Friendly Fire Kills

[Tomisama]

In reviewing a battle replay for a contest decision, I ran across a curious situation.

The game had timed out at an hour and the game reported a draw, but one side had 2001 Kills, and the other only 1274.

They were 2535 to 2793 starting out, and with a 727 kills spread and still the game called it even?

Closer investigation of the losses showed that the big kills side had 663 friendly fire kills, to the 253 friendly fires of the other team.

That helped balance things out a bit, and other factors contributing finished the job.

They could have and should have won, but literally shot themselves in the foot!

My Friendly Fire study so far is showing that “all” units firing through “any” other units kill some of their own. There is an automatic avoidance feature that tries to order two units side by side, and another routine that limits crossover firing. But both can be intentionally or unintentionally defeated, so you can not rely on them to save you from your self.

Worst yet happens in team play, where allies are shooting through each others ranks. In trying to help each other, they are destroying them selves.

The best idea to me is to try to keep my lines straight and only fire intentionally.

Fire at Will, will kill Will, no matter what side he is on :wink:

Other thoughts on this?

[KrooK]

Coin has two sides Tomi. Into mtw 2 naptha throwers did not "shot" if there were any risk that allied unit can be hit. I'm afraid that if ca did not change it (on situation like we have now) units would not be shot if there were any risk that ally units will be hit - it mean they generally would not shot.

[Tomisama]

In the original Shogun, you could fire on your allies, and they would instantly and irrevocably become your enemy, right there on the field!

***

I will venture a rough guess that in one on one ETW games, that most people have 10% of their losses due to friendly fire, and in team games that this number can rise to near 25%. In the battle replay mentioned above, losses over those killed by the enemy represented 35% of the total.

Let me say that I do not think that this is a bug or an error in the game. Friendly fire is an all too real occurrence in the real world, then and now. I am posting here for the good of those who would like to perfect their game by minimizing unnecessary casualties.

The rub is that there is no exact accounting by the game as to where all of these losses came from. But you can watch line crossover situations in slow-motion replay if you have any question as to the validity of what I am saying. You will then see what works and what dose not. Look for men falling out in the rear ranks for no apparent reason :skull:

Enjoy!

And if we are in a team game together, please try not to shoot my men, and I will do the same for you :wink:

[KrooK]

Today I saw something that broke my hard - from smiling.
3vs3 and one of our opponent deployed his infanty....in front of his cannons.
He shot 3 times (result for infantry is easy to predict) and was suprised that his soldiers
are dying. I love this game.

[Lavos]

It's not only arty and guns that kill friendly! If horses are charging at enemy and there is some of your inf close to their target, horses will run over them and kill some man. Its even possible to loose whole units.

[FearofNC]

i hate it when your ally decides standing behind you is the best place to be.. you get outflanked on both sides and the poor noob sits back there shooting more of your men the the enemy does.. then blames you for the loss and takes credit for all their "kills"

[Tomisama]

Today I saw something that broke my hard - from smiling.
3vs3 and one of our opponent deployed his infanty....in front of his cannons.
He shot 3 times (result for infantry is easy to predict) and was suprised that his soldiers
are dying. I love this game.

I did the same thing "once", and lernt my lesson!


It's not only arty and guns that kill friendly! If horses are charging at enemy and there is some of your inf close to their target, horses will run over them and kill some man. Its even possible to loose whole units.

Very important to know, Thanks!


i hate it when your ally decides standing behind you is the best place to be.. you get outflanked on both sides and the poor noob sits back there shooting more of your men the the enemy does.. then blames you for the loss and takes credit for all their "kills"

Exactly the point of this topic :bow:

I have not tested to see if you allies get credit for killing your men (probably do), but as far as I know you "do not" get kills added for doing your own, just the losses.

I sincerely think that if we are going to have friendly fire kills, that we should also have flag border markers on all players, not just duplicate factions.

I added the idea to a list somewhere. Maybe some day :wink: