WHY I CAN'T AMBUSH ?

[Cookie]

Is there some special request to abush the enemy? Because whenever I put myself in a stance where I can ambush, and the enemy wants to pass through me, it doesn't get ambushed but it simply shows that attacked my army. How many good ambushes I've wasted just because my army was attacked in ambush stance instead of allowing me to ambush the enemy ? Could anyone give me an advice what I am doing wrong ?

[Cookie]

One more thing, when I'm in a stance of patroling I get ambushed, when the enemy is patrolling and i catch him with my army, there's just a regular fight. That's totally not fair.

[SnusHead]

i think you need to be in your own territory for a succesful ambush or the enemy army needs to have forced march on

[U-Think]

rule number one in ambush : don't ambush

rule number 2 in ambush: don'T ambush

rule number 3 in ambush just don't ambush

[Delacourt '27]

Ambush stance is by chance, RNGsus wasn't on your side, and you failed the ambush. Only way for 100% chance of ambush is to attack an army in forced march stance. Plus this.

Originally posted by Ke45TRo0:

rule number one in ambush : don't ambush

rule number 2 in ambush: don'T ambush

rule number 3 in ambush just don't ambush

The stance is a waste of time.

[cows rule]

Originally posted by Rufus:

Is there some special request to abush the enemy? Because whenever I put myself in a stance where I can ambush, and the enemy wants to pass through me, it doesn't get ambushed but it simply shows that attacked my army. How many good ambushes I've wasted just because my army was attacked in ambush stance instead of allowing me to ambush the enemy ? Could anyone give me an advice what I am doing wrong ?

Post picture, Because when ever i put my army into ambush mode that is 50% they always ambush AI and human players in head to head.

When you have selected a general if you move curser to the location you want to move to and hover thier for a bit it will show you your ambush %.

Its usualy 55% for jungles area 25% for grass land and like 15% for desert.

[Cookie]

Originally posted by Ke45TRo0:

rule number one in ambush : don't ambush

rule number 2 in ambush: don'T ambush

rule number 3 in ambush just don't ambush

That's why i have 156h played in the game and I'm stancing that question just now :D

Originally posted by Swords:

Originally posted by Rufus:

Is there some special request to abush the enemy? Because whenever I put myself in a stance where I can ambush, and the enemy wants to pass through me, it doesn't get ambushed but it simply shows that attacked my army. How many good ambushes I've wasted just because my army was attacked in ambush stance instead of allowing me to ambush the enemy ? Could anyone give me an advice what I am doing wrong ?

Post picture, Because when ever i put my army into ambush mode that is 50% they always ambush AI and human players in head to head.

When you have selected a general if you move curser to the location you want to move to and hover thier for a bit it will show you your ambush %.

Its usualy 55% for jungles area 25% for grass land and like 15% for desert.

That's actually usefull, I didn't notice that. I will have a look in my next game.

PS. I play divide et Impera mod + few others actually without them, base game would be really really boring.

[MANWHATADONGA]

You should have told us your mods.

[ClydeFrog]

Ambush is a great stance, you just have to know how to use it.

Choke points such as mountain passes, river crossings, etc are the best since your zone of control will make it impossible for the enemy to pass by. Also the terrain you put into an ambush stance effects the chances. If by chance it does fail, then it becomes a pitched battle which I believe you can retreat from.

I usually bait the enemy with an open unguarded city or a weak force, and lay an ambush nearby. That way if my ambush does fail, i'll still have the reinforcements to come in and help

[bbolto]

Yeah, ambush stance is best used strategically – the enemy can't see you, so they might move an army into striking range (and if it's in forced march, you'll get to ambush them anyway when you move normally to attack them).

[Mile pro Libertate]

I use ambush stance all of the time. I even specialize armies in it sometimes. Specializing allows you to use things like 'lilly pits' and barricades.

I don't see why some people would find it useless. There are tons of things it allows you to do.

It's a great way to pin an army down that would otherwise keep retreating or avoiding a fight.

Fighting when the enemy is all strung out on a road is always great, especially if you have a lot of missile troops and you ambush them with high ground along the road.

Another good thing about ambushing is that it lets you be offensive without actually roving around the enemy's territory, or even moving outside your own territory at all.

Like if you have to replenish, you can stay in your own lands at a strategic spot and build up strength, but still intercept the enemy during the turn phase if they move through, so you're still being decisive: if the intercepted force is one you can handle and destroy, great; if they look too strong, just let them pass and the next turn you'll be in a position to either attack them on better terms and/or ground, avoid them altogether to fight another day, or threaten their rear to get them to turn around from your towns.

It lets you fight defensively stralegically while being offensive tactically. This is a great way to take on enemy leaders that have strong offensive abilities/buffs, but the makeup of your army means you'd be better off in a defensive battle: the ambush is an attack you initiate, so the enemy leader buffs are nullified, but the actual battle itself can be fought defensively because you start off surrounding them.

If you go into ambush stance with your main force and hang a weak force or open town as bait, the enemy will often rush up to the bait in forced march instead of normal stance, which lets you not only attack with all the other advantages, but with lower enemy morale and stamina to boot.

Ambush stance also allows you to do hit and run tactics. You don't necessarily have to take the entire enemy force on in an ambush battle, because they are marching and you can decide which part of them you want to hit, when you want. So you can ambush with a much smaller force (cavalry are excellent for this), kill their leader or destroy the weak units at the rear of the march, or something, and then just withdraw.

On a similar note, it's a great way to destroy the enemy artillery capacity before they reach a place where you want to fight the "real battle," but you don't want them to have artillery support during such, like a bridge/river crossing battle.

Even if this small force is hunted down subsequently, you'll have done far more damage with them then they could've done being surrounded in a fort or fighting a normal field battle.

Ambush stance is also one of the absolute best ways to outmaneuver enemy armies for battle later. You can have one force hiding, deliberately let the enemy pass, and the next turn this force can come out of hiding to join battle in the rear of the enemy deployment zone.

One of the most powerful variations of this is to deliberately allow an enemy to pass and go lay siege to a walled town: the next turn, you can attack and they are now pinned between the army and the town garrison; if they assault the town, your hidden force will come in as reinforcements (as long as you're positioned correctly) and the enemy is now stuck between the walls and your army, where they will usually get fixated on either one or the other, or strung out going after both, in either case making it easy to get a crushing victory.

Ambush stance makes it more difficult for enemy agents to act on your army.

Ambush allows you to fight stacks who would otherwise reinforce each other in a normal battle. It can be used to fight the stacks seperate from each other like a night battle or using agent harassment.

Unlike night attacks though, you don't lose any of your own reinforcements lead by guys who can't do night fighting.

Unlike agent usage, it is certain you will have the enemy fixed for battle if the ambush succeeds, rather than simply reducing their movement range, and you don't have to detach an embedded agent to do an action, so you retain whatever buffs they are giving your force for the battle; and for the next turn your agent is already embedded, so you don't have to re-embed them, which reduces your army move points to zero (especially important if the agent buffs are increased movement range).

Ambush stance allows other sneaky things aside from battle, like going into an enemy province and recruiting all the mercenaries there over multiple turns without being attacked.

It can also be used to strategically wipe out small factions quickly: move to the border or just inside the last enemy regions; let enemy march past to invade you; attack and seize their last strongholds; enemy is now without any regions and their armies dematerialize because they're in your territory, or they start suffering large attrition.

Ambush or hidden stance is one of the best strategic tools at a player's disposal.

[rtwjunkie]

Originally posted by Mile pro Libertate:

I use ambush stance all of the time. I even specialize armies in it sometimes. Specializing allows you to use things like 'lilly pits' and barricades.

I don't see why some people would find it useless. There are tons of things it allows you to do.

It's a great way to pin an army down that would otherwise keep retreating or avoiding a fight.

Fighting when the enemy is all strung out on a road is always great, especially if you have a lot of missile troops and you ambush them with high ground along the road.

Another good thing about ambushing is that it lets you be offensive without actually roving around the enemy's territory, or even moving outside your own territory at all.

Like if you have to replenish, you can stay in your own lands at a strategic spot and build up strength, but still intercept the enemy during the turn phase if they move through, so you're still being decisive: if the intercepted force is one you can handle and destroy, great; if they look too strong, just let them pass and the next turn you'll be in a position to either attack them on better terms and/or ground, avoid them altogether to fight another day, or threaten their rear to get them to turn around from your towns.

It lets you fight defensively stralegically while being offensive tactically. This is a great way to take on enemy leaders that have strong offensive abilities/buffs, but the makeup of your army means you'd be better off in a defensive battle: the ambush is an attack you initiate, so the enemy leader buffs are nullified, but the actual battle itself can be fought defensively because you start off surrounding them.

If you go into ambush stance with your main force and hang a weak force or open town as bait, the enemy will often rush up to the bait in forced march instead of normal stance, which lets you not only attack with all the other advantages, but with lower enemy morale and stamina to boot.

Ambush stance also allows you to do hit and run tactics. You don't necessarily have to take the entire enemy force on in an ambush battle, because they are marching and you can decide which part of them you want to hit, when you want. So you can ambush with a much smaller force (cavalry are excellent for this), kill their leader or destroy the weak units at the rear of the march, or something, and then just withdraw.

On a similar note, it's a great way to destroy the enemy artillery capacity before they reach a place where you want to fight the "real battle," but you don't want them to have artillery support during such, like a bridge/river crossing battle.

Even if this small force is hunted down subsequently, you'll have done far more damage with them then they could've done being surrounded in a fort or fighting a normal field battle.

Ambush stance is also one of the absolute best ways to outmaneuver enemy armies for battle later. You can have one force hiding, deliberately let the enemy pass, and the next turn this force can come out of hiding to join battle in the rear of the enemy deployment zone.

One of the most powerful variations of this is to deliberately allow an enemy to pass and go lay siege to a walled town: the next turn, you can attack and they are now pinned between the army and the town garrison; if they assault the town, your hidden force will come in as reinforcements (as long as you're positioned correctly) and the enemy is now stuck between the walls and your army, where they will usually get fixated on either one or the other, or strung out going after both, in either case making it easy to get a crushing victory.

Ambush stance makes it more difficult for enemy agents to act on your army.

Ambush allows you to fight stacks who would otherwise reinforce each other in a normal battle. It can be used to fight the stacks seperate from each other like a night battle or using agent harassment.

Unlike night attacks though, you don't lose any of your own reinforcements lead by guys who can't do night fighting.

Unlike agent usage, it is certain you will have the enemy fixed for battle if the ambush succeeds, rather than simply reducing their movement range, and you don't have to detach an embedded agent to do an action, so you retain whatever buffs they are giving your force for the battle; and for the next turn your agent is already embedded, so you don't have to re-embed them, which reduces your army move points to zero (especially important if the agent buffs are increased movement range).

Ambush stance allows other sneaky things aside from battle, like going into an enemy province and recruiting all the mercenaries there over multiple turns without being attacked.

It can also be used to strategically wipe out small factions quickly: move to the border or just inside the last enemy regions; let enemy march past to invade you; attack and seize their last strongholds; enemy is now without any regions and their armies dematerialize because they're in your territory, or they start suffering large attrition.

Ambush or hidden stance is one of the best strategic tools at a player's disposal.

^^This. I can second everything this guy said. Ambush works awesome. Its best used at mountain passes or similar, where the enemy cannot help but pass through your zone of control.

[Coolsiideri]

tl;dr ambush is a good stance, but your army needs to be specialized in it to make it reliable and effective