Allow camel gunners to dismount as their unit description implies

[eregost]

'nuff said.

[SunofVich]

I agree

[Annapurna]

I would prefer it if all mounted gunners (from Dragoons to Pindari Horsemen to Camel Gunners) have the ability to dismount and engage on foot (minus Maratha general units, which, while equipped with muskets, should stay atop their pachyderms). The whole idea behind mounted-infantry is merely to deploy regular foot infantry into position muck quicker than if a unit had to walk.

[Skyline Pete]

If you have even the faintest idea of how to use the DBE editor this is something you can fix in less than 10 minutes.
I had done it for previous versions of ETW but somehow it's disappeared when I installed Win7.

Anyway, it's easy and only involves changing 3 columns per unit. Heck I had done it for Hussars as well just to see what it was like, plus I got sick of sending Hussars on raids only to get stuck because a unit would enter a building.

[Annapurna]

Laziness, and perhaps a degree of computer illiteracy can combine to make such an "easy" fix/change too difficult to manage. The former is why I don't change it.

Some would also like to not mod their game. They would prefer it if Empire was actually meant to be a certain way, or may feel that if by changing the game, they have made it harder/easier, or perhaps have created an exploit or something that ultimately detracts from the experience. Hence, you find these requests for the game to be changed a certain way.

[Koolhan37]

If it's so easy(and I don't doubt that it is) then CA should have done it for patch 1.1, no?

[daniu]

Why on earth would you want camel gunners to dismount?
Their greatest advantage is that the camels frighten horses they get into a fight with.

"It should be easy to do" doesn't really translate to "it should be done" to me...

[l33tl4m3r]

Why on earth would you want camel gunners to dismount?
Their greatest advantage is that the camels frighten horses they get into a fight with.

"It should be easy to do" doesn't really translate to "it should be done" to me...

It can be useful if your camel gunners are the only units left, have no ammo, and the enemy is cozy in a building.

All cavalry units in APE: TI can dismount for this exact reason -- the only problem being that units like Light Dragoons, which should use their cavalry saber on the ground, always use their muskets in melee on the ground.

It might take a little animation tweaking but I am sure even that can be changed.

[Annapurna]

It can be useful if your camel gunners are the only units left, have no ammo, and the enemy is cozy in a building.

All cavalry units in APE: TI can dismount for this exact reason -- the only problem being that units like Light Dragoons, which should use their cavalry saber on the ground, always use their muskets in melee on the ground.

It might take a little animation tweaking but I am sure even that can be changed.

I would very much like to see something like that be implemented in some fashion. It would give significantly greater utility for Dragoon units to be able to engage in melee using their sabres.

I wouldn't think it too terribly difficult to pull-off. Pikemen already pull out a sword when engaged in melee, and I've seen in the Ornamentum mod that Independent Highlander Companies will use swords while in melee. So quite clearly it can (and indeed has) been done.

[drake546]

I would very much like to see something like that be implemented in some fashion. It would give significantly greater utility for Dragoon units to be able to engage in melee using their sabres.

I wouldn't think it too terribly difficult to pull-off. Pikemen already pull out a sword when engaged in melee, and I've seen in the Ornamentum mod that Independent Highlander Companies will use swords while in melee. So quite clearly it can (and indeed has) been done.

So. . . what exactly do you want them to do with their 4' musket when they draw their sword?

[Annapurna]

So. . . what exactly do you want them to do with their 4' musket when they draw their sword?

There are several possibilities, all of which would ultimately be up to the discretion of whoever would make such a mod:

• They drop the musket, and they permanently become a melee unit (much the same effect as plug bayonets turn line infantry into pikemen)
• They have to hold the musket in one hand and the sword in the other (much the same fashion as Pikemen hold their pike in their left hand and their sword in their right)
• The musket would disappear from the animation (there being some kind of implication that it's slung across the back of the trooper, or what have you), and then would reappear when the unit is ordered to engage in a fire mission

[l33tl4m3r]

So. . . what exactly do you want them to do with their 4' musket when they draw their sword?

The same thing that any musket_sword unit does; the problem is that dragoons are cavalry units with dismounting ability.

They keep their saber in use on horseback but because the musket_foot animations do not include use of a sword and the musket_sword animations don't work for dragoons because dragoons have to have cavalry_saber animations for them to use the saber from horseback.

I have tried adjusting things without modifying the animations and there seems to be no way to get the dragoons to use the saber in melee when dismounted without, possibly, editing the animations.

[DarkArk]

You wouldn't use a cavalry saber as a foot soldier. They're designed for use on a horse, and would be unwieldy if used against another man on foot. It makes sense that dragoons would leave them strapped to their horse when they get down.

[l33tl4m3r]

You wouldn't use a cavalry saber as a foot soldier. They're designed for use on a horse, and would be unwieldy if used against another man on foot. It makes sense that dragoons would leave them strapped to their horse when they get down.

I'm not debating the accuracy; only lamenting the lack of ability.

Dragoons just happen to be the example used. No unit that uses a firearm, once dismounted, can use a melee weapon OTHER than the firearm.

If anyone makes any changes to the animations to try this, let me know!

[emperor77]

Unit descriptions seem screwed up for several units, Hussar unit descriptions for example say they have also guns

[l33tl4m3r]

Unit descriptions seem screwed up for several units, Hussar unit descriptions for example say they have also guns

True, they talk about firing before the charge on some.

This is now possible considering that mounted units can fire and move at the same time.

[persianfan247]

Well I would have liked to have seen Zamburaks.

[Lord de Lyonesse]

Seems like a good idea to me. Although i like camel gunners when they scare horses.. but yeah shouldnt every mounted unit get like a 50% chance rate of the rider not dying and becoming a dismounted unit?

[tanroth]

I'd imagine a camel is too large and unwieldy of an animal to easily dismount and mount from under fire but hey.

[eregost]

More unfinished business...