Help countering trampling monsters
 

I need help with a counter for Troglodytes that are trampling my men sized troops....

I'm playing Hellheim early age and am in a war to the death with Argatha.

I just had 1/2-2/3 of my entire nations army with my pretender litterly ROLLED over... I had some of my higher quality footman and horse, over a 100 of them in this fight... Around 20-30 Troglodytes were in the front of the enemy.

What can I do to counter this? The only thing I can think of is I have a province that can make Elephants but there has got to be another way!

Please help, thanks.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Anything that's size 4 is enough to stop them. You can't build anything that big, though.

Troglodytes don't have good protection, so you could try archers. Just recruit lots of indy archers and have them shoot at the Troglodytes. They have lots of hp, but they'll go down quite fast. Blade Wind would also work.

Troglodytes' magic resistance is respectable 12, but you could still try False Fetters. Earth Meld can also be used to ground them for one turn, but unfortunately Troglodytes are strong enough to break out from that in one turn.

Be sure to fight in cold lands. It won't help against the troglodytes, but Agarthans are cold-blooded. They'll get tired very fast.


EDIT: Fixed a typo in the first sentence. Size 4 is enough. Size 5 also works, but size 4 is enough.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Use magic and archers to damage them before they reach you due to their low precision then get a mix of high defence troops and high damage troops(barbarians could work for the high damage due to their above average strength and high damage weapons)

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Since we're on the topic, how about a counter to massed chariots? Especially the heavily armored variety (not sure if Arcoscephale's are such, but I'm pretty sure T'ien Ch'i's are, and maybe C'tis'?).

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Crushers (construction level 5) I seem to remember were pretty effective at stopping a similar problem I had against elephants. Just stick one or two in front of your army, it's funny to watch those tramplers look like they run into a wall and just stop. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif You need something else to follow through with some teeth, but they make good blockers.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Trampling is not an absolute, its a formula which compares the size. Elephants can trample chariots but not nearly as easily as it can hoburgs. The chariots are size 4, and knights are size 3, so if you can create either one anyplace then you might want to add some.

Also you can try flanking and other effects to take out the commanders of the tramplers. And try setting your troops far back in the battlefield and set on hold-and-attack to give your archers more time to shoot and to tire out the tramplers abit when they charge you.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

thanks, I'll try building some more horse to counter them with lots of archers... and Ill see if I can't get some elephants in there for meat, but damn this is a real pain considering my front just fell lol

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

If there's a swamp handy, try luring the enemy into it. Most units move more slowly there, limiting the effectiveness of tramplers.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

How do you determine the size of a unit in game?

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

From the unit's information screen, click on the "Hit Points" field and another window will open showing basic hit points, current hit points and size.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

The mass of trampling troglodytes was not very effectively countered by even high defense Calvary that is only 1 size below them so I had to just recruit some very expensive and very big Elephants.... Really the only thing I have that seems able to effectively counter 20+ of the things. Kind of sucks because I just happen to have 1 province that can produce them. Otherwise I would be SOL.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

If you are at the point of wondering about size then you should probably click everything on the unit view. Hit points, Strength, Protection, Attack Skill, etc etc. Also each weapon and each picture icon on the unit. They all provide more info which can be quite useful in some situations.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Yeah, usually do, for some reason that escaped me. Been bugging me for awhile too, especially with tramplers.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Mass archers usually do the trick. Keep them in the back and the tramplers won't have the time to get to them. Magic, too.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

High damage/instant death magics work well against trogs/elephants. Spells like petrify, thunderstrike, soul slay, banefire and so-fourth.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

What is a good number of archers to qualify for 'mass archers' to be honest I haven't found them very effective. So far I've been using around 30 or so. How many do you guys use? They just dont seem to do much dam/hit.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Well atleast the troglodytes gold cost in archers would be my reccomendation so 5 or more archers per troglodyte. If you can cast wind guide or flaming arrows(or both http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif) then that would be a great help. Also, remember to keep a decent shield of chaff out front.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

As Shovah said, 5 or more per troglodyte. Never underestimate a horde of archers against low protection opponents. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Although protection 7 combined with their high health isnt particularly low(but with flaming arrows they will all die http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif)

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

How about even higher protection tramplers, like chariots? Archers won't do much against them, probably, and being cheaper (in gold terms, not resources) than elephants or troglodytes, they will be on the battlefield in larger numbers.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Flaming arrows are armor piercing, so they'll still work well. Destruction will pop their armor off if you have Earth mages...it's lower level research, but takes multiple mages to get good coverage of the enemy army, as opposed to a one-cast.

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

Well actually there will probably be fewer armoured chariots ect due to their resource cost but the spells mentioned(flaming arrows and destruction) will work well as will many battle magics(any that cause instant death, have high damage or are armour piercing)

Re: Help countering trampling monsters
 

chariots are kinda small as tramplers go... put something big on the flanks, and though you might not do much TO the chariots, they also won't be doing much to you. ("ohnoes! he pushed my vine ogre a lil bit and did a whole 1 point of damage! in only 29 more rounds i'll be in trouble!!!")

large size and lots of hitpoints should keep the chariots busy doing nearly no damage until they build up enough fatigue that you can hurt them.