deploying stakes

[mystang89]

I've read a lot of places that you can deploy stakes to help defend against cav charges but I have absolutely no clue how. I'm on turn 150 something and never seen that option.

[Navajo Joe]

Its not on all archer units, examples of would be English Longbowmen, Byzantine Mourtatoi

[Majkl]

You can only lay them in the "deploynment stage". Once you put archers on place look for icon for stakes which should be in place of "fire arrows". Once u lay stakes do not move archers again cuz they will disappear.

[Daerandir]

You can only lay them in the "deployment stage". Once you put archers on place look for icon for stakes which should be in place of "fire arrows". Once u lay stakes do not move archers again cuz they will disappear.

That's correct up until you exit deployment. Once the battle begins, the archers may move freely, and the stakes stay. but, moving the archers during deployment will make the stakes vanish. The stakes can also be deployed inside a city when defending a siege. Very handy by the gates, especially if the AI has a large cavalry contingent and lots of rams to punch through the gate. Put spearmen behind the stakes after the battle begins and watch cavalry die. It is one of my favorite ways to deal with besieging 3-gold-bar Mongol hordes.

You can see how the stakes appear and disappear easily when setting up to defend a siege - deploy, move the archers a fraction, and coila! - no more stakes.

[RuthlessChubbz]

Just a note about bridge battles and deployment in the field. As I found out last night it won't work on a paved surface except if you're in a seige situation.

So you can't just pop stakes in front of a bridge if there's a road which is a bit of a shame but kind of understandable.

[mystang89]

Thanks a bunch! I'm fairly sure Portuguese archers can't deploy stakes but I'm not sure about their crossbowmen. If they can't is there a simple mood that will allow it?

[PerXX]

Thanks a bunch! I'm fairly sure Portuguese archers can't deploy stakes but I'm not sure about their crossbowmen. If they can't is there a simple mood that will allow it?

It's fairly easy to mod it yourself.

First take a backup of the export_descr_unit.txt file.
Then open the file, and look for the unit entry you want to add stakes to.
For instance Peasant Archers looks like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

type Peasant Archers
dictionary Peasant_Archers ; Peasant Archers, rural, levy
category infantry
class skirmish
voice_type Light
banner faction main_missile
banner holy crusade
soldier Peasant_Archers, 48, 0, 0.7
officer northern_captain
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_withdraw, foot_archers, start_skirmishing, is_peasant
move_speed_mod 1.02
formation 1.4, 1.4, 1.8, 1.8, 3, square
stat_health 1, 1
stat_pri 1, 1, peasant_arrow, 120, 24, missile, missile_mechanical, piercing, none, 0, 1
stat_pri_attr area
stat_sec 1, 1, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_simple, piercing, knife, 45, 1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 0, 0, 0, flesh
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 4
stat_ground 1, -1, 3, 0
stat_mental 3, low, untrained
stat_charge_dist 6
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 333, 117, 65, 117, 117, 4, 50
armour_ug_levels 0, 1, 4
armour_ug_models Peasant_Archers, Peasant_Archers_ug1, Peasant_Archers_ug2
ownership england, norway, france, hre, denmark, spain, aragon, portugal, pisa, venice, papal_states, scotland, timurids, teutonic_order, jerusalem, slave
era 0 england, norway, france, hre, denmark, spain, aragon, portugal, pisa, venice, papal_states, scotland, timurids, jerusalem
era 1 england, norway, france, hre, denmark, spain, aragon, portugal, pisa, venice, papal_states, scotland, timurids, jerusalem
era 2 england, norway, france, hre, denmark, spain, aragon, portugal, pisa, venice, papal_states, scotland, timurids, jerusalem
recruit_priority_offset -20
;80

On the attribute line, you just add ",stakes" at the end. Remember to separate with the comma!
It'll look like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

type Peasant Archers
dictionary Peasant_Archers ; Peasant Archers, rural, levy
category infantry
class skirmish
voice_type Light
banner faction main_missile
banner holy crusade
soldier Peasant_Archers, 48, 0, 0.7
officer northern_captain
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_withdraw, foot_archers, start_skirmishing, is_peasant, stakes
move_speed_mod 1.02
formation 1.4, 1.4, 1.8, 1.8, 3, square
stat_health 1, 1
stat_pri 1, 1, peasant_arrow, 120, 24, missile, missile_mechanical, piercing, none, 0, 1
stat_pri_attr area
stat_sec 1, 1, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_simple, piercing, knife, 45, 1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 0, 0, 0, flesh
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 4
stat_ground 1, -1, 3, 0
stat_mental 3, low, untrained
stat_charge_dist 6
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 333, 117, 65, 117, 117, 4, 50
armour_ug_levels 0, 1, 4
armour_ug_models Peasant_Archers, Peasant_Archers_ug1, Peasant_Archers_ug2
ownership england, norway, france, hre, denmark, spain, aragon, portugal, pisa, venice, papal_states, scotland, timurids, teutonic_order, jerusalem, slave
era 0 england, norway, france, hre, denmark, spain, aragon, portugal, pisa, venice, papal_states, scotland, timurids, jerusalem
era 1 england, norway, france, hre, denmark, spain, aragon, portugal, pisa, venice, papal_states, scotland, timurids, jerusalem
era 2 england, norway, france, hre, denmark, spain, aragon, portugal, pisa, venice, papal_states, scotland, timurids, jerusalem
recruit_priority_offset -20
;80

And that should be it!

[Navajo Joe]

X-Bow men cannot deploy stakes, not sure if there is a mod, you might visit the Mod Workshop and ask there, how to mod the change.

In your campaign you could sail a General with a small army to British Isles and recruit some Mercenary Longbowmen, then look after them, they are also available within France and Northern Italy later in the campaign

[RuthlessChubbz]

It's not worth modding IMO and its a bit overpowered anyway. Once you start conquering certain castles around the world, you'll be able to source types like Longbowmen in England, Moutari in some of the Byzantine castles, Norse Archers in Scandinavia, etc. There's more but I can't remember them off the top of my head. Remember that that list doesn't include the high end units like Jannisary Heavy Archers for example.

Moutari are my favourite for their overall toughness, extensive range, etc. and you can conquer those two castles on Cyprus and Rhodes to get them (I think). Longbowmen have poor defense and melee attack while Norse Archers are just...awful.

The logistics issue of transporting them and combining them your standard armies to make them more effective adds more fun to the game in my opinion.

Modding slight changes is a very slippery slope.

[Kataphractos]

Just a note, but be careful against fighting AI stake-deploying archers, because the AI gets to deploy stakes mid-battle. So think twice before sending those feudal knights charging that lone unprotected longbowmen unit.