Musket Volleys

[Phog_of_War]

without watching the vids i could take a few guesses. (im at work)

1. there low lv musketmen, ie like militia musketmen or peasant muskets. ie untrained and not very coordinated. i would assume there would be some form of militia musket men

2. it possibly has to be researched (as stated above)

3. there is an option to turn it on off, while volley fire is effective once the battle breaks down, ur losing men from your line etc the discipline might break down or u might even choose to stop it and just shoot at will.

4. without having watched the vids i cant say for certain but was it staggered fire? with the time it takes to reload quite often units would stagger their fire in lines. first line shoots then second then third then by the time the 3rd or 4th shoots the first has reloaded keeping up a constant barrage.



my money is on 1 or 3. i would say there is either an option ie one option is volley fire the other is fire at will. or its just a discipline/skill thing.

Cheers knoddy

I agree with knoddy. But it could be that they have already shot their first corrodinatd volley and are firing-at-will.

I believe (and most likely I am wrong) most armies at the time did only fire one or two volleys and by then would be within bayonette charge range. Unless the particular docrine for an army was to stand and fire it out, much like the French and British. Or one of the forces had either, cover, or was dug-in.

However my understanding of land tactics, battles and military doctrine in the game timeframe is severely lacking.

[bloodshed]

I think I remember seeing a button on medieval 2 and probably the games before it for archers that you could disable the fire-at-will while in battle. So I am sure it shouldn't be a big deal.

[knoddy]

mmm different fire at will tho. i agree it will probs be something u turn on and off. But the fire at will in all other total war games was just to make ur archers shoot as soon as the enemy was in range. Where as fire at will in Empire would more likely be fire when u can rather than firing in a volley :)

[Fondor_Yards]

They are said there's going to be options to simply let them fire at will, to tell them to hold their fire until you say to shoot.

[peacemaker]

you know what would be nice? If archers(or, in this case, gunmen) would load their guns BEFORE the enemy came into range. That way, you easily get off an extra volley or two.

[Phog_of_War]

I imagine that we will finally have preloaded weapons in Empire. Muskets and rifles anyway. Cannon and mortars were not loaded ahead of time IIRC.

[Fisherking]

Nice thread therifleman, welcome aboard!


Just a tiny bit off topic here but didn’t anyone else notice that the Americans had a pronounced English Accent?

The fact that neither one of them used that accent at the time might also be mentioned.