What do you do in this situation?

[Hoplite7]

Give them something to go after. Get some archers out and see whether they take the bait. They like to go after your general sometimes, too.

And if they don't? I'm not trying to be troublesome, but in my recent battle I tried to lure them and they tore my general and archers apart with archers and catapaults. They then rushed the survivors and left me with an army of spearmen.


I would have backed the archers up, but it would forfeit my defensive position.

[Quickening]

All you can do is attack them full on.

[holycow]

Have you tried manuevering en masse to a better position or flank, not just a few units? Sometimes that will draw them out. What is your situation/units and theirs? Honestly if they're sitting still, then you have the initiative and there's a lot more you can do than just wait for them to attack you. try sending cannon fodder straight down the middle while you flank them on both sides and rear w/ cav or light infantry. I wouldn't commit your general until most units have been engaged and you can tell where is the weakest point and your general won't get surrounded - that's a quick way for cav to die.

depending on what units you/they have, try running your cav around their position if terrain permits and try to get them to open up or break their position.

lastly, no idea why the ai does what it does, and i've noticed rebels would be more likely to hunker down when attacking than faction armies.

[TevashSzat]

Are you sure you have the 1.1 patch? since that makes the ai less prone to just standing there without doing anything. Also, always have battle timer on since it will help you in situations like this and you will rarely be hard pressed for time due to the timer

[FactionHeir]

Actually the AI still has mostly the same issues in 1.1 that it had in 1.0.
Its quite annoying to have a passive AI that is the attacker (usually happens when they get reinforcements or you do) when they have the high ground and a lot of missile troops and you don't. I mean its smart to stand there and all, but they are the attackers and are supposed to attack, not wait.

Makes you wonder whether time limit wouldn't be a nice idea afterall, but really, this should be fixed not relied on a timer running out!

As to what you can do, pretty much just charge them. Very rarely they get lured out if you place a fast unit behind their main army in that case, but its worth a try. Especially try to charge their siege tools. Once those are gone, they are more likely to go on the offensive.

[Didz]

This is a tricky question to answer as it very much depends on individual circumstances, and in particular the mix of units on both sides.

I certainly would not have advised using archers as bait, mainly becuase they are too slow to 'kite' the enemy onto your main line and too valuable as the main reaction unit to deal with any enemy units you manage to 'kite'.

Basically, if you are going to try and 'kite' the enemy army into attacking then you need to use fast units that can get out of trouble in a hurry if necessary, or missile units with a range which exceeds the best the enemy can offer.

I think Holycow's suggestion is a good one. In some circumstances manuevering en masse is going to be preferable to 'kiting' with single units and if you can work your army round the enemies flank and begin to threaten their line of retreat it can often spur them into action. I've even had the AI decide to give up and try and withdraw as a result of me deploying on their flank and if you spot this early enough your cavalry can usually chew a few of their slower units up before they escape.

Reading your second post I suspect the root of the problem is that the enemy have catapults and you don't. This is always a tricky problem and its one I normally only have to deal with in seiges. The solution is decidedly dodgy but what I try and do is detach a unit or two of suicide cavalry off to one side of my army usually through a side gate in the city, and then try and cause the enemy to make a major redeployment of their army by tempting them with the rest of my cavalry on the other flank.

If you are really lucky when the enemy redeploy their catapult will get left behind becuase they are much slower than the other troops. Its then just a question of rushing in with the suicide cavalry and doing as much damage as you can before the AI gets some support back to drive you off. Its not very elegant and not very nice for the unit that you send in but if your lucky you can destroy or rout the artillery before the AI can save it and that can sometimes change the AI's entire strategy for the battle.