Can archers shoot from walls without problems in this new game?

[SirRobin]

Hello, I started up MTW2 yesterday after some years of not playing it, and little by little re-learned all the bugs and gameplay problems that were never fixed.

Among them my big pet peeve: archers and crossbowmen not shooting well from walls, since the parapet blocks their line of sight.

Which makes me sad, because I love castles and defending them. Real castles were designed to give the defender the maximum advantage, but it just doesn't work in MTW2 (and no, it can't be fixed by mods).

So, I would like to ask if this has been fixed in Rome 2? For me, that would be a big step in the right direction, despite the other problems I have read about.

[jthewonder]

I have yet to see any issues concerning this, even slingers and javelinmen work fine from what i can tell.

[SirRobin]

I have yet to see any issues concerning this, even slingers and javelinmen work fine from what i can tell.

Great news, thanks

[Master.Mind]

Great news, thanks

In my opinion archers don't work well on walls in Rome 2 (only the first line fires)

[jthewonder]

In my opinion archers don't work well on walls in Rome 2 (only the first line fires)

I've seen a whole group of archers firing from the walls, do you think the reason only the first line fired in your case, could be because the ones they were firing at were to close to the wall for the rest to shoot at them aswell? When i saw all of them fire, i had just entered their range so it would make sense that all could fire to begin with.

[SirRobin]

In my opinion archers don't work well on walls in Rome 2 (only the first line fires)

But at least that's some improvement, because in MTW2 only very few individual archers would find a line of sight through the firing slits, the rest of the archers would fire in a high arch, which is basically useless.

If the entire first row can fire in Rome 2, then you can stretch the unit out along the whole section of the wall to make them all fire, right?

[Kenios]

You're missing your rose-colored glasses. Put them on and you will see why Medieval 2 is the best-est game ever.

[Mahijsimo]

Archers?? where??

[curs3]

I have had problems with walls. Only the first line seems to fire, and placement is awkward. The game doesn't seem to allow multiple rows facing outward. However, it wouldn't matter as the other rows would sit idle anyways.

[Cruzz]

I haven't found a way to stretch the units beyond having like 30% of them on the first line firing.

Archer units on walls in Rome 2 will ALWAYS lose to units firing at them from below. Those walls are deathtraps that you're better off avoiding unless your enemy doesn't have a single archer or artillery unit.

[SirRobin]

Archer units on walls in Rome 2 will ALWAYS lose to units firing at them from below. Those walls are deathtraps that you're better off avoiding unless your enemy doesn't have a single archer or artillery unit.

I can't believe what I'm reading That makes me a sad patrician...

[jthewonder]

I haven't found a way to stretch the units beyond having like 30% of them on the first line firing.

Archer units on walls in Rome 2 will ALWAYS lose to units firing at them from below. Those walls are deathtraps that you're better off avoiding unless your enemy doesn't have a single archer or artillery unit.

First of all, its definitely possible to line an entire unit up so that they all face in the direction you want them to, the controls just seem a bit weird, once you get the hang of how to do it it becomes pretty easy however, i have no issues with this myself.
Secondly, i have never ever never experienced an attacking archer unit win over the defending one on the walls. The closest i've come to what you're describing is where the slingers on the wall had lost about 40% of their unit to my cretan archers. And considering their slingers weren't firing on my archers all the time either, i think thats pretty ok.
Allmost sounds like we're playing different games.

[craziii]

the walls have 2 sides. the side facing outward only fires at units outside of the walls, once they get inside, your archers wouldn't be able to shoot at them unless you position them again on the side facing towards your city. they have the same problem ever since medieval 2(m2's firing into the sky isn't any better) = only the front ranks with los can fire = only about 50% of the front rank fires. + the added problem of the firing cone introduce by the gunpowder units in etw and never taken out for archer units. that is a warscape engine problem, I am 100% sure of it. or CA being super lazy.

my army consist of heavy infantry, 2 to 3 cavalry, n 2 to 3 siege units. range units are a waste of time, too little dmg to be taking up a unit slot in my army.

this also makes eastern factions that rely on range units for their armies gimpy, instead of a power house like they should be.

[SirRobin]

the walls have 2 sides. the side facing outward only fires at units outside of the walls, once they get inside, your archers wouldn't be able to shoot at them unless you position them again on the side facing towards your city. they have the same problem ever since medieval 2

Yes I know that is also a problem, but for me the most annoying is that the archers can't do the most basic thing to do from a castle: shoot at the enemy outside, without being hit in return.

But the problem about shooting into the castle from the walls would be really easy to fix by CA, if they gave a damn. The unit-AI for snapping to the side of the wall is already there, all it needs is a simple extra check:

"Is target on the outside or inside of the wall?"

If (outside), snap unit to out-facing side of wall.

If (inside), snap to inside-facing side of wall.

[AusHaching]

In my game, ranged units do not work well in defence. There are at least 3 separate problems: a) Facing the wrong way: If you line them up, one half of the soldiers will face inward. You need to position the troops by hand in a long line so that everyone actually looks towards the enemy. b) The cone of fire: Ranged units can only attack units that are within their cone of fire. Depending on how the walls are sloped, that means only one or two units can fire on the position before the gate. c) The line of sight: Even if facing the right way and even if enemy units are within the cone of fire, only a few of your troops will actually shoot. I guess it´s because the parapets are blocking the line of sight. On the other hand, if the enemy is within the walls, your units can fire with muss less restrictions. In fact, enemy units will just stand by and get themselves killed if your archers are on the walls. They will not make any attempt to drive your ranged units from the wall. All around, just build plenty heavy infantry, invest a turn in building ladders and forget about ranged units in sieges. If the enemy does not have gates with burning oil, just burn the gate and let your heavies do the work.