Ambushing, and why does it never work when I use it.

[Encroaching Silence]

So, when i ambush stance, even if i have as high as a 80-90% chance, it just.... never works.
One of 3 things happens
1; They spot the ambush, which is completely reasonable.
2; They *dont* spot the ambush, but also dont move at all and dont take any bait i leave out (a very weak stack or a weak settlement)
3; They take the weak settlement bait, and then just.... ignore the ambush in their movement path and attack the tier one settlement anyways. Now, this *could* be me misplacing the ambush and them just skimming past, but ive had it happen to Morathi when placing an ambush right in front of the choke point leading through the mountains to the left of the first settlement you grab.

Any help, or am i just being really stupid with the mechanic?

[CrUsHeR]

Always place the ambush within the town's circle of control. So if it fails or you get discovered, worst case you still get to reinforce the town defense.

If you hold down RMB, you can scan the ground for the best ambush spot. Sometimes it's just one pixel/tile having 80% when everything else around has 40%.


Ambush detection, well you can try to hire assassin heroes to get rid of the enemy heroes in advance.
But TBH this is only an option for Skaven and in particular Eshin, who can get assassin capacity from any minor settlement. And they get like 3 follower items to increase the success chance which drop by the dozen (iirc at lvl 15-25-35-etc you get showered in items)

[Fryskar]

Just as heads up, the % listed merely matters in case of an army entering your zone of control and its listed w.o. any regard of ambush defense.

[Encroaching Silence]

... I knew i was forgetting something. Yeh, im aware of ambush defense chance. I'm pretty sure the 3rd one is just me being stupid. it's mostly the second one, and the fact that i can count on one hand the number of times ive been able to get an enemy to walk into an ambush that is frustrating me.

[CrUsHeR]

Originally posted by Fryskar:

Just as heads up, the % listed merely matters in case of an army entering your zone of control and its listed w.o. any regard of ambush defense.

Yeah the actual detection chance is pretty obscure.

But the ambush defence is relatively "fair" not to say completely biased toward the player's favor, because the AI never moves in encampment stance.

[AurumHawke]

Originally posted by Encroaching Silence:

3; They take the weak settlement bait, and then just.... ignore the ambush in their movement path and attack the tier one settlement anyways. Now, this *could* be me misplacing the ambush and them just skimming past, but ive had it happen to Morathi when placing an ambush right in front of the choke point leading through the mountains to the left of the first settlement you grab.

Technically, this one is -
The ambush was not detected.
The ambush chance failed.
The AI retreated.
The retreat path went through the ambush anyways.

[Encroaching Silence]

That makes sense. Even if i hate it. Thanks for your responses