Phalanx facing the other way...

[jamreal18]

Has anyone experience in rome 1 wherein phalanx face the other way you aim them to...

In my case, i ordered them to attack a cohort... When i press phalanx formation, hoplites exposed their backs to cohort and lay down their spear the other way.... How annoying....

I hope they wont do this again in rome 2...

[Stath's]

yes, there have been only 9 years since then...

[MathiasOfAthens]

Yes it was annoying. I heard they havnt fixed the problem yet .

[Doe3000]

I remeber when the original Rome's phalanxes were able to swerve round quickly to attack you. For instance if they were marching in the opposite direction and you attacked their rear - and they weren't already engaged in battle - they'd be able to swiftly spin round and have their pikes facing your direction. I hope this unrealistic feature has been fixed for Rome: II, although it seems that lightning fast reflexes are still a feature of the new game.

[Dan113112]

I remeber when the original Rome's phalanxes were able to swerve round quickly to attack you. For instance if they were marching in the opposite direction and you attacked their rear - and they weren't already engaged in battle - they'd be able to swiftly spin round and have their pikes facing your direction. I hope this unrealistic feature has been fixed for Rome: II, although it seems that lightning fast reflexes are still a feature of the new game.

That pissed me off in RTW. There are some instances in history where properly drilled phalangites could perform advanced maneuvers but most phalangites weren't properly trained in this era.

[SinerAthin]

I remeber when the original Rome's phalanxes were able to swerve round quickly to attack you. For instance if they were marching in the opposite direction and you attacked their rear - and they weren't already engaged in battle - they'd be able to swiftly spin round and have their pikes facing your direction. I hope this unrealistic feature has been fixed for Rome: II, although it seems that lightning fast reflexes are still a feature of the new game.

Isn't it realistic?

I mean, all you gotta do is point your spear up and turn 180 degrees around. I wouldn't say it's unrealistic.

[Doe3000]

Isn't it realistic?

I mean, all you gotta do is point your spear up and turn 180 degrees around. I wouldn't say it's unrealistic.

I know that pike formations including Hellenistic Phalanxes could swerve round to face their enemies in battle. What was unrealistic in the original Rome was how they could do it in just a split second. It's not the manouvere that's unrealistic, it's the speed.

[karamazovmm]

I know that pike formations including Hellenistic Phalanxes could swerve round to face their enemies in battle. What was unrealistic in the original Rome was how they could do it in just a split second. It's not the manouvere that's unrealistic, it's the speed.

you also forgot that they killed when they were swiping the pikes to turn

[SinerAthin]

I know that pike formations including Hellenistic Phalanxes could swerve round to face their enemies in battle. What was unrealistic in the original Rome was how they could do it in just a split second. It's not the manouvere that's unrealistic, it's the speed.

I can't say I'm too familiar with the speed of the units in Rome I.

I suppose it would be fine if it took them 2-3 or so seconds to turn around and lower their spears, but if they do it in like 0.5 seconds, then yeah, I can see why it's an issue

[Dan113112]

I know that pike formations including Hellenistic Phalanxes could swerve round to face their enemies in battle. What was unrealistic in the original Rome was how they could do it in just a split second. It's not the manouvere that's unrealistic, it's the speed.

I think the speed at which a pike phalanx maneuvers in TWR2 should be according to unit quality. Silver Shields should perform maneuvers faster than levies.

[SinerAthin]

I think the speed at which a pike phalanx maneuvers in TWR2 should be according to unit quality. Silver Shields should perform maneuvers faster than levies.

I think they'd need to rework the entire system for that.

Currently all units regardless of training, from peasants to elite knights perform the exact same battlefield maneuvers at the exact same time as eachother.


But I'd still love to see unit training/experience play a role in how fast they could maneuver themselves.

[Addario]

In R1 they were a tank xD I can pretty much promise you, even though I don't work with the game, that the phalanxes will be different

[DeadlyPhoenix]

I found it more annoying that the whole unit needed to turn around rather than each man turning 180 degrees individually.. like it's impossible for swordsmen etc to turn on the spot or turn around and walk back

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

Has anyone experience in rome 1 wherein phalanx face the other way you aim them to...

In my case, i ordered them to attack a cohort... When i press phalanx formation, hoplites exposed their backs to cohort and lay down their spear the other way.... How annoying....

I hope they wont do this again in rome 2...

Mostly when fighting on a central plaza in siege battles right?

[DogSoldierSPQR]

To be honest, guys, the phalanx formation is pretty devastating when it catches you the way it wants to, but I think us attackers need to have a massive counter-bonus if we can catch them from behind. In my opinion, if we charge from behind and they are in formation, they should not be able to turn them sticks around at all since those things are 16ft long I believe and everybody would need to know who's stick is going where etc. So they should easily get disorganised and resort to their swords, but by this time, we should have already killed a lot of them. This makes them a very special but fragile unit to field. Equal balances. You know these guys could hold an entire army back if they locked down a square! I say it's about time attackers get some bonuses in my opinion.

[EmperorJulian]

To be honest, guys, the phalanx formation is pretty devastating when it catches you the way it wants to, but I think us attackers need to have a massive counter-bonus if we can catch them from behind. In my opinion, if we charge from behind and they are in formation, they should not be able to turn them sticks around at all since those things are 16ft long I believe and everybody would need to know who's stick is going where etc. So they should easily get disorganised and resort to their swords, but by this time, we should have already killed a lot of them. This makes them a very special but fragile unit to field. Equal balances. You know these guys could hold an entire army back if they locked down a square! I say it's about time attackers get some bonuses in my opinion.

As I recall in Rome 1, charges into the rear of phalanx units were particularly deadly, at least in the early going. I remember decimating hordes of Greek hoplites with a few units of Equites because the army would lose its cohesion and I could take out each regiment individually. However, I also remember that as RTW got patched this "exploit" was "nerfed" (as they say) by having the phalanxes produce reflected damage when charged from behind. That change pretty much nullified the advantages non-armored cavalry had against pike and spear units. I never did like the change as it still seemed very unrealistic; I mean full plate armor isn't going to keep you upright if your trampled by a wedge of horses you can't see coming. Still, I do hope Rome 2 finds a better way to deal with the issue.

[LordInvictus]

However, I also remember that as RTW got patched this "exploit" was "nerfed" (as they say) by having the phalanxes produce reflected damage when charged from behind. That change pretty much nullified the advantages non-armored cavalry had against pike and spear units. I never did like the change as it still seemed very unrealistic; I mean full plate armor isn't going to keep you upright if your trampled by a wedge of horses you can't see coming. Still, I do hope Rome 2 finds a better way to deal with the issue

Yeah, I remember the infantry with asses of steel in Rome. Apparently, even cataphracts could not overcome them. I always thought it was a bug, but it was actually an intentional feature?

[EmperorJulian]

You'll forgive my memory, as it has been many years but as I recall there was much gnashing of teeth regarding the way phalanxes were getting plastered by light cav when Rome 1 was first out, circa version 1.0. Like I said I often used equites to devastating affect against the slow moving pike formations by being able to maneuver around and charge them from the back repeatedly. CA took this to heart and modified those units (specifically, I believe) to reflect the charge damage back upon the cavalry unit - such that a newly minted unit of Equites might lose 50% or more of its number by running into the back of a line of armored hoplites. Heavier versions of cavalry, like cataracts and other armored equivalents did better, but still took damage above and beyond what was originally in the game.

Of course, due to the way the game was put together, the unit animations were not always coterminous with what the unit was actually doing in real time; so it's possible some of that reflected damage was incurred due to the ability of the phalanx to literally do a 180 in 0.3 femtoseconds, thus rendering any advantages gained by the charge useless in effect. Of course I might not be entirely right here, but it was what I always heard and I know for a fact the "nerf" to the power of cav charges into pike units was asked for and implemented deliberately.

[DogSoldierSPQR]

You'll forgive my memory, as it has been many years but as I recall there was much gnashing of teeth regarding the way phalanxes were getting plastered by light cav when Rome 1 was first out, circa version 1.0. Like I said I often used equites to devastating affect against the slow moving pike formations by being able to maneuver around and charge them from the back repeatedly. CA took this to heart and modified those units (specifically, I believe) to reflect the charge damage back upon the cavalry unit - such that a newly minted unit of Equites might lose 50% or more of its number by running into the back of a line of armored hoplites. Heavier versions of cavalry, like cataracts and other armored equivalents did better, but still took damage above and beyond what was originally in the game.

Of course, due to the way the game was put together, the unit animations were not always coterminous with what the unit was actually doing in real time; so it's possible some of that reflected damage was incurred due to the ability of the phalanx to literally do a 180 in 0.3 femtoseconds, thus rendering any advantages gained by the charge useless in effect. Of course I might not be entirely right here, but it was what I always heard and I know for a fact the "nerf" to the power of cav charges into pike units was asked for and implemented deliberately.

Very interesting and thank you for your input, friend. Unfortunately I wasn't playing Rome 1 all those years ago as I was pretty young but since I started by getting the Gold Version, all these changes were already in place so I didn't know any better. The thing is, people shouldn't have cried about the phalanx units getting ripped apart because that would've made for a brilliant counter-tactic against them. No we literally have to spam units on them...even in the flanking process. It's bull in my opinion. It's a vulnerable unit when flanked, the game should've represented this firmly.

[ChairmanCrassus]

You should have an option to drop and pick up pikes. Also, soldiers shouldn't be able to run with their pikes.