phalanx of veterans in square formation

[andrew881thebest]

Archers and slingers in the middle. How do you beat it?
If you will say "attack the corner" i will answer "ok consider an ectagonal phalanx with softer conrners"

[omzdog]

Catapults.
We'll see how long you last.

[Death_Sheep]

Catapults, as omzdog has said.

Or I put in a lost leader unit to goad you into spending your ammo, then I bring in my own archers to pepper your troops after you've inevitably spent your ammunition.

[Dredd]

Pigs, pigs everywhere.

[Archimonday]

Missile Cavalry and Siege equipment

[universalmind]

better archers or catapults

[Kinjo]

Noob boxes are crushed with sword spams.

[Sar1n]

Ranged superiority. Archers in loose formation approach from two sides, each targetting the phalanx on opposing side so they fire into their backs, while unit of heavy cavalry stands ready to charge in case you try to maneuver those pikemen. You can try to counter, but in the end when both ranged troops exhaust all their ammo, you'll be worse for wear. I'd probably send some skirmishers along, to poke more holes into your phalanx.

Or just wipe you out with artillery.

[chadwicknight]

Archers and slingers in the middle. How do you beat it?
If you will say "attack the corner" i will answer "ok consider an ectagonal phalanx with softer conrners"

It's a very poor and arcadey asset.


Just focus one or two of the frontal phalanx unit with every single ranged units you have. Then pour in the gap with your best infantry.

[Gogunbanzui]

catapult+archer spam with burning pigs.

[JaM]

lots of slingers in open order, approaching on sides,first bombarding archers,then hitting phalangitai on opposing sides (hitting them in the rear)...

[chadwicknight]

Half of your army is exposing its rear to the enemy.. yeah. what's more to say?

Edit: one thing actually. Your general stuck inside the square=sitting duck for enemy skirmishers

[Meelis13]

just use all ammunition you have on backs of 1-2 units. then focus your attack with melee infantry on exactly the crossing point of those 2 units- your opponent is forced to resuffle his/her lines, which gives you even more chance for strike.

[Lockpick]

Simple. Slingers...

Since they have the most range and unlimited (or at least very much) ammo.
If your slingers stay behind your phalanx I can use my max range to barely reach your phalanx which in turn means your slingers can do nothing until leaving the formation which in turn means you just made your noobbox obselet.
Or you hold formation and wait until the phalanxe is down and I push in with all I have, except some spare units to fall your phalanxe in the flank or back if they turn to fight the units that just breach.

Easy.

[daelin4]

Archers and slingers in the middle. How do you beat it?
If you will say "attack the corner" i will answer "ok consider an ectagonal phalanx with softer conrners"

I would approach with a line of missile units to shower the phalanx, meanwhile my own melee troops will advance slowly. If you hold the line my missile unit will continue their attack, softening the phalanx and making them vulnerable to a melee charge. If they withdraw or your missile units are moved forward, I can either charge THEM, or engage them with my own missile units. They would have to be within range of my own troops to do anything about it.

If you meant an octogonal formation, the problem is that you are static, and will be forced to move around at the enemy's whim, making you units vulnerable to cavalry manouvres. Camping strategies are best when you have artillery and/or a fair complement of cavalry to engage any cavalry threats. This is the roblem with your strategy: it needs to take manoeuvring and cavalry, and range, into account.

Attempting to scatter your missile units wiht loose formation brings the problem of forcing your turtling army into covering more area than you need. Again, making them vulnerable to the enemy's machinations.

[Medina]

If that was such a good tactic, everyone would have used it, but they didnt.

[Love Mountain]

If that was such a good tactic, everyone would have used it, but they didnt.

By everyone do you mean multi player or real life generals?

This does work in multiplayer against baddies. Just like the mortar hill camping spam games I kept seeing in Empire/Napoleon.

This is a game. Not a a very accurate representation of real life.

[Hadro]

Archers and slingers in the middle. How do you beat it?
If you will say "attack the corner" i will answer "ok consider an ectagonal phalanx with softer conrners"

I would use slingers as they have a greater range than archers. I would weaken the formation by targeting two or three units. When you moved them to close the gap, I would charge into the gap with cavalry and pry it open with heavy infantry to follow. Complete with circling cavalry to prevent phalanxes turning to meet the infantry.

[Demetrios of Messene]

This formation is not called a "noob-box" with no reason. People have already explained how to handle such a situation in multiplayer.

Of course, in single player, you can use it to defeat the AI, but this is a different story.

[GussieFinkNottle]

The phalanx isn't impenetrable like in RTW, infantry will be able to break the lines