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Playing around with a Turk Early campaign and this thought came to my mind.
We all know how powerful HAs can be, even plain ones. Thing is, how would you choose targets for them? Killing the most powerful units would mean you get more value per arrow fired. However, these powerful units also tend to be heavily armoured, making them more resistant to arrows. So in a given battle, how would you decide what units to fire at, draw out of formation and destroy? Do you have any specific guidelines to help decide or just fire at will Discuss.
Personal preference:
Units not to shoot at unless no other choices:
Cavalry units (except those with missile capabilities, esp Jinetes and x-bows)
All foot missile
All foot with armour above 4.
Peasants and Slav Warriors. Sandwich them
Preference on other foot units:
If armour tie, shoot at 100 men units. (esp BI)
Else shoot at lower armour levels.
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That's an excellent question. I know it's an excellent question because I can't think of a clear, simple answer.
You shoot what's on the flanks or what's moving toward you, usually. A unit's position decides what you shoot at more often than unit type. Still, what's the best target when you do have a choice?
I prefer to shoot armored units. You get fewer kills per shot, but you get enough kills as long as at least one of the firing units is on the flank. This takes away the target's shield bonus. Peasants and other unarmored rabble are not a threat.
My favorite thing is to have some good, powerful HA behind armored units that are stuck in melee, shooting into their backs and ready to close the trap once the armored units rout.
I also love to shoot up camels, who often won't chase HA because HA are almost twice as fast. They're big, vulnerable targets.
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I start by shooting at the spears using 2 units, one in front to attract attention, the other to the flank or behind to shoot. My higher valor HA's go for the glory, killing off Kats/boyars/nobles. Units I don't shoot up are peasants, swords, artillery, and heavily armoured axes.
If I do get in a good high spot I will shoot foot archers.
mfberg
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pick nice juicy armor.
so what if you don't kill many?
the point is to irritate them enough to get them to chase your HAs.
having even one less knight or varang to worry about makes your lines that much stronger.
dragging them ragged would mean that you can finish off the rest before dealing with the uber unit which by now is a pile of sweat and metal due to chasing after your HAs and shoudl be easy picking if you charge from all sides.
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I use my HA to rout the rabble, WHY? you ask, IMO because of the morale effects on the rest of the army are worth it.
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Which units are tactically more important?
I use my cav as anti-cav, so if I can kill a few Knights in order to make my cav win faster, thus freeing them up to flank the enemy line, then thats a good idea.
Same thing if I have a weakness - like only weak cav - and I'm worried about the enemy flanking me with his cav. Then I would focus on shooting cav even if it meant fewer kills.
If I can focus some foot archers and cav archers on a low morale unit on the flank and get them to rout so that I can roll up the line, then thats good too.
One thing that really helps with cav archers - get them behind a heavily armored unit, or one with a big shield, and shoot them from the flank or rear. Can greatly increase the death of death.
ichi
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For me it depends on the situation entirely. Generally spearmen make a good target because Muslim armies are so cav-heavy. However, especially against Catholics, I love to run my HA behind the whole enemy line and harrass their most valuable units. The last battle I played I had two full 40-man HA units and one previously hurt 14-man unit. I took all three behind the enemy's (English) line, and I used one 40-man unit to specifically hit all their billmen. I used the other 40-man unit to run up and down just hitting and harrassing various units, killing 3 or 4 men in each. My favorite part was using the 14-man unit from about 10 feet behind the enemy's royal knight general. I killed 2 royal knights then dragged the general's unit all around the map while firing a couple arrows every now and then. They got so annoyed that they literally turned their whole army around to get rid of my HA. At this point I took my heavy cav and hit them in the rear to pretty much finish the battle. My infantry never even had to engage them other then to clean up a bit.
Point is, I generally use HA from the flanks or rear on their most valuable units. In particular, I find the units that I don't want to fight and try get them to follow me by shooting them in the back from very short range. They almost always do follow so I can proceed to destroy them with my other troops. Basically you can use them to tip the odds in your favor, even they aren't to begin with.
