Will Skirmishers be able to skirmish?

[Hoki]

By that I mean will they be able to skirmish without micromanagement.

Take any foot javelin unit and match them up against a gothic foot knight or something to see what I'm talking about. They'll get off one shot, skirmish away, turn around, skirmish away, turn around, ad nauseum never actually throwing another volley of javelins.

A few things that make skirmishers quasi-broken:
1) Takes too long to throw a javelin.
2) The unit can't stagger-throw. They all must stop at the same time to throw. And if they aren't grouped perfectly, then that causes some to stop too close to the enemy, causing them to skirmish away again.
3) The skirmish unit's captain frequently does not keep up with the rest of the unit. (he lags behind, causing the whole unit to re-skirmish)
4) Engaging 1 in melee causes all to stop skirmishing and enter the melee brawl with teh gothic foot knights. (you can do it, afghan unarmored javelin dude!)
5) And of course heavy infantry have way too much stamina and can give chase to skirmishers for far too long.

Skirmishers get mowed down by arrows and cavalry like they should. I would just like to be able to incorporate some skirmish units without having to micro-manage them.

[zagy20]

In the Teutoberg gameplay the legionaries threw their pila as they ran so skirmishers will probably be able to throw while running away.

[Petroniu]

In the Teutoberg gameplay the legionaries threw their pila as they ran so skirmishers will probably be able to throw while running away.

This - which probably means that animations are better tweaked this time around, especially since they have their own MoCap studio now.

[GideonAI]

[QUOTE=Hoki;12905456]4) Engaging 1 in melee causes all to stop skirmishing and enter the melee brawl with teh gothic foot knights. (you can do it, afghan unarmored javelin dude!)QUOTE]

They said in an interview that troops that are told to move while they are engaged in combat will do so no matter what, I presume this also means that they won't automatically charge when 1 melee occurs.

[♞Rogue General♞]

@GideonAi Source? I would like to see this interview.

[GideonAI]

@GideonAi Source? I would like to see this interview.

http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/tota...t-world-rts/2/
"Eventually, only two Roman units are left – far enough from the body of the Germanic army to escape, but blocked by a line of infantry. Bickham moves them into attack position then hammers the order to push through the German line, panic-clicking on an area just beyond the enemy troops. Also for the first time in a Total War game, this kind of urgent key-battering will actually work, troops interpreting repeated move orders as a sign that no, you really want them to disengage – albeit at the risk of increased casualties. The mass of units is now calculated individually, so the likelihood of your units being able to escape will depend on type."

Not really an interview, but you get the idea.

[oOIYvYIOo]

...( deep breath ) yes skirmishs will act as skirmishs ,as cavalry will act as calvary ,spear as spears,pikers as pikers and so on.
Only if TW will change dramatically.

[Hoki]

...( deep breath ) yes skirmishs will act as skirmishs ,as cavalry will act as calvary ,spear as spears,pikers as pikers and so on.
Only if TW will change dramatically.

The last TW game I played was M2TW which don't do cavalry or skirmishers particularly well. If skirmishers can fire while running then that would indeed fix the issues.

As for cavalry, will you be able to change their routes without them losing their momentum? That is another huge micromanagement nightmare in M2TW, babysitting cavalry charges.
(hey gois, you're on a horse, I brought you because you're on a horse, now please move faster than a gothic foot knight. Yes, I want you to change destination. No, I don't want you to stop running.)

[SinerAthin]

Poor AI and bad reaction time was one of the biggest problems with skirmishers in earlier TW games, much moreso than mere stats.


A good skirmishing unit would be able to react quickly with hit and run tactics. Run in, throw, and run away.
This basically entails:

- Being able to fire even if you only have 1 unit ready to fire in the whole unit. Units take care of their own firing routines.
- A high level of individuality from the soldier, to continue running even if his mate gets charged by a legionaire.
- Quick reaction times. See 100 heavily armed men clad in armor charging towards you? Don't stick around, just turn and run. TURN AND RUN ASAP!