Best musketeer deployment pattern?

[k/t]

I've run some Custom Battle tests in order to determine the best way of using these guys in battles. I pitted 1 unit of Musketeers, with the weapon upgrade, and 1 silver chevron against 1 unit of fully upgraded Pike Militia (3 gold chevrons, to prevent them from routing) and I counted how many pikemen were left by the time they reached my line.

I tried arranging my Musketeers in 2, 3 and 4 lines. 4 lines is the worst, since the last line doesn't shoot at all. The results for 2 and 3 lines are inconclusive so far, as the differences in casualties inflicted aren't that great, and the results flipped from trial run to trial run. However, 3 lines has the big advantage of taking up a lot less space than 2 lines. It also has the disadvantage that the gunners may be less well protected against a cavalry charge by the pikemen behind them, but I think that if the 3rd row of gunners is just behind the first row of pikemen it will be the same situation safety-wise as 2 rows while not interfering with the 3rd row's fire.

Does anyone have any battlefield experience or experiment results they'd like to share on this subject?




P.S. I then repeated the test but this time using a 1 silver chevron Pavise Crossbowmen unit instead of the Musketeers, and they killed fewer enemies than the gunners had, which I had fully expected.

[PaleBlueDot]

Very few battlefields are flat, I would just take advantage of that and place them in lines behind one another. They should just shoot over each other's heads.

[Wyrmnax]

Or into each other's head.

Sometimes they dont calculate angle right, and you end up with the last row of the 1st musketeers "cleared out for space"

Either way, in a non-flat terrain its possibily the best thing to do

I deploy them in 3 lines. All the lines can shoot they take the minimum amount of space and gives me enough room to put 1 more unit of musketeers on the same space.

[Ichon]

I treat them very similar to crossbows in most ways except trying even harder to maneuver at least 1 unit behind behind enemy line to benefit from the gunpowder scare trait.

The main difference from crossbows seems to be range where good crossbows can hit better from further away. Its rare battles that can make a huge difference though. Usually only when fighting some enemy still using bowmen.

[Point Blank]

3 lines

[JorisofHolland]

I've heard numerous times about deploying your musketmen 3-lines deep in front of, yet covered by, a unit of pikes. When the enemy closes in, you simply retreat, try to flank and fire at the backs of your enemies.

[k/t]

Do muskets and the like ignore shields in SS? I know you want to go to their back for unobstructed firing and to scare them, but do shields matter when facing hand-held gunpowder weapons?

[Ichon]

I thought not but that was from 6.2- not sure if its changed since then.

[JorisofHolland]

I thought not but that was from 6.2- not sure if its changed since then.

My guess would be hardcoded.

[misterbull]

2 Lines are ideal, but more often than not you don't have enough pikemen (or they're too expensive to recruit). 3 Lines are typical with 1 Line being impossible and inefficient and 4 Lines being just inefficient and a waste.

[midget_roxx]

Hmm. Have musketeers changed much from 6.1? I put them in 2 lines with pikes just behind them so cavalry can't engage or they die a horrible death. Then I have around 3-4 units of normal swordsman/spearmen to run foward once their infantry getes closer (if they haven't routed already )

[misterbull]

Hmm. Have musketeers changed much from 6.1? I put them in 2 lines with pikes just behind them so cavalry can't engage or they die a horrible death. Then I have around 3-4 units of normal swordsman/spearmen to run foward once their infantry getes closer (if they haven't routed already )

You are probably doing it wrong. Cavalry and melee should not be able to charge-destroy your musketeers. But your musketeers will most likely start to engage in melee once heavy infantry start to cut through initial pikemen.

[midget_roxx]

You are probably doing it wrong. Cavalry and melee should not be able to charge-destroy your musketeers. But your musketeers will most likely start to engage in melee once heavy infantry start to cut through initial pikemen.

You put the musketeers directly in front of the pikes so the pikes cover the infantry but can still fire. I find sometimes the AI will try to charge the musketeers but end up running into the pikes and conscequently dying. It's a different story for infantry because while the pikes do stop the inital charge the musketeers start to move forward with their swords causing casualties. I get rid of this by having infantry in the back to charge through the pikes and musketeers so they can meet the charge. I then move the pikes forward and a rout soon follows while taking minimal casualties from my musketeers

[RabidSheepLegion]

3 lines deep are indeed less space consuming, and get a "mass" bonus for being a bit deeper than 2 lines, however not as much "morale shock" each volley compared to 2 lines deep. IE 3 lines deep with 120 = 40 per line/volley as 2 lines deep increases to 60 (that extra 20 can be useful)

I prefer to put my firearms on my flanks, that way when enemy engage my line, I can swing round to their sides/backs and cause massive casualties while my cavalry goes all the way around the back and hit the home (rear) of the enemies center for absolute damage mentally and physically (Just like Empires and Napoleon)

[k/t]

Gunpowder infantry has units of 150, so it's 50 per line. Even if you shoot 50 muskets at a time instead of 75, you do so more constantly, since the intervals between volleys decrease. I actually prefer that because the enemy is constantly being hit and slowed down and because that way there is less of a chance of shots being wasted by several bullets hitting the same guy.

"You are probably doing it wrong. Cavalry and melee should not be able to charge-destroy your musketeers."

He didn't say his musketeers got destroyed. He said the enemy cavalry will die a horrible death if they engage, or that, if not protected, the musketeers will die a horrible death. It's not really clear.

I keep the infantry behind the pikes and halberds (I always overlap pikes with halberds for super deadliness) and rush them forward to meet the enemy infantry, then I advance the pikes and halberds who keep the enemy in stunlock, allowing my infantry to dispose of them, or they kill them outright.

[misterbull]

Gunpowder infantry has units of 150, so it's 50 per line. Even if you shoot 50 muskets at a time instead of 75, you do so more constantly, since the intervals between volleys decrease. I actually prefer that because the enemy is constantly being hit and slowed down and because that way there is less of a chance of shots being wasted by several bullets hitting the same guy.

"You are probably doing it wrong. Cavalry and melee should not be able to charge-destroy your musketeers."

He didn't say his musketeers got destroyed. He said the enemy cavalry will die a horrible death if they engage, or that, if not protected, the musketeers will die a horrible death. It's not really clear.

I keep the infantry behind the pikes and halberds (I always overlap pikes with halberds for super deadliness) and rush them forward to meet the enemy infantry, then I advance the pikes and halberds who keep the enemy in stunlock, allowing my infantry to dispose of them, or they kill them outright.

Aaah, yes I read it wrong I think.