don't think all units can be under AI control. These could be auto-resolved or just spend less time on units that aren't your solo ones. An entire campaign would be a bit boring, but you could always change victory conditions so you just need to capture 10 settlements or something.

Thinking about it again, the general makes the best choice for a solo character because they automatically replenish their numbers after each battle.

I'm pretty bored of the standard RTW experience, so I might actually give this a go. I can't try it with the normal RTW campaign at the moment though as the unit stat files are modded all over the place for something else I was working on. But BI is an option for me. Saying that I'd love to control and elite group of Dacian falxmen!

[professorspatula]

Wow. I tried it again, this time staying right down low with the action!

For all those not convinced by the 'Lone Ranger' scenario, I beg you to at least try a 4 army battle. The first army is yours, it's just a general. Give yourself a couple of extra experience levels and armour upgrades than everyone else. Army two is your main army, led by a general. Team 2 consists of 2 armies of the enemy. The first one a strong one, though probably not strong enough to topple your main army by itself. The last army are reinforcements for the AI.

When the battle starts, if you are playing with the minimal UI option selected (highly recommended), press f7 and f5 to get rid of the map and the unit cards. Press delete to follow your unit. Zoom the camera in on your general. Turn up the sound and bass and music. You now have a 'what you see is what you get' cinematic experience the likes of which I've never experienced in RTW. You have to pan around, like you were turning your head to see what is happening. The sounds of dying and horses hooves ring out loud as your view is right in where the action is. You can't tell who is winning as all you can do is charge the enemy where you think you can do the most damage and pull out again, hoping to tip the balance of the battle in your side's favour. Seeing hundreds/thousands of soldiers fighting out in the distance as you follow your unit and are unable to command the others is incredible. If you have a powerful rig, a battle with 10000 troops this way would be breathtaking to behold!

Here are some screenies with my latest effort. Maybe I got lucky, but this was an awesome experience.





Notes:
- Selecting more than 2 armies in custom game gives you large battle maps for that epic scope.
- If you make the enemy too strong, or your own army too strong, you won't really feel like your actions are doing enough
- Mods used: my own lowered combat rate and movement speed, and graphics, everything else is the same as vanilla RTW/BI
- You could try switching off fatigue in your preferences.txt file which will remove stamina from game, so you are free to charge and sprint all the time. Obviously the AI opponents benefit from this too.
- Key to fun is not getting pinned down too soon and taking casualties otherwise it's game over.


Great suggestion this lone ranger idea mightilyoats! I wonder what other interesting ways to play this aging game are to be had?

[mightilyoats]

Bravo! Bravo! I have tried to play the Carthage for the first time this weekend (I only started playing RTW about a month ago). So I haven't even thought of the Lone Ranger.

Sounds to me I am missing out. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Think I will try a short campaign as the Julii. I will take a weak general with me (so he doesn't command the army) and use him as the lone ranger.

Any tricks on how to improve a general's personal security? (without cheating...)

[César Victor]

Build an ampitheatre. I think that gives you a Gladiator bodyguard in your retinue.

[mightilyoats]

An amphitheatre... Ok, that is for Roman/Greek factions. Where do Pet Lions come from?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

No, it's only for Romans, although Greeks can get the retinue as can other factions if they capture a place with an arena.

I believe that the pet lion can turn up anywhere anyhow, although having an arena increases the chances of getting it.