Do any of you play your battles aggresively?

[Snowball]

I only ever play defensively, i wait for the enemy to engage me then i try to break him.

The one time i tried attacking (charging the enemy) i lost...totally, it was ugly.



So the question is, if any of you play aggresively like that how do you do it? and do you have much success with it?

[sirfiggin]

normally only when I have large numbers of mixed cavalry, if you can take away the enemy's cavalry, he's boned. In SS I also concentrate missile fire on the general, to soften him up for a quick death, then clean up the ensuing rout.

[Legio]

Whenever I have elephants I charge them in. In this mod it is really hard to kill them, and they make a bloody mess of things for the other side. It turns ot to their whole army engaging my elephants, then I surround them with all my other troop sand atttack from every flank. Then, they are attacked like Romans were at siege of Alesia. Only this time, attackers win.

[Valerius Tiberius]

well, it depens on who you are fighting of course
but mostly defending, yes. let them charge my battle line, we'll see the outcome

but if you're like facing a stack of horse archers, standing still is not exactly good

Valerius Tiberius

[Xelvod]

defence only,

[Hesus de bodemloze]

i just move my hastatie line forward and try to flank the enemie when thy are attacking my first line of men. but first i softhen the enemie by using my slingers ore archers. when thy are depleted i retreat them.

[BiggBudd]

Yep, once out of pila you send the hastati in useing guard mode on, then send the princeps around the flank, again once when out of pila send them in flank/rear with guard mode off screening them with my triarii.

[Echo26]

I prefer defensive battles by far. Even when I'm attacking its not that hard to make youself the defender. If the enemy dosent attack you even after you empty all your missiles on them march your first line really close and form up a unit of cavalry right behind them. Charge your cavalry into the enemy line hopefully so they make contact with as many units as possible. Right after you make contact withdraw your cavalry behind the front line and the enemy will pursue right into them.

[Snowball]

i use that all the time when the AI refuses to attack (actually one of the smarter things i have seen the AI do, sit still! xD....well, exept for the fact it doesn`t react at all to the slingers stationed on each flank of its cavalry xD one time i decimated 3 full units of noble horsemen like this


anyway, i found when i tried being aggresive they would surrounded and drown my units very easily causing a mass rout...quickly

[Hesus de bodemloze]

i use that all the time when the AI refuses to attack (actually one of the smarter things i have seen the AI do, sit still! xD....well, exept for the fact it doesn`t react at all to the slingers stationed on each flank of its cavalry xD one time i decimated 3 full units of noble horsemen like this


anyway, i found when i tried being aggresive they would surrounded and drown my units very easily causing a mass rout...quickly

hmm move your slingers a bit more to the front, you will see these horsemen attack your slingers. i am using this tactic in my campaign to lure there cav units away from the mean force.

[SpiderD]

Easy when ever i wanna play agersively i would have the following units 9 Legions of any sort 4 of the best archer units 2 cavalry and the best skirminhers. I would also recommened to chose preatorian sort of units.

[themrwho]

i use that all the time when the AI refuses to attack (actually one of the smarter things i have seen the AI do, sit still! xD....well, exept for the fact it doesn`t react at all to the slingers stationed on each flank of its cavalry xD one time i decimated 3 full units of noble horsemen like this

It sounds a bit like cheating the AI flows

[Echo26]

Aggressivness is the way of barbarians. A true Roman values patience and caution.

[Valerius Tiberius]

... and discipline

[themrwho]

I only ever play defensively, i wait for the enemy to engage me then i try to break him.

The one time i tried attacking (charging the enemy) i lost...totally, it was ugly.



So the question is, if any of you play aggresively like that how do you do it? and do you have much success with it?

Defence gives additional and HUGE advantage of fighting against exhausted enemy while your troops are still fresh or warmed up.

Especially with PM legions, if you go aggressive and attack, you'll tire your troops and most likely see a mass rout almost always, because PM stats are not that great and they are not the real "disciplined" Roman army.

I almost always defend with full stack to full stack battles with PM.

[Snowball]

Yeah kinda cheating the AI if it makes you feel better, it happened only once.

[Hoffman]

Properly timed agressiveness is the winning key to several battles.

Mostly I prefer to sit with my legion in the most strategically advantageous position imaginable. But when I see an opportunity, as in, the enemy army is forced to advance through boulders, or through a small copse of trees. . . Then attacking at the moment their army gets split up, or their formation becomes disrupted; I find I can eliminate half or more of an army with almost zero casualties by applying the right amount of force.

Sometimes its just using three light units to hold down hundreds of Gauls while the rest of the legion smashes against three or four units of theirs, then pulling back and attacking again from a different angle.

What I wish I had, was FRAPs of one of my Pre-Marian fights against the Germans where I tried to do this and the fight just went to hell. Big time melee, units fighting units all over the place, the battle was literally all over the map. My cavalry had a crappy day, running from fight to fight and breaking up enemy units as fast as I could while I slowly managed to piecemeal battalions together and put some organization into the fight.
Barely managed to pull off a win, but that legion was toast. I had more velites units alive than Triarii, Principes, Hastati, and Equites put together.

So, I prefer to play aggresively, its much more challenging and the payoffs can be huge if you catch the other army right. 3,000+ Kills with less than 100 casualties. But if your timing is off, or you don't move fast enough it can be a sad sad day for Roman mothers.

[wildespace]

Depends on who has more and deadlier missile units! If the enemy have hordes of archers and skirmishers, standing still is a suicide. I generally try to lure the enemy out of their positions, like a predator lures a single animal out of the flock. My cavalry are constantly looking out for any opportunities to flank or give the enemies a surprise.

Spears are of course best when they are holding the line, but leaving swordsmen and axemen standing around waiting to be charged by cavalry is de-moralising (both for me and my units, haha). They are best sent to charge into the enemy, cleaving left and right.

All things done with caution, of course, but sometimes caution is easy to forget.

[Bobolini]

Also depends on the units. You don't want to defend with Naked Fanatics and Beserkers. These guys are designed to attack! Naked Fanatics are terrible defenders.

[Snowball]

well today i had to fight with a severely diminished force (read, severily! :S) luckily for me the enemy were very archer/skirmisher heavy, so i hid my army in the forest, waited for the enemy to come to me then i went for them, i did manage to win, but with more losses than i was hoping for


to say the least, the start of this campaign wasn`t too good for me, sure i win the battle (exept one against theophanes) but i find i have too many casulties for my taste, indeed the legion of Vibius Julius is already very merc heavy :S a necesarry evil i am afraid.


(Tried to upload pictures of the battle i mentioned in the first paragraph but i guess the "man" doesnt want me to xD)