The Proper Usage of Carroccio Standards?
I've been deliberating how best to employ the Carroccio Standard in the armies of the Italian City-States. Specifically in Venice, where my allegiance lies, but since the Carroccio arrives around the same time for all the Italian factions... well. Any discussion about the Mighty standard should experience some faction overlap.
From my understanding, the Carroccio Standard is the the unholy fusion a general, a smaller unit of infinite-morale spearmen, and a siege engine. Given how the composition of Venetian (and all Italian) armies around that time period tend to lean militia-heavy, the morale-boosting influence of the massive standard is the Italian answer to the lack of professional armies. After all, Militia units will fight and die under the shadow of their city-state's Carroccio. For an added-plus, that elite unit of Carroccio Spearmen bodyguards will fight to the last man, making them impossible to rout.
Now, my research has fallen flat because there's hardly any documentation on the Carroccio itself. Certainly, guide after guide has acclaimed the Standard's utility in the extremely saturated clime of Northern Italia, but after that, there's hardly any information on their morale-boosting effects, proper tactical deployment, et cetera.
So my questions are the following:
1) Morale - What exactly is the numerical bonus to morale provided by the Carroccio Standard? And what is the ultimate range of the Carroccio's morale effects? Additionally, is there a morale penalty administered upon the loss of a Standard, and if so, what is the numerical value of this penalty?
2)Spearmen Attributes - I'm well-aware that Carroccio standards are pushed by spearmen that never rout, even in the face of suicidal odds. My question is pertains to how they operate in combat: Spears normally get bonuses against cavalry charges, but do they lose these bonuses while pushing the cart? Can a Carroccio Standard bodyguard rout if separated (i.e. ~ no longer pushing) the Standard?
3) Deployment - What is the ideal tactical deployment of the Carroccio Standard? Common practice seems to have the Carroccio immediately behind the center of the line of Spearmen. But because spear and pike militia generally suffer from low morale figures and an extreme vulnerability to flank attacks, is there any benefit to placing a Carroccio standard directly behind each of the flank-protecting spears or pikes (i.e. ~ the left-most and right-most units of a spear or pike front line)?
I'd rationalize this formation as similar to the MTW spear wall, where high morale spears on the end of the spear wall are replaced by the Carrocio's Spearmen. The Carroccio's morale boost would transform the left-most and right-most spear and pike militia into high-morale spear infantry. Plus, if the flanks start to crumble under pressure, the spearmen pushing the Carroccio wagons would essentially serve as a quick-response reserve with infinite morale. (The only downside to this I can see so far is that you need two standards to make it work.)
4) Number - How many Carroccio Standards should be employed on the battlefield at any given time? (I'm curious about whether the benefits of a second Standard outweigh the costs or not.)
5) Multiplayer - Finally, under what conditions is there a benefit to taking a Carroccio Standard into a multiplayer skirmish?
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Originally Posted by UCMENOMOR
NOW THAT IS JUST MEAN, but seriosly in my opinion thay actually are pretty much a wast of a unit except for the spearmen and for your info. they are more like armoured seargents, they take too long to move(moving like artilery) and they have not yet proven them selves to me I have had units run right past it and not come back plus even if some units are close and are "shaken" they do not even get any kind of moral boost.
