Micromanaging armies and commanders

[HJ]

Originally posted by Elmo:
Yeah I've lost troops to my own arrows when they are pursuing a routed enemy. Just chalked it up to fog of war but I'm going to experiment with the full game when I get it to see if micromanaging can reduce those losses. Just thinking out loud here but can you put the archers out front so they fire and then retire back through your lines?

I also have not had a problem with replay speed but most of my battles have been realtively small. I just hit "Q" once the outcome is obvious and then go read the final re**** to get the head count. Maybe I miss something doing that though?

At the moment, you can order them to "Fire and flee". This will result in them fleeing from the battle entirely, meaning they'll end up being scattered in the neighbouring provinces as they would if you lost. This is supposed to be redone in the patch, so that they stay with the army after they've fled the field. But I still think that something of a sort I suggested would be much better, as you could still use them in battle after they've stopped firing as a Last-ditch defense if they are holding ground. And if your cavalry archers fled, you wouldn't be able to use their melee capability at all, and this is where "Fire and attack" comes in. But if you're thinking TW skirmish ability, no, nothing of a sort is possible.

As for replay speed & watching battles - I guess it's a personal thing. Some people play for the results, or have viewed the battles so many times so that they have lost interest. I tend to enjoy watching them, as they are the main point of the game, IMHO. Not so much because of the improving my effectivness of play, but because I like it, and I watch even the most insignificant battle just because I enjoy them. Being able to speed up battles wouldn't hurt, but it's definitely not a showstopper for me.

[Arralen]

Light infantry with javelins has everything "build in" apart from the ability to avoid combat with heavy troops and retreat behind the own lines.

Simply make shure there are only javelin-equiped troops in the squad.

Set them to "fire at closest".

They'll charge forward until in firing range, than release the first javelins.

After exhausting their ammo (javelins have ammo 3), or when the enemy comes to close, they'll start melee combat with the closest foe. Sometimes the front line will engage while the back units are still "firing off" their javelins.

Found it to work pretty well with the indie LI.

A.

[Elmo]

Thanks for the help everyone.

Would you say the tactical battles use a rock-scissors-paper approach? IOW each type of unit generally can kill another type but in turn gets killed by something else. For example: swordsmen generally kill archers, archers kill cavalry, cavalry kill swordsmen.

What I'm fishing for is whether there is one unit that is powerful across the board or whether each has strengths and weaknesses. In AoW:SM flyers have been generally regarded as overpowered compared to most other units. Just wondering about D2, although I know the game hasn't been out that long.

HJ - Yes the MTW tactical engine in D2 would be awesome although I'm sure it won't be happening. Maybe in D3...

[HJ]

Originally posted by Elmo:
Thanks for the help everyone.

Would you say the tactical battles use a rock-scissors-paper approach? IOW each type of unit generally can kill another type but in turn gets killed by something else. For example: swordsmen generally kill archers, archers kill cavalry, cavalry kill swordsmen.

What I'm fishing for is whether there is one unit that is powerful across the board or whether each has strengths and weaknesses. In AoW:SM flyers have been generally regarded as overpowered compared to most other units. Just wondering about D2, although I know the game hasn't been out that long.

HJ - Yes the MTW tactical engine in D2 would be awesome although I'm sure it won't be happening. Maybe in D3...

I would say that the situation is much more complicated than that. There isn't a clear-cut rock paper scissors approach, and it'd a good thing, IMHO. There are just too many options for it to be possible. Also, there are counters to everything, and many of them too, but they are also less than clear-cut. The game doesn't revolve around troop types as much as you would expect when you look at other games. Generally, the heavier the troop, the more effective it is. But then, heavy troops are expensive, and the relative amount of light troops that you can buy for the same cost may overwhelm the heavy troop. And the heavies are slow on the main map, making them vulnerable to manouver war. And then there are super-potent troops, such as supercombatant pretenders or big summons, but there are also counters to them. And there is magic, which can be used in myriad of ways. One powerful mage may defeat an entire army with luck, but one stray arrow might kill him, for example. And so on, the options for gameplay are vast.
In short, you cannot look at just the troop types, as in MTW, AoE, or AoM, because so many things act in synchrony, and things like magic and items add further layers of complexity to the gameplay. Some things might be stronger than the others, but eventually there isn't anything that cannot be countered, while at the same time there are many ways to approach on how to do it.

[Elmo]

Sounds bewildering. Excellent!

Leaving now to go camp by the mailbox. Is there a spell for turning the mailman into a hamster if he doesn't deliver?

[HJ]

Originally posted by Elmo:
Sounds bewildering. Excellent!

Leaving now to go camp by the mailbox. Is there a spell for turning the mailman into a hamster if he doesn't deliver?

No, but the spell "Iron pigs" comes to mind.

[Argitoth]

Originally posted by HJ:
The more I play, the more I find this to be a really big problem. Right now, I am starting to become too terrified to use any missile troops in my armies, because of the butchering of the pursuers they might do when the fight is nearing an end.

HJ, stop whining. I always use light troops and archers in the same army. You need to know how to setup your army. It's virtually problemless when I play Dominions 2.

Only commanders can use the Hold and Fire command. It really sucks there isn't a Hold and Fire for units. I'd like my javelin units to Hold and Fire so they don't rush to the enemy and forget to fire their javelins before engaging in melee combat. I always hated my archers running up closer to the enemy if they were too far away.