What does it take to ambush?

[Bringer Of Storms]

All in the title. I've only landed one ambush in my whole Total War career and it consisted of two archer units I was sending to one of my main armies. Whenever I actually try to ambush someone, it will say, your army attempted to ambush an enemy force but failed, blah blah blah. Does the size of your army matter? Smaller army = easier ambush? Maybe a random occurance? Or is it all in the general?

[Latin Knight]

All in the title. I've only landed one ambush in my whole Total War career and it consisted of two archer units I was sending to one of my main armies. Whenever I actually try to ambush someone, it will say, your army attempted to ambush an enemy force but failed, blah blah blah. Does the size of your army matter? Smaller army = easier ambush? Maybe a random occurance? Or is it all in the general?

I'd say that its random, i've ambushed with smaller and larger armies, i don't think the size matters. I do believe the general can influence it, if he has some adequate traits, "good ambusher" or such.

[46thCharlemagne]

Perhaps an enemy spy spotting your army skulking down in the bushes is a factor. I've wondered about this too...

[Sitalkes]

I've done repeated ambushes in TATW with large armies and they worked beautifully but yes it is random whether they will work or not - save the game and reload if it doesn't work, it might work next time after your reload the game. In Kingdoms i've seen my armies go into ambush mode almost every time they are in a wood - there's even a fort in a wood and the troops in that fort went into ambush mode! Yes for an ambush to work the ambush must not be discovered (by a spy) and I seem to remember something about the available movement points being significant. I think the ambushing army must have some movement points left when it goes into ambush or something like that. I don't think the army size matters nor composition - I was ambushing with Dwarves, mainly heavy infantry and no cavalry. they were some fantastic battles!!

[Veliky Kaiser Theos]

As Sitalkes said, you ambush when you leave your army with some movement points, and another army walks into an adjacent tile.

You can tell whether or not your army is ambushing by whether or not it's crouching on the campaign map (that might be only RTW, I can't remember).

[Latin Knight]

As Sitalkes said, you ambush when you leave your army with some movement points, and another army walks into an adjacent tile.

You can tell whether or not your army is ambushing by whether or not it's crouching on the campaign map (that might be only RTW, I can't remember).

No, both RTW and Med II you see the general crouching, in fact, in Medieval you sometimes can even hear he saying: "entering ambushing position, sire".

[Ishan]

There is only one way to ambush, that is to place your general where there is a sparse forest, if the enemy passes from there then you will get to play an ambush battle. While ambushing, the general will be in crouched position.

[Sweger]

And if I unsterstood it correctly, you can't really assault, it is the enemy that runs in to you (while crouched "ambush mode"). So you just have to hope that someone comes by.

[Ishan]

Yes that's true. Ambushes are triggered when you click next turn, & AI factions start making their moves and when one of the AI army gets blocked or ambushed by your general in position.

[Sitalkes]

The trait "Good Ambusher" doesn't affect your ability to ambush, all it does is give a + to Command when ambushing


Effective Ambusher1This man has shown a talent for choosing the right time and place to launch a surprise attack.+1 Command when ambushing

[Bringer Of Storms]

Well, after hearing that movement points had an effect, I left an army in a forest in an area for a turn or two, and now I've been landing a lot of ambushes. Thanks.