stoopid knights/stoopid AI

**~~Exarch~~** · November 25, 2007, 11:25 PM

knights are such ****heads sometimes,
ok, so i'm winning a battle, and i'm having my knights chase down all routers.
i get a group of routing enemy troops racing towards the red barrier, and i have a unit of knights near the barrier where they're runnin g towards...
perfect i think, and i order my knight to make a headlong charge direct ito the routing enemy...so they charge directly for the enemy
that is, until they charge right past the fleeing enemy, thus losing their momentum, turn around and quite literally chase down the fleeing AI
how annoying is that?
i've lost many an opp to get a decent enough ransom from the enemy becuz of these incompetent knights of mine.

**Renco** · November 26, 2007, 12:28 AM

annoying, but easily remidied. You just send your knights to a place behind the routers and when the knights pass through you attack. Knights just turn around and take a swipe with a sword. It takes a bit of work (namely focusing on a unit for that time).

**Nevins** · November 26, 2007, 01:06 AM

yeah charging doesnt matter when attacking routers, only the proximity to the unit

**Lost Crusader** · November 26, 2007, 04:50 AM

Knights are not the best for chasing routers due to they low speed. Use some light cavalry instead.
And charging into a units that runs away is still a bit broken

**FuriousSpurius** · November 26, 2007, 07:11 AM

Most of the time everyone's so poor they can't afford the ransom anyway. I just capture enough to put me over 80 units so then I can release them and get that sweet sweet chivalry boost.

And that is annoying, it's so pathetic to watch a group of cavalry keep pace behind fleeing infantry and take them down one at a time. Lazy horses. . .

**~~Exarch~~** · November 26, 2007, 07:16 AM

i'll let u in on a lil' secret

i dont really intend to release or ransom them.
i intend to butcher every prisoner i capture so as to prevent having to fight them again in the future...
and to hell with dread traits,
as machiavelli once so famously said, it's better to be feared than loved

**craziii** · November 26, 2007, 09:16 AM

in RTW, when you order a unit of cavalry to charge at a unit, it will attack everything else along the way, in M2TW, this has change. they will ignore everything along the way of the unit you ordered it to attack. that is very broken gameplay.

**~Beren~** · November 26, 2007, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by craziii

in RTW, when you order a unit of cavalry to charge at a unit, it will attack everything else along the way, in M2TW, this has change. they will ignore everything along the way of the unit you ordered it to attack. that is very broken gameplay.

Most of the time, but not always.

I too as quite disappointed with the pursuit AI of units in M2TW.
But what I do is tell the cavalry to run right in front of the routing unit so that they would turn back towards my awaiting archers.

It's like herding sheep to the slaughter.

**Ged** · November 26, 2007, 12:08 PM

Just use those Mounted Sergeants to clear up them routers.

(Is Exarch the new homefry? Answers on a postcard please.)

**~~Exarch~~** · November 26, 2007, 09:32 PM

(Is Exarch the new homefry? Answers on a postcard please.)

[/QUOTE]

eh? wat postcard?

and btw i dont bother much with light cavalry. i prefer the shock and awe of heavy cavalry and heavy infantry. i do like spearmen but they cant hold on for longin prolonged cqc.

**~~Exarch~~** · December 13, 2007, 02:36 AM

i think i knwo what function command stars play:
they ensure obediance from ur knights.
knights are notorious for disobeyingand charging without order or standing around being about as useful as tits on a bull.
many's the time i've found meself screaming out 'follow my ****ing orders, you dumb ****!' to any of my knights who've performed unsatisfactorily.

any takers on my theory?

**~~Exarch~~** · December 13, 2007, 02:37 AM

i think i knwo what function command stars play:
they ensure obediance from ur knights.
knights are notorious for disobeyingand charging without order or standing around being about as useful as tits on a bull.
many's the time i've found meself screaming out 'follow my ****ing orders, you dumb ****!' to any of my knights who've performed unsatisfactorily.

any takers on my theory?
cuz with general with high command, my plans are executed flawlessly.

**Renco** · December 13, 2007, 05:16 AM

Originally Posted by Exarch

any takers on my theory?
cuz with general with high command, my plans are executed flawlessly.

Perhaps, it may also be linked to a higher dread or chivalry rating. Either you are the MOST feared or the MOST respected, and arrogant kinghts respect that.

Also, knights do attack things in between them and their target, just at a lesser rate. Maybe not so in mods or lower patches, but vanilla 1.3 works well enough.

**Kahn** · November 26, 2007, 04:13 PM

When chasing a large group of routers with heavy calvary (which aren't the best for chasing routers), I've found that the following tactic tends to work best:

1) just send them to attack, they can hack up a large group of routers to about 50% pretty easily.
2) Once you reached the point of diminishing returns, send your calvary to run to a point ahead of the group where they can start settling into formation. The routers will run through your ranks, and once the mass of them has waded into the mass of yours, tell your knights to attack. This will drop the number of routers to 10% in half a second.
3) Double click to attack and let them mop up on their own.

Depending on how far the routers are from the red line, you can do this to two or three groups with one set of heavy calvary. If you're really good, you can wing this with multiple sets of calvary and mop up pretty much an entire routing army.

4) Enjoy the "winning first" trait.