To fire arrows or not to fire arrows?

[Xellos_Moon]

So whats more effective, fire arrows or normal arrows? I always get this kind of dilemma when using archers.

I would imagine fire arrows since it looks cooler?

[Total Roach]

So whats more effective, fire arrows or normal arrows? I always get this kind of dilemma when using archers.

I would imagine fire arrows since it looks cooler?

This is what determines my choice:

On the attack, do I want to destroy a unit that is particularly dangerous, if so normal arrows. If I want to charge the line with my melee troops, fire off normal arrows to reduce strength 1st then switch to a few volleys of fire arrows before charging.

On the defence the same rule about the dangerous units apply, but fire arrows are more important, you can get a whole stack to rout by the time it makes contact with your front line, and then all you need to do is run them down.

Bottom line it depends if you want to kill or break morale.

I normally have 6 units of archers, so superior missile power is crucial to my style of play.

[|Sith| Max]

This is what determines my choice:

On the attack, do I want to destroy a unit that is particularly dangerous, if so normal arrows. If I want to charge the line with my melee troops, fire off normal arrows to reduce strength 1st then switch to a few volleys of fire arrows before charging.

On the defence the same rule about the dangerous units apply, but fire arrows are more important, you can get a whole stack to rout by the time it makes contact with your front line, and then all you need to do is run them down.

Bottom line it depends if you want to kill or break morale.

I normally have 6 units of archers, so superior missile power is crucial to my style of play.

only six? thats your choice i guess.
its best to always use normal arrows unless you want to amok something or support some troops in a melee fight. when supporting troops in a melee fight its best to get only one unit of archers and make em fire fire arrows at the enemy, becase one is all you need. the rest can be used to kill things, which is more usefull in a MP battle. especially in arch vs arch you need to do normal ammo or you will lose. thats a guarantee.

[Fireright]

An interesting thread and time permitting, I'm tempted to use the Custom Battle facility and line up eight rows of archers against,say, four or eight units of enemy.

8 archers all fire, 8 all regular, and 4 of each shooting fire and regular.

I seldom bother switching functions or mixing/matching so I'll see whats what.

[Fireright]

I believe fire arrows are shot out at a reduced rate, accuracy and do less piercing damage compared to regular arrows.

Total Roaches tactics sound about right, and with plenty of archers set to shoot fire arrows, its not unusual to see entire enemy armies decide they've had enough and scarper off the battlefield. Get em routed!!

[Genius of the Restoration]

I agree with Total Roach. I let my worst archers use fire arrows because they wont get off as many shots and so the better attack of other archers would be wasted on fire arrows. That's about all I have to add

[Rainbow Dash]

Arrows kill stuff, flaming arrows kill stuff less, but scare guys more.

[blackwatersix]

I only use fire when facing siege engines, elephants, or I desperately need to rout a low-moral section in the enemy line. (like being outnumbered by eastern infantry for example). I confess I'm only starting to value archers now I'm playing greek factions since I haven't had much use for them as rome.

[King_Darius]

i never use normal arrow that much....

fire arrows lowers moral by a lot, can destroy siege towers and rams, and arent THAT inaccurate compared to normal arrows.

[Hakomar]

I thought I read somwehere in a file that fire arrows have a 0% damage rate against siege towers, and my siege towers and my enemies certainly havn't been burnt down by fire arrows.
Fire arrows are good possibly against a lump of men, and it doesn't matter if its inaccurate, because it will hit something.
Use them against some chariots and all elephants, and scare weaker units.

[PGeo36]

I thought I read somwehere in a file that fire arrows have a 0% damage rate against siege towers, and my siege towers and my enemies certainly havn't been burnt down by fire arrows.

They don't do any damage but they have a chance to set them on fire which is what destroys them

[King_Darius]

They don't do any damage but they have a chance to set them on fire which is what destroys them

yep, i always set my enemies' siege towers on fire

[Rainbow Dash]

Can Large and Epic siege towers be destroyed by flaming arrows?

[Genius of the Restoration]

Yeah I think that's right. Also it's not the accuracy that's the problem, it's the rate of fire that is much slower.

[Hakomar]

Ah, well that is news to me.
Ofcourse, the AI's siege towers always seem to blast my troops of the wall with its siege-tower ammo.
Whenever I put Fire at Will on, it never touches their troops, yet they have rapid fire and each one knocks a whole rank of the walls, making it a bit difficult once it reaches range to set it alight with 20/80 archers.

[Deux]

An interesting experiment fireright. I suggest that you use basic archers, Greek/ Roman etc vs A unit which is average such as Hillmen, one which does not have an excellent defence but not non existant either like Berserkers.

Four enemy eight archers does sound like a balanced number, maybe 3/6? What about even 2v2? have fire arrows firing on one enemy unit and the other normal arrows.