How do u make use of "retreat ability"?

[Mavtse]

i'm playing as France and at war with Aztec. Using 20~30 cavalry and 10 cannons, i managed to capture its capital. Yet, i find something very annoying.

1) the cavalry does not always retreat when losing, especially the elites. even though it lose all the way through, it fight to DEATH!

2) since the elite units can't survive long, how can i get GLs!!??

so could anyone tell me how retreat works? and how would u protect your fast elite unit?(when strong defence unit unavailable)

 

[bobgote]

1)it was a fix in one of the patches that there is now the chance that you can't retreat. I suppose this is historically accurate since sometimes the retreat fails and you are routed. I find as long as you inflict some damage, you can retreat. Also remember that when the enemy gets down to one bar of health, you will not retreat, your unit will persist until it kills or dies.

2) Ok. To help them survive, try to stick to defendable terrain like hills or mountains, the other side of a river, jungles, etc. This will give you a bit of advantage. Also, if you can, fortify the unit. Cavalry only has a def. of 3, so if it's undefended, there's a big chance to kill it. Try to keep support in the general vacinity. Those cannons should help too. (Also, if you're using cannons, surely you can chuck in defensive units too as they go the same speed)

 

[The Last Conformist]

From the Editor it appears that more experienced units should be more likely to retreat successfully ...

 

[Maple]

Healing damaged elites helps for keeping them alive. Also, use the cannons to get opposive forces down to 1 hp so attacks are easiser.