Missle Units

[Joejoe84]

Hello all Im kinda new to M:TW, been playing for about a week to 2 weeks and i still cant figure out how to use missle troops correctly. So im wondering if some of you more experienced gamers can help me out. Many thanks for any and all replies.

[Sam Adams]

Form up in front of the enemy. If the enemy attacks your position, move your infantry to attack and keep your archers safe.

Pavise arbalasters are far and away the best unit.

[Hoplite]

Form your missile units in two ranks. This maximizes their firepower, since every member of the unit can draw a clear line of sight to the enemy (you'll need to face the enemy, of course http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif ). They will, however consume ammunition more quickly.

[|OCS|Virus]

you should try to position all of you archers on top of a hill or elevated field, and as sam adams stated keep your archers in front of you infintry until the enemy gets to close, then pull your infintry in front of your archers and have you infintry attack.

[The_Emperor]

When on the defensive, Missile Units are essential to wearing down the enemy.

deploy your Spear Units in front about 3 ranks deep minimum. Archers should be behind (preferrably on higher ground) and 2 ranks deep (in a close formation, otherwise deploy them in 3 ranks in a Loose formation). Get your archers and spearmen to hold position and Formation... Those arrows will be deadly and your missile troops should be protected by the powerful wall of spears.

[Doug-Thompson]

I like to group archers, putting about three units in the same group and have them concentrate their fire. It seems to work better than spreading them thinly all along the line.

[Urban Legend]

Missile isn't that good for attacking, unless the AI lacks missile units, though I have seen AI archers just sat there and get ignore my archers who are shooting up their infantry.

[Sam Adams]

I think archers are better for attacking than defense. I find that the enemy will come at you much faster when he is attacking, giving your archers less time to work. Defending a bridge, however, archers rule.

[hrvojej]

Opinions about the use of missiles vary. Personally, on defensive, I tend to put them behind my infantry, so that they get to shoot more volleys, especially at the generals who will be in the back of the army even though the first line might engage. More often, they will try to shoot your infantry before engaging, which gives you plenty of time to decimate his valuable units. If your archers are in front of your army, the opponent will charge them, and then they tend to be able to fire way fewer volleys in comparison with putting them in the back. This also means you'll engage his melee units who are almost at full strength, instead of shabby remnants that they would become if you had more time to shoot them into oblivion. The exception to this are javelin units, who have such a short range that they are better off in front of the infantry, otherwise they might not get the chance to shoot at all. On attack, you should put the missiles in front of your army, but the AI will charge you immediately, so you will get very little out of them usually if the opponent has any cavalry. Sometimes it works great though, but also sometimes they actually get in the way and even rout creating more of a mess than they would if you haven't used them at all.
My suggestion would be to play the Turks on high, or even on late. You will have many missile units at your disposal, and you will have to learn how to use them, since they'll form the bulk of your army. This will also give you plenty of opportunities to experiment and find the tactic that suits you best.
Good luck and cheers http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[bighairyman]

missle unit first row, infanty second row, knights on the wings, and general in the last row. i also leave at least 2 light-medium infanty in the way back for reinforcements http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

when the enemy attacks my missle units, my infanty move forword, and my cavalry flank them http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/idea.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[katar]

looks like everybody has their own way of doing this. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

for me it`s:
spearmen in front(4 lines deep), then archers behind(2 lines deep), feudal sargents at both ends(to keep them stable), keep cavalry behind the sargents to outflank any enemy units that are trying to flank you, and lastly some men at arms with the commander(all stationed behind the archers), these last units are the fire brigade(used to plug up gaps in your line and to deliver a killer blow if needed).

group all your archers together in one group or three units to a group so that you can concentrate your fire on one enemy unit at a time, when that enemy unit goes to loose formation you just switch to a different target.

this is against the computer, not MP, iv`e used it equally well for offensive and defensive operations(i sometimes alter the ratio of spearmen to archers).

have fun http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Old Bald Guy]

Thanks to Sam Adams, I have been playing his strategy and it works brilliantly. Much obliged, mate.

Put the missle units in front. They WILL get attacked. Before the enemy gets close, move up your infantry. The missle units keep firing, but are protected by the advancing infantry. The enemy attacks with weaker units, even beginning to waver. When they hit the infantry line, the often break immediately. Timing is the key and sometimes you are too late, which only means the battle may take longer, but usually is still a win, unless you are getting hit with really tough troops.

Often, the AI attacks the missle units with cav, which means those spearmen moving up have a jolly old time stabbing horsies.

It works great.

[Oaty]

I'm surprised noone has mentioned javelins. I still use more archers than spear chuckers, but javelins can produce heavy casualties very quickly on even the highest armoured enemies. I usually put them in my second rank in the very center of my army sometimes I use 2. Since the very middle usually has the most mass of enemy troops Its easy to to do the math javelins + 3 units overlapping each other = mass casualties. They unleash all there javelins in continuous fire in about 30 seconds to a minute. Then you can quickly withdraw them after making their typical 30-70 casualties(dependent on the armour of the enemy troops they unleashed them on). This really works great if you are short on cavalry and the enemy cavalry outnumbers yours, all you need is a unit in front to take the shock for them. Its just lovely to see these guys take out 3-10 cavalry units before they even smash into your buddies protecting you. My only guess that cavalry are so prone to the javelins on a charge is the cavlry are speeding into a wall of javelins that are speeding towards them.

[Crash]

Missile Units includes catapults, ballistas, cannon, crossbowmen, archers, horse archers, arbalesters, javelins, etc. If you are just starting out with MTW, the archers are the basic missile unit. There are a myriad of tactics available depending the terrain, enemy formation, weather, and your own non-archer units.

If you really want to study and appreciate the effect of archers, the simplest thing to do is set up a spear wall on a ridge or hilltop, and deploy your archers behind them. Ideally, your spearmen will have armor and shields to protect them from them from the enemy archers. This will give your archers plenty of time to fire on the enemy so that you can observe the effect of their arrows on the attacking units. Of course this will work only when you are defending.

If you are attacking you have no choice but to put your archers in front, if you want to use them for the assault. You can, however, back your archers with spearmen or other infantry. When the enemy attacks your archers, they will automatically retreat, and you can deploy them behind the spearwall so that they can resume firing at the attackers.

The enemy will always try to run down your archers with calvary or fast infantry, so don't leave them exposed without protection. This is not a recommended formation for every battle, it's just a way to practice and learn about using archers in battle. Have fun...
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[clovenhoof]

Archers (arbaledters/crossbopwmen etc) are great for tricking the enemy into attacking and then trapping him. I like to put spearmen in the middle, infantry on the flanks and then calvary staggered on the flanks of the infantry. I keep this formation, with the archers out front, until they begin to fire on the enemy- who charges. The archers move behind the spearwall- which takes the brunt of the assault, the infantry charges to the near flanks/front of the assaulting force and the calvary rides out to position and then attacks the far flanks/rear of the enemy. Horse archers and Jinets are cool for harassing the enemy, especially jinets.

[hrvojej]

One thing that I don't like very much is how automatic skirmishing is done. Sometimes it works great, but in more complicated situations it often doesn't. Units will only skirmish away from the unit they are firing at, or at least it looks that way, which means they'll often run into another enemy unit, allow themselves to be flanked or charged by another unit, etc. Babysitting doesn't work all that great either, since they'll often first move to reform the formation before they move away, and this can result in losing precious seconds and getting caught as well. Furthermore, if unit is on skirmish, it will often be very unwieldy since it will try to skirmish and execute the move command at the same time. Therefore, I prefer not to use the missile units too much in tricky situations, so I don't end up screaming at the screen Move away... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[katar]

One thing that I don't like very much is how automatic skirmishing is done. DITTO

i think skirmish just sucks in any large action.

the number of times my units ended up tripping over themselves while trying to get away from one enemy unit while totall ignoring the rest of enemy units has driven me nuts. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pissed.gif

now i move them myself and make sure they don`t get pinned down in the first place.

[Doug-Thompson]

Just a little gripe.

There is no strategy to using archers. That's tactics.

Time and again, I've opened up a strategy page on other MTW sites, only to see detailed discriptions about where to put archers, spearmen, etc.

Sorry for the nit-picking, but I've wasted a fair amount of time looking for strategy sites and finding the same basic common-sense tactics over and over.

[katar]

There is no strategy to using archers. That's tactics.

for some people(not me ) the names appear to be interchangeable or mean exactly the same

strategy = The Big Picture in the campaign screen.

tactics = actual movement of units on the battlefield.

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif

[Red Harvest]

Archers aren't that great except on really high mountains. Crossbowmen have very long reload times so I only use mounted types (because they can chase down other troops.) Arbalesters, now those are useful units. They cause horrendous casualties to armoured troops and at longer range. They rarely run out of ammo unless you are heavily outnumbered and facing many waves. I usually stand mine just in front of the spear/halbard units and make a coordinated advance with cav on the wings. If the enemy tries to rush (like with cav) then the long pointy stick units mangle the attackers. Three units of arbalest targeting a single heavy unit will whittle it to half size in only two volleys. Arbalesters for bridge defense are hard to beat.

Pavise types are much too slow and fatigue too rapidly (OK for defense but of little value on offense.)

[clovenhoof]

I disagree about archers not being so great, except on mountains. A ton of archers can do alot of damage over the course of a battle and can provide an edge. I find them usefull on defense in helping to turn back subsequent waves of reinforcements after the first wave has been routed and the enemy general either killed or made to flee. As soon as the enemy starts getting pelted, they turn tail and run. Its helped me defeat armies three and four times the size of my defending army.
Of course, I prefer elite heavy calv to archers but early in the game ones options are limited and four units archers, four spearmen, and two regular infantry can go along way twords taking rbeles provinces and expanding an empire early on. Later, the same seasoned units make compitent and cheap garrisons.

[Sam Adams]

Archers, firing into a mass of peasants will kill 2 men per volley usually. A unit of pavise arbs might kill 10. When you start shooting at armored targets, arbs become even more descisive, as shortbows become nearly useless. Sure regular arbs will be just as effective against enemy infantry and cav, but in an exchange of fire with enemy archers, you want those shields. Against a typical enemy their ammo will be sufficient to kill about 200 of the enemy. Ive never put them up against varangians or SAPs, but ive seen them chew up janissary heavies for breakfast. In one massive bridge battle 5 units of arbs killed a combined total of 900 enemy without a single loss of their own. And those were all cavalry