Originally Posted by
Nikron
After reading all your posts I did a little test because I even started to doubt myself.
1. Legionarii (normal formation) vs Massaloi Epilektoi Hoplitai (phalanx formation) - Legionaries having the upper hand the entire time, with 7-10% less casualties at the beginning, then the tide turns slowly to 3-5% less casualties until they're in almost equal numbers at 100 soldiers left (out of 200 total), when the Epilektoi finally wins by routing them, 84 Epilektoi left alive vs I think 78 Legionaries. Consider that the Epilektoi were a General Unit and I left the Roman Cavalry general far.
2. Legionarii (disciplined formation) vs Massaloi Epilektoi Hoplitai (phalanx formation) - Easy Epilektoi win, with 154 Epilektoi alive.
3. Legionarii (normal formation) vs Massaloi Epilektoi Hoplitai (normal formation) - Again, Epilektoi win, with 144 Epilektoi alive.
Margin of error: Only the general's death because I can't test it against a human player, but still self explanatory as a test.
In my test I used the Epilektoi, but in my Ceasar in Gaul campaign I was facing mostly normal Massaloi Hoplitai and they were decimating my Legionaries to the point I had to leave Massalia alone for 30 turns until I discovered that my Legionaries were doing so great against Gauls and Iberians without the formation, and I returned back to Massalia and easily captured it by killing off their hoplites with ease.
And yes, I was holding the line as I played many city defense battles where the Legionaries were suffering unnecessary casualties by the Gauls. There was no way they could surround my units in the narrow streets, it was entirely a frontal battle.
Obviously I prefer the Disciplined Formation because it's so aesthetically pleasing and brings back memories of HBO's Rome.
I might personally mod the formation when I have time (if I remember correctly it's dylans_10 and dylans_11 in PFM) to increase the formations boost in order to get the same results as without it but with the aesthetic effect of it.