Reinforcements Question

[Veqryn]

Ok, So i'm playing Barbarian Invasion and I'm kind of new to this game, how do reinforcements work? I have 2 full stacks of units, and I'm attacking 3 full stacks of units. How do reinforcements come? Like, the first time I tried, they were delayed and didn't come and I lost. The second time I tried, they were there, but they sat at the edge of the map doing nothing. Both time, the enemy managed to kick my ass because they had 3 times as many units as me (and I'm playing on hard). So, how does it work? There are only 20 spaces at the bottom of the screen for units, how does it work when you have 40 units? Do I have to like manually retreat my units one by one? Do I have to put it under AI control? Help me out here, thx veq

[Selifator]

Reinforcements come in several ways and there are also several ways to use them.
Reinforcements from another faction.
You do not have control over these, they will enter the battlefield on their own and engage enemies at their choosing. Generals are suicidal.
Reinforcements from your own faction.
You can select two actions for a reinforcing army, you can take control of them by yourself or you can let them be controlled by the AI. If you take control and have less than 20 units, then the reinforcements will move on the field until you have 20 units. If units rout they will move on the field again until the battle is over or the reinforcements are all on the field.

If the reinforcing army is led by a captain the pc will always select for them to be controlled by you, if they are led by a general the pc will always select for them to be controlled by the AI.

If you have less than 20 units, it is usefull to controll the army yourself so that they will reinforce your own army. If the army is led by a general DO NOT!!! let them be controlled by the AI. The AI will charge the general into any enemy, including chariots and phalanx troops. So you should first move generals to your own stack before attacking.

If you have selected for the reinforcements to be controlled by the AI and they do not come on the field, the pc is probably overloaded and can't handle more troops. Decrease your graphics or use a smaller scale.

[Lord Thesaurian]

reinforcements on BI work just like on RTW. Sometimes, reinforcements are delayed, but if u dont have reinforcements on AI control, you can bring up reinforcements as some of your units are destroyed or flee the battlefield. If u still have trouble, just put ur reinforcements on AI, and your whole reinforcement army will attack with u, though u cant control them.

[Alty]

It's being pretty long the length of time between the two last posts...

[aznflea]

is there anything that influences if the reinforcements will be delayed or not?

[morteduzionism]

is there anything that influences if the reinforcements will be delayed or not?

If you already have 20 units in your army.

The game engine will not allow you to control more than 20 units.

I do believe it's possible for two full stacks from your faction to be on the battlefield at once. However, I think that's only when the other stack is AI controlled. <---double check this point

Let me try to be clear. If you had two full stacks commanded by generals and one became "reinforcements" and you decided to fight on the battle map, you should see two full stacks on the battlefield. If you don't, then as Selifator implied in his last paragraph it could be your graphic settings.

As I said before, I can't remember whether or not you could "control" that other legion or not.

WARNING: I must reiterate Selifator's warning about suicidal generals. The one instance where I saw two of my full stack armies on the map was the same instance I saw my general, all by himself, racing out in front of his army head-on into @3,000+ various types of Greek hoplites...

:hmmm:...the more I think about it the more I can't remember if he was on the field because I had a few unit slots open, so the AI allowed him onto the field, or if he was just far out in front of his army...

...I do know there were 3,000+ Greeks!

Finally, a few tips if you want to consistently use reinforcements:

-use a cavalry only army for reinforcements (anything from a single unit to a half stack...your choice; cavalry will be able to cross the map faster than infantry...you don't want to be waiting for infantry to march across the whole battle map)
-ALWAYS have the available slots open so that reinforcements won't be delayed
-try to always position it so that your cavalry reinforcements are coming from behind the enemy (reasons should be obvious)

This way all you have to do is hold up the enemy until your cavalry army runs them down from behind...