Flying units??
 

I must be missing something here. I give flying units orders to attack rear or archers, and they pop into the middle of the field - where they are quickly slaughtered by the massed enemy troops, and the missile fire I'm raining down on the massed enemy troops.

How do you get flying units to actually attack the rear?

As I'm writing this post I'm starting to wonder if its just a matter of range - is it that they need enough AP to get to the back of the battlefield? So I should put them up front to have a hope of reaching the enemy rear?

Re: Flying units??
 

Yes I am playing LA Caelum and flying ability can seem more of a curse, rather then a benefit.

The problem is, when they fly in, they break formation. Effectively fighting as individuals, making them easy to kill when facing a tight packed heavy infantry or even militia formation.

Even recruiting the troops with best protection/defence seems to have little effect on this scenario.

One way to avoid this happening is to put them on guard commander, then give yr commander the combat orders.

As for attack rear or archers, this tactic only seems to work effectively for me with heavy cavalry units with move of 3/30. Any less move and yr units seem to forget yr orders after 1 combat round and switch to attack closest...

The BIG advantage flying troops have is on the strategic level (map screen), they can skip provinces ie... 3/7 move, they can fly 3 provinces regarless of terrain. Excellent at grabbing strategic provinces in the early indie rush and later on, hitting yr enemy behind there front lines. U after make sure u win the battle thou, otherwise if u lose, u lose yr entire force, no where to retreat too. Also good for a multi front war with there speed.

Re: Flying units??
 

For me, hold and attack rear works (slightly) better. The 2 extra turns before attacking makes the rear more obvious.

Against humans, this tactic is not very useful... most human guard their rear (usurprisingly http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )

Re: Flying units??
 

It's dependent on morale. For some reason, troops have to pass a morale check to keep going past enemy squads. I quess it's more like training or something in this case.

Re: Flying units??
 

Hold and Attack & Guard Commander are your friends with flying units. I wish the archers would stop shooting after enemy routs though. I understand the logic but with flying units...aaaargh.

Re: Flying units??
 

Try setting them way off to the side. It helps them to "see" what the rear units are. If they are in the middle they tend to attack whatever is center and biggest (apparently as far of the back as they can see when they decide what to attack)

Putting them to the side still doesnt gaurantee that the back will be what you want, but its closer