How to Rhodoks?

[Anjin Miura]

I gotta make that thread cause I am slowly losing my mind, seriously. I am about to kill someone, most likely myself.

Let's give you some background first:

After reading a bit about Medieval mercenaries and playing certain strategy game I really, really, really, really (...) wanted to start a mercenary-style game, which is uber-powerful army of high-tier troops fighting here and there for silly amounts of gold, wrecking everyone on its way, technically controlling Calradia without controlling even a village.

Who could possibly suit better for this job than Rhodok people? A guys based on Italian and Swiss cities, perfect condotierri feeling, there can be no other choice. None.

I always had issues with Rhodoks, because I could never get them to work. And I tried dozens of times, believe me. In addition I just found some threads about bugged crossbowmen, sometimes having problems with proper aiming. Fair enough, I can live with that - or eventually swap them for Swadian Longbowmen people, I am fine with them.

However, infantry...let me tell you, I am getting extreme headache after reading all these threads about Rhodoks and their mighty tank infantry. That they have so much health, and great armors and spears and whatnot. That Floris troop guide (really helpful, no, seriously) states that Rhodoks are technically on par with Nords...

Except that they...aren't? For me at least? I tried dozens of games, on average one per day since I can't play for long if I don't have that "feeling", and literally every infantry setup I had was doing better than Rhodoks.

I tried fighting various enemies and setting up various tactics, but nothing, literally nothing works. I can not say I'm any good at this game, but I played for quite a bit and learned thing or two, it's simply that starting a faction is boring and tiresome for me, that's not really my goal.

Nothing works for me. Oblieration - or in best cases win with some serious casualties. At this point, in day 39, I have 22 I3 Lanciere and 8 I4 Lanciere Veterano. Damn those were some bloody battles, but somehow I came to 30 spearmen. Also 9 I2 Reclutas, who will hopefully get promoted soon - if they won't die horribly in some petty battle again. For now I decided to not have any crossbowmen - I'll get back to Swadia soon to raise some Swadian Longbow people.

Spear bracing seems absolutely ineffective. Usually, even if I start in square or wedge infantry is just dispersing and forming very thin line, and even with their spears braced there's nothing to save them from total slaughter.

Could someone shed some light on this matter for me? I can do fine playing Nord I + Vaegir A teams (which is boring as hell since I dislike both factions), I was doing fine raising Khergit horde of lance death (despite my love to Khergits it simply quickly gets boring), I even had somewhat successful (not perfect, but not bad either) games with only-Swadian and only-Sarranid armies, and my Sarranid infantry (ranked as the worst in that troop guide) was doing much, much better than Rhodok one does.

I really want to learn How to Rhodoks. They could easily become my favourites, they are as cool as Khergits (and I never thought I could like someone more), but what's the point when it all end up as mass annoyance and slaughter? I might be missing something obvious, who knows? I'm playing Floris after good few months of break, so I might've forgotten something I would know otherwise.

Anything you know, any tips you can provide would be most appreciated. Everyone talks about Rhodok might but I just cannot get to it.

Regards,
~AnjinMiura

 

[Leifdin]

Nothing works for me. Oblieration - or in best cases win with some serious casualties. At this point, in day 39, I have 22 I3 Lanciere and 8 I4 Lanciere Veterano. Damn those were some bloody battles, but somehow I came to 30 spearmen. Also 9 I2 Reclutas, who will hopefully get promoted soon - if they won't die horribly in some petty battle again. For now I decided to not have any crossbowmen - I'll get back to Swadia soon to raise some Swadian Longbow people.

That are quite weak troops more or less on a par with bandits. Isn't your problem there?

 

[Anjin Miura]

Well, I have to train them somehow...the problem is, same or even lower tiers from other factions were doing much better against everyone. Training Swadians or even Sarranids was, ha, peace of cake really - which was surprise especially as Sarranids. And there aren't really many Looters around at this time. And fighting them isn't really netting much experience.

How do I raise my army as Rhodok then? In my last go I had no problem training crossbowmen (well they just bomb everyone to death, how could it be any problem), but I went with offensive infantry that time. But it's not what Rhodoks are about!

Best faction troop guide states that Rhodok I7 Condotierri is best defensive infantry troop. Of course I won't get to them but I6 should be good then, no? I am fine with I6. In fact I'm fine with anything that actually allows me to fight and win Rhodok-style.

So maybe a different question: out of all Rhodok infantry trees in Expanded troops, which one is the most useful?

 

[Michiko]

Why not use the actual Mercenary troop trees? o_o

Rhodok infantry is not beefier than any faction and what makes them on-par with Nords in my opinion is the fact that they also have shields. That's all. Many infantry of other factions prefer to use two-handed weapons or a chance of ranged weapons instead.

Anyway yeah, if you wanna play as a Mercenary, use the Merc troop tree. Best troop tree in the basic game IMO.

 

[Anjin Miura]

Because it's all about climate. Mercenary troops feel really bland, and they often use German/German-based names. And it would be crap

Well I played some more and after a bit more training on supposedly weak Desert Bandits (utter crap, unless they have Black Khergits with them) I brought a bit stronger army back to Swadia, with some I5 even. Now the problem is as follows: I4's Polearm proficiency is 160, whilist I5's is around 220 afaik. That's a massive gap - and slowly getting to I5 would probably make me invincible.

But I5s refuse to use polearm, in fact I'm not sure if they even have one. And yeah, it's defensive tree. So crap. Either way, they're doing good somehow.

In the end it's all about getting your people into ranks formation, squeezing them hard via stand closer and ordering to use polearms. Then, once enemy approaches, a great swinging contest of swinginess starts, usually attackers end up being massacred if amount of polearms is right.

But why I5s, part of defensive tree with massive polearm proficiency refuses to use polearm? Ha...that would make me an absolute winner of everyting.

I already have some A3s and A4s, I just love how they bomb everything to death with accurate volley fire. I imagine it's all down to training this bunch - slowly but surely, but I believe I am on right track.

So I guess you simply gotta bleed through it - once you get a bunch of I4s swinging madness can start. It probably takes a bit longer than in other factions thou.

Best troop tree in the basic game IMO.

If I'd want to go for the very best setup, I'd use mentioned Nords + Vaegirs and get bored to death I dunno, maybe I'm the only one, but every character and every army has to have that feeling which makes you wanna play that. I would probably continue that Sarranid game where I had much stuff in place, but game itself ended in massive political deadlock. Khergits eliminated Sarranids, Vaegirs -> Nords (), three blobs (super-Khergits, super-Vaegirs, super-Rhodoks) and Swadia with some castles remained, apparently all four connected via non-aggression pacts and whatnot.

As for mercenaries, solution to it would be replacing crap generic mercenaries with Calradian ones. So instead of all that German-styled bunch which appeared out of nowhere you could have more familiar mercenaries, from local factions, based on existing units - but obviously better and much more expensive.

Unique Calradian mercenaries would be thousand times more interesting. And they'd add a lot of flavour.

 

[Michiko]

Well we all have different goals for playing. My definition of best isn't really in the stats. Other than the I6 troops I don't use any of the other high end troops and I stick with the A3 crossbowmen for congruency. Having an army that performs exactly how I want it is my idea of the best. With a proper infantry formation in front I can take down any foe with my crossbowmen, because that's my play style that I'm by now very used to when I play mercs.

As for Rhodoks, I actually follow pretty much the same game plan. Shielded infantry in front, crossbows in the back, spears to the flanks to position as necessary. It's slower than other factions (but not as slow as the Nords because crossbows), but it works and I take minimal casualties if at all in most fights.

 

[stigma]

I can't say that I've had the same experience using rhodoks... They seem to work fine for me.

I usually tend to go fairly heavy on crossbowmen though, so perhaps that is the difference. Rodok crossbomen are top tier as far as I see it. They might not have the raw theoretical DPS of say vaegir bowmen, but they seem to shoot further (they start firing before bowmen of equal ranks), and more accurately at longer ranges it seems to me, although the latter is just from my personal experience. Add to that shields that you can use when repositining/not firing and the heaviest armor and some of the best mobility of any ranged units in the game and they are a winner.

If you can place them well up on a downslope hill towards the enemy with a minor shield-wall infront (which due to the downslope will not obscure their line of sight) and they will tend to cut down half the enemy army before it can reach you, given equal army size. Throw in a few cavalry units to flank around and start attacking and harassing the enemy advance when they are reaching optimal effective range of your crossbowmen, and many of the enemy will not only be slowed down in their advance, but also be forced to turn around and exposing their unprotected backs to your crossbowmen who will proceed to mow them down. If you have mounted companions its wise to send them in just in front of your other cavalry as they are after all effectively "immortal" - it will reduce your losses of expensive cavalry units in the long run. enemy archer lines may also open themselves up to attack as they rush in. exploit that with your cavalry and cut them down then pull away before the main infantry body can move to protect them.

Obviously this strategy setup works most effectively when the enemy has primarily non-mounted units. With heavy cavalry it's quite a bit more challanging to protect your own archer line. More cavalry of your own as well as a larger shield-wall is recommended for those engagements when you can't avoid them.

It's hard to say exactly what is causing your problems, but you should keep in mind at least that rhodok lancieres are not quite "normal" infantry. They aren't in your face sword and board units. They lack shields (at least while wielding 2handed lances) and have range to work with unlike most other infantry. You might want to mix in some other infantry troops for your shieldwall and keep the pikemen a step behind on the flank to join in and envelop right after the enemy crashes into the shieldwall. That - or at least it might be a good idea to use your commands to force units to "use shields". Especially if the enemy has lots of archers it is suicide to have an infantry wall that does not have (or use) shields. rhodok pikemen do have normal weapons + shields too, so if the situation calls for it just yell at them to "use shields" and they transform into very beefy defensive infantry with great shields and armor. I'd only have them use pikes in the initial charge if there were few/no enemy archers close, and there was a large cavalry charge coming in (brings back memories of the desert bandit hordes... oh the nightmares!)

Finally - if nothing else works then keep in mind that numbers are a strength of its own. Having 70 men instead of just 40 makes you a lot stronger even if those extra 30 men are peasants, so unless you are trying to keep a minimal force for some roleplay or speed reason then stock up on low-end troops whenever you can. recruits are cheap, and who cares if most of them won't make it - you can always get some more (a good use of them is usually to keep them in reserve right behind your main infantry wall and order them to charge once the enemy makes contact so they envelop the enemy and can get cheap-shots from the back where even peasants can do some damage)

Hope that was useful. If not, then perhaps add some more details about what specifically you are having troubles with.

EDIT: regarding spear-bracing in particular, I made a thread about just that not long ago. I think the consensus is that it dosn't work as well as it should. It has some limited use in recieving a large cavalry charge and taking down many of the horses quickly, but the lack of shields just dosn't lend itself that well to having them as your front-line troops like that, and a tightpacked shieldwall of swords and boards tends to work just as well against cavalry and isn't so vunerable to archers. Spear bracing is tricky. It's not entirely useless, but its very much situationally useful, while a normal shieldwall tends to work about as well against cavalry and is always useful regardless of the situation.

-Stigma

 

[J Awesome]

Regular sword-and-board Rhodok infantry is actually pretty tough, and I like using the I4 and I5 units personally.  As stigma pointed out, the problem is that a sheer pikeman army isn't horribly effective, and you really need to mix some sword-and-board units in there with them to absorb hits.  I also highly recommend using rank formations and commanding them with F1 to attack enemy companies, so they stick together.

 

[Leifdin]

If you have problems getting higher level recruits, get yourself some mercenaries(I6 is obviously the best choice, but and t4+ will do). As soon as you have at least half of your army t4, you can get rid of them. The problem with Rhodoks seems to be that they are very defensive  and lords will usually stand their ground when challenged by a greater army. At least in my games.

Also not that spear AI is quite bad. It is very noticeable on Nord Aethelings who tend to switch between spear and secondary weapon until they die to much weaker unit. However, as you said, if you force them in using spears in tight formations...I never actually tried that so I don't know

 

[Carlos Danger]

Pack thyself a crossbow and some decent armour, sword but no shield and become a freelancer, thats the way the game was meant to be played 

 

[Anjin Miura]

That's a lot of replies...you guys are certainly a helpful bunch

@Hanakoganei

Congruency? Is it better to keep only one type of archers/xbowmen and wait until all can be promoted, or is it just matter of flavour as well?

@stigma

Rhodok crossbowmen might indeed not be perfect, but first time I ordered and saw their volley fire, I instantly fell in love with them. No more crappy archer people, we need a serious artillery-like fire! Although I like Swadian Longbowmen too, they have dat style. And presence.

I know about using terrain to advantage, as I've said I played this game for quite a while Crossbowmen seem, sometimes, to have problems with aiming from certain positions, even if they have a lot of free space. I had weird series of them bombing ten people in one volley, then none or only one in next, then five, then one, then five, then zero, then seven, etc. Fairly irregular, but once enemy stops moving they get fairly frequent.

And crap I ain't no switching them I just like watching whole volley fire thing! <3

I am yet to decide which cavalry to include (and get bigger party size to include them first). I was thinking of manhunters, later tiers are giving me that good feeling. Or Sarranid tanks, I require army made up from artillery and tanks, not puny bows and horses.

Or Vaegirs. Wild Death Riders from Winterland. I like that

For now I only used my growing infantry-force to cleave some Forest and Desert Bandits, but they seem to be quite competent at this. Comparing to my early death ratio 1:1 against Forest Bandits it's big improvement - tightly formed in ranks and swing-spamming bunch cleaves dem in one shot really. That's hillarious to watch.

Against cavalry (desert bandits) I was using square + 2x Stand Closer, and they were competent at cleaving them (unless Black Khergit Horsemen were there, but now I could easily bomb them with crossbows). Against Steppe Bandits I had some uber troubles, I could barely win, maybe it'd better now.

My set of questions is as follows:

1. Square against cavalry seems to do fine, would tight ranks work now as well? My army is now twice as good (I'm at day 63 afaik) so I guess I could try that. My point is, I feel like I'm not utilizing space and polearms by using square. Only first lines are fighting and well, maybe I could get more people to fight there?

2. You mention using shieldwall quite often, but I am using ranks as for now. If I'd put all my infantry into shieldwall, would it work as I think, I mean, people with shields would go in first line and stop everything with their panzer bodies while pikes behind them would bring upon attackers bloody painful death?

3. What about wedge? Any use for infantry?

That was one resourceful post. Many thanks sire, may God rain moniez upon you!

@J Awesome

I tried Rhodoks two days ago and went offensive on Expanded trooptree, aiming for I6 Guardia Ducale. Maybe I should've played with weapon orders more, I was getting average results while using offensive guys. But now that defensive can cleave with style, do I really need offensive?

@Leifdin

Remove mercenaries from premises! My reasons are standing in my last post.

Yeah, that spear AI is bugging me as hell. All I5s are refusing to use it, but with their proficiency they'd add significant amount of pointy death to my formation.


@Carlos Danger

I tried freelancer path, it's fun for a while. Sadly, only for a while

In my last Rhodok game I indeed had arbalest, probably most hillarious and badass weapon in Floris I've used. I literally wanted to change my name to Katyusha after using it

And for armor I use badass Highlander one (+41/+11?) and kettle helmet, that gives me proper "mad condotierre from mountains" look

***

Thanks to all of you again, that was very helpful I am at day 60 now, my army requires more training but now it finally does fine against bandits. I haven't played as of my last post, so it's time to hop in and see what future holds for me.

And I gotta buy dat arbalest again. Many funs.

 

[stigma]

Anjin - I use shieldwall over ranks when there is a cavalry charge coming. shieldwall + 2 "stand closer" makes a very think wall that will stop most if not all cavalry from breaking through, thus severely limiting how effective the cavalry can be unless they are flanking because the first horses will be forced to a stop and thus create a roadblock for the next horses behind them. Meanwhile the first ones get stuck in the middle and quickly die to many swords being able to hit them at once from the tight formation. The other time it should be used is if you have non-shielded units in your infantry line combined with shielded ones. If you use shieldwall with such a mix of units then the shieldwall will automatically put more veteran units with shields in front, with weaker and non-shileded units in row 2 and 3. This allows you to protect your infantry really well, especially against archers (say, like a horde of forest bandits). You can choose to "advance-advance-advance" rather than charge them into enemy archers if you want to retain the shieldwall while moving forward, which can be useful in some cases as long as the distance isn't too great.

Tight ranks do much the same duty in many cases, but the AI dosn't put shields in front, and tight ranks aren't as tight as a tight shieldwall in terms of stopping cavalry dead. Its a tradeoff of having a wider coverage over a tighter and tougher cluster. Ranks are well suited to recieving ordinary infantry when there aren't tons of archers or a massive cavalry charge coming, as it helps you more easily envelop the enemy. Also the larger surface area makes it harder for enemies to get past the line if you have a lot of archers behind it.

As for wedge, I don't really use it for infantry. I haven't experimented with it a ton, but wedge formation is for breaking up enemy formations, and for that you need some speed - meaning that usually it only makes sense for cavalry. The most fun use I've had out of wege formation is in the unusual situation of if you have a large force of slaver chiefs (elephant riders). If you can line them up with the enemy and rather than have them charge, just set them to ride to BEHIND the enemy they will charge straight through them, and due to elephants MASSIVE charge damage they basically almost can't be slowed down or stopped by infantry - and their charge does enough damage to knock out light infantry on a single hit. Although tricky to pull off it can decimate an entire group of infantry and splinter even the densest nord shieldwalls as if it were nothing. Keep in mind that even elephants can't trample cavalry and will stop dead just like any other horse if they hit them. The same tactic works well with wedge using heavy cavalry too. The trample damage isn't as insane, but it will tend to break up formations very well unless it's very thick. Don't try it with light cav against anything other than light archers though, as only heavy cav has high charge, and the lower the charge the easier you get slowed down and stuck. That's exactly why the elephants do such an incredible job of it

EDIT: about mixing archers of various ranks - it's no problem to do so and there is no real benefit to keeping them the same rank. Having them all be the same just makes for aestetic appeal and makes volley-fire more "pretty" as you get true syncronized waves upon waves of arrow. Don't worry too much about it.

-Stigma

 

[Michiko]

@Hanakoganei

Congruency? Is it better to keep only one type of archers/xbowmen and wait until all can be promoted, or is it just matter of flavour as well?

For archers, if you intend to use volley firing, it's a good idea to make sure they use the same weapon and have similar proficiency levels. This ensures that everybody reaches the primed-and-ready state in volley firing at the same time, to reduce the number of wasted shots loosing their bolts or arrows before they're properly aimed.

Although volley firing is better suited for crossbowmen (and musketeers due to similar mechanics), regular archers with normal bows can also do it quite effectively if they are congruent as described.

But, for personal preference, I tend to prefer congruent infantry and cavalry troops as well. My reasoning is because it's easier for me to expect how they perform. If I have 50 infantry of the same type in my party, instead of 21 of troop A, 12 of troop B and 13 of troop C, for example, it's easier for me to manage it and deal with the situation appropriately because I know that all my infantry have similar equipment and skills.

 

[Anjin Miura]

@stigma

Ah, so indeed shieldwall is more suited in some serious fights, whereas against bandits infantry's only purpose is to get as many kills as possible after crossbowmen's bombardment. Thanks for clarifying

I use advance/hold position (...and attack...) instead of charge for quite a while now, certainly a useful trick.

I thought of wedge and pikemen simply because maybe they could somehow break enemy infantry same as cavalry does. In such defensive mercenary army I guess my only use for cavalry would be to eliminate archers or surprise attack some weaker infantry. Which again brings me to point, should I get light or heavy cavalry? Manhunters could also earn me some money so I'm getting more and more inclined to get them.

Thanks for your assistance sire

@Hanakoganei

Well, now I have around 16 A4 and 14 A3 in my team, so I guess I might wait with getting A5s now that you've said that. I noticed that A4s are starting their fire earlier, so maybe then A3s and A4s together are somewhat screwing each other with picking targets etc. That's another good thing to know.

As for infantry, well, I guess it's too late as for now But I'll try to adhere to that soon and see how it goes. Thanks

 

[stigma]

Although somewhat unrelated, i just want to add a nice litle trick that I just recently found out was even possible - being able to command an attack order against a specific enemy division, rather than just "charge" (which targets the nearest enemies usually).

If you simply select your troops and hold down F1 the same way you do to make them go somewhere, but instead put the banner in the middle of say - an enemy archer line - you should get a message saying "... and attack enemy archer division". This can be really useful in cases where the enemy lets his archers stray too far from the main infantry body for example - because it lets you send your cavalry to decimate the archers while you can more or less put your full attention somewhere else while they are doing their thing - such as worrying about the enemy cavalry attacking your own lines, or dealing with the infantry body. Being able to strike in two places at once without having to babysit both parties can be a great benefit.

Unfortunately this seems to only work with "F1" targeting - not the map menu via backspace, which is a bummer, but its workable nonetheless assuming you are mounted and have some mobility and overview of the battlefield. That's one of the things I hope they add more of in bannerlord. It would be sweet to be able to go into bullet-time mode when in the strategy menu to be able to relay more complex commands and possible even have more of a typical RTS drag-select and "attack here/attack this" sort of interface. If they wanted to make it really fancy it could slow down time to a near-stop, fade to sepia or something, and then  zoom out the cam into overhead mode free-cam where you would be able to drag-select and click-command divisions and/or even individual units. Crossing my fingers for something like this :3

-Stigma

 

[stigma]

One last thing to add - you might want to experiment with the "force NPC spears fix" or whatever its called in mod options. With it ticked spearmen will be very reluctant to switch to their secondary arms like swords. They will if they get into a big melee ball, but in general they will favor their spear a whole lot more. Having the setting on is probably better if you use spearmen as "specialty" units. Having it off might be best if you use them as a replacement for a standard front-line soldier because spearmen might otherwise be a little stupid about trying to use spears almost exclusively in close quarters too - past their effective range.

I don't know if this might be some of the cause of the problem you've experienced, but its worth trying a couple of battles with it toggeled on and off to get an idea of what you prefer. I think it affects the enemy AI soldiers too though, so be aware of that.

-Stigma

 

[Michiko]

Yeah that spearman option is a real lifesaver for strong polearm units like the Landsknechte and others with pikes for stopping horses.

 

[Anjin Miura]

I'm around day 100 now, and adhering to all things I've learned from game and your advices I got to this:

There are pretty much no problems with cleaving infantry. Since I have a nice bunch of I5s they're usually being placed in first line of shieldwall and they cover all the spears behind them nicely. Fighting once 90 vs 200 bandits I ended up losing 3 or 4 people for good and having another five or so wounded - no big deal, aye? It's still far from being what I want it to be, but damn I feel like I am progressing hard. And most of all I like this game out of dozens of games I've started recently the most. That's simply it. I will probably stick with this one for a long time.

Only problem is that I usually lose one man or so here and there and I always end up having some minimal amounts of I2s in party. But considering that soon I5s will become majority of my infantry group I believe I am on right track.

Once I'll breach party size 100, I'll start thinking about cavalry. I don't need that much really, just an elite bunch to clean up remnants from waves attacking my shieldwall and surprise blitz enemy archers. I guess I'll get Manhunters for that.

I just still wonder about crossbowmen, they are quite irrelguar...they are really getting their job done well, but that inconsistency is worrying me...but in the end they are far better at sieges, right? Good thing I'm losing none so they're progressing steadily.

I guess that concludes my "How To Rhodoks" problem. Answer was, as I expected, surprisingly simple. It just takes quite a while before such army is able to carry out some offensive tasks - I've sent shieldwall alone against enemies a few times and they did very well, thou a bit more casualties were inflicted, so of course I'll refrain from attacking before a bunch of wrecking balls volleys gets pumped into attackers.

I've also noticed something funny concerning volleys. Could it really be such disastrous morale hit? After a few volleys and quick cleaving done by shieldwall remaining enemies with bows seem to be absolutely lost. I can stand literally next to them and they are trying to shoot their bow or draw sword but can't really get to it. Just for fun I was standing next to a Mountain Bandit for a minute or so, and he did literally nothing, just reloaded his crossbow, aimed, put it down, took it again, aimed, put it down...also I've noticed that enemies are running away in bigger quantities now, then coming back, then they can't decide whether to attack or not...they seem to have some problems on a...mental side.

Is it a massive morale drop caused by volley fire/spear cleave? If that's the case, bloody hell I love it

 

[Leifdin]

That "bug" with enemy archers units is known, if I remember correctly it affects troops that have  bow or crossbow but no "tf_guarantee_ranged" flag.

 

[Michiko]

I've also noticed something funny concerning volleys. Could it really be such disastrous morale hit? After a few volleys and quick cleaving done by shieldwall remaining enemies with bows seem to be absolutely lost. I can stand literally next to them and they are trying to shoot their bow or draw sword but can't really get to it. Just for fun I was standing next to a Mountain Bandit for a minute or so, and he did literally nothing, just reloaded his crossbow, aimed, put it down, took it again, aimed, put it down...also I've noticed that enemies are running away in bigger quantities now, then coming back, then they can't decide whether to attack or not...they seem to have some problems on a...mental side.

Is it a massive morale drop caused by volley fire/spear cleave? If that's the case, bloody hell I love it

That particular issue you noticed is a bug. But morale really does drop faster from my experience when using volley firing. Actually getting any kind of bursts of kills rather than scattered kills will cause huge morale drop. Charging heavy cavalry into the enemy line has the same effect, as well as unleashing your flankers on the enemy archer line.

The effect of low morale is that enemies will break formation and scatter. Most of them will flee but some of them will charge your line. In any case, a broken formation is usually easy pickings, so this is the priority for large scale battles for me. That's why I prefer volley firing, even if people argue that you get more kills per minute without it. It isn't kills per minute that wins big battles, but destroying the enemy formations so that your guys can clean up. If their morale is so low even if they get reinforcements the reinforcements will start off fleeing as soon as they spawn.