How is it that the enemy can perfectly range my guns?

[morteduzionism]

I finally fought a couple of battles and was able to get a good look at a lot of things...

I was suspicious before but now it's confirmed: the enemy stays out of range of my guns

They litterally remain just outside of the arc. I suppose I'm not mentioning anything new...

One problem is their guns seem to be able to shoot farther than mine (12lb Foot)...but the real problem is that I can't see their firing arc at all.

If I readjust my artillery the enemy simply moves back to remain just a step (literally a single step) outside of the range where I could fire-for-effect (i.e. target them directly)

How? Why?

Or am I missing a key part of this type of warfare: inertia

A body in motion remains in motion...

Should I not be worrying about them being perfectly in the arc and targe the area in front of them and let the balls bounce into them? Although, I must admit that it didn't look like those bounced balls actually killed anyone. While I was learning that the enemy could/would stay out of range I noticed some balls bouncing into their lines but it didn't seem like they caused any casualties.

[dutch81]

Just manually target right in front of the unit ... your cannon balls will just roll into the enemy, and will still kill or take out their cannon. But, you have to commend their gunners!

[morteduzionism]

Just manually target right in front of the unit ... your cannon balls will just roll into the enemy, and will still kill or take out their cannon. But, you have to commend their gunners!

I'll give them a posthumous commendation...lol

Is that how it's intended to be? Speaking of rolling the balls into enemy lines (I know I read about that in the Sharpe Series...). Like I said I did eventually target the area in front of them and even when balls clearly went into their lines...I didn't notice any casualties.

Maybe they are on higher ground...

No.

When you deploy artillery you can see the firing arc (just like the arc for infantry)...the enemy (infantry and cavalry) literally stands just on the outside of the arc. I mean they stand so close that the line actually touches them (but they don't cross it)...

If I limber up my artillery and move them closer...as soon as the new arc appears the enemy moves accordingly and walks/runs right back to the outer perimeter of the arc.

Although that's pretty annoying (although I could imagine that soldiers during that time could guesstimate how far a cannon could shoot) it's nowhere as annoying as not being able to see their arc.

[TiTiTimmy]

Maybe they are on higher ground...

[dutch81]

I have read in previous threads regarding artillery that is best to shoot just in front for infantry and just behind a cavalry unit to maximize casualties ... for me that is to much micromanagement once fully enagaged so I just target the unit it works well enough ... although I do not use fire at will.

I don't think you should see their arc ...

[morteduzionism]

I have read in previous threads regarding artillery that is best to shoot just in front for infantry and just behind a cavalry unit to maximize casualties ... for me that is to much micromanagement once fully enagaged so I just target the unit it works well enough ... although I do not use fire at will.

I can't shoot "behind" them because they're staying out of range. When they're in range they're running/charging one of my units...

I don't think you should see their arc ...

umm, why not? It's perfectly obvious they can detect mine...

[ceff7711]

I have been playing for 120 hours now and this is a fact. The enemy knows exactly where your firing arc's are...both artillery and infantry. It is annoying. It is not that they have the high ground advantage either.

[Lumina]

Because Players Complained about the AI Being TOO STUPID and would stand in artillery range taking fire and never moving, one of many things players complained about the game when it was first released. This is the end result of Game Designers listening to player's complaints.

I said time and time again when this game first came out that if you make the AI too smart it will actually make the AI far worse, it's better to have stupid retarded AI that is willing to march under a hail of fire, than to have an AI which is too smart and runs around like a headless chicken reacting to every little click on the map the player makes. Well when the game first came out it had the first one, now it has the second one, and I'd much prefer the First one.

You do not want to know how much scorn I was given for saying such things when the game first came out, but I think how the AI acts now is darn proof that I was right. You can not have a Smart AI, just a Reactive AI.

[Kuhndog]

I think this is best. This makes it harder for the player although it is a little cheap. For your cannon ball thing, maybe your cannon balls are flying over their heads. Because I use to question that too, but now I can see that the cannon balls bounce over their heads. I hate how my quicktime shot doesn't appear to harm their infantry but it tears mine apart.

[Lumina]

I think this is best. This makes it harder for the player although it is a little cheap. For your cannon ball thing, maybe your cannon balls are flying over their heads. Because I use to question that too, but now I can see that the cannon balls bounce over their heads. I hate how my quicktime shot doesn't appear to harm their infantry but it tears mine apart.

I much prefered the idiot stand in formation on defense, or march forward in formation idiot AI the game originally had, atleast they stayed in formation a lot better. Also they would hunker down in defensive locations are lot even if staying there until they were shelled to death or until you lost your passions and marched forward head long into their defenses since artillery shells can not go through stone walls hehe, and I really hate now pressing hold fire on artillery and the AI instently RUNS AWAY knowing you're letting all your guns reload for a massive canister fire blast once they get in range.

[Kuhndog]

I much prefered the idiot stand in formation on defense, or march forward in formation idiot AI the game originally had, atleast they stayed in formation a lot better. Also they would hunker down in defensive locations are lot even if staying there until they were shelled to death or until you lost your passions and marched forward head long into their defenses since artillery shells can not go through stone walls hehe, and I really hate now pressing hold fire on artillery and the AI instently RUNS AWAY knowing you're letting all your guns reload for a massive canister fire blast once they get in range.

Well now they just form in the center and walk right into my line infantrys l-o-f. They still seem to walk into my canister shot for some reason. Although it would be hard not to seeing as my cannons are part of my actual line.

[MortenJessen]

Hi there.
About arty and the range:
A cannon has a range of 400 with the ball-ammo (350 with shrapnell). It is the basic "fire at will" distance, from with in your gunners will try their utter most to kill the enemy (even blasting 20-30 of your own men in the process, so be carefull). After patch 1.6 the "unlimited range" has been removed. Now one can not manually target enemies from mab-border to map-border. But it is still possible to have your cannons fire at enemies at apox. 500 range (400 with shrapnell) by targeting the ground just in front of the enemy unit(s). Be adviced, since the AI really hate when you fire at their general. Tends to make him move, and their gunners target your cannons with unmatched precision.
Y.S.
M. Jessen

[Frederf]

AI cheats... a lot. They get more gold per turn for no reason, their recruitment is severely discounted, they know were your hidden units are in trees, and they know exactly your cannon orders. Best way is to set cannons to canister shot and let them get close, then switch to round and fire before they can retreat/react.

There's a mechanic that renders cannonballs harmless beyond max range. So if you trick the game into somehow getting the ball into the enemy beyond range it will do 0 casualties.

[Geordie-warlord]

Frederf is right you can't kill outside your cannon range even though you can hit them,
but you can take out enemy cannon or occupied building's outside your range by bouncing your shot's into them,
you may have already done this using the saker fixed artillery on fort walls that were just outside of cannon range.

[War&Politics]

I can confirm the AI knows your range and not just of your artillery but also your line infantry. I was very amused in a recent battle to see how the AI neatly skirts just around my infantry's range coming close to, but never entering the radius until they were ready to attack.