Greeks and there cowardly spears

[mattfriend0]

I am fighting the greeks and the macedaionians and there bloody spears are annoying aginst my cavary which is weak roman cavary and my infantry and to slow for quick battles does any one know any quick tatics to counteract the spears? open for suggestions

[Praetorian_BGX]

I used to have big problems with Macedonia in RS. My suggestion is take them first. Forget Carthage for start. Its not historical version but you will fell much better without 15 Macedonian full phalanx stacks on knocking on your door later.

Battle tactics that i used are simple. Pin down first lines of phalanx with heavy infantry. Put your HI troops on guard mode, keep them busy. Absorb and hold their infantry as much as you can. If they have some light infantry on rear clean them with some reserves or keep them busy for while. Flank them from one side with 3-4 units of archers and shoot them in the back (don't use archers while they are approaching, its useless, save ammo). Cover archers with horses. After few volleys of arrows, they will be broken, one by one will flee. Be careful with your cavalry behind archers cause they will start to chase broken units so they can be killed from archers friendly fire. Control archers manually, no fire at will. Try this. It will work 100%.

[Conqistador]

the macs are strong but vulnerable at the same time... tha basic tactic is that:

hold their infantry and lauch rear/flank attacks, with cavalry or infantry
it's waste of time and ammo to launch an archer attack frontally to a phallanx... so attack from rears and flanks...

it's pratically the same tactic Praetorian posted

[mattfriend0]

as i am rome before reforms all i got is peltis and marc archers but few units and i used the cavlary method but if they have more than one row of spears units its inpossible to attack them from behind

[Praetorian_BGX]

as i am rome before reforms all i got is peltis and marc archers but few units and i used the cavlary method but if they have more than one row of spears units its inpossible to attack them from behind

If they have 2 rows, stretch your first line of HI so they will stretch their. Their second row will not just stand and watch first line fighting. They will engage your first line soon or later. Be patient. In worst case they will try to flank you, but in case of Macedonian phalanx its too slow and you can outflank them with your archers again. Keep their flank units busy with some unit that have good defensive rating. When phalanx unit is trying to turn around their spear formation is disturbed and you can attack them with any infantry just to stop them moving. Whole point of this method is to snipe them in the back with archers when they turn and engage other unit. Speed is on your side, that's your advantage.

[Conqistador]

this is the Roman military machine: the mobility!

[stanley86]

You can either:
1)try to pin down the main line of phalanx, encircle and charge them from the back multiple times.
2)try to split the main line of enemy. It is easier to defeat smaller groups of soldiers than one big mass of men.
Oh, and bring some reinforcements. You can even allow them to be commanded by the AI (unless there are no horsemen nor archers, velites etc., only heavy infantry). Numerical superiority allows to brake the enemy easier
Or you can try to feed the Geate with money every turn and hope they will fight off the Macedon for you. However, the Geate are not any easier to fight against, so you may not want to face them that early. Believe me, I know something about that ;P

[Praetorian_BGX]

And try to use pilas only on their phalanx lines, don't waste them on some poor javelin troops that usually march in front of the phalanx.

[torzsoktamas]

A use this tactic:its quite effective and fast.

I strech my heavy infantry line to be quite long.I put fire at will on, so my legionaries will weaken them a bit.Because the enemy phalangites come in two rows, they will either get some pilas from the sides and die or they will turn with some phalangites to engage the legionaries at the lines end too....because of this,they will be quite disorderly, and then I imediatly charge them.After a very small time the routing will start(atleast the enemys first line)and you will win.I almost never use archers.What I use is legionaries,some cavalry and some skirmishers.Its ain't necesary to march to the enemys flank or rear to pepper them with missiles.....you just put the skirmishers(light auxillia or velites)behind your legionaries and let them throw at the phalagites to weaken them.

It works for me all the time,and its a quite fast tactic.

[-Aquila-]

What I usually do against phalanx armies is this; I arrange my line and diliberatly leave holes in it, so when the phalanx line hits it ruins their formations as some continue to move into the gpas while others get trapped behind, resulting in their loss of formation and the loss of their main strength, unity. Once the break down of their line has occured, its just a simple task of surrounding each individual unit and destorying them one by one using the researves from behind the main line.

[LittleD]

mat..man up! you have to go through it like the real Romans did...if they got through it in real life then Im sure you can in a game. You Just need to micro really fast and accurately.

[Leeham991]

I've just used the "bail 'im!" tactic of surrounding the phalanxes and pulling them apart. It take practice but if you do it with the right soldiers in the right place it will make the mass of men into the shade of a pa-"feminine hygiene product" as best as I can describe it.

The phalanx in the middle fall fastest (at least when I play) and the flanks fall slowly after that. You then of course have the archers/lightfoot/cavalry running riot all around the place rounding up the loose enemy units.

Though that said, I'm going to be using the tactics listed above now I think x)

[mattfriend0]

i crused them with just time and horses now my genral has to fight the greeks with there 5 stacks (1 turn recruitment )

[Coldcall]

Macedonians are easy to beat. Best thing is let them come to you. Have your legions on fire at will and they will take out 25% of each wave before it even hits their front line. Then use flanking unites once the Macedonian hoplites get stuck in their formation.

Just watch the heavy cavalry and shadow them with some units of triari. I put two Roman spear units on each end of my line.

End of.

[Tesla]

Have a look here, it is more of a general tactic rather one against the greeks http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=204635

[SonOfAlexander]

I would reccomend using bastarnae merc. troops or conquering Corinth/Athens etc. to get their hoplites (though that means conquering even more greeks!)

These troops when attacking a phalanx, (especially in large numbers) I find, will push forward and break it open, making the phalangites use their swords, not their spears. Any kind of hoplite that doesnt go in phalanx will work, and I think sword hoplites might as well. Just make sure these troops aren't on guard mode or they'll get piked to bits.

Overall, i'd reccomend the bastarnae/thracians as your best option

[Titus Maximius Thongus]

use the snaking maniple formation. someone mentioned leaving gaps in the formation, and this works very well. This leaves one side of a phalax open to your 2nd rank of infantry, and you can move in and attack them from the side. Or if their phalanxes try to attack your infantry in your 2nd ranks, your troops in teh 1st rank can attack them from teh sides as well.

[TheAeneas]

I like the idea for the formation with "holes" in it, that is pretty cool.
Generally speaking whenever I have come accross the better phalanx units and am outnumbered I form my Republican or hastati/principes/triarii into the "traditional" formation and march close too thier lines, send a few volleys of pilla their way and then immediately send all my units helter skelter in all directions.

Yes, I know this sounds crazy... and difficult to pull off, but just hear me out:

It is pretty easy to do, just click and point, at which point the Macedonian Phalanx (normally presented in one or two lines) will break up going after the different units. However, being in Phalanx formation they are very slow and prone to flanking. If done correctly, it is possible even when outnumbered to utilize several units against a single enemy unit my out manevouring the enemy units and leaving many of the enemy stranded chasing down your units who are by now far away and preparing themselves to charge some other poor enemy phalanx unit from the rear...

with a miniture version of the hammer and avil tactics exploited on the confused and isolated phalanx units with your infantry is truly devestating, and a pleasure to watch as the would be "kings of the Earth" are fed to the ever hungry Roman Military Machine.

It is not uncommon for me to destroy several stacks in this manner. These days, I always smile when facing the Phalanx...

[rory o'kane]

I've found a formation sorta like a ----\__ works well (imagine the dashes are continuous and joined to the top of the slash). the phalanx has to break itself up to attack the three sections of the line. it's MURDEROUS for the phalangites that attack the refused flank, because they can be hit in the flan with missile fire. in fact, what you can do is form a line with a sort of plateau in the middle - ___/--\___ - which is very useful for disrupting the phalanx. you need strong missile support too, though, or there's a danger the head of your blunt wedge will be shredded by missile fire, so you need to clear off enemy skirmishers fairly quickly.it does disrupt the order of the phalanx, and will allow you to get some troops into the angles between the phalanx units, or around them. also, with missile units just behind the head of the blunt wedge/plateau, you can fire in an almost 180 degree arc down your own line, causing lots of casualties via enfilade fire.

[Durakkon]

Stretch your heavy infrantry to thin their line. Concentrate a large reserve force of heavy infantry/pilas in the center of your line, leave your cavalry split off sides of HI or wherever you see fit. Concentrated fire from your HI/pilas on their center will allow you to punch a whole in their center line exposing their archers/general/pilas. Force your reserve HI thru, attack and flank with cavalry as they adjust. They'll curl up and buckle. Found this tactic works especially well when forced with fighting stack after stack low on forces, as other methods require a longer sustained hold while flanking takes place.