I don't understand combat at all

[jpinard]

I'll admit it. Combat makes no sense to me in the game. It feels like I can hardly control my people. When raiders come in, people accidentally engage them even if I rang the alarm. When I try to send people to attack it seems like a haphazard assault. I"m playing on the basic level and getting creamed by raiders late game losing half my population with each raid even though I have tower defenses.

Any help would be wonderful.

[Bay12]

Maybe you should just post one thread asking for help instead of multiple on different threads. All of your questions would be answered if you made an effort and used the in game help or browsed through these forums.

[mazltov1975]

Use gates, when you sound the alarm your villagers will arm themselves and go to the nearest gate where the raiders approach. use towers in front of the gates not inside your walls. Build storage for weapons at central points in your village. Have lots of dogs. close the gate that is attacked not the other ones. open it when the raiders are very close and your forces assembled behind it. Yup, that will work. You can also save your game as soon as you get the raider notification, then you can always try again if casualties are too high.

[jpinard]

Originally posted by Bay12:

Maybe you should just post one thread asking for help instead of multiple on different threads. All of your questions would be answered if you made an effort and used the in game help or browsed through these forums.

I did a search and there was zero help on combat. What I'm wondering is how to control people better when it comes to combat.
* How do I get everyone to run home and not engage the enemy?
* How do I make sure everyone has a compound bow?
* How do I get everyone to attack as a solid group ASAP?
* ARE they plebs supposed to attack the enemy on their own once I ring the alarm bell?
* What good do walls do when the AI can just walk or swim around them? Plus the palisades go down so fast they seem barely a hindrance.

[watermonster]

The best Defense is a good offense. I figured out that Towers and walls don't last long and fall quickly. They are expensive and time consuming to build, repair and rebuild after battles. I now play without any towers and walls. Most battles of my battles have zero losses and at most so far I've lost 3-4 max in a battle. My method is simple.
1. On Raiders waning I pause the game. Select (F6) the Defense GUI and activate the Alert level.
Select F6 again and close the defense GUI.
2. Select the Raiders warning and see where they are.
3. Select keyboard 3 speed 4x - all villagers are now heading to center of town.
4 Space Bar - Pause game -
5. Hold I key and select all Fighters in village.
6. Right click one of the Raiders approaching the Village
7. Select space bar - unpause the game. The village fighters will advance toward the raiders and fight them.

The farther away from the village you can attack the raiders the better you chances of fewer casualties. Good luck

[Aieonae]

Walls and towers are use to buy time until you can have a healthy population buffer to deal with them.

Its not entirely crucial in the first 2 scenario even with hardcore, if you do not mind losing a portion of folks dying in combat.

The problem with ancient warrior hardcore was time and population was not on your side, you are late and the game isn't going to wait a long time for you.

[watermonster]

+1

[Ellorien]

Originally posted by jpinard:

Originally posted by Bay12:

Maybe you should just post one thread asking for help instead of multiple on different threads. All of your questions would be answered if you made an effort and used the in game help or browsed through these forums.

I did a search and there was zero help on combat. What I'm wondering is how to control people better when it comes to combat.
* How do I get everyone to run home and not engage the enemy?
* How do I make sure everyone has a compound bow?
* How do I get everyone to attack as a solid group ASAP?
* ARE they plebs supposed to attack the enemy on their own once I ring the alarm bell?
* What good do walls do when the AI can just walk or swim around them? Plus the palisades go down so fast they seem barely a hindrance.

It was pointed out endlessly that the AI in this game is utterly retarded, and combat is no exception.

1. Pressing the alarm button will presumably summon everyone, and since the pathfinding is, let us say, strange, your folks would run into the raiders if they are on their path. The only solution is to pause and look around, and manually lead the lemmings because they won't avoid the raiders on their own.
2. I don't think you can. I usually sell everything outdated as soon as I spot it in the warehouse, manually order lots of bows (while disabling auto-production of anything else until I have enough) and hope for the best.
3. They congregate by the gates and attack as a solid group if the raiders are nearby. The point is to have as many towers over there as you can afford. Raiders target towers first so you will have them slaughtered real fast while they are distracted.
4.Yes, the plebs are supposed to attack on their own if the enemy is close enough. The key word is "supposed."
Build a short wall with the gates and a few towers in the direction the raiders usually spawn; the raiders will be attracted to the towers. The moment they attack a tower, the plebs will run towards them even if they are on the other end of the town. They don't react if the raiders attack the walls or anything else. Also, if you send one pleb close to them, they will attack the pleb and that would trigger the general response as well.
5. Build a bridge, they always cross the bridge. Create a kill zone there.

Never build a wall without towers.

[jpinard]

Excellent posts. Thanks for the helpful responses!

[jpinard]

I'm really getting frustrated as I have 150% the number of bows I need (24 bows for 18 people) and only 1 guy will keep it equipped. The rest have spears. Since I want to go hunting, how in the world do I get more than 1 person to grab a bow and hang onto it?

[ChildoftheKoRn]

I had the same issue. This what I did to resolve it

Raid Happens
Immediately hit F6 and hit the HORN, this will make all able bodied civs arm themselves and those that cannot go into hiding into huts.

Hit the fortification icon to auto close any and all openings to your defenses, if any.

Select group of armed soldiers and move them closer to where the raid is arriving

profilt

[jpinard]

OK thanks!