So not only do you have to deal with keeping armies fed and at full strength through army replenishment, but you also have to manage them on the battlefield. That means you’re going to have to keep up with troop morale and prevent routing of your armies. So here’s how you can keep your armies on the field longer to inflict more damage on your enemies.
Troop morale and routing in A Total War Saga: Troy is a very simple system. Each unit has a hidden morale number that dictates how much abuse they can take before they break and flee from the fight. Routing is something that has evolved a lot throughout the history of the franchise. In some games, like Rome: Total War, it was simple to use certain units to instantly break weaker foes due to the terror those powerful units inflicted. A Total War Saga: Troy takes things in a bit different direction. Morale has been made more complex, and it’s a much more dynamic system this time around.
What is morale?
When looking at the details of a unit in battle you will see both their health bar and a bar under that. This lower bar is a unit’s morale value. This can be raised or lowered during fights with various factors, but it doesn’t exist outside of battle. The base morale of a given unit type cannot also normally be altered. Stronger units are just better at fighting and thus have a higher morale number.
If that number hits zero, the unit will route from the battle and be useless. Like in previous games, it’s possible to restore a fleeing unit from route, although not easily. This often relies on having strong and fresh units around it while also buffing their morale with leader abilities. There is also the opposite effect that’s possible. A key unit getting broken has a penalty on all the units around it. Having a hero beaten in combat can often cause your entire army to collapse if their combined morale is low enough.
Troop morale and routing in A Total War Saga: Troy is a complex dance to master. Often, you will want to keep a close eye on the morale of all the units in a melee, and use your reserve units to foster a new sense of hope in wavering units. Be careful about over-committing your forces though. Sometimes it is a simple numbers game, as having allies around a wavering unit can help restore their confidence.
Also, taking out enemy units can help. Beating an enemy hero or unit grants a scaling morale buff to your units. If you start to see the enemy flank wavering, press the attack. Causing routs among the enemy can help buoy your own forces quite a bit. The more enemy losses you can make, the higher the boost.
