Rome vs. "Greek" factions

[hanibal1111]

Can someone tell me how to fight them and their phalanx?
The only way i can win as rome is that i circle around them with 4 cav units and hit them from the back... coz there is no way my troops can win head to head against phalanxs long spears, they cant even come close to hit them with their swords.. literally
So is there any way other then enveloping them.... coz like this every battle is the same (of course i still every time but with losses and after every battle i need to get new cav units in army)

[Chicken]

use your cav wisely.
use up all your pila first, then engage phalanx with infantry, then flank them with cavalry, then charge the back of their line.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

Don't forget to try and hit them from the sides and the rear with your mêlée units. Try to use some of them as flankers and lend support to your cav. units.

If you can crush one end of the spears, you can roll the rest up like a carpet.

[General Brittanicus]

you could pin the phalanxes with your infantry at their front then get some kind of missile unit round the back and shoot the hell out of them.

[hanibal1111]

The problem is that they have cav units too and better ones (heavy cav) so i need like 5 cav units per army and thats not very realistic for roman army right?
And they have those missile cav (god i hate those) they just hit and run and then i have to chase them all over map so till i get rid of all of their cavalry( so i can hit back of them easly), phlanax already took nice part of my inf. oh btw battle are VH

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

The problem is that they have cav units too and better ones (heavy cav) so i need like 5 cav units per army and thats not very realistic for roman army right?
And they have those missile cav (god i hate those) they just hit and run and then i have to chase them all over map so till i get rid of all of their cavalry( so i can hit back of them easily), phlanax already took nice part of my inf. oh btw battle are VH

In reference to the cav issue. The solution is isolation and local superiority. If it takes three roman lt. cav to rout one Greek jav cav then make it so. Isolate and destroy. Yes your causalities will be high {cav wise}. Bring along spare cav in your trailing {replenishing] stack.

[Souka]

Conquer sparta and recruit some spartans and they'll drop like flies.

[emperor77]

don't play VH. the ai gets a ridiculous morale boost.

[garik_stalker]

Same here I got some problems with defeating the Phalanxes with regular infantry so I mostly play as a Hellenic faction and use Pike vs Pike

[Binshuy]

mass my units at one side and leave a thin line at the other with cavalry support, clash then sandwich = end of story

Orrrr defend position and hammer and anvil = same results

[ithinkitsdead]

Coolguyz had the right idea. Pila, then engage.
If you outnumber them with infantry, make sure to put a few more units to either side, so that you can do a sort of sweeping motion.
Your line will go from this ______ to something like this _____/ when you engage. A phalanx will collapse relatively quickly with a few legions hacking away at their side.

PS: It's recommended that you hit the LEFT side of a phalanx, as it is their unprotected side. Especially when using javelins, arrows, or cavalry.

[Giannis]

What i do is placing all my legionaires in single line. Usually i have ten units so since the enemy rarely puts all his phalanxes in single line,i almost always outflank them. The cohorts to both ends deal with the lighter troops stationed there,in colaboration with my cavalry and velites or other light troop. The cohors of the center are always in guard mode,so they can stand a bit longer without many casualties. When i deal with the flanks i proceed flanking the center using both the velites that are out of amo and the cavalry. I usually sustan something like 25-30 % casualties without the heals. I play in Hard.

[garik_stalker]

I thought it was their RIGHT side that needs to be Ka-Boom with becuz they're all holding their pike with their RIGHT hand ? In that case heavy troopers carry out their job pretty well... Some units with high def stats such as Athenian Hoplite can be useful to make a frontal charge and in a few minutes break phalanxes formation if they're speared thin enough

[ithinkitsdead]

I thought it was their RIGHT side that needs to be Ka-Boom with becuz they're all holding their pike with their RIGHT hand ?

You sir, are correct!
Brain fart on my part.

But to keep with the point, the legions will dominate almost every time.

[saxdude]

tender them up with pila and javelins, works like a charm

[Kallides]

I tell you how. This is an unfair method but its your campaign and if the AI is stupid enough to fall for it then who is to blame you. This only works if you have an archer unit and your army is larger in number then the AI's. The reason for this is that this tactic only works if the AI is waiting for you to attack him(or her, dont want to offend the ladies). Anyway here is what you do: Line up your archers in front of your infuntry, disable the "fire at will" and start shooting at the closest enemy rank. The enemy should send one of their units towards your army, usually two or three no more then that.(If AI does not do it simply move the archers closer untill they start advancing towards you) Let them get close and then tell your archers to retreat behind your infantry line, as soon as the AI sees this he will command his units to retreat too which means they will turn their back to your army. Quickly turn your archers and attack those units, the losses will be devastating! Repeat over and over!
Like I said this is not an honourable way but it sure is effective.

[Velico]

I typically thin the herd with my few archer units, then focus fire on one or two companies with javelins and finally pila assault the weakened companies. Their line will break (I usually focus fire the two in the center) and you will have them fighting divided while you are one single cohesion. Then you can funnel troops through the gap in the center and envelope them with cavalry strikes on the flanks. Also, if you don't have cavalry for flankers use javelins. They shred enemy from the sides. It's very effective against phalanx, and pretty much any other adversary.

[Titus Maximius Thongus]

make sure you get your heavy infantry to charge phalanx troops. Some will die, yes, but enough will push their way through the pikes to engage the pikemen in sword-to-sword combat, where your men will win. Of course it's better to flank a phalanx, but this will allow you to do more damage from the front

[Dekker]

make sure you get your heavy infantry to charge phalanx troops. Some will die, yes, but enough will push their way through the pikes to engage the pikemen in sword-to-sword combat, where your men will win. Of course it's better to flank a phalanx, but this will allow you to do more damage from the front

Yeah, WHS.

Often your sword-armed troops will stand there "engaging a phalanx" when really most of them are swinging their swords at the spear line, because they're not close enough to actually hit any of the enemy

You've always got to make sure they get in amongst the spears en masse- you lose a lot of men in the charge, but your "anvil" will do a hell of a lot better after.

[Ferdiad]

There is a way to make Phalanx units less uber from the front,open the EDU and find the Phalanx unit and change the formation to 1.2 this will make them more realistic.

formation 1.2, 1, 2, 2, 8, square, phalanx ; Macedonian Phalanx
The ; Macedonian Phalanx is something there to remind myself.