Annoying AI skirmishes

[Globex]

You know the situation: you are moving your stack of doom through enemy territory when a few AI archers and swords pop out of the fog of war. You bombard them w/ cats and send in your offensive units to kill them until there is only one left. However, if you attack the last one, you will leave your unit exposed to attack and it will probably get owned by the AI during the inter-turn. I could leave the last unit alone but it would probably go into my recently captured territory and wreak havoc. In addition, I have to spend precious turns dealing with these attackers when I could be advancing further into my enemy's land. Is there a way to deal with these pesky AI attackers without risking my own units or slowing down my advance?

 

[Jokeslayer]

Horsemen (doesn't always work depending on the terrain). If you have enough units, you can split your stack so half still moves forward one turn ahead of the other.

 

[Mesodius]

In my experience if you redline an enemy unit in enemy territory it will stay in its own territory until it is healed and not go pillaging into your territory, and if in your territory will attempt to get back to its own territory.

If I don't have a unit that is capable of destroying the unit and returning to the stack I will usually leave it alone and let rear-guard units or units moving behind the SOD to the front deal with it, unless I happen to have an obsolete unit with the SOD I really don't care about...

 

[Sweetchuck]

Yeah, I always try to keep a few horsemen and knights in my stack for that exact reason.

You could always let that last one go and hope he attacks the stack, but the AI doesn't always do that.

Or, if your stack is big enough (size does count), move a handful of units onto that tile after popping that last one and either keep a dual stack moving or reengage them into a single stack the next turn.

 

[Globex]

Horsemen (doesn't always work depending on the terrain). If you have enough units, you can split your stack so half still moves forward one turn ahead of the other.

In the game that I am currently playing, I have no horses on my continent . However, I will try the two stacks tactic and see how it turns out.

 

[TheOverseer714]

You could also ignore enemy units near your stack(s) and let your homeland defenders handle intruders. Or reinforcement units following your stacks can take them on.