LAND BATTLES

Wining land battles is fundamental in your quest to becoming Caesar, as it's the only way to conquer new lands and to repel rebellions and marauding armies.

Before a battle begins, you'll be able to choose from four different formations, and each formation has five tactics to go along with it.

One of the most important things to know before the battle begins is what type of army you have, and what type of army your enemy has. This will help you decide which formation and tactic to use.

During a battle, clicking (or pressing any key on the keyboard) will pause the battle, allowing you to choose one of the following options: Select Roman Units (shows the default movement path of your troops), Melee, Retreat, and Done (pauses the game, saving any changes you made). While paused, you can select one cohort (as long as he's in your General's voice radius) and make him attack the enemy all out, retreat, or, if you select the blue dot (or line) and drag it, make the cohort follow a path you decide. When you've done this with all the cohorts you want to move, click Done to resume the game.

Clicking on Melee or Retreat with no units selected will make your whole army obey that order (even those who are out of your General's voice radius).

 

Formations

Balanced army: The army lines up equally in a straight line with the General behind them.

Drive a Wedge: The army forms up in a wedge or "arrow" set up.

Right Formation: The army concentrates its forces on the right side.

Left Formation: The army concentrates its forces on the left side.

 

Táctics

-Frontal Assault: The army simply marches in a straight line towards the enemy, causes many casualties.

-Scipio's Defense: Very similar to Stand Fast, but the General and the second line move to the right side of the column.

-Drive a Wedge: Frontal assault in which the central cohorts in the column advance faster.

-Outflank: The cavalry on the side of the column attack the enemy's flanks while the infantry attacks the main army.

-Stand Fast: Your column stands fast, waiting for the enemy to come to them.

-Cannae Tactic (see image to the right): Only used with the wedge formation. The central cohorts will seemingly retreat, making the enemy forces go through the whole in your defenses. Then, the remainder of your troops will ambush them, attacking their flanks and backs.

-Form a Line: Only in the wedge formation, your troops reform to make a more balanced formation, and then Stands Fast.

-Mass Troops: In Right/Left Formation, your troops reform to make a more balanced formation (like Balanced Army, Stand Fast).

-Sweep Right/Sweep Left: A frontal assault in which your cohorts on the left/right flank advance faster.

Tips

Each General has a specific voice radius; the bigger it is, the more cohorts will be able to receive commands. This is useful, as many times you'll want only one cohort to move, not the whole army. The best Roman Generals are Scipio Africanus (your first army's general), Pompey the Great and Cornelius Scipio, who, besides having a large voice radius also have a high charisma, so try not to loose them.

If one of your generals has a small voice radius, you can move him around the map by clicking and dragging the blue line (or dot, if he's stationary) so he can give orders to your whole army.

Try to kill the enemy General as quick as possible; this will cause many of the enemy soldiers to run, and the rest of the soldiers' courage will drop. But, the same rings true for you, so protect your general as good as you can.

Troop courage lowers when inflicted damage or when their General dies. When a cohort's courage reaches Panicky, they turn and flee, and will no longer follow your orders. However, if they aren't killed in their retreat, they will be available in your next battle.

Attacking an enemy cohort on the flanks or from behind will inflict more damage. Use this fact to your advantage when planning any attack or defense.

Surround enemy cohorts to seal their fate.

Cavalry is faster and more powerful than infantry..

If you stand still and wait for the enemy cohorts, you'll get the first attack, which is a big advantage.

Remember that on higher difficulties your cohorts will have less troops than enemy cohorts, so they'll die quicker than on easier difficulties.