Basic Stake Questions

[Kahn]

Will my calvary charging out be killed by the stakes if they're coming from the home-side direction of the stakes?

Will enemy foot soldiers get harmed by stakes? Perhaps if they are charging, maybe?

The answers will greatly affect my positioning and battle tactics. Thanks for whatever help you all can give me.

[Saibot]

Will my calvary charging out be killed by the stakes if they're coming from the home-side direction of the stakes?

Will enemy foot soldiers get harmed by stakes? Perhaps if they are charging, maybe?

The answers will greatly affect my positioning and battle tactics. Thanks for whatever help you all can give me.

Will my calvary charging out be killed by the stakes if they're coming from the home-side direction of the stakes?

Yes, all cavalry in the neighbourhood of the stakes will suffer great casualties. It doesn't matter in what direction they stand. Contact with stakes means instant death for nearly your whole cavalry unit.

Will enemy foot soldiers get harmed by stakes? Perhaps if they are charging, maybe?

No, infantry, archers and every other non-mounted unit will not suffer casualties from stakes, not even when charging. Some people say the stakes slow them down a bit though, but this must still be proven.

I hope this helped you out.
Good luck!

[Kahn]

Thank you very much for your help.

Yes, I've noticed that the oncoming non-mounted hoards do tend to get caught up a bit on the stakes. If nothing else, it keeps them successfully charging.

[Captain Spanky]

Saibot: I disagree with the first answer you gave, my cavalry has charged from the friendly side of stakes and done fine. However it should be noted that they simply ran through the stakes to engage an enemy which was not close to those stakes. Engaging in a cavalry melee among some stakes will of course decimate your unit, regardless of which side they came from.

[Saibot]

Saibot: I disagree with the first answer you gave, my cavalry has charged from the friendly side of stakes and done fine. However it should be noted that they simply ran through the stakes to engage an enemy which was not close to those stakes. Engaging in a cavalry melee among some stakes will of course decimate your unit, regardless of which side they came from.

Strange, because the following happened to me: I was playing as England and the French besieged Caen. So once they attacked I used my Longbowmen to place stakes in front of the gate. Then when the morale of the enemy was so low they would rout upon impact or even upon sight of the enemy I decided to send my General's Bodyguard to take some prisoners. I totally forgot about the stakes and all of a sudden I saw a cut-scene of a dieing General. Then I noticed it was my General.... . He died even though he ran through the non-pointy side of the stakes.

I guess stakes and their effect on friendly cavalry needs some testing. I'll post the results this week once I've finished testing loads of situations.

[Kahn]

Holy god. A Q of mine has led to extensive tests!

I feel so... honored. I'm really looking forward to seeing the results. They will certainly affect the positioning of my calvary in open-field battle.

If they die coming from the "safe-end" of the stakes, then you've got to position them to the sides of your entire army in order to get them around in time.

If they don't die from the safe-end, then you can use your calvary as back up, and should the need arise, even use them as a reserve infantry. They will be significantly less restricted for use.

[Captain Spanky]

Hmmm, were the enemies you were trying to capture near the stakes? As in, engaged in, or running from, a melee which was situated around the stakes? Maybe its a game function: cavalry running into or using attack animations near stakes automatically get caught in them and die.

I look forward to reading the results of your testing.

[Kylan271]

Friendly side as per my English faction will harm you if charging through I have found,you can walk through them OK. It may depend on the angle of impact also,hard to see correctly in battle. You cannot deploy on certain terrain,ie roads and mountainous areas so be careful if stuck in such areas when deploying. I don't know about cities or castles??? Hmmm interesting thought for defence.

(*The cheat deployment is: = (+) F(Stake function) and move away,during deployment and redo)