Forming a square as a defensive strategy

[recentiy03]

Holy crap! I can't believe how effective it is to form a square behind your gatehouse as a defense. I used to just load up spear men in schiltron formation behind the gatehouse, pretty much packing them as close to the gate as possible, with hopes of keeping the enemy mob near my burning oil on the other side. Turns out this isn't the best way to defend. If you form a square formation with a line of spears behind the gatehouse and then put archers on the left and right it seems that the enemy suffers a massive decline in morale for being flanked and they rout 100X easier than just having flaming liquids poured on their heads. I've been putting heavy infantry behind my square of spears and then archers behind them on the back, left and right, and I'm still experimenting, but it's made the loss of using spikes at the gates (due to VeryBadAI) much easier to cope with.

[Caesar Clivus]

Yep that's what I do at the gatehouse. Maximises the enemy's exposure to your weapons, minimises your troops' exposure to theirs.

[ihranator]

If you're lacking in the missile department but have javelins you can do a crescent instead.

[Delvecchio1975]

how far do you remove your missile units on the side from the gate house? I have experienced that running through the gate the enemy likes to take a hard left or right turn and go straight for your missile units if you position them on the sides ...

[Pancho_Villa]

I too use something like that, but please post here a screanshoot so we can see it better

[recentiy03]

I too use something like that, but please post here a screanshoot so we can see it better

Like this, although it seems to work better with more troops than I had this battle: http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/7127/lithbattle.jpg

[Caesar Clivus]

Oh and if you dont particularly care about your men, you can also line up ballistae to fire on the massed enemy troops

[Hejdun]

Oh and if you dont particularly care about your men, you can also line up ballistae to fire on the massed enemy troops

Ballistae? Real men use mangonels.

[k/t]

Can you take a picture with the flash next time?

[Delvecchio1975]

Can you take a picture with the flash next time?

hahahah, i just had the same idea about that picture - those soldiers should be in bed instead of hanging around the city gates!

[recentiy03]

How can you use a flash for a screen shot? It was a night battle...

[Delvecchio1975]

we know, we were just kidding it's just difficult to make out exactly what's happening on the screenshot ...

[Pancho_Villa]

I think it would be great to send pictures. I will send some soon...
I have just one question: Do you use GUARD MODE on these units in Square Formation?

[Nyarla]

i can agree with most things. its always better to keep most of your army in reserve when defending a gate, the enemy tires out and you won't. if the frontline troops are exausted, send in the next wave while constantly shooting arrows from the sides and the walls. i even pull back almost wiped out units so i they won't rout or get wiped out. sure some more gonna die but if out of 20 soldiers 10 make it back and can watch the battle thats sure worth it.

as for the square it doesn't have to be a square, not like all towns allow for such a tactic, but splitting your army to both sides, and then bringing in reinforcements so the enemy doesn't overwhelm my troops.

another nice idea is to place your troops in a halfmoon formation with one way open where u can charge with cavalary or use ballistae to fire right into the thick of the enemy formation. even if they won't use lances they still deal quite a bit of damage and can frighten the enemy

*edit* and i use guard mode only for those that engage without charging

[k/t]

If you want your troops to stay where they are so you can shoot the enemy freely with archers or ballistas, put Guard mode on. If not, take it off.

Even if you are going to take it off, for pikemen and halberdiers leave Guard mode on until the enemy engages them. They get some bonuses when braced.

[lighto13]

what i usually do is surround the gate on three sides with spearmen, so that my soldiers form some kind of a semicircle or a U right in front of the gate
so when the enemy forces break through the gate, they all charge inside, only to be surrounded on three sides with spearmen
doesnt matter about the differences in unit strength, ive always won
when faced with a much larger army, just put 2-3 units behind this U line as support
never lost a siege battle using this tactic

[ihranator]

Mangonel are better, yes, but ballistae are available earlier and are more precise.

[Caesar Clivus]

Mangonel are better, yes, but ballistae are available earlier and are more precise.

Exactly. At least with ballistae you'll have some of your own troops left afterwards

[ihranator]

The only problem with ballistae is that you rarely have enough space to have them all shoot into the fray.

[Gabrius]

how far do you remove your missile units on the side from the gate house? I have experienced that running through the gate the enemy likes to take a hard left or right turn and go straight for your missile units if you position them on the sides ...

Depending on the way the walls are set up, I usually like to have my archers or crossbowmen on the walls perpendicular to the one with the gate, so they can shoot sideways and be out of the immediate way of any enemies that go straight for the walls next to the gate. This is also a useful position if the enemy manages to break through, as you can still take some of them out as they're on their way to the central square.