What happens if a full army hun/mongol horde pillages a tile?

[DrCron]

What the title says. Assuming you get enough food from pillaging for a new unit, do you lose the extra unit or does it spawn as a new army? I'm about to try huns/mongols but I'm not sure how this works.

Also, how does the Ordu build units?

These hordes seem very powerful in the hands of the AI, so I think they will be even more OP when played by a human, but the mechanics are not clear at all in the game's encyclopedia.

 

[Siptah]

The food is lost. It works just like in the Neolithic. You buy the units in Ordus with influence, also just like scouts in Neolithic. They consume the outposts population iirc. Give them a try!

 

[DrCron]

The food is lost. It works just like in the Neolithic. You buy the units in Ordus with influence, also just like scouts in Neolithic. They consume the outposts population iirc. Give them a try!

Thanks! I though so, I guess I'll have to remember to remove a unit from the army 1 turn before completing the pillaging. And maybe dividing them into 3-unit armies before attacking.

 

[Victoria]

Thanks! I though so, I guess I'll have to remember to remove a unit from the army 1 turn before completing the pillaging. And maybe dividing them into 3-unit armies before attacking.

that’s the way to go
Tbh, I am getting used to fighting Mongols and huns now and they are not so scary unless you are not ready for them. And playing with them teaches you their vulnerabilities.

 

[fortydayweekend]

that’s the way to go
Tbh, I am getting used to fighting Mongols and huns now and they are not so scary unless you are not ready for them. And playing with them teaches you their vulnerabilities.

The more I play the more I appreciate/fear every unit... if it's in the right terrain and fighting the right opponents, and in the right numbers. In my latest game Victoria842's Samnahyas were giving me a lot of grief before I worked out how to beat them (back off so they have to come into open terrain to shoot, and surround them with Shotelais and alternating Zhanche charges). Every game throws up new combinations with new problems to solve.

For all the imbalance of some of the mechanics there's also a lot of really nice, asymmetric balance, especially early on. All the units are powerful but beatable.

The real scary units for me are in the turns where an AI has units from the next Era. Crossbows slaughter swordsmen etc. You can't fall too far behind!

On the original point, the food surplus thing with Huns and Mongols is really annoying, the amount of micro needed is surprising given how they've tried to avoid it in other areas of the game. There should be a fifth unit slot just for food, it's not like having a 4-unit stack makes any real difference vs having 2 of 2.

 

[Taefin]

For all the imbalance of some of the mechanics there's also a lot of really nice, asymmetric balance, especially early on. All the units are powerful but beatable.

Winged Hussars are pretty scary, finally encountered three but was diminishes since I had first strike. But the survivor one shotted an abq. Of all units, I felt the most guilty shooting then down and watching their little wings dissolve.

 

[fortydayweekend]

Winged Hussars are pretty scary, finally encountered three but was diminishes since I had first strike. But the survivor one shotted an abq. Of all units, I felt the most guilty shooting then down and watching their little wings dissolve.

I hate having to kill elephants. As soon as I see that cross I click and look away..

And losing an elephant is even worse. The unit that killed it is in big trouble

 

[Taefin]

The elephants should run free!

 

[gunnergoz]

that’s the way to go
Tbh, I am getting used to fighting Mongols and huns now and they are not so scary unless you are not ready for them. And playing with them teaches you their vulnerabilities.

Please share your methods of fighting the Hun hordes, I'd really like to know.

 

[Victoria]

Please share your methods of fighting the Hun hordes, I'd really like to know.

In the game I am in now, I am in an alliance with them and they have no grievance and so cannot break the alliance, currently I have 8 horseman, 4 elephant platforms and 2 super aggressive chariots, however they have 30 huns.
Do I want to fight them? I am probably a little light but it would be fun trying. The elephant platforms are just super strong against them. It is a question of who has an advantage and they have +7 combat strength ATM and are taking out my other neighbour which is the other side of me!

I suspect what will happen is they will capture some cities and then those cities start coming under my influence giving the huns the opportunity to break the alliance. When they do, it seems to occur over 2 turns, (I am double checking) and so I will declare once they break the alliance. Now with the huns you want to be on the offence, with 2 stacks vs 2 and the first attack I should be able to destroy one stack with eles and chariots and horse, if not 5. The 3-4 left have maybe the chance of killing one unit. Down to 22. I then place a spare horse at the front to capture any attacking stacks and allow me to repeat. I have learnt these tricks from the AI but it does not seem to remember it uses them. You can do the same thing with horsemen, with both you do move to pick open ground but it’s not hard with 8 stacks cruising around your civ. the key thing is to get in there with good troops.
If they attack first then you pull back from the front line and make them come to you, they run out of MP and are easier to catch. The killer is to watch their strength. The AI seems to always give them a jolly nice bonus for a few turns so it is about delay.

they also only have a range of 1 and cannot cross fortifications, both can be used to your advantage. The worst you can do is cower and let them smash you to smithereens but they can do it if your visibility is poor so working your luxuries is also key.

TBH I have never faced this many and am glad I have time to grab some more eles. They are nice because they do not wear down with multiple combats easily. I got the smite Tenet so they are all experienced and current pushing civics for +1 combat also.

Looks Scary

Spoiler :

But it is going to be fun trying the grand plan
While tere was a grievance it is gone now

 

[fortydayweekend]

Please share your methods of fighting the Hun hordes, I'd really like to know.

There have been some other threads about this but the basics:
- try not to pick a fight with them in the first place (renounce grievances, agree to everything, don't attack them, even give them reparations or a territory if they demand it). Because you don't know who will pick Huns this is a good reason to be nice to your neighbours in Ancient. If they start a war with someone else instead of you, you should be safe until that's over.
- if you're at war, build a lot of spearmen. Fight in open ground where you can surround them, you want to be able to get a hit with every unit on every turn, ideally with the "rear attack" bonus. Prioritise finishing off their damaged units, but retreat yours before they are killed. Try to bring overwhelming numbers to each battle by maneuvering on the main map (basically by taking advantage of the AI making mistakes). You will probably lose some units.
- Consider taking Persia or Greece for better spear units. If you're not currently at war but think you might be fighting them later in the era then Carthage is good, elephants are excellent against huns.
- check what combat strength advantages the AI units have - if they have +7 from Ferocious then do everything you can to avoid fighting them until that wears off.
- if you have any strategic advantage, you might want to ransack Ordus so they can't spawn more units instead of attacking their cities. But don't do that with isolated stacks, keep your whole army nearby.

 

[gunnergoz]

Thank you @Victoria and @fortydayweekend for those excellent bits of wisdom. I'll take them to heart.