Questions about artillery, fire by rank and platoon fire

[morteduzionism]

1. How many units of artillery do you use per army?

2. Would someone please explain the differences between the two? I've read threads and watched videos but I still don't get the difference.

I knowthink fire-by-rank is when, in three ranks, the first line fires then kneels the second fires...so on

I think platoon fire can only be done when there's more than one unit, right or wrong? That's the extent of my knowledge...

I've watched videos, about to watch another, and I simply can't see what the differences are...

[HomelessDepot]

I tend to use at least four units of artillery, but I use TopCat's artillery minimods to give them much better accuracy. It was frustrating to use them when I felt like I was better off with another unit of line infantry. Usually two cannons, two howitzers (ever since they 'un-l33ted' mortars, those were the good ol' days).

Fire By Rank - lets the first three ranks fire timed volleys. It's arguably the most important tech in the game. If you're the first to research it you'll have quite a while of absolute domination on the battlefield until other nations catch up.

Platoon fire - is actually better in objective tests, but comes in the late game and is only usable by the more 'elite' infantry types. It's used by single units, the way fire-by-rank is, and makes groups of soldiers (I want to say 10-12) in the first three ranks fire consecutively, creating a kind of 'ripple' effect all down the line. When the last group of soldiers fire, the first group has reloaded and shoots next, starting the whole chain over again. It's pretty obvious when it's happening, and keeps up a constant rate of fire, which is what gives it an advantage over fire-by-rank. It doesn't look as pretty though (in my opinion), and I often put off researching it.

Maybe someone will point to a video? I'm at work so I can't. The difference is pretty clear once you know what you're looking for.

-HD

Edit: Platoon Fire may allow more than just the first three ranks fire, now that I think about it. It might be the first four ranks?

Edit 2: irelandeb's experiments with FBR vs PF are two or three posts down, check them out.

[morteduzionism]

I tend to use at least four units of artillery, but I use TopCat's artillery minimods to give them much better accuracy. It was frustrating to use them when I felt like I was better off with another unit of line infantry. Usually two cannons, two howitzers (ever since they 'un-l33ted' mortars, those were the good ol' days).

OK, I use four too.

2 x 12lb and 2 x demi's or 24lb'ers

Fire By Rank - lets the first three ranks fire timed volleys. It's arguably the most important tech in the game. If you're the first to research it you'll have quite a while of absolute domination on the battlefield until other nations catch up.

OK, I know what that looks like...

Platoon fire - is actually better in objective tests, but comes in the late game and is only usable by the more 'elite' infantry types. It's used by single units, the way fire-by-rank is, and makes groups of soldiers (I want to say 10-12) in the first three ranks fire consecutively, creating a kind of 'ripple' effect all down the line.

I take it regular "line infantry" isn't considered "elite," huh? If not, what are some examples of "elite" infantry?

When the last group of soldiers fire, the first group has reloaded and shoots next, starting the whole chain over again. It's pretty obvious when it's happening, and keeps up a constant rate of fire, which is what gives it an advantage over fire-by-rank. It doesn't look as pretty though (in my opinion), and I often put off researching it.

Edit: Platoon Fire may allow more than just the first three ranks fire, now that I think about it. It might be the first four ranks?

So it would be something like:

1st rank - AAAABBBBCCCCDDDD
2nd rank - aaaabbbbccccdddd
3rd rank - 1111222233334444

So it's that group 1 [AAAA, aaaa and 1111] would fire and then group 2 [BBBB, bbbb, and 2222] and so on until it started with group 1 again?

Where in fire-by-rank the whole rank/line of a unit fires and then the next in platoon fire only sections of a unit fire at a time.

[♔Darmoth♔]

Correct that Line Infantry are not considered 'elite infantry'. The units with platoon firing are usually units of foot guard, such as Guards, Republican Guards, and some faction specific units. Also all grenadiers get platoon firing after it's researched.

You're right about how platoon firing works as well. Here's a real life demonstration, although its platoon firing by rank and generally would've been done much faster in a real battle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IJS5T0xNR4

[HomelessDepot]

This is what I was thinking of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abf8x7-c4z0

The infantry on the right are using Platoon Fire. It forces the unit to spread out, which is another reason I don't use it - I tend to play with the 'tighter formations' mod and it completely messes up my lines since there's so much overlap.

This hasn't been updated in a while (looks like since 1.3), so it might not have the DLC units. But you should be able to click through and see who's capable of platoon firing and who's not:

http://totalwar.honga.net/empire_faction.php

Look for those that qualify for 'platoon_fire_grouped' technology.

-HD

[Skyline Pete]

The trick with platoon fire is to have the unit directly facing the opposing unit or target. Doing this properly can mean near automatic levels of fire. I play on Ultra settings with 1.5x modifier on my infantry (so 200 men per unit) and when setup properly in platoon fire of 3 ranks deep they will utterly devastate any unit. By the time the last guy at the end of the line fires the first group is ready to go again.