Archers wont shoot at close range

I've rated longbows over pav arbs for a long time now but recent events have forced me to start training halve pav arbs halve long bows . Problem with archers is that I cant get them to shoot at close range when I've brought them around the back of an enemy unit I've pinned down. They just attack in melee automatically. all I can do is to move them away past the enemy unit until there far away enough to open fire . This is time consuming and sometimes dangerous. I tried pav arbs on custom battle and they were superb at butchering a unit of pinned knights at a virtual range of 4 or 5 yards. Any one else had this problem with LBs or is it just me ???

Hi fester ~:wave:

Not had the problem but don't think I've been in your position. I assume L/B's and archers have a minimum distance they fire at as they need to arch their shots whereas arbs and crossbows can shoot at point blank as the fire horizontally.

~:cheers:

Realistically it is no harder for a bow to be shot flat-trajectory than any other weapon. The arc only factors in at longer ranges because of the slower velocity.

There is even a small adjustment for rate of fall in good rifle sites. And modern artillery is fired in arcs with angles as large or larger than those of ancient bows.

..

As far as the game issue, it seems clear in this case that the longbowmen are just a little bit impetuous, whereas the arbs suck at melee and therefore stay out of it.

Dunno though, haven't played MTW.

Del

Do you change your archers setting from skirmish to engage at will?

If you do, then when the archers are less than a certain distance from the enemy and get targetted on them, they just charge rather than shoot. On hold formation they will still shoot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sociopsychoactive

Do you change your archers setting from skirmish to engage at will?

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That's probably it.