Missile units and rain

[MIZILUS]

So musketts can fire in the rain now, do bows still suffer a penalty in the rain from wet bowstrings? It makes me wonder if there are really any good reasons to use archers except as extra (weak) melee troops once their arrows are gone. Do archers have any advantages over guns at all? Rate of fire maybe? Do archers kill certain units better than guns? Am I a fool for using archers http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

[BSM_Skkzarg]

It appears that archers do still suffer in rain - they suffer BADLY in wind. However, depending on your campaign - guns may not be available at the start. Now - Archers are better in melee, they are braver than arq's or muskees, they have a longer range and you can start making them almost from the start.
However, they are more expensive and do less damage than guns...

Guns on the other hand - require churches and cathedrals - meaning another building slot gone. Their range is inferior to archers and they scare easy. Their rate of fire is slower even when placed in 3 ranks. On the flip side - they do more damage, scare the bejeebers out of their enemy, and are cheaper than than archers. The conversion to xtianity is the biggest reason to say no to guns - until the dutch arrive that is! If you want to convert to xtianity - you had better start planning for it right at the start and have a couple of shinobi in each province when the first Portuguese trader hits shore...

Personally - I use archers till the dutch arrive.

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BSM_Skkzarg
"A mind is a terrible thing to taste."

[barocca]

ALSO
muskets and arquey's reload rate in the rain is slower, as the rain gets heavier the reload rate sloooows right down,

same effects for snow,

except Heavy Snow seems to force the muskets to reload BEFORE firing their fist shot, their accuracy is right out the window, and they seem to spend even more time reloading than for heavy rain,
if they are forced to change targets (fire at will mode) they seem to begin the reload process all over again!
reload before firing, then reload 2 to 3 times before firing again...

in a recent snowing battle my muskets seemed to get off only a single shot, the battle lasted 15 minutes, and they hit no-one at all! the rest of the time they spent reloading, and taking casualties from archers and crossbows!


(btw crossbows - these units can also generate own kills on their own ranks!
i recently had a back row man in a 3 rank crossbow unit drop from a shot fired by his companions - i think he musta annoyed someone in the rank in front of him...)


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DoragonBarocca of Clan Doragon (http://doragon.cjb.net)

[barocca]

archers, crossbows and muskets all in one battle??

yup!

a custom campaign coming soon...
(very soon)

...

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DoragonBarocca of Clan Doragon (http://doragon.cjb.net)

[Lord Shimazu]

Does any body think aques suck becuase i certainly do

[solypsist]

glad you answered my question before it was even asked Barocca!

[Puzz3D]

Mizilus,

Guns need line-of-sight to the target, but archers can fire over a greater vertical elevation and I believe over small hills. Musk and archers have the same range, but arqs have 20% shorter range. Archer rate of fire is faster than guns, but they kill less than musk with each volley. Overall, even in STW I found musk better than archers in online battles, and with guns apparently improved in WE/MI, musk would be the preferable unit. SA were never really very good in melee, and they have been weakend in WE/MI. They will not beat a musk in a ranged battle, but can decimate a WM or ND unit. CA have good mobility, and can get out on an enemy flank and target important melee units like WM and ND. I wouldn't say archers are useless, but you don't want to load up on them either. If archers had more ammo, they would be a serious threat.

MizuYuuki ~~~
Clan Takiyama ~~~