Light Infantry vs Line Infantry

[antisocialmunky]

I find that Light Infantry is way better in the early game than line infantry because they can unload all their guns into an enemy at once rather than one line at a time. However by the time you research all those techs, line infatry becomes much better.

Has this been the experience of anyone else or am I just being silly?

[Polemists]

I thought you couldn't get Light Infantry until you researched the Light Infantry Tech, which is rather far down the military tree if I remeber right.

I certainly prefer Line, but that is simply do to the fact I am more interested in holding a line rather then killing the enemy, and boxes of men serve that purpose rather well while my more elite unites (Grenadiers, Guards, etc) move up to take care of whatever.

[therifleman]

Light Infantry are smaller in unit size so they will die faster than Line Infantry will. You can also spread your Line Infantry out to 2 ranks deep to get a lot of the muskets firing. Line infantry also have access to ring bayonets fairly early, which makes them a better CC option.

Light infantry are good, but I wouldn't rely on them as a substitute for Line Infantry.

Late period, there is no question, Line Infantry > Light Infantry smply because of rank fire.

[PBI]

I must say, I'm finding it hard to figure out how best to use light infantry. If I put them in the center, the get mowed down by the enemy line infantry, and if I put them on the flanks, they're vulnerable to cavalry.

I'm not quite sure what role light infantry are good for that another unit can't do better.

[pevergreen]

AFAIK multiplayer games have no techs researched, so anything that can fire more than 1 row at once is great.

I like to use them as sharpshooters.

[Polemists]

Well if you are fighting a city, there is usually alot of Militia and armed citizens, in general light infantry is better then them and good at soaking up shot so your better units don't have to.

[Fiddling_nero]

I thought you couldn't get Light Infantry until you researched the Light Infantry Tech, which is rather far down the military tree if I remeber right.

If you have colonies in the Americas you can recruit rangers. (At least for the factions that get colonies to start there.) The Austrians also get Paundors(sp?), the Spanish get Guerrillas, and the Russians get Siberian Hunters. So there is plenty of factions that gain access to light infantry early on.

[crazyviking03]

IMO, until the game can be modded to slow things down a bit, light infantry are useless as skirmishers. As it is now, with skirmish mode set, you are lucky if you can get even 1 shot off before they turn to run, especially if you are fighting native americans or other melee armies, since they like to bonzai charge across the map. If you turn off skirmish mode, then they get smashed by the enemy, since they only have 60 or so men. Dont get me wrong though, I love light infantry/rangers/auxillary and use them often, just as it is now, they die way to quickly, which is a bummer if you are like me and name your units and role play with them.

[Husar]

Well, i think light infantry are skirmishers, I guess their purpose is to harass the enemy with their longer range and higher accuracy and retreat when the enemy advances to get into range, that way you can force the enemy to march onto your lines when they are trying to defend. That's all purely theoretical of course, it's not like I have the game yet, but from the stats I saw posted here they reload slower than line infantry but have more range and accuracy, they are only worth it if you can use that I guess.

[Sisco Americanus]

I find them useful (Panders, anyway) as skirmishers. In defense you can use them to disrupt an enemy advance: place a few units of light infantry here or there in front of the advancing enemy line, forcing some of them to stop and fire while the others either keep advancing or turn to fire at the skirmishers as well. Either way, you've disrupted the enemy line, and created holes you can exploit. You can also use them to distract enemy units and often pull them away from the main fight; basically, your 400-some gold unit of 60 skirmishers pulls their 700+ gold unit of teched up line infantry off on a wild goose chase for a while, which can only level the odds of the main fight or tilt them in your favor. Later you can finish off the distracted, isolated units in detail.

Lots of uses for the different light units. You just have to be creative and get away from the line up and plug away at each other mindset.

[NimitsTexan]

I've used them to screen a deployment of line infantry or artillery, also used them to force an infantry advance to slow down so it can be engaged by my artillery.

[antisocialmunky]

The Minute Men from RTI are the units I had in mind when I did started this thread since is 160 men shooting at once. After you get fire by rank, line infantry is largely better due to the ability to stab. Since the light infantry in RTI has the same range as line infantry, I jsut stick them behind my artillery to supplement the canister shot with 160 musketballs.

[Thermal]

I don't even have the game but you get more of line infantry so I guess them ,though if its like the demo light inf do get stakes so maybe there versatility would make them more interesting.

[Feanaro]

Skirmishers are handicapped by having only slightly longer range, sometimes even the same range, as line infantry. They also aren't much faster. Given that the idea is to shoot and scoot, I think this hurts their utility a lot. Plus, you actually have to research the "light infantry doctrine," which is just a fancy term for a skirmishing formation. Which is older than firearms. I think most skirmishers could use a range of 90.

They still have their uses though. They generally have a smaller unit size, which means you can deploy them in ranks of two while still being maneuverable. They also have better accuracy in general, so you can use them to flank engaged line infantry and get some enfilade fire on 'em. I like to use Rangers in defensive positions if I can hide them.

[Meldarion]

I've found them to be quite useful personally. In my opinion you only need so many line infantry before your line is too long and they go to waste or you have to put them behind the line itself in which case they still go to waste.

With light infantry you can put them infront of the line and they don't get shot in the back. They are spread out enough so that they take minimal casualties, this is more useful than you might think. A couple of things I have used them for - picking off defenders in a fort, this worked surprisingly well and they didn't get shot to pieces but the guys on the wall did allowing my men to reach the walls mostly unharmed. Secondly - just put them in front of your line infantry the enemy has to waste bullets shooting at them or just take the hits. If they decide to shoot at the light infantry the way they are spread out makes for few deaths and protects your precious line infantry.

Neither of the above is really "skirmishing" and you do only need say 2 - 4 units, I usually turn skirmish mode off unless I'm facing melee infantry. They aren't a replacement for line infantry, use them together for the best results.

[Feanaro]

I've found them to be quite useful personally. In my opinion you only need so many line infantry before your line is too long and they go to waste or you have to put them behind the line itself in which case they still go to waste.

That's a good point. I usually have eight-ish units of Line Infantry. I supplement them with artillery, riflemen, cavalry, and skirmishers. Especially artillery and riflemen. Why risk getting blood on your uniform when you can kill the enemy from a ways off?

[andrewt]

What upgrades can light infantry get? I noticed my militias aren't getting square formation and rank fire.

[Megas Methuselah]

Did any of you guys try out the Austrian air rifles? Those are insane. Shame they run out of ammo quickly.

[pevergreen]

What upgrades can light infantry get? I noticed my militias aren't getting square formation and rank fire.

Only line and proper infantry get those tactics.

Militia receive nothing.

[IlDuce]

I generally put them in front of my line hiding. When the enemy engages I take them out of the forest then use them to shoot the enemy in the back. Or sometimes on my flank if position allows so if the enemy tries to flank me out pops some skirmishers to shoot them. A lot of the time they'll die but they serve their purpose.

[A Very Super Market]

I actually use my light infantry (And variants) as a tactical reserve, a la Imperial Guard. They are a lot more lethal when the enemy is distracted, and their smaller size means that they are missed much less.

[antisocialmunky]

Did any of you guys try out the Austrian air rifles? Those are insane. Shame they run out of ammo quickly.

I've always wondered why no one else fielded elite corps of those.

[geala]

The air rifles were actually to complicated and fragile for military use. The tech was in the region, so they tried it but it was more or less no great success. The rifles were on the other hand great weapons for poaching, a behaviour quite often seen and even admired by many people in the Alps in the 18th and 19th century. There were many complaints about air rifles used for this.

[dopp]

The CA developers did mention that they included a few units that were historically impractical for battlefield use just to increase the tactical possibilities, sort of a 'what if someone had managed to work out the kinks 50 years sooner'. Air rifles, Ferguson rifles, Puckle guns, rifled naval artillery and ocean-going steamships are all good examples.

[Oleander Ardens]

Wow - Air rifles are in? Thanks CA, I don't know if this thread, this thread or even this one some times (2006-2008) ago about them helped but I could not care less. Note that a good deal of the mentioned units made it in, although it is of course impossible to which extent it influenced CA.

How are the good old Riflemen with the Girandoni?

[dopp]

Try them. They have the killing power and range of riflemen. They also have the second highest RoF in the game after Puckle Guns. However, they are 25% smaller than other riflemen units, about as big as a cavalry regiment. Good support for Line Infantry.

Austria also has superior Riflemen and their basic light infantry use double-barreled muskets. Makes up for the terrible accuracy of their line units. Britain has Ferguson Riflemen but their RoF is half that of the air guns.

[crpcarrot]

infantry cannot fire while moving and that when i use light infantry get off a few shots before the enemy has a chance to settle his lines. once they reach the main lines i use them to ans the flankers to shoot them in sides and back.

[loony]

Contrary to the common feelthat I should use skirmishers to defend line infantry, I do the opposite. I position the line of line infantry with gaps in between regiments, where a bit further back there is artillery and skirmishers.
that way, while line troops hammer each other, my artillery shoot canister and my skirmishers kill the enemy off due to their better accuracy. I do lose a lot line infantry, but in a more "traditional" battle line setting I lose even more.
bad things tend to happen if I leave too big a gap between two line infantries and some cav gets to the artillery or the skirmishers.

[oz_wwjd]

I've used them to stake out my flanks,before I finished deployment to keep those pesky native calvary out,and also used them against there infantry as their bowment and such seem to out-range line infantry by quite a bit..

[antisocialmunky]

Contrary to the common feelthat I should use skirmishers to defend line infantry, I do the opposite. I position the line of line infantry with gaps in between regiments, where a bit further back there is artillery and skirmishers.
that way, while line troops hammer each other, my artillery shoot canister and my skirmishers kill the enemy off due to their better accuracy. I do lose a lot line infantry, but in a more "traditional" battle line setting I lose even more.
bad things tend to happen if I leave too big a gap between two line infantries and some cav gets to the artillery or the skirmishers.

Yeah I do that too. Its also rather funny when the AI decides to throw all of its horse at one or two guns and get ripped apart by everything else.