Rank-fire muskets

[WarbornUK]

I've noticed that on Vanilla MTW2, rank fire is extremely ineffective even when using only a double line in each unit, and I have Stainless Steel and love how much more effective they are on that with different formation, so how would I go about changing the EDU of Americas and Vanilla MTW2 so that units fire in the same manner? The problem is I can't seem to find the EDU for either (I downloaded Kingdoms and Med from Steam) so I need help to find that so I can remove the "fire_by_rank" command on each unit. Someone help?

[Sar1n]

Open EDU in Notepad-ctrl+F-type in fire_by_rank-remove all instances, including the space and comma.

[Sitalkes]

To make muskets work, you have to put them in two ranks. There are some disadvantages to making your propsed change, you might want to read some of the previous threads on this subject like: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ight=rank+fire

[Sar1n]

If you are running a mod through Kingdoms.exe, it's better to remove fire_by_rank. They will, instead of shuffling the ranks, do this: First rank fires, then after they are all done firing they crouch and reload, while second rank fires over their heads. After they're done firing, first ranks gets up and process repeats...other ranks never fire, also they seem to be able to engage enemy not directly in front of them but in approx. 120 degree cone.

[Geoffrey of Villehardouin]

Do some tests with just a couple of musketeer units either side, using identical units. If you use fire_by_rank, the computer's units seem to stall after a cycle until they get hit by your fire. That means you will do better since the AI's musketeers will not be firing as much as yours.

Another effect is that the animation also slows down firing rather than speeding it up. For example the first two of six rows firing with fire_by_rank should be firing three times faster as two rows firing without fire by rank. But in the game the two front rows fire even a bit slower than if they had no fire_by_rank attribute. So in fact having the attribute makes your units 3 times less effective if in 6 ranks or 4 times less effective if in 8 ranks and in fact a bit more, because the animation takes more time over a cycle than if your musketeers fired without it.

The real advantage of fire_by_rank historically was that you could put out more rapid fire from a small section of your line but in M2TW it does not work that way. Your real advantage in M2TW is that the AI player's fire_by_rank units will stall every so often, so if you leave the animation in, you balance battles in your favour. Still keeping musketeers in two rows is much more effective than having mutliple ranks. So fire_by_rank gives you an unfair advantage over the computer and for the completely opposite reasons to how it was used in real battles.

Much as I like the beautiful animation, I often remove it from all units (including the computer's units that is) to balance battles better. If someone can think of a fix to the AI stalling and how I could multiply the rate of fire when using the animation by the number of the ranks, and even then speed it up a little, then I would obviously prefer to leave it in for post-1590 type units.

Since in vanilla you never get to 1590, I'd say remove it completely. It will be more historically accurate and the AI will fight a little better. You will need to unpack the game. I think it does not matter it was downloaded from Steam but I am not sure.
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My three short AARs:
[BC] The Maharajah and the Guild of Thieves – a Chauhan Rajput AAR
[1648] Thirty Years' War
[Kingdoms] Antioch Crusaders Mod campaign
and something not so short - [FKoC] Times full of Distemper
Reviewed by robinzx at the Critic's Quill, Issue 31

[WarbornUK]

Do some tests with just a couple of musketeer units either side, using identical units. If you use fire_by_rank, the computer's units seem to stall after a cycle until they get hit by your fire. That means you will do better since the AI's musketeers will not be firing as much as yours.

Another effect is that the animation also slows down firing rather than speeding it up. For example the first two of six rows firing with fire_by_rank should be firing three times faster as two rows firing without fire by rank. But in the game the two front rows fire even a bit slower than if they had no fire_by_rank attribute. So in fact having the attribute makes your units 3 times less effective if in 6 ranks or 4 times less effective if in 8 ranks and in fact a bit more, because the animation takes more time over a cycle than if your musketeers fired without it.

The real advantage of fire_by_rank historically was that you could put out more rapid fire from a small section of your line but in M2TW it does not work that way. Your real advantage in M2TW is that the AI player's fire_by_rank units will stall every so often, so if you leave the animation in, you balance battles in your favour. Still keeping musketeers in two rows is much more effective than having mutliple ranks. So fire_by_rank gives you an unfair advantage over the computer and for the completely opposite reasons to how it was used in real battles.

Much as I like the beautiful animation, I often remove it from all units (including the computer's units that is) to balance battles better. If someone can think of a fix to the AI stalling and how I could multiply the rate of fire when using the animation by the number of the ranks, and even then speed it up a little, then I would obviously prefer to leave it in for post-1590 type units.

Since in vanilla you never get to 1590, I'd say remove it completely. It will be more historically accurate and the AI will fight a little better. You will need to unpack the game. I think it does not matter it was downloaded from Steam but I am not sure.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My three short AARs:
[BC] The Maharajah and the Guild of Thieves – a Chauhan Rajput AAR
[1648] Thirty Years' War
[Kingdoms] Antioch Crusaders Mod campaign
and something not so short - [FKoC] Times full of Distemper
Reviewed by robinzx at the Critic's Quill, Issue 31

Hello

You have essentially answered my issue here.

However, I'm having trouble unpacking it with Steam and it's starting to bug me when I play SS and they don't do that and then go on Americas and the muskets are next to useless vs the fast natives.