Ordering troops to attack a specific target

[Jack Niggleson]

Is there any way to do this? It's beyond annoying to try to put cavalry in position for a pincer only to have them go running off the other direction after a handful of random enemy cav instead of attacking the unguarded rear or flank of their infantry. Ditto archers. If a single unit is closer to them then the massed enemy you want them to direct their volley at then they'll all fire at the single unit instead (hitting nothing of course).

Even if it was really awkward, like if you could move the unit's flag with F1 onto the desired target and that would get them to charge/focus fire, that would be so much better than what we have now.

[Marvin Gayest]

Select group, Move to position + face enemy + advance

[Clovis Sangrail]

I set up my infantry and archers, then I tell my cavalry to follow me.

I ride off to the side with the cavalry, then we wait while I tell infantry and archers to Advance. (Or charge, depending on the circumstances.

When I'm ready to being the cavalry in, I lead them right in on the enemy's rear, then tell them to charge when they are so close there is no chance of them running off where they shouldn't.

Then I pull back to watch and regroup if necessary.

Sometimes this needs to be adjusted in the enemy has enough cavalry to be a paid in the ass.

[Morkonan]

There doesn't appear to be a specific command/set/UI for this.

But, it may still be possible. It appears to be somewhat possible in Sieges as you can target an Inner Gate and order a Charge against it without having a specific order command to do so. Just have it "targeted" and that seems to be enough. (Though, it doesn't often work very well due to siege scenes being pretty garbaged up atm.)

I have seen something reflecting some kind of specific target behavior occasionally when issuing Charge orders, etc. Reliable? Can be replicated? Not reliably, no.

Generally, this is only useful for Cavalry in a field battle. And, it's possible to use "Move" orders and the like to get them where they need to set up/regroup against a formed unit.

And... it may be a bit overpowered against the AI. It seems most battlefield AI in terms of overall tactics is somewhat "cultural." ie: Scripted or limited behavior sets. Some of it may also be tied to the particular battlefield scene, too. (Not sure why some players think the battlefield scenes are auto-generated - They're not and never have been.) Given that these may be true, then having the ability to form one's own "set piece" battle with formulaic attacks designed to exploit the limits of the somewhat scripted AI... Well, that'd make them even less challenging. (Granted, being outnumbered by superior forces is almost always somewhat challenging. :))

[Jack Niggleson]

Originally posted by Clovis Sangrail:

I set up my infantry and archers, then I tell my cavalry to follow me.

I ride off to the side with the cavalry, then we wait while I tell infantry and archers to Advance. (Or charge, depending on the circumstances.

When I'm ready to being the cavalry in, I lead them right in on the enemy's rear, then tell them to charge when they are so close there is no chance of them running off where they shouldn't.

Then I pull back to watch and regroup if necessary.

Sometimes this needs to be adjusted in the enemy has enough cavalry to be a paid in the ass.

I usually do this or something similar, albeit with mixed results. The problem is that cavalry need to build up to an effective charge, meaning that you have to order it from a decent distance away. If you have them follow you all the way into contact with the enemy or close to it, they'll just do this limp-♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ where they kind of just flop into the enemy at low speed without even couching their lances.

Sometimes you can pull off charges without a hitch and watch your massed cavalry carve through the enemy line like a hot knife through a patty of Harlous' finest butter, but it's far more common to just see them scatter all over the place or focus all their attention on a lone horse archer.

In a way it's kind of a microcosm for the state of the game in general. When it's working right it looks amazing and you have these epic set piece battles, but when it isn't working it makes you want to huck your pc out the window out of exasperation for how broken and goofy it is.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Nugget Head:

...
In a way it's kind of a microcosm for the state of the game in general. When it's working right it looks amazing and you have these epic set piece battles, but when it isn't working it makes you want to huck your pc out the window out of exasperation for how broken and goofy it is.

As in Warband, you can order a Move To command and cavalry will fight their way, more or less, to that position. IF individuals are moving fast enough already, they'll Couch if they can... kinda... maybe.

I'm of the opinion that not all Cavalry have behaviors that are finely tuned for their equipage, though. Some also have pretty bad problems when trying to figure out, apparently, that they should attack melee infantry with their melee weapon. They also don't seem to understand, at times, that they are riding on a two-thousand-pound warbeast that can, and will, push singleton enemies out of the friggin' way. (Warhorses do not attack anything in Bannnerlord, which flies in the face of history. Warhorses in Bannerlord are little better than slightly irritated bicycles. This significantly reduces the realistic effectiveness of "Heavy Horse" units. A warhorse hoof can stave in a lightly armored skull with absolutely no problem at all and warhorses were trained to do this in combat. Bite, too...)

"I AM IS SURROUND BY EMENY!"

<thinking>

"I guess I'll die..."

^-- Typical mounted unit part of disorganized mounted unit group in Bannerlord.

Cavalry do not work well in a disorganized state, just FYI. Always, always, regroup them when an attack/charge/manuever becomes "over-developed" and you start seeing them run around the battlefield as singleton units. At that point, they're no better than fodder and, IMO, it's why most cavalry are killed in battles. If you're familiar with Warband combat, move to, charge, move to, rinse/repeat across enemy formations is still the way to go when using cavalry on the battlefield. The one exception is chasing down other cavalry.

When confronted by the typical "Horse Archers to the left of me, Cavalry to the right" and you have cavalry capable of chasing those units down, go ahead and let them. They'll typically move off to the far reaches of the main battle in their own little furballs of combat. Let them eat away at the enemy a bit, then order them to regroup, send them back towards the enemy cavalry, rinse/repeat until they're gone or are now combat ineffective. (Only "massed" cavalry of any type is "combat effective.")