The lacks of Platoon Firing

[vonVince]

It's a good idea that "Platoon Firing" was included in the game - alas, it does not seem to work.

The theory is that soldiers would fire their muskets in small units or "platoons". The first on the left fires, starts to reload, the one on the right fires, starts to reloard, the one right of this one fires and starts to reload and so forth - the idea being that when the last unit has fired the first one has already reloaded and the process can begin again.

The thing is - it seems unpolished. I was actually suprised to see that even though I have Platoon Firing my soldiers still fire their muskets almost at the same time. Ok, there is like a a second of delay when each "platoons" fire - but this is obviously not enough to make the theory of Platoon Firing work in practice.

[Mordrorru]

Works fine for me. -shrug-

[upsettingshorts]

Platoon fire only works for certain elite units. Normal line infantry don't use it

If you are saying that your elite infantry use it poorly, well, then I'll have to take a closer look next time my battles work properly lol.

[Bocah_Bali]

It works on my elite republic guards, that is for certain. Put them either in 2-3 ranks deep, have at least most of the enemy unit inside your firing range. Work better if you disable fire at will command before entering firing position, then activate it. Normal line infantry and others will still do rank fire.

[upsettingshorts]

Normal line infantry and others will still do rank fire.

And thank Jebus for that. Rank fire if used properly is devestating to morale whereas Platoon Fire is more of a "holding" thing. Plus, as has been pointed out, Elite troops die just as quickly as normal troops in ranged combat, they are best used for their greater morale and melee ability.

[Thanatos]

Thread moved to Gameplay and Strategy Discussion. PM me if you have any questions.

[zligor]

I apsolutely adore platoon firing drill, it looks great. Only elite units and grenadiers cann use it, plebs stick to rank fire. I an not so sure which drill is more effective. Platoon drill provides continued fire and every time one "platoon" fires few enemy soldiers dies (2-5). Rank fire volley kill more people but there are times when all three ranks reload and no one shoots. What I enjoy most is using line infantry to tie down enemy and position elite infantry at enemy`s flank to do its killing job.

[Spraetter]

The problem with platoon fire is that your first platoon will have finished reloading before the last platoon has fired. This means that 1 or 2 platoons will stand idle for several seconds and only continue firing once the last platoon has fired. The higher your unit size setting, the less effective platoon firing gets (since your unit then consists of alot of platoons to cycle though). On medium unit size setting it works very well and is extremely effective, but on ultra unit size platoon firing is actually pretty crappy.

[Skyline Pete]

The problem with platoon fire is that your first platoon will have finished reloading before the last platoon has fired. This means that 1 or 2 platoons will stand idle for several seconds and only continue firing once the last platoon has fired. The higher your unit size setting, the less effective platoon firing gets (since your unit then consists of alot of platoons to cycle though). On medium unit size setting it works very well and is extremely effective, but on ultra unit size platoon firing is actually pretty crappy.

Agreed, on Ultra platoon fire sucks majorly! Also, even if the animation for the third rank goes off, they aren't actually firing, there's no smoke coming out of their guns. So you've got to drag into 2 ranks which means platoon fire takes even longer!

[Kazang]

Yeah the units not firing as soon as they reload is the problem, its need to be done so that each platoon fires as soon as it has finshed reloading to keep continuous fire on the enemy.

This problem is exaggerated by a high unit file, on ultra sizes platoon firing is total fail, on large its the same as rank fire, on medium its better.

I use large so it doesn't bother me greatly, as the morale and melee bonuses of the elite troops is still better than the standard line inf.

My third rank does fire though i haven't had any issue with that, any more than rank deeper than 3 and they wont fire.

[Prototype2001]

What i don't get is whenever platoon firing is researched, units magically learned how to reload 5x faster. I suppose it has to be like that even tho its funny and completely unreal, otherwise what would platoon firing provide over rank fire.