Which Units Do Better On Walls?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Which units do better on walls? Was the thread title, for one.

Second, the conversation had turned to defense. I found that the units dont matter unless they are GROSSLY overmatched AND out numbered.

On that note, town militia are all you need until the point in the game where you arent concerned with defense anyway.

[Cheetah]

Pizza, what you posted is the standard U formation defense which is very useful indeed protecting bridges, gates, etc. It works against superior numbers as long the enemy does not have high morale elite units. But try this defense vs papal guards, VG, DCK or vs a mongol stack and your milita will fail.

Also, as noted the question was asked form the attackers point of view. While my basic advice is the same, i.e. keep away from the walls as the attacker; if one really needs to get there then I would take the above mentioned units, namely: papal guards, VG or DCK.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Yeah it's fairly common and nothing fancy.

I would like to point out, that the formation DOES NOT work as well if the three rear units do not have guard mode on.

With guard mode, the entire unit does not engage in combat as soon as neighboring units do, or lead units do, which enables them to fight at full strength for much, much longer.

Have you noticed that a unit on attack mode will tire quickly even if it doesnt see combat, merely because it is adjacent to a unit that is attacking? As long as the big giant blob spreads out in engaged mode, every man tires at the same rate, in combat or not.

Any non-attacking units should be on guard mode. I seldom use it unless I'm in a seige defense situation. However, on walls it is a bad thing because the objective is to surround and crowd the enemy to death before they can get situated. On walls is a must-attack situation.

This advice is meant for newbie players, as our veteran members probably know this already.

As to your other point, yeah town militia doesnt fare well against high attack armoured units with good stamina and morale. However, the way I play, it's never come up. By the time the AI or rival factions have such units, my territory has expanded to an obscene size, and the only armies I have are offensive in nature.

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

[Discoman]

I have to say its the defences that give the defenders the edge, rather then state boosts. First the attackers get peppered by what ever archers there are on the walls and by the towers. When they do reach the walls they can at first only enter and be attacked immeaditely, if that didn't happen then I'd say about the first 10 men that go on the wall wouldn't die so fast. I have lost wall battles many times even with superior infrantry, so I'm left to believe that there isn't any boosts.

[Ramses II CP]

The only trouble I seem to have with town militia is their morale. If a high dread general attacks their pocket formation (Which is mostly only the Mongols) they break before the pocket sets. Also a general with a large number of men in his retinue sometimes just charges through the militia and runs to the square. I have somewhat better luck with spearmen militia in the first case, and a little reserve in the second.

As far as tiring out, my obsevations match yours and it's one of the reasons the AI's siege attacks fail. Just clicking a unit to attack, even if it can't reach the opponent, causes them to tire out very rapidly, as though they're in combat. This mirrors the real world idea that it's better to have a fresh reserve than attempt to use all your forces to overwhelm the enemy.

Guard mode is invaluable for militia. I've often wondered if it doesn't shore up their morale in some way, as militia on guard seem to hold out longer as arrow bait.