Total War: Rome 2 Mechanics: Elephants and Missiles

Sometimes elephants run amok from a single volley, sometimes they seem to be impervous to missile fire.
The type of projectile used makes all the difference. Some will indeed make the elephants run amok on the first volley, while some will need too many to be considered effective.
A wise elephant commander will be able to keep his beasts in rein for longer if he knows where, when and how to fight - and a careless commander will see his own lines destroyed by the rampaging behemoths.
Note: Some flaming projectiles do work on both horse and foot archers, some don't. I have contacted CA to ask what's up.

[@davernbakker9595]

Missiles have a mass like horses do. Perhaps this is why pila (very heavy, thus shorter range), then Javelin, then heavy arrows have a greater effect? I recall from looking at Rome and M2TW data files there is a missiles file with mass and other stats, but I don't have Rome 2. Perhaps you can look to see if it is there? Great work!!!

[@Commievn]

I don't know about mass but you can change the range/damage of the unit in projectile table, you can even change the trajectory (whether it's curvy like arrow or more straight like slinger shot) It doesn't matter if it's javalin or the catabult shot. You can make Javelin shoot over the map if you want.

[@carbon1255]

Though fire arrows and javelins claim to reduce damage, I believe this to be erroneous. When using the flaming ability, I believe it converts damage to "fire damage" or something of the like. Adding the bonus to large javelins have, the damage will be the same/increase as fire damage appears to have some kind of armour ignoring quality. As to the amok, I believe that is caused by damage from a single projectile, as a %age of the current health of the elephant, being programmed to be the activator, with a percentage of elephants (possibly 100%) that have to be hit within a certain timeframe. It may well be real damage, or morale damage (morale damage is generated from damage taken, some types increasing it more than others, such as fire)

[@Robert399]

I'm happy that you pronounce "amok" correctly.

[@darkmatter7678]

Thanks for this. It seems I have been underestimating the power of precursor javs against the elephants. One volley from random infantry to run them amok seems a bit extreme though. But at least now I know why it seems I loose control over them so often. I know most people do not use them this patch but which faction do you think can use elephants to the best result. Thanks again.

[@maximusnorvegicus]

Yeah, with alot of cheap infantry running around and charging your elephants they can run amok and even die very quickly!

[@TheHahanicevideo]

Flaming javelins shot must have a super heavy bonus vs elephants, btw you can kill elephants with shit slingers, did it against carthage as turdetani once.

[@maximusnorvegicus]

The AI kills its elephants instantly when they run amok, so it's just a bug. No massive bonuses.

[@TheGeorgianOne]

Have you tested foot archers & flaming missiles? I have an impression that only horse archers with flaming missiles are broken.

[@maximusnorvegicus]

Foot archers are as reliable with flaming shot as javelins are basically. Some horse archers are as well, like the Amazonian Riders. It might be a problem tied to specific arrows used by the horse archers but I'm not sure because I haven't found how going amok is calculated. Hope CA can clarify, and fix the bug if indeed it is one.

[@niklasclement6066]

could you make a vid on formation attack? or have you already done one?

[@maximusnorvegicus]

I made one , but it's outdated since the game has been patched since then. I'll make a new one.

[@niklasclement6066]

ok thanks :)

[@obelixthegreat5687]

Could it be the hidden bonus vs large on the Javelins? Or maybe the Mass (weight) of the projectiles thrown at the elephants? If such thing even exists in the game mechanics.

[@maximusnorvegicus]

It could be, but the weird thing is some arrow/bow-combinations work, some don't. With the identical damage. It's just weird.

[@xXJeReMiAhXx99]

I saw a shot from rome's auxiliary syrian archers with flaming shot run them amok in 1 volley, seems like really there is no standard here, just random units that are secretly better than others for no apparent reason, the only universal thing is that a heavier shot is better(heavy shot being second best and javelins being the best)

[@maximusnorvegicus]

Yep! Some foot archers and horse-archers can reliably make them run amok. It's very random at the moment. Heavy shot always works for killing them.

[@xXJeReMiAhXx99]

Maximus Decimus Meridius yeah it definitely favors heavy missiles by far but then after that it appears to be a toss up. question, sorry if you've already covered this I'm new here but I always see you shooting missiles from behind your lines into enemies directly in front of your own units, I avoid this because I think that any missile that misses is going to hit my own units right in the rear where it hurts the most, possibly hurting me as much as the enemy, I also see heir of carthage avoids that too, am I wrong here?

[@maximusnorvegicus]

Yeah, foot archers eem to be more consistent, they do have 50% more missiles but adjusted for that some of the horse archers are definitely broken.

[@xXJeReMiAhXx99]

Maximus Decimus Meridius I'm guessing the second part of my comment didn't load?

[@maximusnorvegicus]

You are right about that! Total War: Rome 2 Mechanics: Friendly Fire , nothing friendly about it Sometimes, when i don't have the option to flank or other targets I will take the friendly fire casualties if an inferior unit is up against a superior one - for example Noble Fighter against Libyan Infantry. Not the best way of doing it, flanking shots would be better but that option isn't always there.

[@MA-qc3fs]

That would be great if u had the time. Especially testing if roman units do better with formation attack on or off

[@connorlafo5310]

Flaming javelins. They don't exist in the game....

[@CCSABCD]

They do, those horse skrimishers have them, and peltast too.

[@connorlafo5310]

Oh lol shouldn't have commented I play on radius

[@memestream8929]

so many dislikes

[@suomusintti]

Only two

[@bashkillszombies]

You're really bad at getting to the point.