How do I order my Hastati to throw pila?

[Beaushizzle]

I can't figure it out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. What gives?

[Bjørn]

Pagan님이 먼저 게시:

(...)I'm quite surprised that there are actually people here trying to defend the lack of fire-at-will for pilum/javelin armed melee infanty. "They didn't do that historically" is such a sore argument(...)

I suspect you're referring especially to my statement here :)

Well historically, each Hastati or Principe soldier carried 2 pilae each. They readied them when they started to march towards the enemy. When they were in throwing range, they threw one of them, and depending on the grounds they were standing on compared to the enemy they either threw the second one or they readied their gladius (sword) and charged at full speed. They already had their left hand occupied with their shields.

The pilae were constructed so that they could only be used once, so that the enemy could not use them against them in a battle. The junction between the wooden shaft and the steel/iron tip was made of a soft material like lead, so that it either broke or bent beyond repair when it hit something.

So they were quite valuable and elaborate and critical for a Roman army, and they didn't just throw them at anyone in range unless they were ordered to. They were meant to disrupt the front lines of enemy charges so that the lines behind them stumbled on their fallen bodies and lost fhe charge. They had to be thrown at the right time, which was decided by the officers.

Imagine seeing the sky turn black from 20 000 pilae coming at you while you're running, then BANG you're dead... :O

By the way, I don't know much about javelins, like how many they carried and so on.

[Mashsmouth]

Yeah, he's on the same side as you.

[TOG | schießen]

(This is ignoring the absurd idea that they wouldn't have been used historically in defense against charging troops, or while standing in place, if the situation presented itself.)

+1 i dont think they would stand in ranks whilst the enemy was charging them and at close range and say oh we can only throw these if we ourselves are charging.

[Bjørn]

I agree with you and others that there should be an option to fire at will. It certainly made things easier in Rome 1, but it wasn't normal and if they did, they did it out of panic. I'm talking about Romans now by the way, which is the only faction I've played in this game.

I'm not sure how much you've read about how the Roman legions operated, but I have done so extensively.

If they were holding a position they were well prepared and fortified and put up shield wall formations and testudos so that anyone who charged them were met by a wall full of pointy things (swords :)) sticking out at them.

Every soldier had a shield in the left hand which protected the soldier on his left side. In his right hand he had the gladius (short sword) that he used furiously to attack anyone who came in range. Skirmishers and/or archers behind them provided the ranged attack. They didn't waste their pilae in a defensive pattern.

When they were attacking an army, which was most common, ruthless as they were :), they marched normally and in perfect rank until they came in throwing range of the pila, which was only like 20-30 feet. Then they grabbed their gladius and started a charge at full speed - still in perfect ranks - while using the same left side protective pattern.

The formations and discipline of Roman soldiers was the main reason they won so many battles, especially against 'barbarians' like most of the European tribes, who mainly came running at them with no order so that they could get an honourable kill before they died.

And Roman armies were never taken by surprise since they had hundreds of scouts hundreds of miles in all directions as they marched and while they were camped for the night.

As for other factions that have the ability to use thrown spears I haven't tried them, but if they don't throw them like they should according to history, that is not good.

[61e_ChvlV_Xerrand]

WHY NO ANSWER?! It's 2024 and I need to know.

[LSD]

61e_ChvlV_Xerrand님이 먼저 게시:

WHY NO ANSWER?! It's 2024 and I need to know.

Learn to play the game.

[Katie]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.