posted 12-22-08 04:35 PM EDT (US)
Stances are a double edged sword than will either help you win your game, or lose it horribly.
There are three stances in Battle for Middle Earth 2 that you can take adavantage of:
Defensive Stance
While in this stance units will not auto acquire enemies unless they are attacked.
[+] Increased armor.
[-] Decreased attack.
Battle Stance:
This is the normal stance. Units will auto-acquire enemies and will only chase them a short time or until that unit leaves their LOS.
There are no pros or cons with this stance.
Aggressive Stance
While in this stance units will chase any enemy unit they see and will not stop until that unit is outside of their LOS or dead.
[+] Increased attack.
[-] Decreased Armor.
When to use stances:
Defensive Stance:
This a good stance to use if your units are being attacked by archers. If you have swordsmen or cavalry charging enemy archers put them in this stance until they reach the archers. Once they reach the archers put them in normal or aggressive stance.
If you are leaving a unit as a sacrifice put it in defensive stance so it will survive longer. This is also useful fi you are going to reinfirce your army, you can out the few people in defensive stance until your army arrives.
If the enemy is having all of his army focus on one of your battalions put that battalion in defensive stance so it will survive longer.
Uruks and Gondor soldiers in shield wall with defensive stance on can take a lot of beating before they die. They make EXCELLENT meatshields! On a sidenote always put your Uruk-Hai and Gondor Soldiers in Shield Wall when they are engaged in hand to hand combat.
Defensive stance is useful for units with high attack. They can still get 1-2 hit kills while taking little damage (e.g. Guardians, high level cheap troll heroes, etc).
If you have some swordsmen that are about to be hit by cavalry put them in defensive stance. Once the cavalry hit and slow down, put your swordsmen in aggressive stance then kill the cavalry.
If your archers are about to be hit by cavalry put them in defensive stance.
Right after your cavalry are done trampling enemy units, put them into defensive stance. When cavalry trample enemy units, those units deal crush damage back. Putting your cavalry into defensive stance immediately after they hit enemy units will help keep them alive for a much longer period of time.
Battle Stance:
The only time to use this stance is when your troops are fighting an equal-sized force. Even then you really won't use it that much unless you don't have the skill to micro all of your battalions.
Aggressive Stance:
Put your cavalry in attack stance before you hit a group of unprotected archers.
Put your archers in aggressive stance When they are attacking enemy units/buildings and are not being attacked back.
When you want to kill something quicky put your units in Aggressive Stance.
Use aggressive stances when you have units attacking enemy resource buildings.
All I just said can be summed up in the following lines:
Your units that are not being attacked and are attacking should be in aggressive stance, your units that are fighting and being attacked back should be in defensive stance if they are significantly outnumbered. If the forces are about equal then your soldiers engaged in combat and taking damage should be in battle stance.
Stance Combos:
Have either Uruk-Hai or Gondor Soldiers in Defensive Stance and Shield Wall. These soldiers engage their other units in hand to hand combat. Have archers in the back on aggressive stance. While their units attack your meatshield your archers will destroy their army. If they get wise to you, reverse your stances. Put your archers in defensive stance and put your swordsmen in aggressive stance (leave shield wall on!).
You can do this with other swordsmen/archer combos but it is most effective wih Uruk-Hai and Gondor Soldiers because of their shield wall. Guardians are the next best infantry selection to use with this strategy.
Remember heroes have stances that can and should be used.
Thanks to Nenya0619 for providing me with the % increases and decreases when in different stances:
Swordsmen
Pikemen
Archers
Cavalry
Heroes
Shield Wall Formation
Porcupine Formation
"Apparently, arguing for the right to do something no-one wants to do is the lifeblood of HG." - TaylorFlame
"Whatever happened, BFME2H did it better. No Exceptions." - EnemyofJupitor
There are three stances in Battle for Middle Earth 2 that you can take adavantage of:
While in this stance units will not auto acquire enemies unless they are attacked.
This is the normal stance. Units will auto-acquire enemies and will only chase them a short time or until that unit leaves their LOS.
There are no pros or cons with this stance.
While in this stance units will chase any enemy unit they see and will not stop until that unit is outside of their LOS or dead.
When to use stances:
Defensive Stance:
Battle Stance:
Aggressive Stance:
All I just said can be summed up in the following lines:
Stance Combos:
Have either Uruk-Hai or Gondor Soldiers in Defensive Stance and Shield Wall. These soldiers engage their other units in hand to hand combat. Have archers in the back on aggressive stance. While their units attack your meatshield your archers will destroy their army. If they get wise to you, reverse your stances. Put your archers in defensive stance and put your swordsmen in aggressive stance (leave shield wall on!).
You can do this with other swordsmen/archer combos but it is most effective wih Uruk-Hai and Gondor Soldiers because of their shield wall. Guardians are the next best infantry selection to use with this strategy.
Remember heroes have stances that can and should be used.
Thanks to Nenya0619 for providing me with the % increases and decreases when in different stances:
Defensive:
* +25% Armor
* -15% Damage
* -10% Vision
Aggressive:
* +25% Damage
* -15% Armor
Defensive:
* +50% Armor
* -25% Damage
* -15% Vision
Aggressive:
* +50% Damage
* -25% Armor
Defensive:
* +20% Armor
* -10% Damage
* -10% Vision
Aggressive:
* +20% Damage
* -20% Armor
Defensive:
* +50% Armor
* -25% Damage
* -15% Speed
* -10% Vision
Aggressive:
* +50% Damage
* -25% Armor
Defensive:
* +10% Armor
* -20% Damage
* -10% Speed
* -10% Vision
Aggressive:
* +10% Damage
* -30% Armor
* +25% Armor
* -40% Speed
* +50% Armor
* +20% Damage
* -10% Vision
* -100% Speed
"Apparently, arguing for the right to do something no-one wants to do is the lifeblood of HG." - TaylorFlame
"Whatever happened, BFME2H did it better. No Exceptions." - EnemyofJupitor
[This message has been edited by Catabre (edited 04-01-2009 @ 09:27 AM).]
