Units infront of other units?

[Swellick]

SO, do units get some kind of penalty by shooting over the heads of their friends infront of them?

Intuitively it would but it doesn't seem to affect them ingame. In game, obviously shooting a volley behind friendlies doesn't kill them, but do the shots reach the enemy? or do they have an accuracy rating of 0 since the shots are just being fired in the air?

[BlueHawke]

Well... I think you should check whats going on because you DO shoot your own men in the back... which is a pretty big penalty really...

You want to take your second line of infantry OFF fire at will... OR even better dont have one because it only leads to this problem.... put more men on your flanks so that you can encircle them...

[TheAussieDigger]

having two units in front of each other is just a waste because none of the behind units bullets hit the enemy and they all hit the unit in front

so it means 2 units lose to 1

[daniu]

In game, obviously shooting a volley behind friendlies doesn't kill them

Yes, it does.
See the replay of the game I did to test this.

[trench]

What if you are on a steep hill?

[lemming3k]

If you're going to do this turn autofire off on second line. Once the first line fires, pull them behind the second, turn autofire off. Turn it on for the other line(second line which will now be in front). You will not kill any of your own troops, and you'll fire two full volleys on the enemy.

Note - if you have FBR it probably isn't worth doing. If not then spread your line thin, don't form 3 ranks deep, form 2 UNITS deep, one line each. You'll still be pretty strong in melee, but twice the fire value is always a plus.

[daniu]

What if you are on a steep hill?

Then you have less of a problem.
Same if you shoot at a unit on top of a hill; the unit in the back shoots over the one in front.

Note - if you have FBR it probably isn't worth doing.

I think it is; the three ranks firing takes a bit longer, and it seems to me it's almost exactly the time the other unit needs to reload.
However, I don't really often get to do this because it requires a lot of attention; if you don't time it right, it's hardly worth it.

[Langer Kerl]

Also, on flat terrain, ranged cavalry can shoot over the heads of infantry without hitting them because of the obvious difference in size.
But you'll have to consider that cavalry is also a large target. So, when participating in a prolonged firefight, even with a unit of infantry standing in front of them, cavalry will suffer noticeable casualties.

[daniu]

Also, on flat terrain, ranged cavalry can shoot over the heads of infantry without hitting them because of the obvious difference in size.

I start to notice how exhaustive my videos are by how many tips I can provide links for See this in action here.
Note that light dragoons' range has been cut to 70, so this has been become harder to do.

[lemming3k]

I think it is; the three ranks firing takes a bit longer, and it seems to me it's almost exactly the time the other unit needs to reload.
However, I don't really often get to do this because it requires a lot of attention; if you don't time it right, it's hardly worth it.

I find it quite easy if you set up correctly at the start with 2 groupings. It's very effective too.
It has positives and negatives - the obvious positive is you practically double the firing rate, the negative is for maximum effect you have to wheel your line back after each shoot - which isn't really possible if you have arty(depending on how you place it and how the enemy attacks it), but is a fine tactic if you're just using infantry and cav. Trying to hold the line in this way is also possible, but you'll only manage 2 volleys before being charged(although the ai may be dumb enough to hold and fire, so just keep swapping and get as many volleys off as you need).
The other negative is the tradeoff with melee, 3 ranks beats 2 lines, so if you get attacked en-masse on one part of your line, there's a high chance it will break.
There's also a consideration when it comes to reserve troops as you probably won't use any with the 2 line strategy.

[british_general]

I learnt that yes, your soldiers can get killed by bullets behind them unless the guys in the front are light infantry, which is why many players hide light infantry in front of their line infantry counterparts

P.S.Theaussiedigger,if you are satisfied with me not repeating what anyone is saying, then you can tell me through the private messages and I will stop writing this irritating P.S. thing