Where is Jaws when you need him!?

[Third spearman from the left]

Ok so this topic is all about crossing rivers in BI.

In my current Sassanid Empire game (my first in BI, on VH/H) I've been defending a couple of bridges and forgot that some units can now swim across rivers, which caught me off guard.

So one thing that I didn't work out was how to make a unit (horse archers in my case) cross the river via the bridge and not the water.

Towards the end of a battle I wanted them to chase down routers, but they would only cross via the water. Even when I lined them up right in front of the bridge. Could it be the dead bodies blocking the path on the bridge or just a random thing that happens now and again?

Any tips or funny stories welcome on this

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi Third spearman from the left,
Sadly, the only way of making units cross the bridge is by sending them onto it and then ordering them to the other side. In all other cases they, sadly, simply swim. Hope this helps you, cheers!

[Third spearman from the left]

Two other things I'd like confirmed are these,

1.Units who can swim will always do so and never cross a bridge on foot.

2. If a unit that can swim is exhausted, it will drown if it attempts to cross the river once more.

thanks.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi Third spearman from the left,

1.Units who can swim will always do so and never cross a bridge on foot.

My conclusions are that all men, who can swin, generally can cross a bridge, yet, sadly, only if they get directions onto the bridge by the player.

2. If a unit that can swim is exhausted, it will drown if it attempts to cross the river once more.

Yep they, most unfortuantely, often do. However, it's not a general rule that they all will die, some may be lucky enough to survive.

Hope this helps you, cheers!

[Third spearman from the left]

Thank to the ever present Omanes Alexandrapolites the Idiot (can I have your job!?)

But I've tried directing men onto the bridge (it was horse archers) but they refuse to move across it, very strange.

Some eastern roman archers I gave the run around to last night tried to swim back across the river and they all died (80 men left) as soon as they hit the water.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Very strange, it always seems to work perfectly for me. May I ask if you have patched up to 1.6, I'm not too sure, yet, perhaps it could be a bug fixing in later patches. Sorry I can't be of much use, cheers!