Deployable Defences - Moderators please sticky

[ilikeicehockey]

Just thought I would post this here as it seems there is some confusion regarding this feature.

After leaving an army stationary for two turns a ring of wooden stakes will appear around your army. This means that your army has the ability to deploy defences in battle if attacked. These defences can only be deployed in the deployment phase (before the battle starts). I've used them all with the exception of one so I'll describe and tell you who can deploy them...

Trench (all infantry except armed citizens)-Kind of like a sandbag barrier that slants down towards your enemy and protects your troops from musket balls. Their head and shoulders will not be shielded but in rank fire, the kneeling troops are protected. Your casualties are WAY lower using this. Tip: Make your units wider to have more longer trenches.

Earthworks (all artillery) -Sandbag barriers are built around your cannons protecting them from fire. Doesn't work that well as I've faced this defence many times and all I do is charge them or give them a rank fire volley and they will usually route. Problem with this is once you're setup you cannot move your artillery even if they're horse or foot. AI isn't that smart so once it's setup it moves around and leaves the artillery exposed.
Tip: Don't use unless its stationary artillery or if you're in a very good position and won't leave them exposed (eg. hill)

Stakes (all infantry except armed citizens) - Self-explanatory. Casualties are about 90-95% for walking/charging into it for cavalry. Note: I think your own forces can go over your own stakes without losing any units (AI does this so I assume we can too). Be careful, the AI likes to use this a lot and it can be hard to spot.

Improved Fougasse (riflemen/jaegers, advanced light inf.) - a mine type device that is placed in front of the unit (the length is about a 120 line inf. unit in 3 ranks from left to right). Can be identified by a whitish trough at the end of the strip. I've only used this once but supposedly it is deadlier than the regular due to 2 waves of explosions instead of 1. When detonated it can kill almost an entire unit if timed correctly. Damage zone is marked by red area.


Fougasse (basic light infantry only) - I think it only has 1 explosion so it is less powerful and will cause less casualties.


Using these defences is also useful for seiges. If you seige a city and wait two turns you will then be able to use your deployable defences even if you're attacking.

If you're defending a city you will also have the opportunity to deploy these defences whether you're fighting in a fort or in the outskirts.


Hope this helps.

[familyguy1]

Are there any tech requirements for the Fougasse? or the Trenches?

[ilikeicehockey]

Are there any tech requirements for the Fougasse? or the Trenches?

Don't think so. You just need the correct unit. Eg. advanced fougasse is only for elite light inf. riflemen jaegers while regular fougasse is basic light infantry such as rangers, light infantry, etc.

[daniu]

Trench (all infantry except militia)
Stakes (all infantry except militia)

I'm pretty sure militia has them too.

Tip: Make your units wider to have more longer trenches.

There is a limit to the width though, the width of a 3-rank-unit if I'm not mistaken.

Earthworks (all artillery) Problem with this is once you're setup you cannot move your artillery even if they're horse or foot.

Also, the unit's angle of fire is smaller.
I so don't see the use in this.

Advanced Fougasse (riflemen/jaegers, advanced light inf.) - a mine type device that is placed in front of the unit [...] I've only used this once but I think its remote controlled.
Fougasse (basic light infantry only) - Haven't used this but I think its similar to the advanced fougasse. might not be remote controlled.

I only used the Fougasse; it's definitely triggered by units walking over it.

[ilikeicehockey]

I'm pretty sure militia has them too.

There is a limit to the width though, the width of a 3-rank-unit if I'm not mistaken.

Also, the unit's angle of fire is smaller.
I so don't see the use in this.

I only used the Fougasse; it's definitely triggered by units walking over it.

i meant armed citizens.

[Gorrrrrn]

currently (1.3.1) the stakes deployed by british light infantry is buggy.

several times I've ordered them into a position to deploy stakes only to find when I checked that they were laid at 90 deg
to the angle required.

I also tried chevaux de frise and seen AI cavalry walk right through them taking hardly any casualties.
(same as m2tw - you can usually walk cavalry through these defences without any problem.)

I'd only recommend these anti-cavalry defences if you don't have any cavalry yourself or like to micro-manage your cavalry
as chances are they'll run into your own defences if chasing down routing units.

[FriendoftheDork]

I agree about the lack of usefulness of arty defenses. They look cool, but means you're arty cannot move (if it could before), and even worse you can't fire any other way than just straight forwards. Useless except for arty duels.

Stakes: Cavalry going with the stakes (away from their points) seems to be able to pass through unharmed, but it seems even your own cav takes the casualties if you go towards the pointy ends.
This feature is a bit annyoing IMO as you have to micro cav alot to avoid needless casualties. IRL cavalry will not charge stakes and will stop before them if able to.. so cav should automatically stop before the stakes, becoming easy targets for musketfire and counter-charges. Still nice if placed in front of your own artillery (just remember to move your units before the cannons start firing).

[NZSkep]

I agree about the lack of usefulness of arty defenses. They look cool, but means you're arty cannot move (if it could before), and even worse you can't fire any other way than just straight forwards. Useless except for arty duels.

Stakes: Cavalry going with the stakes (away from their points) seems to be able to pass through unharmed, but it seems even your own cav takes the casualties if you go towards the pointy ends.
This feature is a bit annyoing IMO as you have to micro cav alot to avoid needless casualties. IRL cavalry will not charge stakes and will stop before them if able to.. so cav should automatically stop before the stakes, becoming easy targets for musketfire and counter-charges. Still nice if placed in front of your own artillery (just remember to move your units before the cannons start firing).

correct, but for arty duesl, they are superb. Unless you get incredibly unlucky, you will amost never take any counterbattery fire casualties if your arty is behind an embrasure.

They are particulaly useful when defending a bridge where the enemy has arty. You know where their troops will be coming from so you can place your arty accordignly, and their arty will struggle to do any damage to yours.


One small advantage of using those bags is that you won;t need to micro manage youir arty quite so much. Sometimes, if you don;t use them, your arty can swivel to fire at flanking units if you don;t micro them, which can cause massive FF casualties in any regiments you have next to them. Not so if they are behind embrasures.,

[TheUnionArmy]

I found a great use for breastworks with artillery when defending a fort against the Prussians. I was vastly outnumbered but had 4 batteries of 6 lb horse artillery which I deployed backed up to the buildings, using breastworks, facing toward the flag in the center of the fort where the enemy goes for the capture. The AI continued to send in wave after wave and the artillery mowed them down with canister until there weren't any infantry left. They tried again a few turns later to take the fort, however this time I didn't have access to breastworks, and using the same technique with canister shot it wasn't quite as successful.

I love the sandbags for infantry, I had one situation where I had only a single regiment of militia against a much larger army. I backed them up to a building and deployed the sandbags which resulted in taking out a significant number of enemy before being overrun. Very effective if another regiment is in the building!

I agree that I would prefer the mobility advantage of horse artillery in most cases over what you gain from using breastworks, but I've used it before with foot artillery when I had an abundance of artillery, considering that with foot artillery it takes all day to move them around anyway. The breastworks are effective in a defensive line consisting of alternating 3 deep infantry and stationary artillery, with several regiments of foot or horse in the rear to fill in the gaps when they open. This is good if you don't intend to give up the position, although I don't necessarily see the need to give up the advantage of mobility if you have horse artillery.

[Carpe Veritas]

For my part I really rate trenches whenever possible - experimented and you can easily rout British line infantry with American Minutemen from behind them with few losses.

Stakes are also useful for using two units to create a V shaped Barrier in front of Artillery pieces at deployment. Doing this combined with the way stakes works makes it almost impossible for cavalry to succesfully attack your artillery pieces wherever you leave them (though I prefer to intersperse cannon in defensive infantry lines anyway).

[Brick]

Just adding some observations to this (it should be in the stragegy guide thread!)

Attacking

Earthworks- The AI will always place the cannons in the centre, and always in earthworks... If you are attacking always deploy to the left or right hand side of the deployment zone and all of the enemy cannons are useless!

Stakes- The AI places one in front of every foot unit, once again simply deploy to the left or right and force the enemy units to rotate to fight you, the stakes end up disrupting their formations

Trenches- Never seen the AI use these but the same tactic will work

Defending

Earthworks- If you facing a foe with lots of cannons these are handy to protect yours, because you can't move them always deploy diagonally in the back corner of the deployment zone- the firing cone will cover most advances, you can even place an infantry unit in front of the cannons with stakes which then retreats at the start of the battle. This way your cannons are immune to charges too!

Stakes- Cavalry nearly always flanks so make sure and place a few on your flanks, once the battle starts you can just reposition the unit and leave the stakes behind to secure your flanks without needing any units at all. For extra protection you can place these in front of trenches placed by other units, then retreat the unit when the battle starts.

Trenches- 50%ish of all shots miss when your behind a trench and I'm pretty sure they provide good defence against cannon shot too. The only problem is flanking, I would suggest placing stakes at the side of your trenches to stop this happening or placing the trenches between buildings if you've got no cannons to protect.

[Feldgrau]

I've tried this setup with success several times, mostly in siege battles where the enemy sallies forth-
A long line of infantry behind trenches, with the ends of the line curving back to prevent an easy flank
The artillery in earthworks, and also, an infantry unit deployed on top of them with stakes deployed- the end result is complete protection from a forward cavalry charge, which the AI seems to like to do... don't forget to move the infantry unit back afterward or it could end up being shredded!!
And if you have any extra infantry, deploy stakes to the left and right, or wherever you find is pertinent. Mostly though, this setup allows you to use canister shot effectively. If enemy infantry gets to close, just keep an eye on your artillery crews- turn off fire at will and cancel any orders, then have the unit you used to set up the stakes move forward into their earthworks to cover them. Most of the time though I don't have to do this as a few hits with canister shot can be enough to get the assault to rout.. You don't need to have earthworks either if you prefer to keep your artillery mobile

[trench]

I like what Fieldgrau states above. But depends on situation.
If no arty and i have mostly infantry - which is usual and they have lots cavalry.

Have tried to layer trenches and put stake on either end on diagonal

____ trench and XXX stake.

Something like
____ ____ ____ ____
x ............................ x
x ............................. x
x ................................. x
_____ ______ ______
x ............................... x
x .................................. x
x .................................... x