River/Bridge crossing .. Roman vs other factions

[TTRouble]

Current Seleucids campaign No 6. Have been fighting both Greeks and Rome and noticed that the AI's Roman tactics when crossing a bridge are more sophisticated than I've seen any other faction do. Normally, the AI for Pergamon, Ptolemy's, etc will just pile across and attacks and 99% of the time they loose badly. However, the Roman Legions on the other hand , the AI's tactics have been really different - very cautious, usually sending just one unit across and recalling them propmtly. It's not doing a full assault on the first attempt but usually 2nd or 3rd turn and when it does the cohorts stream across and seem to be able to hold and then push out impressively. Where as previously it would take 2-3 Pergamon/Ptolemy armies to causing 50% of higher casualties, a single Roman legion is causing 70%+ losses to all infantry units. Why would the AI use very different and more effective when attempting a river/bridge crossing for Rome compared to the other factions other than the units? Its made me really think about how to combat the new tactics and whether I have the right units to win.

[dvk901]

There is only one bridge assault formation to use in the formations file, so all factions are using it. The reason for the difference is most likely the difference in army composition. The Roman armies will have less variety...ie, more heavy infantry, a few missile units, and a few cavalry. The cohort units are also less vulnerable, and can 'push' better than say, a phalanx unit whose greater strength is in a straight line formation. Also, non-Roman armies will tend to have a greater variety of different units..heavy and light infantry and phalanx units, which probably don't 'push' as well or perform as well in a non-standard type formation. This is all just a 'casualty' of the different type of units, I think.

The disadvantage the AI is in in a bridge assault battle is well known, and for that reason I tend not to block the crossing, but sent my armies back a ways so the AI can cross and form up. Otherwise, you find yourself stuck in a very long battle with either strong or very weak units trying to cross the bridge or river crossing...none of which can fight as they would in a standard formation.

[TTRouble]

Hi DVK

Thanks for the reply - its helped clear a few things up for me. With a bridge battle, I set my army up away from the river bank, at an angle so that the space between the edge gets wider as you move along one side. The aim there (1) to allow the other side to get across and (2) once engaged rather than have them fight to the death allow them to espace. That also allows my units not to be targetted by the AI's Archers or artillery if it has any and usually for Pergamon and the Ptolemy;s they have been few so may be that needs to change. Usually with those two factions, the AI has nearly always marched the units across to engage my units with my archer and slinger units targetting the enemy's left hand side.

With Rome, the legionaries effectively form a shield wall so their left sides being protected and the AI instead of a mass stampede is sending a single unit across first with others just behind so that its been able to pull them back to its side of the river without taking too many losses. Once the legions are across, the AI uses a unit on both right and left hand sides forming a shield wall while the other units attacks the centre and causing some very high losses and I've only been able to win due to having surperior cavalry. The AI hasn;t used those tactics for any of the other factions.