Skirmishers class completely pointless?

[luock]

These guys really rustle my jimmies because they are exactly the same as missile units but are selected using the infantry select (Ctrl-H/Ctrl-I) button. I have probably lost half my archers due to this extremely annoying bug!!

[Andytheplatypus]

Skirmishers are supposed to be weaker versions of regular archers. Generally they have less armor and lower melee and missile damage.

[spH3RiCal]

I think skirmishers are the exact opposite. They are light/medium infantry armed with ranged weapons, thus, they have less ranged damage but better armor and melee capabilities than the regular archers.

[ageboy20]

agreed.

[MortalCoil]

Skirmishers =/= javelin men?

[Byg]

He's just talking about them being auto selected along with his infantry.

You can make numbered groups of units. So make a group with just infantry.

[napoleonic]

RC guide clearly stated that skirmisher ACTUALLY more accurate than missiles, but skirmisher have shorter range and tend to fare worse in melee.

[Faith]

i never use skirmish mode... ever, for javelins especially, since their range is low. i make good use of the fire at will button. it's situational.

i love javelins. they don't always appear in my roster, but they're pretty useful. they usually require more attention and micro, but that's what makes them fun. they're opportunistic units.
in the field, they're behind my front line. i either let them fire at they will if i'm lazy, or wait for the enemy to form a wad somewhere along their front line. sometimes, i'll flank in order to stick some javelins in the backs of the enemies as well. it's good for routing. horses are excellent targets for javelins too.

when they run out of ammo, they make half-decent reinforcements for your melee.

seiges are simple enough. place them behind your melee, and when the wad enters your domain, javelins will chew it up into a pile of flesh and blood.

javelins and choke points are made for eachother. you can force your javelins to shoot even when engaged in melee. only 7 men fighting? let the rest of the unit participate a little. that's pretty much the whole point of javelins... varying degrees of range (javelins<bows<seige) so the soldiers up front aren't the only ones doing anything.

[Carl Jung was right]

Although I never used javelins in SS myself, I can tell how they might be worth fielding.

Their usefulness is in their worthlessness. For a trash unit that will more likely than not, recuperate most of its casualties after a battle, its remarkably effective at tying up enemy units, allowing your other warriors to maneuver into a tactically advantageous position. And because they are light, you can run them around the map without worrying too much about their combat effectiveness wearied by fatigue penalties. Third of all, usually in a TW game, a javelin does a lot more damage per shot than any other type of missile (save that of guns and elite ranged troops) making them excellent at thinning down enemy cavalry or expensive elite units. A few volleys from their javelins against a heavy cavalry unit can recuperate their cost many times over.

[Aenima]

I've finding skirmishers fantastic. In sieges my javelinmen are dicing the enemy as they approach my walls or gates, and I positioned a few of them near a gate to pepper the enemy in the side as they rushed in and charged my waiting infantry. Also, I'm in love with javelin cav after a few battles in which they've utterly minced whatever I've used them on. As with all missile troops, the key is to get them shooting from the correct angle.

[Zrk2]

I usually skip skirmishers because I usually play factions with their focus on heavy infantry or archers, so skirmishers end up being fairly useless.

[Honors Bastion]

I rarely use skirmishers except when I fight the Byzantines. Skirmishers are invaluable when you fight them to kill their generals who have so much armor that in the early game, it can be really hard to kill the without skirmishers.