View Full Version : RTW: friendly fire
this is a rant! yes, another one! but why, the heck, in the case of RTW, did CA not re-use the feature already implemented in MTW: missile units stopping fire (if on auto-fire) when the enemy unit they were tartetging gets engaged in melee by your own unit... in RTW, missile units on auto-fire just go on their merry way shooting away in the backs of their comrades. and, they're much "better" at this than their MTW counterparts :(
It could be unsettling quite a bit, but come to think of it, its more realistic. Micromanaging your skirmisher infantry/archer units seem to be very important now.
But ofcourse, having you archers shoot at the back of your troops when its lined up behind them should be addressed!
What I've been wishing for a long time, is a "shoot/throw at an area" command, where you could designate the general area the archers/skirmishers shoot/throw javelins. This would be especially helpful with javelins, when skirmishers are placed behind the infantry lines. When a thick enemy line piles up against your "anvil", having the javeliners shoot over your infantry to land a certain area in front of them would be much better, than seeing them make a shishkebab out of yout own folk.
Ideally this would work if the archers or missle units would not shoot if their LOF was blocked by a friendly unit. For instance if you are too close to a friendly unit in front of your archer unit the first few rows would not fire. In turn this would reduce the effectiveness of the archers but not cause any friendly fire casualties.
To a certain extent, this was implemented in the MTW already. It didn't work always, but the idea was there... This feature has not been implemented in RTW though. Interestingly enough, the "do not shoot into the backs of your own troops unless ordered to" feature was not present in Shogun either. So, is RTW, in a sense, a step back to Shogun?
On another note, the same archers that are more than happy to shoot your own troops in their backs would not shoot an arrow if there was a SINGLE tree between them and the target unit... Happened to me while attacking the Selena settlement: in their city plaza... The flag pole was between the archers and the target unit: the archers would just stand there and do nothing: put them on auto-fire or give them a specific order to fire: nothing... I checked, the arrow cursor did turn green above the enemy... Once I moved the archers to the other side of the pole, they did their job.
NimitsTexan
10-06-2004, 22:49
I guess Sierra club membership was popular among Roman archers.
...the "do not shoot into the backs of your own troops unless ordered to" feature was not present in Shogun either. So, is RTW, in a sense, a step back to Shogun?
Ah, well, the idea of "don't shoot your friends in the back by mistake" was first developed by William of Ockham in 1332. It wasn't known to the Romans and wasn't discovered by the Japanese until 1832. ~;)
It's all very historically accurate...
bmolsson
10-07-2004, 05:17
Ah, well, the idea of "don't shoot your friends in the back by mistake" was first developed by William of Ockham in 1332. It wasn't known to the Romans and wasn't discovered by the Japanese until 1832. ~;)
It's all very historically accurate...
No wonder the Roman Empire collapsed.... :)
I've noticed a few of my Cavalry Auxillia enjoy settling their own private scores during the confusion of their Cantabrian circle: During the battle they often seem to bump off a few of their own colleagues. ~:eek:
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