If the enemy opens their gates..I SHOULD BE ABLE TO GO THROUGH THEM!!

[AuburnAlumni]

By far... my biggest gripe with Total War is the continued moronic bug where the Enemy AI can open their gates, send their troops through it...but I can't send my troops the other way!! Not only that, but if I'm attempting to burn a gate down, all they have to do is open the gate and VOILA!!...their gate is now invincible and I can't burn it down anymore. Meanwhile their archers, slingers, and infantry can start plowing through my forces while that damned gate makes it impossible for me to storm the city. Unbelievably awful and one of the FIRST things CA should have fixed.

[DividingSolid]

The worst part is if you use a battering ram and they try to open the gates while dropping oil on your ram.

[AuburnAlumni]

The worst part is if you use a battering ram and they try to open the gates while dropping oil on your ram.

Exactly! Common sense people. What army with half a brain is going to open their gates and go out and attack a force WHILE their own troops drop boiling oil over the top of the gate their men are flowing out of???

[Bobz]

I've taken cities in the older games by rushing men through the gates the AI inexplicably opened. Perhaps it was best to remove what was essentially an exploit.

[AuburnAlumni]

I've taken cities in the older games by rushing men through the gates the AI inexplicably opened. Perhaps it was best to remove what was essentially an exploit.

I MIGHT agree with this statement..if not for the fact that the stupid AI does wind sprints over and over running out of the gates, running in the gates...out of the gates..inside the gates...keeping the gates open and keeping me from destroying it. Meanwhile, I lose 800 men because I can't do anything but stand there like an idiot and get shot. That carries over to the other bug where the CPU does do that stupid running all over creation with no real purpose. They just run forward..run backward...over and over.

[Humble Warrior]

By far... my biggest gripe with Total War is the continued moronic bug where the Enemy AI can open their gates, send their troops through it...but I can't send my troops the other way!! Not only that, but if I'm attempting to burn a gate down, all they have to do is open the gate and VOILA!!...their gate is now invincible and I can't burn it down anymore. Meanwhile their archers, slingers, and infantry can start plowing through my forces while that damned gate makes it impossible for me to storm the city. Unbelievably awful and one of the FIRST things CA should have fixed.

It dawned on me quite recently that this is one of the fundamental reasons why AI is having so much trouble with sieges. I remember getting men on the walls, then the AI opened the gates, but I couldn`t get through the gates for a simultaneous attack because an invisible barrier prevented me. They should get rid of that barrier and instead have the AI redouble its efforts to block the gate when it realises i`m past the gate threshold.

I've taken cities in the older games by rushing men through the gates the AI inexplicably opened. Perhaps it was best to remove what was essentially an exploit.

No, no, nonsense. It certainly wasn`t an exploit that worked often or worked all that well, but even so if it was possible then it should be allowed, as it is a possible reality. Simply have the AI programmed to respond hard at the gate when it detects the enemy is getting through. By the way I actually had the AI do that to me in MTW2. I opened the gate not expecting the AI to be clever enough to take advantage of it, but it did, streaming in! I even posted up about it on the CA forums commending the AI for its smart move.

This artificial forcefield is really stupid. I am becoming convinced that 90% of these stupid decisions (flags, torches on gates and forcefield entrances) are due to over-the-top multiplayer concerns. somewhere, CA has fundamentally forgotten to make Total War games as the classics they used to be when they tried to keep to things logically. You can see in previous Total Wars before Empire,that thought `what would happen in real life and also be fun?` and tried to keep to that, but since Empire it feels like they`ve thought, `What makes multiplayer fun?` and proceeded to ruin the game.

[Bobz]

No, no, nonsense. It certainly wasn`t an exploit that worked often or worked all that well, but even so if it was possible then it should be allowed, as it is a possible reality. Simply have the AI programmed to respond hard at the gate when it detects the enemy is getting through. By the way I actually had the AI do that to me in MTW2. I opened the gate not expecting the AI to be clever enough to take advantage of it, but it did, streaming in! I even posted up about it on the CA forums commending the AI for its smart move.

Any time when there were enemy units outside the walls (most commonly if there was a reinforcing army), all you had to do is rout one unit, follow them to the city, and rush men through the gate that would always open for them. Even if there was only two men and your entire army chasing them, the game was programmed in such a way to automatically open the gates and allow you into the city without having to fight over the walls. And that's ignoring the times when the gates just opened randomly. I can't recall a remotely plausible scenario where I rushed through the gates, it was all just taking advantage of the game.

The AI didn't really do anything smart against you in Med 2. It was just responding as it always did when there was an opening in the walls, immediately rush every single unit through the gap.

[Arbolianus]

Any time when there were enemy units outside the walls (most commonly if there was a reinforcing army), all you had to do is rout one unit, follow them to the city, and rush men through the gate that would always open for them. Even if there was only two men and your entire army chasing them, the game was programmed in such a way to automatically open the gates and allow you into the city without having to fight over the walls. And that's ignoring the times when the gates just opened randomly. I can't recall a remotely plausible scenario where I rushed through the gates, it was all just taking advantage of the game.

The AI didn't really do anything smart against you in Med 2. It was just responding as it always did when there was an opening in the walls, immediately rush every single unit through the gap.

More often than not there were more enemy units behind the walls. All they had to do was stand their ground close enough to the gates that they could retain control of them, and the boiling oil and missile fire would take care of the attackers. Only if you stormed the gates with your entire army did you have a chance of routing the defenders quick enough for your units to survive, and even then you'd suffer massive casualties in the process.

I rarely used the trick on its own, only if I could see for certain that the gate was insufficiently defended.

[Humble Warrior]

More often than not there were more enemy units behind the walls. All they had to do was stand their ground close enough to the gates that they could retain control of them, and the boiling oil and missile fire would take care of the attackers. Only if you stormed the gates with your entire army did you have a chance of routing the defenders quick enough for your units to survive, and even then you'd suffer massive casualties in the process.

I rarely used the trick on its own, only if I could see for certain that the gate was insufficiently defended.

Thankyou. I rest my case.

[craziii]

I've taken cities in the older games by rushing men through the gates the AI inexplicably opened. Perhaps it was best to remove what was essentially an exploit.

it might be an exploit, but it was one of those things alot of us liked. things just kinda worked out that way, why not take advantage of it?

[karamazovmm]

it might be an exploit, but it was one of those things alot of us liked. things just kinda worked out that way, why not take advantage of it?

I used that oh so many times, it was a very easy exploit

anyway its clear the reason for the force field, our troops are vampires, so unless invited they cant enter, basically just say please, if it allows you to enter = win, otherwise just burn everything in there

[Dude with the Food]

Same. I had an Arverni siege where I the infantry/missile assualt the walls. The thin strip of coast between ocean and wall was where my cavalry general was to ride and follow the enemy garrison fleet into the city. I killed their general but when the other unit opened the gate, I charged routed them and then couldn't walk through the gate. It stayed open long enough but I moved away to try again but they shut. I dismounted to burn them down but all the men were shot or ran away. Then without that, the main forces were norrwly betean but then pursued and destroyed.

Why couldn't my cavalry just walk through an open gate?

[wulfgar610]

By far... my biggest gripe with Total War is the continued moronic bug where the Enemy AI can open their gates, send their troops through it...but I can't send my troops the other way!! Not only that, but if I'm attempting to burn a gate down, all they have to do is open the gate and VOILA!!...their gate is now invincible and I can't burn it down anymore. Meanwhile their archers, slingers, and infantry can start plowing through my forces while that damned gate makes it impossible for me to storm the city. Unbelievably awful and one of the FIRST things CA should have fixed.

You need to capture the gates to do that. In Rome1 capturing the gates was something easy and quick, but in this game you have to change flags.

[SirPeacemaker]

There is a new feature added along with plasma torches. Its a city gate force field. Even enemy opens the gate you cant pass, because of the force field

[Lionheart11]

Its CA trolling your armies with advanced Ai techniques.

[Jofoblie]

You want to know what's even more stupid? Your gates will open for the enemy if they're routing. I guess the gate operatives are big softies, if they see someone fleeing for their lives they'll indulge them.

It was a coastal seige on a walled city, but there wasn't enough room in my city for them to dock all their boats inside, so half docked inside and half went to siege a gate. I placed a unit of hoplites behind the gate to guard it whilst most of my army destroyed the units that landed inside my city. As they routed, they ran through my city and my gates willingly opened for them with most of the enemy army on the other side. Of course I hadn't noticed, because I was focusing on fighting, but because when units route they tend to run in a conga fashion, one long thin line of terrified troops, the gates stayed open for ages whilst their ranged units decimated my hoplites. That's another thing, anyone find it strange how routing troops turn into a conga when they go around a tight corner?

[Langer Kerl]

I tended to use that trick in reverse in MTW2 for example. When defending I had my units sally forht through the gate, return but keep them so close that the door remained open. The AI often took the bait, abandoned their siege equipment and tried to push through the open gate with full force only to be met by my perfectly set-up defensive troops (usually a half-circle of pikemen).

It could look like a valubale baiting tactic if the AI didnt fall for it almost every time.


In Rome II it is indeed pretty stupid and really counter-intuitive that gates have faction-selective forecfields. And especially that they become invincible when open.

[2gutter67]

I agree with the OP for the most part on this one. Once the gate is open, you should be able to get some troops going through it. I mean...the gate is open...right? It may be a bit of an "exploit" to get the AI to open the gate or rush the gate in a certain way, but that's not so much what bugs me. What bugs me about it is that the gate is OPEN and yet I can't march through it.