Roman Legions - Protective, Normal, Hold?

[ShotgunEd]

I'm struggling to work out exactly how to organise my legions. I currently tend to have my Hastati on Protective hold formation who hold the broken up front line. Then my Principes behind on Protective non-hold formation who join the battle on the various flanks. My Triarii are then in the centre on Protective non-hold formation acting as reserves.

I'm not really concerned about the layout of my troops, but more the settings for each. I really don't know what effect "Protective" formation has and if the benefits are lost if you don't hold formation or you charge? Whether in protective or normal formation, once battle is joined, the spacing and behaviour of the units seems to be the same. The descriptions say the troops have an "Extra Shield Protecting Ability", meaning what exactly? I find that troops on hold formation resist charges better but left in this formation they inflict very few casualties but still lose a lot of men themselves. So is hold formation only useful for resisting charges?

To try and understand the settings I ran about 10 quick custom battles of 1 legion vs 1 legion using various settings. Without fail I was slaughtered every single time which I found odd. I would lose about 140 men and the computer between 20 and 40. I tried using a wider formation for my troops thinking the computer's men were just flanking me but that didn't help at all. It seemed no combination of settings would allow me to come even close to a fair fight. I must be missing something but I don't know what.

On a side note, why on earth do my Triarii constantly get their swords out? :hmmm:

[Narakir]

Hold formation keeps your guys in ranks, so they don't move to attack an ennemy, this is a good "hold the line" formation and nice to resist cavalry charges because your men forms a block that can't be easly breaked by a frontal initial charge. Keeping it or not in melee depends on the situation. For exemple with the romans you can hold the line with your hastatis leting the time to your princeps to throw all thier javelins on the ennemy before counter attacking.

About the Triaris, pressing "alt" or not before attacking switch weapons, alt makes you use the sword as I remember. Again it's also a question of situation, gladius are good for against and spears deadly against cavalry.

[DARTH VADER]

protective formation:= better cohesion.(CA engine understands that and makes it very difficult to disrupt, also understands overlapping of shields) So good for heavy
units when they combine...better for lighter to get loose. HAve more standing endurance but less mobility and can have more casualities in the
process.
Normal:=Units more mobile and can surround the enemy formation better and produce more casualties. But will have more vulnerability in sudden charge blows.

Guard mode:= units defend than attack,will not chase, have very good frontal defense and vulnerable flanks since they are keeping their facing to your commands. Use
this to withstand frontal assault with less troops while your excess flanks the enemy.

Free mode:=units are self depended and attack what it attacks them. Can be found in the corner of the map if you neglect them but have better lasting ability if have
to fight multiple enemy units