Moving missle troops behind

[Kawee]

I'm a noob, so bear with me. I believe that the best way to set up your army is to have the missle tropps in front of your infantry, and then retreat them before the enemy charges, correct?

I can't seem to ever pull this off though. If I make them run to behind the front line, they get very disorganized, and not form the straight long line they did when they were the front line.

How do I properly move them from the front line to behind the infantry? :hmmm:

[Lord Feloric's Ambassador]

They should have an ability called "Skirmish." If you click on the "Skirmish" button your archers will automatically move back when the enemy gets too close.

[Viking Prince]

The perfect straight line is not as important for missile troops. Most of their work should be done by time they withdraw behind the infantry.

It always depends on the situation, but I will try to withdraw back and towads the flanks to get a better angle shot on the enemy -- even advance on the flank for rear shots.

As Lord Feloric's Ambassador advised -- skirmish is your friend -- esp. on loose when under cavalry charge. You cannnot micromanage every unit and the eternal pause is somewhat a cheat on the excitement and confusion while in the throes of combat. Yeah, despite the greatest of care, the archers may end up under direct attack.

Merry Christmas!

[Old_Scratch]

An easy way I found is to re-draw your archer group behind your infantry. By re-draw I mean right click and drag a new formation facing the same direction, but behind your infantry. If you just double click behind, your archer group will try to turn around, but they wont just about face. The left will try to go right and vice versa and you end up with them all over the place.

This is also good for cavalry. If you just charged him and you want to fall back in an orderly fashion, just re-draw the formation far back. Otherwise your cavalry will try to flip flop and get all entangled with the enemy and likely will take a lot of casualties or rout.

I'm talking in terms of grouped units here, individual clicking on units has no adverse effect.

[Kawee]

Thank you all. When using longbowmen it's not too much of a problem because they own no matter what. But when using xbow, having a long front line is useful, I think, because they fire a straight shot rather than a curve one. As for musketeers, well...the straight line is vital. And my failure to form a good straight line has been very costly indeed.

[nemr]

disable skirmish ability , put them behind your infantry

>>>but do not forget to secure your back from enemy`s cavalry maneuvers

[tuore]

I agree with nemr. Protect them, and turn skirmish off. When the enemy comes close, they don't run away, instead they take their swords and start melee.

[Old_Scratch]

I agree with nemr. Protect them, and turn skirmish off. When the enemy comes close, they don't run away, instead they take their swords and start melee.

The only problem with this is if you are facing off against other long range missiles they will be able to fire at your infantry before you're archers can fire back.

[Callawyn]

Missile units should definitely be deployed in front of infantry at start of battle, they'll get a lot more kills firing direct rather than over the heads of your infantry. Particularly if you're on a hill and the AI has to take time to climb up to you.

Scratch's method definitely works. Far better to draw the line you want them to withdraw to and have them run there, than to double click behind your line. Exception is if an individual unit gets caught in melee and you have to keep giving him orders to withdraw.

Most of the time though, I simply leave my archers in place, why interrupt their firing? Better to charge my infantry forward in time to meet the enemy before they reach my archers than to run my archers back (occassionally, if necessary, I'll do both).

[Muagan_ra]

Why not just run your infantry in front of your missile-troops once the enemy gets close? That way you get a steady rate of fire.

[Nazgûl Killer]

2 things: 1) Yes, you are right as everyone has their own tactic and no one can tell you you're wrong.
2) If you want to make them run back, you just have to keep on trying, eventually with practice you'll make perfect. I personally like keeping my archers behind my infantry because I feel safer that way, but I've seen people rip an entire army to shreds because they made their archers soften the enemy lines and afterwards running behind their infantry, do what you like and what feels best for you.

[Conquistatore]

An important note, ranged units are less effective when firing at units head on. Always try to flank / get behind enemy units to shoot them from the side or rear. This way their armour and shield values do not come into play when calculating losses so they will lose a lot more men than if you just shot from point blank in front. The easiest and safest way to pull off this manouvre is to have your lines of infantry engage the enemy lines of infantry to hold them in position. Then you are free to move your ranged units into a deadly position on the enemies flank or rear (preferably). Beware of cavalry though, as they are fast moving and will decimate your ranged units.

[Muagan_ra]

An important note, ranged units are less effective when firing at units head on. Always try to flank / get behind enemy units to shoot them from the side or rear. This way their armour and shield values do not come into play when calculating losses so they will lose a lot more men than if you just shot from point blank in front. The easiest and safest way to pull off this manouvre is to have your lines of infantry engage the enemy lines of infantry to hold them in position. Then you are free to move your ranged units into a deadly position on the enemies flank or rear (preferably). Beware of cavalry though, as they are fast moving and will decimate your ranged units.

It depends really. Archers are best from the flanks or behind, but I find that Crossbowmen get the job down regardless - armour piercing bolts and all that...

[Landtuber]

An important note, ranged units are less effective when firing at units head on. Always try to flank / get behind enemy units to shoot them from the side or rear. This way their armour and shield values do not come into play when calculating losses....

Shooting from behind does not negate their armor value, just their shield. Same with attacking from behind, they lose both their defense skill and shield value, not their armor value.

[Conquistatore]

Ahh but armour piercing does not counter the shield stat I believe, meaning that the most vulnerable spot on an enemy is the back of him, regardless of what you are shooting him with.

[France]

Shooting them on the right side negates their shield stat as well, cuz they're all magically right handed.

[Conquistatore]

Haha that's true, I forgot about that.