One problem with playing on huge settings

[boofhead]

I only ever play on huge, as I enjoy large scale battles, but take a look at these screenies......

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Here is the situation. As the Iberians I own all of Iberia + Palma (the Balearic Isles) + southern Gaul as far east as Massilia, basically just the southern coast of France which I took to thwart Gallic fleets blockading my Mediterranean trade routes. I'm allies with the Gauls now, but the blasted Romans have been sending stacks across the Alps and assaulting me without mercy for some years. So I hastily raised my own full stack and decided to use the bridge exploit in desperation as a defensive measure (yeah, naughty but necessary). It's quite a distance for me to send decent reinforcements from Iberia at this time.

So a full Roman stack attacks me at the bridge in the Alps. I'm thinking "I'm going to crush these pompous Roman dogs" - but no. They have attempted to line up in column formation for the assault, but it just so happens that their line is too long to fit within the boundary of the battle map. So the units furthest away from the bridge are standing there in a state of permanent confusion, unable to move, shouting "Forward! Move Out! Move Out! March! Forward! Move! Move out" ad nauseum.

Basically the enemy AI is stuck due to the massive unit sizes, so I really have no option but to take the offensive - in an exploitative defensive bridge battle!



My plan is to send a single missile unit forward and hurl javelins and try to egg my opponents into some form of activity.

Don't you hate it when a bug like this threatens your entire campaign? Failure here could cost me Massilia, Gergovia, Narbo and Burdigala if I'm not careful.

Just thought I'd share this unusual event in my personal annals of RTRPE campaigning.

[boofhead]

So here's what happened anyway. I sent some tribesman across to provoke a response. None. The enemy just kept reforming into column formation. I sent my horsemen across via the ford to the south and carried out a few charges on their column. Nothing. They kept reforming. So I got the poops and sent my entire army in to attack, and took out the first couple of enemy units - the enemy kept reforming. The Romans had silver armour & weapon upgrades so I was losing too many men for this to continue.

So I did this

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I sent my entire army through the gap and up to the rear where the Roman general was, and killed him to gain an advantage. Then rested my men. Then war-cry and attacked the next unit down. Rested. War-cry. Next unit etc until one by one I had destroyed them and ended up back where the violence began, at the bridge. See here how they retained column formation throughout.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And the end result

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A very costly 'bridge battle exploit".

And to top it off, that same AI turn another army attacked me and I was forced to withdraw.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Oh well. Hope you enjoyed my little rant anyway

[florin80]

But if they attacked you, simply holding the bridge(which they help you to ) is enough. After the time limit passes(if you have that set this way) you will win this battle.

Imo it`s much more advantageous if you`re in a mountainous area to place your army on a mountain slope and wait for an attack coming from lower ground. And on the battle map place your army as high as possible and wait there. The enemy will arive in such a tired condition and your skirmishers and missile units will inflict such losses before it closes in that the first charge should be enough to route it.

And another thing. Try using Sinuhet`s ai formations next time. Maybe they deal better with such a situation. Though I`m not sure what effect changing them in midgame will have to the campaign and saved games.

[boofhead]

But if they attacked you, simply holding the bridge(which they help you to ) is enough. After the time limit passes(if you have that set this way) you will win this battle.

I don't use the timer, it drives me bonkers....

Imo it`s much more advantageous if you`re in a mountainous area to place your army on a mountain slope and wait for an attack coming from lower ground. And on the battle map place your army as high as possible and wait there. The enemy will arive in such a tired condition and your skirmishers and missile units will inflict such losses before it closes in that the first charge should be enough to route it.

Now there's a thought Maybe I'll just find a good slope in the Alps instead of trying that bridge again. Because I guess my only other option when attacked at that particular bridge by a full enemy stack otherwise would be to withdraw to avoid the same bug.

And another thing. Try using Sinuhet`s ai formations next time. Maybe they deal better with such a situation. Though I`m not sure what effect changing them in midgame will have to the campaign and saved games.

:hmmm: I've got that on disk somewhere as an RAR file......that may be worth a shot, I'll just backup files first if I'm forced to hold that bridge again. I might go the high mountain approach a little further to the west first.

[lelouchx99]

Question: Is Iberia your favorite faction?

And what troops are the backbone of your army that you use the most. For example, your swordsmen?

And say if you don't have a really good computer, and you want to play this type of full scale (huge army) What settings should you turn in option?

[boofhead]

Question: Is Iberia your favorite faction?

I prefer Rome to be honest, but after playing this mod almost exclusively over the last couple of years I like to try the others once in a while. Iberia is a fun faction, and the geographical location makes things interesting - Carthage to the south, Gaul/Rome to the north and east. Easily defensible once you kick the Carthaginians back across the Straits of Gibraltar. Fortress Iberia . Problem is it's not that wealthy. It's also fun because the troops are weaker than those of Rome, Carthage, so it's more of a challenge.

And what troops are the backbone of your army that you use the most. For example, your swordsmen?

Well here's the Iberian roster



From left to right:
*Caetrati Tribesmen - desperation, cheap troops, really. Only 210 denarii.
*Caetrati Falcata - a basic troop but no missile capability. 360 denarii.
*Scutarii Falcata - I probably use these the most as my 'backbone' due to their missile capability. I find I need this against Roman forces when they have so many pila attacks. 432 denarii.
*Scutarii Devotio - the elites, but they cost 960 denarii and take 2 turns to recruit, so at this point in my game I haven't used them. As my economy improves with further expansion I will use a combination of these and scutarii falcata as my backbone.

*Having said all that - I do rely heavily on mercs for cavalry, cheap Gauls (esp.swordsmen) and slingers. Also scutarii spearmen mercs.

And say if you don't have a really good computer, and you want to play this type of full scale (huge army) What settings should you turn in option?

Turn off grass for one, and lower/remove the anti-aliasing I think are the main factors effecting frame-rates, but someone more technically minded here could probably tell you more specifically.

[ultra_dma]

wow, i've never seen this before ! A lot of slingers should do the trick, if the enemy is just standing there. I usually let the romans lay siege to a city/fort and then shot them in the back harass them with horse archers, archers, slingers and any other unit that i can find which has more range then roman pilas, until they get bored (aka 'route').

[Juvenal]

Looks like this is some sort of formation problem.

I had something similar happen at Byzantion. I attacked a half-stack on the narrow strip of land north of the town from the west, only to find a full-stack enemy reinforcement arriving from the east (behind the enemy).

I flanked the initial enemy to the right and beat them, meanwhile the reinforcing army had formed a huge column which attempted to rotate left to face me.

The back of the enemy column must have hit the sea shore, because it just stopped. I sat there with my survivors until they were rested and then attacked the front unit in the column with my whole force. The rest of them didn't respond, so I repeated the operation on the next unit.

I destroyed 4 or 5 units before the rest of the enemy army started to respond, I suppose the column was now short enough to be able to complete its manoeuvre.

I have never seen this happen with Vanilla, so it may be something to do with the formation files. Still, I couldn't contemplate playing RTW now without modded formations, they really do make things a lot better.

[boofhead]

Looks like this is some sort of formation problem.

Absolutely, it's a hard-coded bug relating to the AI being unable to realize after a certain time....'we are stuck!'

I had something similar happen at Byzantion. I attacked a half-stack on the narrow strip of land north of the town from the west, only to find a full-stack enemy reinforcement arriving from the east (behind the enemy).

I flanked the initial enemy to the right and beat them, meanwhile the reinforcing army had formed a huge column which attempted to rotate left to face me.

The back of the enemy column must have hit the sea shore, because it just stopped. I sat there with my survivors until they were rested and then attacked the front unit in the column with my whole force. The rest of them didn't respond, so I repeated the operation on the next unit.

I destroyed 4 or 5 units before the rest of the enemy army started to respond, I suppose the column was now short enough to be able to complete its manoeuvre.

So they actually did start to respond after a certain point :hmmm: In my case (the first I've ever come across like this) - even when they only had 2 units in column formation left near the bridge they wouldn't respond, and I could still hear "Move! Forward! etc" repeating.

I have never seen this happen with Vanilla, so it may be something to do with the formation files. Still, I couldn't contemplate playing RTW now without modded formations, they really do make things a lot better.

I'd agree. This a rare event/bug - and probably not one to be foreseen by anyone. So I'm not really whinging about the game.....just the time and circumstance it had to occur at in my campaign!

A lot of slingers should do the trick, if the enemy is just standing there

Problem is, it was the AI's turn and I had no choice in the makeup of my stack

[Jamey]

I chose to avoid Huge unit size after realizing that it was perfectly plausible to run your hoplite or phalanx line all the way across the battle map. That doesn't leave you much room to maneuver. I find that Large works best for me.

[Gromovnik]

I prefer large also, you have more control to execute your ideas that way. I also always use time limit, I never had a battle interrupted because of it anyway, and it prevents bugs when enemy is 100% passive.

[The Guy With No Imagination]

Noob question, how do you get the large settings?

[Gromovnik]

I think you have to choose it from "game options" before you start a campaign.

[boofhead]

Yes, it's in game options - you tick the box to open up more graphics options.

Options > Video Options >Advanced Settings > Unit Size

[The Guy With No Imagination]

thanks, unlike u guy i lov the huge setting YA HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Auzijamesaustin]

hahah an excellent story!
why not build yourself up a few stacks, push passed the bridge and set up a fort, then take things from there?