Hills: Make or break a battle, how terrain effects battles.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Brilliant! I just defeated a huge army of the Greeks using terrain to gain the upper hand on their slow-as-anything phalanxes! Who would have thought early era archers would be able to disintegrate whole units of hoplites?

[IXlegion]

yea a hill or even a slope can get you an advantage on an oppossing force even if there men are stronger than yours

[Praetorian Octavius]

I once deafeted 4 whole units of Gaulish infantry with one Urban Cohort because of higher ground!

[czePowerslave]

higher ground against AI is just unfair. AI wil run up all the time and arrive totally exhausted. What battle is that then

[Scutarii]

RTW gives extreme advantages to units on even a hill, way more than is realistic. So, particularly when you have missiles, being on a hill can win you a battle.

[Pontifex Maximus]

trust me, when i played medieval as the turks (i know we're talking about rome but still) and the mongols invaded, i placed all my armies on top of mountains to wait to be attacked. Trkish units are rubbish.

[Dom9127]

I remember on MTW I the terrain affect being even bigger, and one of the best strategy was to lure the enemy of the hill, ah the days when Total War games had decent AI.............

[12345abcd3]

Is there anyway to accurately tell if your on a hill from the campaign map? Because i keep on thinking i'm fighting on level ground but when i get to the battle the oposing army is halfway up what can only be described as a mountain.

12345abcd3

[Pontifex Maximus]

Yeah, zoom in and you should be able to see if you are on a hill., or if you are near a mountain range of course

[Selifator]

Though those can be extreme, a mountain range is often extremely spaced and is very difficult to win against an enemy who has taken up position there.

[morteduzionism]

Though those can be extreme, a mountain range is often extremely spaced and is very difficult to win against an enemy who has taken up position there.

If you're attacking them why not just maneuver your army...every time you move the AI usually counters it...by doing this you can effectively take the hill from them...then attack them when your positions have changed.

[Selifator]

If you're attacking them why not just maneuver your army...every time you move the AI usually counters it...by doing this you can effectively take the hill from them...then attack them when your positions have changed.

In mountain ranges, the enemy tends to set up at the very top of the mountain. This leaves little room for outflanking, your troops will get tired and if you play with a time limit you probably don't have enough time to fight the enemy once you reach them.

[morteduzionism]

In mountain ranges, the enemy tends to set up at the very top of the mountain. This leaves little room for outflanking, your troops will get tired and if you play with a time limit you probably don't have enough time to fight the enemy once you reach them.

...I play with no time limit...

As for them being on the top, you just approach from an angle. I've never seen a range where the only path up led straight to the enemy.

As for them being tired. You wait. Go make a sammich' or something. Talk to your girl/wife. Read the paper. When they've recovered...Give them Hell!

[Kalos]

Moved to Battle Planning.

[Eccentric]

I remember beating a half stack of gauls with a balaeric slinger and a general just because they ran up the hill and arrived totally exhausted. (I lost ten men.)

[conquestor]

archers or slingers on a hill can fire a prolonged rain of projectiles, you might find yourself winning without a single death in some cases.

[conquestor]

errr...lure the enemy off the mountain with light cavalry?

[piranha45]

I've played all my vanilla campaigns with 45-minute battle time limits. I've never unintentionally run out of time, and you'd better believe I take all the time necessary to maneuver the comp off high land AND wait until all my men are Fresh.

[Selifator]

Then you should try Parthia in RTR, they have weird hills.

[Fox Sterlingworth]

Yeah, I like hills.

In this battle I lined my archers up on the edge of the bluff visible in the left background. The AI ran its troops all the way up (some were off the map, being reinforcements). They arrived with low morale and exhaustion and were instantly routed by my Equites. Fun fun fun.