charging in loose formation?

**Blom89** · April 12, 2011, 01:11 PM

any downsides to this? in multiplayer and single player i normally close distance in loose formation to keep arrow casualities to a minimum.

i dunno if actually keeping them in loose formation is a bad idea or not once the fighting starts.

**Beowulf1990** · April 12, 2011, 01:14 PM

Morale penalty I think. And likely less impact from the charge.

I don't have any facts though.

**Humble Warrior** · April 12, 2011, 01:17 PM

Defintely a bad idea to have a charge in loose formation. Morale was a penalty in previous total wars so it probably is here. But also you don`t have that cohesiveness required for the ` punch` of a charge. Kinda common sense really, as long as CA used common sense.

**SupAll** · April 12, 2011, 01:35 PM

It's a very bad idea in this game, especially how the lines end up collapsing. If the enemy counter-charges you, they'll be able to run right through your formation and you'll end up with severe morale penalties as your unit is pretty much torn apart piecemeal.

**Beowulf1990** · April 12, 2011, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by SupAll

It's a very bad idea in this game, especially how the lines end up collapsing. If the enemy counter-charges you, they'll be able to run right through your formation and you'll end up with severe morale penalties as your unit is pretty much torn apart piecemeal.

I only ever use loose on my archers and on troops approaching walls for this reason.

**RO Citizen** · April 12, 2011, 01:41 PM

Much lower charge bonus

**nameless** · April 12, 2011, 02:17 PM

Very bad idea.

I lost a battle because I forgot to turn my 7 Naginata units from loose into standard formation and they got routed very easily.

When I replayed the battle then the results were much better.

The thing is, if you want to at least try to reduce the number of casualties from archers you need loose formation and then 2-3 seconds before the lines meet put them into standard formation.