Things you just never do in battles.

[bozewolf]

Like the thread title says, post the things you just "don't do" in a battle (apart from the blatantly obvious, like charging archers into Varangians). Post one at a time to be interesting or throw up a whole list, your discretion. This'll be interesting.



I never:

Engage camels with horses. Never. Ever. Losses aren't worth it. (Alright! Maybe very occasionally, charge a pinned unit if their general is with them. VERY occasionally!).


NEXT!

[caravel]

Never, ever charge cavalry uphill into a wood full of Chivalric Foot Knights... just don't do it.

[bamff]

Never undersetimate bashkorts and let them get too close to your mounted crossbows.....if you want to keep your mounted crossbows....

[bozewolf]

# Caravel:

Didn't I say APART from the blatantly obvious?

I never:

leave missile units on fire-at-will mode. They just mess up way too many firing orders and before you know it they're chugging arrows into the scrap involving your high-end units or something similar retarded.

[caravel]

Never, ever upgrade your graphics card to a new Nvidia 8xxx or 9xxx series... oh wait you said not the blatently obvious?

Never position your crossbows/arbalests/handguns behind your other units...

[Martok]

Never, ever engage Kerns with Huscarles unless you have at least one other unit to pin them down first.

[bozewolf]

Here's a good one:

Never ever leave for a sanitary pit stop during a battle because you think "things are going swimmingly and it'll take at least 5 minutes for the AI to bring on reinforcements so I might take a crap while I'm at it".

Really. Don't. Before you know it you become so immersed in whatever lecture you have laying around in your bathroom that you totally forget about your poor army, only to return and find your brave men massacred.

lol

[caravel]

A true tactician leaves his men in such a position that they take care of themselves...

[bozewolf]

A true tactician doesn't leave in the first place, heh.

And I don't care what version you play, there's no way your forces are able to fight effectively AND autonomously for a good twenty minutes.

[caravel]

A true tactician doesn't leave in the first place, heh.

And I don't care what version you play, there's no way your forces are able to fight effectively AND autonomously for a good twenty minutes.

Twas but a joke good sir!

I've done it actually, but on my old PC at a very poor frame-rate of about 2 fps

[bozewolf]

I thought you were being cocky :( A downside of the internets lack of intonation, heh.


I've left an army alone in a defensive position sometimes to see what'd happen. AI usually just walks around you and piles into your flank. Not much cop there.

[Axalon]

Hi guys,

I wanna play as well!

Here is mine: Never ever rely upon peasants, because you will only be sorry....

Short of chicken out, bleeding and creating a general rout they aint good for nothing!
Seriously, they will probably do more damage to your army than any good, they
simply aint worth the dirt they are walking on....

[bozewolf]

Oh fully agreed. Even as cannon fodder and bait they are useless! IMO even as garrison troops they aren't all that.

Screw peasants. Support the movement!

[Martok]

Never fight large battles when you're sober. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

[Caliburn]

Actually, when it comes to arbalests/crossbows etc, I sometimes place them behind my spears etc. If there's a nice hill that allows them to shoot over the heads of my other infantry and the enemy has a lot of cavalry. Maybe I'm just lazy, but that way I don't have to worry about pulling the missiles behind a protective wall, as the demoralized light cavalry breaks on impact when they face the spearwall.

Sorry about breaking the "neva eva" -thread...

I never field -3 morale generals... Obvious, though...

[Turbosatan]

Whilst playing intoxicated (a vice that I know isn't the smartest, but hey it's my leisure time) I've often got fixated on one particular part of the battlefield/group of units & returned my attention to the main scrum to find my army scattered, my general fighting for his life & a wall of polearms about to charge into the rear-end of my parked heavy cavalry...

Another version of this is what I like to call the "Prince Rupert": concentrating solely on what your heavy cavalry/knights are doing, co-ordinating the <i>perfect</i> charge/pincer/flanking move, or driving the enemy heavy cavalry completely from the field & wheeling the camera back to find you've only got twelve men left in the centre & a wall of advancing angry infantry rumbling toward your exhausted armoured blokes... D'oh!

[Lokiss]

Never, ever try to take on pikemen with calvary, not even flanking. Lost too many generals like that.

[drone]

Never put spears in wedge formation....

[Mithrandir]

Things I never do in battle:

I never ever lose a battle if I have more than 2 units of camels.

[Martok]

Never fight large battles when you're sober. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

To clarify, by the way: Fighting battles when I'm dead drunk isn't any better, obviously (although it can certainly be entertaining).

However, my generalship does seem to improve when I'm mildly lubricated. It's like the right amount of alcohol relaxes my mind enough so that I become more tactically flexible, and/or more likely to take risks -- risks that are often times successful. (When sober, I tend to be very conservative in my tactics.)

Things I never do in battle:

I never ever lose a battle if I have more than 2 units of camels.

And a point to the Great High Camel Lord!

[seireikhaan]

NEVER underestimate the effect of desert fatigue on your shiny Kataphractoi/insert variant of powerful western knight.

[oz_wwjd]

Never,under any circumstances,send horses of any kind against camels,even if they are flanking said camels..

[Brandy Blue]

Never, ever try to take on pikemen with calvary, not even flanking. Lost too many generals like that.

I beg to differ. If you use two nimble cavalry units on one pike unit it can work.
A: use cavalry unit I to lure pikes out of position.
B: When the pikes are away from supporting troops, cavalry unit II rear ends them, and then scambles away before the pikes are finished turning around. Do the silly pikemen form a square and await support? No! They chase cavalry unit II
C: Cavalry unit I rear ends the pikes, and scambles off before they finish turning around
D: etc.

Of course this assumes you have other units to keep the rest of the enemy busy.

This example illustrates my contribution:

Never fight fair, unless no other option presents itself. The technical word for this is tactics.

[caravel]

Yes, spear/pike units can be flanked and destroyed by cavalry but they must be pulled out of formation first and hit from the flank or rear. The best method is to use only the charge and not let the cavalry unit get stuck in melee. So pull them back form them up and charge again. Obviously this doesn't work one on one and you need another unit to perform some feints. If you're taking on a high valour swiss armoured pike prince though you may want to think again. There are always exceptions especially as regards high valour, well upgraded jedi units. This is where the RPS rules start to be become very grey.

[Strike For The South]

Never fight large any battles when you're sober. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

fixed

[Don Corleone]

Never use Ghazis as ambushers, they don't hide very well.

[caravel]

Funnily enough I always use them as ambushers, though they might take it upon themselves to charge without orders if that's what you're referring to?

[Martok]

Funnily enough I always use them as ambushers, though they might take it upon themselves to charge without orders if that's what you're referring to?

I think that's what The Don was talking about yes. You know as well as I that Ghazis sometimes have a tendency to be overly....enthusiastic.

[Gyrfalcon]

Never charge arbalesters with your precious knights. You think they'll reach them in time, and then the bolts drop them like flies. Nasty.

[Kamakazi]

Never Ever Engage a massively superior force unless you have a death wish.... oh isnt that obvious?

my bad