missile unit problems?

I havent had a chance to really test this so i was wondering if anyone has any information about some questions that i have regarding the first demo.

Do culverines have a minimum range? At some point during the battle they just refuse to fire any more at the enemy. Im not sure if this is because they have a minimum range and the enemy came within it or if they refused to shoot to avoid friendly fire because the battlelines were engaged.

Do archers and crossbowmen seem to not want to engage in melee combat? If i ever tell them to charge while they still have ammunition they just wont. THeyll just continue firing despite my disabling skirmish mode. Even if an enemy melee unit attacks them only the individual soldiers that were attacked will fight back while the rest will continue shooting.

On a different note what are the specific advantages/disadvantages that a unit gains when in 'spear wall' formation as opposed to just a normal spear phalanx formation?

Did you try alt + click for the missile units? That normally gets units to attack with their secondary weapon.

I would expect to see cannons have a min. range.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hoom

Did you try alt + click for the missile units? That normally gets units to attack with their secondary weapon.

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Yeah i did. Several times. And every time they simply ignored my order as long as they still had ammunition.

Understandable really. I'd ignore your orders too.

Hah. Yeah except had they followed my orders blocked up a gap that was forming in my spear wall i could have won the battle. Instead the enemy punched a hole in spear wall that allowed them to flank it and roll it up from the inside out. I was frustrated to say the least.

Strange, i've been able to do alt + click attacks fine with missile units in the demo.

Sometimes you need to cancel previous orders. Some orders may have the "waypoint" effect where it is only executed after the first one is satisfied. Getting out of skirmish is not enough, perhaps you should do a backspace (cancel all orders) before issuing another one.

I am not sure that it is the case, just that it became a habit of me (good or bad) to cancel orders before issuing a new one (unless I really want the previous orders to complete before moving on to the next, such as "waypoints").

Anniep