Veterans...nasty guys!

[chazuar]

Hi there! I'm still on the same map that I was when I first posted, and still loving the game!

BUT, I was a bit confused when I went up againt a small army of veterans. My squads of heavy cavalry (Xystophorai) were all level 12 experience and the biggest squads possible.

They had a tiny amount of veterans and the pedia reckons "they are weak against cavalry". They almost totally kicked my cavalry's ass! If it weren't for "rally" we would've lost, and the after battle result showed the little critters had killed more cavalry than we'd killed of them.

So, what's going on?

No big problem, just going to keep my horses away from them now!

[sum1won]

They have a mild weakness against cavalry(compared to other heavy infantry)- low trample resist. They are still kick-ass heavy infantry. Try the same thing against spear-infantry. Not only will they kick your ass, but they will take even fewer losses.

[chazuar]

Thanks Sum1won!
Definitly going to have to play as a tribe that can train them

[chazuar]

Ok, maybe I'm just being picky now, but...

Why have I just captured a city with a woodman's hut in it when the city has a wood level of 0 ?

Perhaps Slitherine could have done a bit more testing?

[joseph_kerr]

Was it around Macedonia? That's happened to me before somewhere in that area where it was just supposed to be a little village with a brick level of three or four but had a woodman's hut for some reason.

[chazuar]

Yea it is! The town is called Oxineia, a nice hint to anyone playing the 1300 BC campaign (if they are short on wood lol) .

[Redpossum]

Well, what Sum1 is really saying is that Cavalry is not the best arm for deploying against Heavy Infantry.

The best way to deal with Heavy Infantry is to lure them into rough terrain or woods, and chew them up in there with Light Infantry.

[joseph_kerr]

Except veterans don't fare too badly in the rough either.

[Redpossum]

Not as badly as spear-armed Heavy Infantry, that's for sure.

[sum1won]

Intrestingly enough, Ive never fought against enough veterans to really havwe any major problems. However, withmylimited experience, I would advise using ranged firepower to take them out. Your archers are just as useful as your cavalry in this endeavor.

Also, when I did attack the tribes, I used a mix of archers and light infnatry, with a few heavy cav units. I didnt wind up in many major battles, though, as they were on the verge of collapse due to a diplomatic action and an unusually unhappy populace- a series of dbad harvests, and my buying up much of the grain (driving up the price prohibtably) caused a massive famine

[honvedseg]

Veterans are the "elite" units of most barbarian factions, so you're tackling some very tough opponents. They are "weak" against cav, versus "very weak" or worse for most light infantry, and they outnumber you. Pin them in place from the front with a heavy infantry unit, THEN hit them with your horses where it hurts.

[rural]

well ....
veterans are pretty easy to take down tho
you'll just need to get "heavier" heavy calvary .... (kinsman)
or you can try the Skythians or Bactrians

... you can also try to place your units in a different way
2 squad of xys overlaping each other

[spartan0536]

I have had the persial immortals and depranon swordsmen and your famed horsemen attack the most elite of my spartitates and I slaughter every one of the enemy soldiers without the use of "Rally". Yuo simply cannot rely on horsemen you need to have archers/skirmishers or spearmen/swordsmen to assist them, the best combination obviously is to have a well balanced mix between all options with 1 to 2 generals leading them.

[sum1won]

wait, what? Nobody here was saying to rely on just one thing...

And dealing with spartiates is not the same as dealing with veterans.