Using bats for ZOC: A helpful guide.
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Using bats for ZOC: A helpful guide.
Any player who knows the basics of wesnoth will find the title nonsensical: After all, bats, as lvl 0 units, don't have any ZOC. This is true, but they can still be used to limit movement.
It's not always easy to get two units on opposite sides of an enemy unit, because even if you have two units near your enemy, they might not be able to get to opposite sides, either because of bad terrain or other enemy units. Faster units, like scouts, are often used for this.
Here, undead have a problem. The only fast unit they have with ZOC are ghosts, and they're too expensive and fragile to risk like this. But bats can also fill the role.
Look at the screenshot bellow. The skeletons are in a position that is much easier to get to, but much less advantageous. In the example to the left, thought it doesn't look like it, the cavalry can only move more than one square in one direction: South. He can't go southeast our southwest in a straight line for more than one square because of the skeletons' ZOC affects those squares, but he still has a lot of freedom to escape, because he can just move south and then around the ZOC.
In the example to the right, a bat blocks the south square. The cavalryman can't go through the bat, so his escape is blocked: The skeletons do all the ZOC work, but the bat acts as a portable wall and blocks the only route of escape. Next turn, the skeletons can move to opposite ends and the bat can fly off and heal. (Unless other units interfere, but if they do, all the better: You stopped a retreat and can now fight them during conditions that are more favourable for you.
This works with every single level 0 unit, of course, but bats are the best to use because they're fast enough to move into position, and have a high enough defence to not get killed, with a bit of luck.
It's not always easy to get two units on opposite sides of an enemy unit, because even if you have two units near your enemy, they might not be able to get to opposite sides, either because of bad terrain or other enemy units. Faster units, like scouts, are often used for this.
Here, undead have a problem. The only fast unit they have with ZOC are ghosts, and they're too expensive and fragile to risk like this. But bats can also fill the role.
Look at the screenshot bellow. The skeletons are in a position that is much easier to get to, but much less advantageous. In the example to the left, thought it doesn't look like it, the cavalry can only move more than one square in one direction: South. He can't go southeast our southwest in a straight line for more than one square because of the skeletons' ZOC affects those squares, but he still has a lot of freedom to escape, because he can just move south and then around the ZOC.
In the example to the right, a bat blocks the south square. The cavalryman can't go through the bat, so his escape is blocked: The skeletons do all the ZOC work, but the bat acts as a portable wall and blocks the only route of escape. Next turn, the skeletons can move to opposite ends and the bat can fly off and heal. (Unless other units interfere, but if they do, all the better: You stopped a retreat and can now fight them during conditions that are more favourable for you.
This works with every single level 0 unit, of course, but bats are the best to use because they're fast enough to move into position, and have a high enough defence to not get killed, with a bit of luck.
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