How to use greek fire effectively?

[henyo10]

Damn their range is too short. How do you use these guys effectively?

[Cleitanious]

Try using them to attack a unit that's already engaged by another unit. They're like Javelinmen, and work best when flanking an already occupied enemy unit.

[Spartan90]

Using Greek Fire to flank enemies is a sure way to turn the tide of battle into your favour. The only problem being, is that this requires micro-managing your flamethrowers into the perfect area around the flank so as not to risk getting your own men flamed.

I have personally found over hundreds of siege battles, that greek flamethrowers are best used to defend very small chokepoints, e.g. streets and especially the city gate. Not only are they strong here, they are by far the best unit in the game when it comes to this. I had two units defending my gate, and i annihilated every unit that walked into my city until the ammunition ran out. greek fire coupled with burning oil from your gatehouse will rout ANY unit.

Make sure, however, to have some units with a bit of backbone to clean up the mess afterwards, as flamethrowers run out of ammo quite quickly.

[delra]

In the field:

Keep another unit of infantry, preferably heavy, close behind FTs. Let enemy charge and get fried and when they get too close, charge the unit behind forward and pull FTs behind. With right timing you shouldn't lose more than a few.

[Faramir D'Andunie]

I tend to find them loosing a lot of their potential in field battles, although this might be caused by my preferance of mobile/ranged heavy armies.

I also have bitter memories from using flamethrowers on already engaged units from the flanks, burning half of my unit together with the enemy.

Greek fire seems a weapon for sieges (both attack and defence) in my opinion but if you wish to take it in an open field battle make sure you have some heavy spearmen unit closely just in case.

[Gnostiko]

Got to agree, I struggle to break even with them. I'm thinking of tweaking their mechanics to give their flamethrowers the terrifying trait artillery weapons had in Rome (don't know if this is still in MII) which, if you think about it is justifiable. In the mean time...I don't know, they're brilliant numbskulls. There's nothing more satisfying than watching them roast a unit and seeing said unit turn tail, and there's nothing more frustrating watching them do the shoot animation (with no fire) or reform as an enemy unit (especially cavalry) is about to introduce them to the business end of their weapons.

I haven't the level of micro-management (ie patience) to use them in sieges like others have said. My siege strategy consists of swarming the gateway with as many units as possible set to guard mode, and from what I've experienced in field battles, I dread to think of the collatoral damage these guys could do in confined spaces.

Still the few times I've wrung an overwhelmingly good use out of them is, as Delra said, when I have a backup unit parked right up their behind. Despite what I said above, I find these guys are actually quite useful in siege assaults. The AI tends to either a)sit tight in the town/castle square or b) sit tight in the town/castle square then rabidly throw everything at you as you approach.
In the former case, this is good because it's optimial conditions for the flamers: flat, even terrain, and more often than not, enemy units won't break formation (the fools) allowing you to happily roast away.

[Mythlacar]

I dislike using them in field battles, as I prefer a more long range, usually archer heavy army.

But in a siege I usually tie down a group of enemies (Their general if I can get him) with something cheap, peasants do well untill the later stages of the game. Once your enemy has too much tech you may need to upgrade to a bit higher group, as I've noticed that peasants run too often vs heavy infantry and whatnot, usually before the flamethrowers get into flanking position.

Oh, and they make a great speedbump system against overwhelming odds. Set them as such.

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From the gate to your city square, and let them roast people. May not be cost effective all of the time, but against big armies (Full stack+) they can really help.

[Space Wolves]

Combine the Greek Fire dudes with The Byzantine Pikemen royal guard or whatver there named, and you got yourself a 4+ squared Pike square with greek flamers just at the very tip, but not too far where they can get killed

[yong]

I find them useful when defending in sieges. Place a unit of spearmen in front of the gateway and one unit of greek fire on each side of the gate. Watch the enemy burn and rout.

[nostradamouse]

1 image is worth a thousand words:

[Cleitanious]

1 image is worth a thousand words:

According to Google, the word "Defense" is worth about 36,400,000 pictures.

[nostradamouse]

According to Google, the word "Defense" is worth about 36,400,000 pictures.

Well, that must be a lot of words.


But actually I used d Fence!

But yea, like pikemen, this weapon is better in defense than in attack.

[Iscariott]

In the field, the few times I've had flamethrowers I've had success putting them on the flanks, slightly concave \---------------------/ type thing only not as angled. Just enough they can shoot down the line slightly.

Keep some light inf or cav right behind them for the withdrawl if they get engaged.

[hotasy2k]

I dunno how to use them effectively in open field, most of the time, they are eaten alive by the opposing side's cavalry charge, but in a siege and in the defending side, these units are superb, i alway use them to guard the city gate, backed up by some sword units right behind them for close in malee, most of the time, i dun even need to use the back up sword units, the greek fire units(i alway use 4 of them) kill off the incoming enemy troops in large numbers and eventually route them. i hate to use them in open field, but they are the best gate defender in the game.