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The Retreat mechanic is just a text indication that the AI is pulling those light units out of danger, usually because they are close to Autobreak. It is not a special move or anything.
I made a lengthy post elsewhere about square formation. But in short, it is a desperate measure, as you can only move one tile, cannot charge, and exert no ZoC. It should only be done when you will be flank attacked no matter what unless you form square. Once you have formed square, the enemy can bypass your pikemen, or riddle them with missiles before charging in - so it is only a move to prevent that unit from collapsing, while you hopefully win elsewhere on the field.
The screenshots directory is user/my games/field of glory 2/screens
Also, your Pikemen get 200POA on Impact, same as Legions, so long as they are at full strength - not taking troop quality into account. As your Pikes take casualties, they lose the Deep Pike bonus to Impact and melee, so it is crucial to screen them from missile fire.
I never play campaign mode so I can't help with therest.
The map allowed for a hill on the right flank with a river restricting access to the far right, and just open terrain to the left. I set my now 3 Elephant units on the right flank (with a General assigned) backed by a lone Medium Foot and a single War Band. The Phalanx took their place to the left of the Elephants securing the hill, with Pyrrhus in command and a 2nd General assigned to the phalanx as well (I could not figure out how to reassign him to a Cav unit - same issue in the other 2 previous battles). A skirmish line of archers and javelin troops screened these forces with a lone light Cav unit in the middle to try and run off enemy javelin troops.
To the left were 7 Heavy Cav units under the command of a General, their job was to swing wide left and flank the Carthaginian line. I was not sure what to expect from the enemy, but I was thinking phalanx, elephants, and Numidian Horse.
What I got was; 0 elephants, average Cav units, 1 pike unit, a lot of spear men and light units, and a scorpion type unit.
The battle started out with the Carthaginians holding fast and my Cav units sweeping left until they charged and ran off the Carthaginian Lt Cav screen. They evaded and drew my guys in towards their foot units - with this finally kicking off and advance on all fronts. I was worried about the scorpion but it never really did much, shooting without much result at a light unit and a squad of elephants.
My 3 Elephant units crashed down the slope on the right flank into their infantry and began chopping them up - taking very little damage throughout the entire battle. The Warband followed them in and provided the infantry punch to help wear the enemy down. Two units of phalanx engaged other spear units while 4 others held the ridge, waiting for the enemy to approach.
Between the elephants and the ridge, the Carthaginians were never able to fully engage the phalanx line and were just out classed. A swirling back and forth battle on the left was a lot of fun with Cav from both sides charging in and evading under pressure. I had one Hvy Cav unit cut to pieces and route, while another got behind the scorpion unit and took it out. The middle of the field was empty except for a lone Cav unit withdrawing under continual pressure from a single spear unit.
The battle was a major victory with only 9% losses.
- It was nice to not have to battle the Roman Velites.
- Elephants with a General assigned are tough to beat.
- I think I need to assign some Lt Cav with the heavy horse to avoid getting tied down and flanked by enemy Lt Cav moving into ZOC lock.
- I was going to try putting the Phalanx unit on the end of the left flank into "square", but the opportunity never arose.
- I wanted to have a few Med Inf to back the Phalanx line but I had to leave so many units in Italy that I only had a single unit available. It came in handy, plugging the line when the Warband broke a Spear unit and headed off into pursuit.
- I really like the Warband units, they hold their own vs Legion troops and seem to do well supporting phalanx troops.
- Find slingers to be the worst of the light troops, off to the garrison they go.
- How to reassign the Phalanx General to Cav units when Pyrrhus can direct the main body?
- Screen shot advice? Tried F2 with no luck, just changes screen brightness on my machine.
Expecting a much bigger battle unit wise in the next round vs Carthage. Elephants this time? I wonder how phalanx do against them?
The Carthaginians did not use war elephants until after the war with Pyrrhos. His elephants obviously made a big impression in 278 BC, and the Carthaginians were keen to raise an elephant force of their own, but it took them until 262 BC, 16 years later, to do so. Hence they don't have any in the Pyrrhos campaign.
Lt Cavalry cannot ZOC-lock non-light troops.
For the next battle I was worried that I was not going to have enough troops to counter the Carthaginian threat. The lay of the land for the contest presented an interesting challenge as the right flank had hills to my front and forest on the Carthaginian side, the middle provided me with broken woods and a steep hill for the enemy to camp upon, while the far left was very wooded leading up to a wood covered hill.
I set two of my elephants on the far right, along with the phalanx companies screened by light troops whose job was to take the hill to my immediate front. In the right/middle I set my last 2 elephants along with 2 warbands on an small rise supported by a lone Med Inf and a Hvy Cav unit with a General. To the Middle left I set my remaining 6 Hvy Cav unit in hopes of swinging around the left flank to break their line.
The game opened with the Carthaginian Lt Cav screen facing my elephants, behind them were woods and a few Hvy Cav units, from their across the middle hill reaching all the way left they had a screen of light Inf and Med Inf, a scorpion, and a few Noble Cav units. Pyrrhus seemed to be greatly outnumbered (turned out is was their 39,000 vs Pyrrhus 27,000).
The first few turns saw me advance the elephants and phalanx on the right to occupy the hill, the Carthaginians advanced their light Cav and skirmishers to harass my line. They held fast everywhere else, hoping to draw me in up the hill into their prepared defensive positions. Instead of waiting to get hit with missile after missile I sent my light Cav and elephants to break up the Carthaginian Cav to my Right front. This ended poorly for me as they evaded my elephants, withdrawing into the woods - while hitting my light Cav hard and eventually routing them, leaving their Lt Cav alone on my right rear.
Their infantry wasn't moving, so I had my Cav cut across the front line from left to right - this got them moving. My Cav group got cut in half, one group getting behind the elephants while the other half had to withdraw to the middle to avoid getting flanked by the advancing infantry.
A wild melee ensued on the right between my elephants, Hvy Cav, and their Cav units supported by advancing Inf. I could not wait for them to attack my phalanx on the hill so my first units charged down into them. Their Cav stood no chance vs the elephants, but the woods hampered both sides leading to the Epriots clearing out the enemy to their front and sweeping left up the side of the middle hill (something I did not imagine).
In this battle the Carthaginian Scorpion proved more effective than in the past, hitting and disrupting 2 Hvy Cav units, spoiling my assault. With my left and middle totally void of units the Carthaginians began a long swinging door march from my left to right with the bulk of their forces. I took their middle hill but the battle now centered upon the middle ground where I had the 2 warband units, 1 Med Inf, and 1 Hvy Cav unit to hold them off. I sent the remaining phalanx units down the hill from the right to the middle - where the battle was to be decided.
The axis of battle has shifted from its top to bottom at start to the Epriots moving from the right to left, Cav holding the middle hill, elephants just below supported by phalanx troops. The Carthaginians had no real answer for the Elephants as they pounded away at their infantry units (although they did break one unit) until the Hvy Cav finally cleared enough to engage down the hill.
The battle was in doubt until the end, as both sides were drawn out of position. I previously stated that I liked the Hvy Warbands, but in this battle the first group crushed their opposing spearmen only to advance recklessly in pursuit and found themselves flanked and then routed. The lone Hvy Cav unit assigned with the Warband prevented the Epriot flank from being rolled up by hitting the Carthaginian end unit and stopping the slaughter. Fortunately they fell back and then charged again the next turn, this time hitting the light units behind the front line. This ended up in a cascade evading retreat that climaxed with a flank charge that broke the Carthaginian middle. This allowed the Elephants to break through as well, leading to more charges and broken units.
Pyrrhus emerged victorious with 10% losses vs 51% for the Carthaginians. Looks like we are headed back to Italy to face off again vs the Romans. This time we have more elephant troops (although depleted) and a very experienced phalanx line, should be interesting.
I can leave a garrison, although not required. I was thinking about leaving units Avg experience of lower, thoughts?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1960547379
Note how far the battle moved from right to left from the initial hill where Pyrrhus phalanx set up. The Cav movement is indicated, how they crossed into the front and swung up and around the center Carthaginian hill defense.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1960578061
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1960890219
I decided to set my Lt Cav and a few Hvy Cav units on the far right in the woods (under cover) to see if the Elephants on the right could draw in some Roman Velites for the Epriots to ambush.
To the middle right I set the experienced phalanx to take the hill with the river in front, hoping to make the Legion troops fight disrupted or up hill. To their left was the less experienced phalanx supported by elephants holding a 2nd ridge, and on the far left was the bulk of my Hvy Cav who would swing left to try and flank. They s\were supported by two Warbands who would serve as the mobile reserve. The x's on the map were the areas where I was hoping to fight the engagement.
Sadly the x's in the below shot show where the majority of the battle took place.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1960893343
The Cav on the right were perfectly placed as the Velites marched in as expected to go after the elephants, I sprung the trap but was surprised that the Velites neither evaded nor were crushed, they tied up by right wing Cav most of the game.
On the far left my Cav flanked the Romans and ran off their Roman Cav, but after initial success the Roman foot that peeled off to guard their flanks relentlessly drove my Cav back and finally engaged them - I couldn't disengage due to the terrain and their numbers.
In the dead center the Roman C&C charged across the river and up the hill, just as I wanted, and then proceeded to punch a hole in my line by pushing back the phalanx to their front. This cascaded badly for the Epriots.
The Roman C&C pivoted to his right and forced the Epriots into the river bend, having to commit their elephants and phalanx forward.
Things looked bad at this point as the Epriots were at 38% to the Roman 25%. Two things saved the Epriots at this juncture, first the 2 Warbands finally made it in from the far left and broke the Roman line at the river bend, and although the Roman infantry were hunting down the Epriot Left wing Cav units it took them out of position to help at the river. The 2nd thing that helped was 2 Cav units on the right wing finally breaking free to pressure the Romans at point 2 on the map. AS the dust settled it was Epriots 42% Romans 35%.
Of the 4 Elephant units 3 were routing, as was Pyrrhus. At this point both Pyrrhus and a single elephant rallied and were able to make their way back to the river bend, and a lone Cav unit from the far right charged down the river and broke the Roman line with a flank attack (even though it was disrupted by terrain).
This caused a cascade that left the Epriots at 35% and the Romans at 58%, and then darkness fell and the battle was over.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1960895445
I have a lot to learn about this game. I did not want to fight in the stream, and I'm sure the Romans didn't either, yet we both ended there. I need to find a way to beat Velites. This time the Warbands saved the day, but their penchant to pursue victories is dangerous. I need to rethink Cav vs Roman infantry to avoid getting tied down.
Pyrrhus is off to Macedonia for the final battle, 22% losses last battle are going to hurt, plus I have no Idea what force mix to expect for the last battle.
Thanks for reading. I have a lot to learn so don't expect to see games vs humans for quite a while yet myself. Just hoping to pull out a win in the next battle to complete the campaign.
I am left with 2 phalanx, 2 Warbands, and a single Hoplite Inf, along with 3 Elephants, 4 light units and a bit a Cav.
A mountain cuts off much of the right, so I set up on the left middle and plan on slanting to a 2nd mountain to hold the left flank. The elephants will hold a middle hill, but it is less than stellar ground due to woods and rough terrain. The Cav with also slant off left in hopes of getting beyond the mountain and harassing the Macedonian left.
I don't have a lot of troops, probably because I chose my own reinforcements instead of allies along with high casualties in the last battle (22%).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1961171650
Wolves at the Gate did not get quite as good a review as the other stellar DLCs, so I am waiting for the Crusades pack. My first mini-battle with 12 units per side (Goths vs Romans) was headed toward a draw. To me, this shows how well-balanced the game is.
I think you're doing pretty darn well for a first campaign, btw.
The system is points based. If you keep putting all your lower quality units into garrison after each battle you will end up with an elite but very small army.
Ideally you want a mix of very high quality and average units, to bulk out the size of your army. Then you use your elite troops as the hammer, and the rest to keep the enemy occupied long enough to roll them up with the elites.
Also, elite close combat troops are better value than elite skirmishers.
I personally loved Wolves at the Gate, particularly for its Byzantine and Arab Conquest armies.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1961778039
A lot more enemy troops appear from behind the mountain marching toward my main body, along with mounted troops funneling down the mountain pass on the Epriot right. The Med and Lt Cav units on the right are on their own, they can only hope to delay the enemy long enough for the battle in the center to be decided.
Midway through the battle I discovered that the stream crossing through the battle field was treated as open ground! It did not provide any disruption at all.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1961782080
The lone skirmisher sent forward by the Macedonians was taken out by their counterparts in front of the elephants, so the Macedonian General sent his 2 elephants across the stream to engage. Big mistake on his part and his elephants were of Avg quality while the Epriots were all at least Superior. Both Macedonian elephant units were broken and routed through their own heavy troops, closely pursued by their Epriot counterparts.
The Macedonia Phalanx unit on the far left formed square in hopes of delaying long enough for reinforcements to arrive, the 2 Med Spear Inf with him charged in to engage. It didn't work, as the Warbands and Cav broke the square and then the surrounded Inf were flanked and broken as well.
To the far right by Epriot Cav units were broken and routed, but they had done their job and delayed the arrival of the Macedonian Cav.
In the end the Epriot Elephants and experienced infantry proved to be too much for the Macedonians, although the mountainous terrain that split their force deployment could also be credited for greatly assisting the Epriot effort.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1961787619
Pyrrhus took the victory 55% to 7%, went 6-0 in the Campaign, and received an overall Campaign score of 2552 - no idea what that means.
I played one practice battle at Lvl 2 (Heraclea) before jumping in to this Campaign at Lvl 3. I really had no idea what to expect, but I highly recommend this Campaign due to its nature of exposing the player to battle vs 3 different army types; Romans, Carthaginians, and Macedonians.
Fighting the Romans was a real challenge as their Velites confounded me, their Legion troops can stand toe to toe with anything thrown at them, and it is probably my imagination but they seemed to rally more often. The Epriot ace in the hole against them was the Elephant troops, just as in historic accounts they were the difference maker on the battlefield.
The Carthaginians were numerous but couldn't match the Epriot Hvy troops, they had to count upon the terrain to work in their favor, and in this Campaign it did not.
I am sure the Macedonians are tougher than the battle they gave me, but at this point the experience level of the Epriot troops overwhelmed their divided force. If they had been able to concentrate and use their numbers it may have played out differently, as it would have been more challenging if their elephants could have avoided their Epriot counterparts.
I would have liked to see the campaign extended by one more battle to see Pyrrhus off to Sparta, this would have also brought him into contact with another historical army type (although very similar to the Macedonians).
The decisions in the Campaign were nice, if I play again I can select the Allies options instead of Epriot reinforcements to get a different game experience and force mix.
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- I need to work on my flanking Cav, they end up getting caught by Inf or just do not provide the punch I expect.
- Velites are my nemesis.
- I need to pay more attention to terrain and understand its impact upon the various troop types. Still not sure if Italian Foot can operate out of woods or broken ground.
- I never redeployed a General after the initial setup, not once. I am sure I am missing something here.
- It would be nice to be able to change a Units name during the battle, when they achieve a feat that separates them from the other units - or at least immediately once the battle ends.
- Adding a General to an Elephant unit provides a killer punch to an already powerful hammer of a unit.
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I highly recommend some of the videos out there. The 6 youtube video series on basic game mechanics was well done, as was the video on ZOC.
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I like the inclusion of Generals in the game, but nothing they do really seems memorable. Yes, they obviously help movement and add offensive punch, but that is really transparent and buried in the game mechanics and I never even noticed their names other than when Pyrrhus engaged. (Although when the Roman C&C punching through my phalanx line across a river and up a hill it was quite memorable). It would be nice to have some game mechanic that allowed the player to select a General and have it make some immediate impact (limited in number and quality by the Generals or historic armies effectiveness). An example would be for Gen A to be able to disengage from Melee, or Gen B can select a unit in range for a rally attempt with a bonus %, or Gen C can add one square of movement to a unit, etc.... Others will have better ideas than me, but I like the touch and flavor Generals bring, even if their special abilities were made for one time use.
Yes, Wolves DLC is 50% off at Matrix, so need to get that. As you may know, the Devs here are the best of the best, ranking up there with Gary Grigsby and his 200-page change log for War in the East. Now that is support for a relatively old game.