Shield Wall

**Lord Matt** · February 24, 2011, 01:32 PM

Well I followed that tutorial: SPQR guide : How to survive the first fifteen turns.
He said that the best way to fight against gauls is to use shield wall formation. But my Hastati, Triarii and Principes "cant use" shield wall. They just keep pushing, get tired and die...
So i have to sacrifice my cavalry and missile units to get an average victory.
Maybe a bug or the 8.0 version cant use shield wall ?

**max20077** · February 24, 2011, 02:42 PM

i really never used the shield wall. with hastati triarii and principes i just did hastati first then principes put my velites between principes and triarri and took off skirmish mode and that automatic fire thing where they choose the targets where it looked like the lines were breaking i sent my velites to spear in there then i told my calavry to attack the left and right flanks. then i sent in the triarii and slingers would attack again the pockets and places hit hardest apparently it worked most of the time and caused rout on the gauls i guest cause of the shock and the triarri and misslefire combined thats how i pushed them back.

**Hesus de bodemloze** · February 24, 2011, 03:31 PM

Press the loose formation button to get hastati, principes and triari in to shield wall formation.

**Lord Matt** · February 24, 2011, 03:41 PM

Max:
Oh thats nice i'll try this too. Thanks. But shocking you get more casualities ?

Hesus:
Yes i know how to activate

But when i press, nothing change...

**max20077** · February 24, 2011, 05:25 PM

meh i got more casulaties yes. but it wasnt as bad as carthagians

**lt1956** · February 26, 2011, 03:48 AM

When you press the button your get a TIGHTER formation if you notice, then you can make the line as thick or thin as you want, thus making a shield wall. Also you need to place them in Guard mode. In BI this is done automatically, but whats better about SPQR shield wall is that you can control the size of your wall, in BI you cannot.

Hope that helps

Lt

**Lord Matt** · February 26, 2011, 03:26 PM

Thanks LT that helped a lot. Now my Hastati are more effective. They are holding the gauls and sometimes I do not even need to use the Principes, only their Pilums

**czePowerslave** · February 27, 2011, 12:32 PM

Smart move I gotta say. In the early game, I often conserve my princepes and triarii as much as I can, if the job can be done by Hastati and others alone.

**Lord Matt** · February 27, 2011, 01:59 PM

And I cant retrain the principes and the triarii so use only the hastati, missile units and cavalry. Put the triarii in the flanks to hold the enemy cavalry and victory!!! xD

**czePowerslave** · February 28, 2011, 02:01 AM

With the 2hp units and their defense ratings, unless the charge is overwhelming, nearly all units can hold off cavalry attack.

**Zel408** · February 28, 2011, 06:41 PM

The romans are defensive fighters. Let the enemy come to you. Put them in defensive stance then press the "loose formation" button to put them in shield wall. Then watch as even their superior units get tired before your lines. Then when they are exhausted, flank them and watch those barbarians flee before the might of your army!

**czePowerslave** · March 02, 2011, 03:51 AM

Originally Posted by Zel408

The romans are defensive fighters. Let the enemy come to you. Put them in defensive stance then press the "loose formation" button to put them in shield wall. Then watch as even their superior units get tired before your lines. Then when they are exhausted, flank them and watch those barbarians flee before the might of your army!

It does not work always, but generally yes, that is how you fight.
Using this I defeated Hannibal and Theophanes using single army.