Horse Archers are back in 1.4

[hoof]

Well, ok, there are only a few horse archer units in the game. But the horse-missile units (like the Mounted Tribal Auxilary) have returned to RTW effectiveness in 1.4. In 1.3, they couldn't reload or fire while moving, and their skirmish didn't work too good (they'd watch as a melee unit slammed into them). Now, the horse-missile units reload and fire on the move, and they skirmish really well!

I haven't seen if they'll skirmish away from line infantry that are about to shoot them, but against the natives of America, they are quite effective. I doubt they'll hold up against an army full of line infantry, but that's part of the historical reason for the downfall of horse-missile units anyway.

But I'm a very happy camper. I loved Horse Archers in RTW, and was sorely disappointed to play with them in 1.3 and find they weren't fighting like I remember. But 1.4 has them back up to RTW snuff, and they're fun to use!

[hoof]

Oh, another big improvement: Horses don't have to cross barriers perpendicularly anymore. Remember how a horse unit would get some horses caught up on a fence or a stone wall? No longer! They'll jump at an angle. I guess horsemen got an overhaul in general.

[Sheogorath]

Yup. Cavalry cohesion seems to have improved as well. No more cavalry scattered across half the map. Good times.

[Graphic]

Do they fire to the sides or do they have to be facing the enemy?

[A1_Unit]

I had some Dragoons that would fire on-the-move if they were not facing backwards.

[Sheogorath]

I had some Dragoons that would fire on-the-move if they were not facing backwards.

Some AI dragoons actually fired at me AS THEY WERE CHARGING. Double the punch :P

[Servius]

Yep, the first time I saw horsemen shoot was with a unit of Mounted Tribal Auxiliary. I had enabled the melee option, but not disabled the fire-at-will option. I send them to charge a unit of Warriors or something, and just before the charge landed, the entire unit fired their guns. I was like "HOLY SH*T! THAT WAS AWESOME!"

* = OO :-)

In addition, even when standing still, if Fire-at-Will is on, the entire unit (no matter how many ranks deep) will fire and not shoot themselves in the back of the head! I'm not sure if that happened before 1.4, but I've seen it happen post 1.4, and I think that's great!

[Miracle]

Do they fire to the sides or do they have to be facing the enemy?
They have to be facing the enemy, i.e. the enemy must be within the red boundaries.

Now that multiple rows can fire and that Light Dragoons have better shooting stats than Dragoons, what's the use of Dragoons? The Dragoon's fire-by-rank ability doesn't outweigh the need to dismount, Lights have better stamina, and they cost about the same. The only things Dragoons have going for them are better availability and the useless diamond formation.

Also, irregular cavalry such as Deli Horsemen are still unable to both shoot and reload while moving. You will still have to shoot-and-charge manually.