Countering Chariots as Romans?

[Davonator]

Playing Campaign as Brutii

Doing well, nut the damn Pontus chariots often cause havoc.....no matter if they attack head on or side on or if my formation is tight or loose. Personally i think they're a bit overpowered.

But what is the best anti-chariot unit at my disposal? Romans have very limited anti cavalry units, (auxilia seems the only one). Am playing on Hard

[SoulBlade]

merc hoplites and slingers are the first units that come to my mind.

[Rainbow Dash]

Is Pontus chariot-spamming, or do they just have like 1-2 Scythed Chariots per army? If its the latter, I don't suggest changing anything, chariots disrupt rather than kill, really. Infantry, in a prolonged melee with them, can easily take them out.

[nvm]

Shoot flaming arrows at them.

[General Nuisance esq]

In the campaign (NOT on line) I suggest you cav spam against chariots, this is very effective against the brits early on (pre marion)
Up against Pontus I think you should look at getting phallanx mercs + archers (fire arrows) and lots of cheap cav to swarm those chariots with (avoiding sending your cav into his phallanx of course)

[Maesar]

Chariots are dangerous when moving. So, to stop them from moving, you have to make them stop. Don't set your formation to loose. If you do, the chariots will have no problem to disrupt your ranks and thus slaughter your army because you can't hold your position. Make sure you have very thick ranks to make them stop. Don't spread your ranks too thinly. Your units with the best morale and defense should be used. Then, when the chariots are stopped, close in on them. They're not so tough when stopped.

[HanatielHawk]

Shoot flaming arrows at them.

That does nothing but startling the chariots and cause them to run away. Maximum casualties = non-flaming arrows. Skirmishers are to easy for the chariots to let the skirmishers rout, still they can cause some casualties. The best way to kill chariots is to fire-at-will the cohorts. This causes maximum casualties to the chariots. Triarii are also the best option for melee.

[|Sith| Max]

That does nothing but startling the chariots and cause them to run away. Maximum casualties = non-flaming arrows. Skirmishers are to easy for the chariots to let the skirmishers rout, still they can cause some casualties. The best way to kill chariots is to fire-at-will the cohorts. This causes maximum casualties to the chariots. Triarii are also the best option for melee.

You are wrong. Scythed chariots, the source of the OP's problem can indeed as your quotee said, cause them to run amok. rendering them more of a threat against their own than yours with a good sense of timing. i will leave you to contemplate on your error now.

[HMS Empire Broadsword]

Triarii and Auxilia. They will do the job easily.

[Hopit]

and skirmishers.

[Genius of the Restoration]

As others have said, just stop the chariots by making them engage with your infantry. Triarii and Auxilia aren't really needed, because once the chariots stop they go down quickly no matter what the unit is. Scythed Chariots should lose to Hastati with only minimal casualties if you can stop them moving.

[BemusedHorse]

Chariots can cut through lines that are quite thin so just make a very thick line that is almost a square because the chariot can't just scythe a 10 deep line, they will slow down by about halfway.

[jukeness]

Use peasents.

[Plant]

In campaign?...just about everything and anything works. Never had any trouble.

Mass units
Mass good quality units
Mass poor quality units
A single peasant
Fire arrows
Normal arrows
A good cav charge
A bad cav charge
Stop cav charge
Infantry standing still
Infantry with phalanx
Infantry with pila
A long thin line
A thick square formation

Is there anything which doesnt work against chariots in campaign?

@Hopit...SKIRMISHERS DON'T WORK

[Hopit]

In campaign?...just about everything and anything works. Never had any trouble.

Mass units
Mass good quality units
Mass poor quality units
A single peasant
Fire arrows
Normal arrows
A good cav charge
A bad cav charge
Stop cav charge
Infantry standing still
Infantry with phalanx
Infantry with pila
A long thin line
A thick square formation

Is there anything which doesnt work against chariots in campaign?

@Hopit...SKIRMISHERS DON'T WORK

learn to use them

[JDarcy]

I'm surprised nobody has suggesed cavalry auxilia - they lob their javalins, and then run away, reform, and lob again. I usually score between 5-12 hits per volley, and the charioteers' tendency is to chase them -- away from my main line, which is where you want them. 2-3 units of Cav Auxilia per chariot unit and they're as good as neutralized.

[Chris Death]

learn to use them

Do you mean he should learn building fortresses around his skirmishers so that he can use them
with success against chariots?

Skirms on their own ain't got any chance versus chars - no matter how good you are using them
and if you counter now with you can put the skirms behind a phalanx line or inside a noob-box then
i'll counter: you can do that with peasants aswell.

~S~CD

[Hopit]

Do you mean he should learn building fortresses around his skirmishers so that he can use them
with success against chariots?

Skirms on their own ain't got any chance versus chars - no matter how good you are using them
and if you counter now with you can put the skirms behind a phalanx line or inside a noob-box then
i'll counter: you can do that with peasants aswell.

~S~CD

learn to use them

[Titus Maximius Thongus]

it's been beaten to death time and time again. why do people still think flaming arrows are good against non-scythes and skirms good against chariots in general?

the only reason I can think of using flaming arrows against chariots would be vs chariot archers to conserve ammo

[Chris Death]

it's been beaten to death time and time again. why do people still think flaming arrows are good against non-scythes and skirms good against chariots in general?

the only reason I can think of using flaming arrows against chariots would be vs chariot archers to conserve ammo

People usually get mislead by that "bonus against chariots" thingy or they have probably seen this
Time Commanders episode where that guy explains that skirmishers had an easy job with chariots.

Made some tests with two skirms (maybe it was even three of them can't remember) against one chariot unit a while ago and no matter what i tried - no way for the skirms to win against those chariots.

They can only be used additionally against chariots and there are other units for this job too which will
have a better use elsewhere on the battlefield aswell.

~S~ CD