how in the world do you keep the phalanx together in the city streets?

[rob_church]

i have tried a few ways but they always get draw into a melee and the phalanx breaks then its just hoards of pikeman fighting hand to hand and getting slaughtered

i try moving them indvudaly up thats a slow and annoying way thought. move up the melee followed by the phalanx, the idea i thought was engage in melee and move in with the phalanx behind the melee troops a screen of sorts, but as soon as they get close they break and start fighting like melee its really annoying i always have holdground on but not sure how to use them in citys...

do people just leave their phalnax troops outside and storm the town city with say thorika hopiites and other melee infintry?

any suggestion on this would be greatly appricted

is it better in citys to alt click to attack with phalanx?

in open ground they do not behave this way so its quite confusing as to how to proporly use them.

[Balikedes]

When you're choosing a spot to deploy the phalangites make sure they are not in phalanx mode. Hold down the right mouse button and expand them to the desired depth/width that fits within the city street. Once they get there and are nice and still, hit the phalanx button.
Phalangites in cities take a certain amount of micro-managing...I usually use them mostly in the defense of cities.
They're very vulnerable to missile attacks on the hard knock streets of the ancient world.
So watch out!!!

[supeerme]

the mass of the phalanx is greatly reduced to prevent imminent death when charging.

I had that problem as well, Just make your formation large enough to fit in the streets with the buildings as your flanks.

other than that, theres nothing to do.

[Korinthos Hoplites]

A phalanx is actually one of the best type of units to defend a city. For the simple fact that you can completely avoid flanking attacks...

[rob_church]

thank you all for your replys

i do right click and drag out so their the exact size but my problem lies in attacking with them say their a group of guys coming down the street at me so i charge in my hopiltes or melee forces then click the phalanx to attack them but as soon as a few enter the mass in behind the melee forces they all put down their spears and fight melee in the tight streets

so i send another one in that is the right size and in a perfect phalax and blamo they instaly put their spears down and all ov a sudden i have 3 platoons all fighting hand to hand clogging up the street where as in open ground they would keep moving toward the enmy and throught the melee to attack with their pikes but insted in citys as soon as they hit a few troops in melee they dont push throught insted they all fight hand to hand

[DimeBagHo]

Don't order your phalanx to attack - either let the enemy attack you, or march your men up so that their spears make contact with the enemy.

In confined spaces, or if they are mixed with another unit, giving them an attack order will often cause them to lose formation and turn into a mob. They are a little less likely to do that if you leave them in guard mode.

[rob_church]

ahhh so do not attack cool well their was my problem lol thank you. and love your mod dimebag i switch bettwen xgm ,lotr tw, and fourth age and thats it, just a fantastic mod top of the food food chain

[Stilgar CG]

Rob_church, indeed it's better to wait for the phalanx to be attacked. So, once your phalanx is formed you could put them in guard mode (button with the shield). After your phalanx is engaged by enemy, you could switch the guard mod off. Then, phalanx should in principle kill more efficiently.

[TM Is Back]

Indeed. When your near the main square, position your phalanx in the street close to the square.(2 phalanx on top of each other and you have an impossible to break wall of pikes. Then take some archers or skirmishers, station them behind your phalanx and then shoot one(or two) folly's at the enemy who will then trow themselves on your phalanx.

[Unknown Soldier]

.... then shoot one(or two) folly's at the enemy who will then trow themselves on your phalanx.

Says it all dude!

[Webba]

If your phalanx is still in phalanx mode but have abandoned their spears in favour of swords hitting the stop/cancel orders button should make them attempt to reform the phalanx. If they're fighting an enemy at the time this usually causes a haystack of spears to drop into the enemy's ranks and the end result is often more effective than if they were holding the enemy at a pike's length away!

If you're wanting to use them on the offensive this is a good way to use them too. Order them to attack to move toward the enemy then hit the stop button when the front 3 ranks are in range. Doing this to the back of a enemy already fighting a unit of pikes will sandwich them between two walls of spears and I haven't yet seen a unit tough enough to survive that for very long!

[TM Is Back]

Or attack an cavalry unit, then they grap spears again.