Cowardly Gauls

**raneak** · July 16, 2008, 10:43 AM

Right, I've been playing a Roman campaign, driven Greeks out of Italy, allies with Gauls and Carthage. Then Gaul attacks me and I move two stacks up to try and take their Italian cities.

I've fought a few battles with them so far, both about 3:2 numbers in my favour. Both times their entire armies have fled with either 19 or zero casulties. The first time it did'nt even tell me they were fleeing util I won!

Now, is this normal or a bug?

**Mikalos (denmark)** · July 16, 2008, 11:24 AM

Thinks its normal. What difficulty are you playing?

I'm playing same Campaign on VH/VH and have experienced the same. Not only with the Gauls, but also with the Greeks.

Thinks its cool that the AI retreat if it seems useful to it. I would do the same.

**raneak** · July 16, 2008, 11:35 AM

H/M (possibly H/H) difficulty. I suppose trying to save your army makes sense, but it just feels wrong playing it, would be nice if they atleast engaged (sp?) a bit first, especially for Gauls.

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

**Mikail Mengsk** · July 16, 2008, 12:16 PM

Well, once you have been engaged, it's VERY difficoult to retreat without suffering great losses, so an outnumbered AI general could decide to retreat before engaging. It's not a bug, the AI generals are just a bit prudent XD

**Jamey** · July 16, 2008, 12:25 PM

Personally, I think that if an army cannot move on the strategic map (e.g. if it ran from your first attempt to engage it), it should be forced to engage before retreating or it should take substantial casualties for retreating without engaging (and you should take none). That would represent the fact that you have outmaneuvered the army strategically, forcing it to the fight. But, since I don't work for CA, I don't expect to see that any time soon...

**Mikail Mengsk** · July 17, 2008, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by Jamey

Personally, I think that if an army cannot move on the strategic map (e.g. if it ran from your first attempt to engage it), it should be forced to engage before retreating or it should take substantial casualties for retreating without engaging (and you should take none). That would represent the fact that you have outmaneuvered the army strategically, forcing it to the fight. But, since I don't work for CA, I don't expect to see that any time soon...

i agree with you: outmanoeuvered armies shouldn't flee anymore

**AqD** · July 17, 2008, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by Jamey

Personally, I think that if an army cannot move on the strategic map (e.g. if it ran from your first attempt to engage it), it should be forced to engage before retreating or it should take substantial casualties for retreating without engaging (and you should take none). That would represent the fact that you have outmaneuvered the army strategically, forcing it to the fight. But, since I don't work for CA, I don't expect to see that any time soon...

Ah, isn't this already in RTW? If they're caught they cannot withdraw and they have to fight until death or being routed.
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**Jamey** · July 17, 2008, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by aqd

Ah, isn't this already in RTW? If they're caught they cannot withdraw and they have to fight until death or being routed.

I though I made this clear, but maybe not. What I mean is that if the army is unable to retreat on the strategic map (not the battle map), the army on the battle map cannot retreat without engaging. This would prevent the AI from deploying on a map edge waiting for you to get vaguely near it, then running away without you ever being able to do damage to it unless (maybe) you have horse archers.

**Drewski** · July 22, 2008, 04:13 AM

The Gauls are straight out of Python's Holy Grail..."CHAAAAARGE!" is almost immediately followed by "RUNAWAY!....RUNAWAY!!"

P.S. I'd love it if someone could mod a sound file where the Gauls actually do shout "Runaway" instead of "Retreat"..........

**fourganger** · July 22, 2008, 05:11 AM

Originally Posted by Jamey

I though I made this clear, but maybe not. What I mean is that if the army is unable to retreat on the strategic map (not the battle map), the army on the battle map cannot retreat without engaging. This would prevent the AI from deploying on a map edge waiting for you to get vaguely near it, then running away without you ever being able to do damage to it unless (maybe) you have horse archers.

They already have this feature. To see for yourself, put an army in a place where it will be attacked by the enemy, then decline battle. If the enemy attacks again, you will have to fight, and then in battle you will see that the "retreat" button has been greyed out and is unusable.

**Jamey** · July 22, 2008, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by fourganger

They already have this feature. To see for yourself, put an army in a place where it will be attacked by the enemy, then decline battle. If the enemy attacks again, you will have to fight, and then in battle you will see that the "retreat" button has been greyed out and is unusable.

In my experience, that doesn't stop the AI from running. Maybe it's time based and they can run because I walk my units over to the enemy instead of wearing them out running...