Help! My soldiers are out of control...

Hi,

I am just getting started with AoE II-Age of Kings (and this type of games
generally). I am a bit lost.

I played the learning campaign (until 'making allies') and got the basic
grip of things I think. Now I got started with the Joan of Arc campagin and I
passed the first level fine. The two first objectives in level 2 are fine as
well but when I get to the 3rd objective which involves defending the
cathedral at the same time as conquering 1 enemy bastion, I get stuck. I
build farms and gather gold and create militia and farmers to sustain my
modest army.

But when the enemy starts with the attacks I lose control over my army. I
can direct them to combat threats and kill enemy. But since I don't look at
them combatting the enemy (I go and build militia, repair houses or research
stuff) I do not see how the skirmishes outside my walls go on. And oftaen
there are attacks on 2 or 3 places at once so I send armies there. But
outside my vision my soldiers then often go off on their own to chase enemies
away from the castle, and they stray away from where I think they are. So
when a new attack comes I found my self without army to defend and I have to
run around the screen to find them. Often my knights are fighting some lone
soldier from attack 1 somewhere in the woods where he escaped while stones
are launched at my walls by soldiers in enemy attack 2.

I am definitely no Napoleon yet!

How do I maintain control over my army? Am I missing any command such as
'kill this enemy and the go back to base camp' ?

Any tips anyone?

Thanks!

/p

Some tips for controlling your army:

Have a look in the manual how to assign numbers to your units. For
example select a group of horsemen and press Ctrl+1. After that you can
select them by pressing 1 again. To jump to their location press
'space'. You can to the same to a group of mixed units.
From there it is only a small step to assign formations and behavior: I
usually assign defensive behavior as the units will otherwise follow an
enemy to the end of the map.
Try experimenting with these settings.

Also keep an eye on the minimap: it flashes if a confrontation occurs
and you can quickly jump there.
As for defending the city: knights backed up by archers are quite
effective, assign groups of them to the various flash points, build up
your defense before going on the attack, make sure your supplies are
protected.

Peter wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I am just getting started with AoE II-Age of Kings (and this type of games
>generally). I am a bit lost.
>
>I played the learning campaign (until 'making allies') and got the basic
>grip of things I think. Now I got started with the Joan of Arc campagin and I
>passed the first level fine. The two first objectives in level 2 are fine as
>well but when I get to the 3rd objective which involves defending the
>cathedral at the same time as conquering 1 enemy bastion, I get stuck. I
>build farms and gather gold and create militia and farmers to sustain my
>modest army.
>
>But when the enemy starts with the attacks I lose control over my army. I
>can direct them to combat threats and kill enemy. But since I don't look at
>them combatting the enemy (I go and build militia, repair houses or research
>stuff) I do not see how the skirmishes outside my walls go on. And oftaen
>there are attacks on 2 or 3 places at once so I send armies there. But
>outside my vision my soldiers then often go off on their own to chase enemies
>away from the castle, and they stray away from where I think they are. So
>when a new attack comes I found my self without army to defend and I have to
>run around the screen to find them. Often my knights are fighting some lone
>soldier from attack 1 somewhere in the woods where he escaped while stones
>are launched at my walls by soldiers in enemy attack 2.
>
>I am definitely no Napoleon yet!
>
>How do I maintain control over my army? Am I missing any command such as
>'kill this enemy and the go back to base camp' ?
>
>Any tips anyone?
>
>Thanks!
>
>/p
>
>
>
>
>