Using muskets en masse

**oz_wwjd** · 04-25-2008, 14:21

I tried mass muskets as city defense using Portugal.8 Portuguese Arquebusiers 3 musketeers,2 basiliks,with my general and 6 jinettes on the wings.First Milan tried to bring their miltia corssbow horde to face my troops but routed as soon as they got into range,due to the mass cannon,javelin and musketfire they walked into...

**Old Geezer** · 04-25-2008, 16:26

Has anyone tried using a mass of musketeers against the Timurids and their elephants?

**Henry707** · 04-25-2008, 16:35

I agree with monkey. I have never had much success with firearms. I suppose one of the great things about the game is that we can all play according to our own style...

For example, lots of peeps love horse archer, I'm not a big fan. I like archers in shiney uniforms like the guard archers. I love crossbows.

Anyway, I have never really got to grips with firearms so don't know any great ways of useing them !!!

Henri

**Eikon the Magistrate** · 04-25-2008, 17:57

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

Has anyone tried using a mass of musketeers against the Timurids and their elephants?

In short yes, and elephants go down fast to gunfire as all units do. Multiple stacks of tims will result in defeat of course but stack on stack it is a match.

Muskets are, as I oft post, the best ranged unit in MTW2. The only thing they lack is a horse/camel.I still havent tried camel gunners which would be 2 cherries on top of the gun-cake Im sure.

Muskets will kill ANY unit 1 on 1 except for perhaps an elephant or cav charge there is no other match.

2 ranks deep and on the flanks = screenshots of carnage.

**Seamus Fermanagh** · 04-26-2008, 03:06

Is it possible to superimpose musket units atop one another, manually switch them to "fire at will" in a timed, staggered sequence, and thus create a constant wall of fire at one or two points on the battle line?

This would be useful for channelling attacks onto the pikes etc.

**Caliburn** · 04-26-2008, 10:55

I agree with that Musketeers at the flanks are a good idea, but my armies usually consist of part gunpowder, part melee archer or meleeable crossbow elements in addition to the pikes. Putting your high-defence archers makes the pikemen stand longer using pikes, while the gunpowder units decimate/demoralize the other troops. On approach the enemy loses quite a few men too.

If I don't use pikes, they're even handier in the flanks. Drawing enemy units and supported by medium/light cavalry while the main army fights the other half of the enemy army, and afterwards you can mop up the rest of the attackers with musketeers and light cavalry. The same setup I used since Shogun, but with Pikes I like to mix things a bit.

I haven't tried Handgunners too much, as they don't have enough range as a missile unit and there are better units for charging the flanks (cavalry mostly).

**Old Geezer** · 04-26-2008, 14:01

The problem I see with musketeers is their very slow rate of fire which makes them so vulnerable to cavalry charges. They don't withdraw fast enough and when caught they switch to rubber knives -all of them - even the ones very far away from the melee. They just stand their with stupid knives in their hands, aaaargh.

The only place I have found them useful is when I am defending on a hill behind some infantry.

**khaos83_2000** · 04-26-2008, 21:10

I usually place my musketeers on higher ground and have the fighting happen on lower ground. This will solve the problem.

If it is flat ground... then i have to move my musketeers to the flanks when the infantry clashes.