Bridgehead battles bugged?

[Borsig]

I wonder can CA make sure the enenmy re-enforcements come in on the OTHER side of the bridge, and not behind my forces?

The whole point of stationing an army at a strategic bridge point is so they can defend the bridge.

Not be attacked in the rear by reinforcements that magically have crossed somewhere off the map?

[scarshapedstar]

Well that's extremely disappointing... my nation's capital is defended by a stack on a bridge. I can't fathom at all why they're doing this random reinforcement BS again. It wasn't even like this in Medieval 2.

But that would explain why cavalry reinforcements are so good at sneaking up on my artillery... stupid cheating AI!

[tokaiser]

Reinforcements system should have told me not to purchase this game so early in its development.

[Chimp]

yeah the same thing just happened to me. i was defending a river with a 5 unit stack reinforcing me, the enemy was attacking with a 8 or 9 unit stack and being reinforced with a larger one.
my reinforcements come on the other side of the river, and lose since they emerge RIGHT behind where the enemy started. i had no control over this.
my starting force defending the river is attacked from behind just like the enemy were, instead of guarding the river crosssings i have to turn allmy troops around as they are attacked by cavalry coming behind them.
overall a completely ludicrous scenario, one that i cant even think of a possible strategic explanation why it would happen like that.
oh and the battle happened because they intercepted my forces, yet my reinforcements were coming from my city. my regular army that was intercepted was right in front of the city, so the reinforcing city troops SHOULD have come right behind them, and the enemies behind them on the other side of the river.
i sincerely hope this is fixed as soon as possible.

[Theseus1234]

the reinforcement system is crap, and for some reason all reinforcements turn up behind enemy lines when they weren't that way on the campaign map. it's almost caused me to lose a battle
the old M2 system was much better

[Heinz Guderian]

. it's almost caused me to lose a battle
the old M2 system was much better

you almost lost a battle!!? that would have been a disaster

[theoander]

I'm sure it'll get fixed.

[Leesin]

In my game I couldnt even find a feature to make the reinforcing army under AI control ? if there is one they sure hid it well, if there isnt one that tottally sucks because I like reinforcements of cheap units under AI control to do what he pleases, while I use my decent army with good tactics that really win the battles.

[Beggar]

In my game I couldnt even find a feature to make the reinforcing army under AI control ? if there is one they sure hid it well, if there isnt one that tottally sucks because I like reinforcements of cheap units under AI control to do what he pleases, while I use my decent army with good tactics that really win the battles.

There is no option to allow AI to take control of your reinforcing armies.
We've had a lot of reasons, most computers couldn't handle all those reinforcements on the screen, blah. Let 'em play on small unit size !
However, enemy reinforcements coming behind you in situation like this is unacceptable. It will be probably fixed.

[Grimmyke]

To stay on topic of bridge battles. Where exactly do I put my stack?
Ontop of the bridge, a bit behind it or a bit infront of it?

I remember in M2TW that (i think) if you put your stack ON the bridge it forced the enemy to cross it, but if you put your stack BEHIND the bridge it would just be a regular battlefield.

[niidel]

There is no option to allow AI to take control of your reinforcing armies.
We've had a lot of reasons, most computers couldn't handle all those reinforcements on the screen, blah. Let 'em play on small unit size !
However, enemy reinforcements coming behind you in situation like this is unacceptable. It will be probably fixed.

I think you mean "a lot of reasons have been made up"... seriously, there's no reason as to why the reinforcement system couldn't be the same as in M2TW Kingdoms - I bet when a add-on for Empire is released, it will feature a "new" reinforcement system (=the same it was in Kingdoms).

As for the troops showing up behind enemy lines, well, I'm 100% sure it is a bug and will be fixed in the near future.

But hey, now you have a killer strategy - if the enemy is waiting on the other side of a bridge with a big stack, attack it from the front with e.g. one militia unit and reinforce it with a full stack from behind it:

Like this: (Reinforcements)-(Militia)-(Bridge)-(Enemy)

Your militia will probably be turned into mincemeat under 10 seconds, true, but just observe as your ninja reinforcements appear behind the enemy lines!

(Militia)-(Bridge)-(Enemy)-(Reinforcements)!!

NINJA ATTACK!!

[ZiRo]

Yeah, this bug/'feature' is crap..

I mean, before you could see from the campaign map which direction the enemy were going to come from, now you set up defence on the back of a hill and chances are the enemy will march right into your troops from the edge of the map..

Happened to me, some cavalry and line infantry turned up right behind me, literally infantry charging distance. Pretty dumb. Just change it back to how it was, this is cack.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

I think the reinforcements is bugged atm. No matter what the campaign shows usually the reinforcement comes from behind. Interestingly when the reinforcment on the campaign actually was behind me it came from in front of me in the battle.

[BadBlood]

To deal with 'ninja' enemy reinforcements I have resorted to some cheesy but effective tactics as follows:
-Attack a small enemy stack with a big stack nearby.
- Save.
- Begin battle without deploying my forces and observe where the enemy reinforcements are coming from.
- Reload and set up accordingly.

That way any 'ninja' enemy reinforcements are destroyed as they arrive on map, and fights where the enemy reinforcements arrive from somewhere remotely realistic (ie not right behind me) are played out normally.

[Ightenhill]

every bridge battle i have had has been like this..its weird

[green tea]

It is not a "feature", it is a bug. They always come from the wrong direction (or, as someone else explained, forgot why, they come from the right direction, but you and your contrary stand each on the wrong side of the field).

[ZiRo]

It is not a "feature", it is a bug. They always come from the wrong direction (or, as someone else explained, forgot why, they come from the right direction, but you and your contrary stand each on the wrong side of the field).

So if I'm on a hill and get attacked, I'll start at the bottom?

If that is true, CA need to hire some more play testers.. I mean come on, any decent fan of the series could have spotted something ary, why does it take us to spot their mistakes?

[macke]

I sincerely hope that this is a bug. However for now, I know a good way to get your army across the river without having to cross it. Make sure to stop your army right outside if the enemies range. Take a single unit, preferbly a really bad one, and attack the enemy stack. Your "large stack" will be your reinforcements. When the battle begins your "large stack" will enter the field on the enemies side and behind them.

[macke]

Yep, they need more testers. I have heard that somewhere (when working as a tester) there should be atleast 2 testers for each programmer.

[MyOwnSling]

I generally auto-reslove battles where reinforcements are involved. I just do not like the current state of reinforcements and campaign map deployment not affecting anything correctly.