Light Infantry vs Line Infantry

[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.

[Shahed]

The best thing about Light Infantry is that they can crouch (toggle light infantry behavior) in front of line infantry allowing the line infantry to fire in syncronicity with the light infantry.

I love these guys have 4 of them in each stack on the Americas, they can also deploy anti cav stakes around arty and/or choke points.

[seireikhaan]

I use light infantry to defend artillery. The combination of deploying stakes + easy hiding + longer range weapons = carnage for any pesky cavalry trying to intercept your artillery. Particularly awesome for defending a puckle gun when you toggle "light infantry behavior" on so that they are continually ducked under the puckle fire.

[katank]

Particularly awesome for defending a puckle gun when you toggle "light infantry behavior" on so that they are continually ducked under the puckle fire.

Ya know, I tried that in a custom battle. Didn't work. I lost 2/3 of my light inf unit from friendly fire. The puckle guns just fire so darn low.

[PBI]

Yes, I'm finding the same thing when positioning my Jaegers in front of my line infantry; my guys definitely do still take friendly fire from the line infantry. This occurs even if I am fighting against an all-melee opponent, so it is definitely FF.

I suspect what people are observing as the skirmishers being safe from friendly fire by ducking is actually the fact that most of the line infantry shots would go over their heads anyway even if standing or through the gaps in the formation.

The only way I've found to get two rows of units one in front of the other firing without friendly fire is favourable terrain (which, incidentally, is a very handy method of effectively doubling the firepower of that section of your line).

[Quillan]

Normal line infantry has a range of 70. Regular light infantry (and rangers in the Americas) are 80. Once you get the Mechanical Rifling tech, you can build units with a range of 125, though.

I've personally used LI to winkle out troops who have taken up inside fortified buildings, as I usually outrange them. I'll move the LI up to just within range and let them use their superior range and accuracy to cause casualties without an enemy response.

I haven't had to fight with them yet, but currently I have 2 units of Riflemen (Green Jackets) and one unit of Ferguson Riflemen defending Gibraltar in my campaign. I have 3 units of mortars inside, one unit of light dragoons, and the rest are line infantry.

[antisocialmunky]

I find that sitting them behind artillery units still works much better than putting them infront of your line infantry.

[Squints]

Well, the Americans get the long riflemen, who had around a 25% range increase (I think it's 80 or so?). They stink at CC, but they're entirely worth having to get the first shot in, before retreating them to the flanks.

[Feanaro]

Well, the Americans get the long riflemen, who had around a 25% range increase (I think it's 80 or so?). They stink at CC, but they're entirely worth having to get the first shot in, before retreating them to the flanks.

They're even better than that. Long Riflemen can hide while walking. If the enemy takes up a defensive position, you can sneak them up to vulnerable units like cavalry, get off one shot, and run like hell. If they are reluctant to give up their position, you can just sit there and snipe them(though all riflemen can do that). Now, if only the 13 colonies were playable during the normal campaign. The option you get at the end of the Road to Independence campaign is too short.

[thurjack_mahr]

Line Infantry -

Has twice the number of men as Light Infantry, and therefore more staying power.


Light Infantry -

Half the # of men, much greater range, ability to deploy spikes.


The best use of Light Infantry isn't on the flank or in the center... they are best deloyed where they can stay hidden and snipe from a safe distace. The spikes are best deployed near the artillery or in the woods where trees will obscure them from vision somewhere directly between thier starting cavalry position and your artillery.

Making a line out of Light Infantry seems temping but it just doesn't hold unless you are under ideal circumstance (ie hard cover, uphill).

[Furious Mental]

Consider French revolutionary armies and it becomes pretty obvious that the instinct of untrained or scarcely trained men under fire was to spread out and use cover. No one needs to be trained to use their common sense. What they did have to be trained to do was operate in a formation even if it was an open and flexible formation.

[Didz]

Well I'm getting the hang of this now and have developed Ottoman Column tactic's to make the best use of the way infantry work.

Four Jannissary units in dense column grouped with two units of skirmishers in line with skirmish on.

What happens is that as the enemy approach they get a volley of musketry from the skirmishers which usually provokes them to charge. The skirmishers retreat through the the jannisaries, I order the jannisaries to charge, the skirmishers stop running, and start firing at the enemy in the melee.

So you end up with enemy musketeers (melee defence 4/5) being hacked to bits by janissaries (melee attack 15) and shot by skirmishers. The only thing to avoid is using artillery, which would make mincemeat of everything.

The AI seems to get really confused at having its own expliot used against it, I've even seen Russian Musketeers try to form square. It also works against cavalry if you turn the skirmish ability off so that your snipers keep firing, they seem to pick off the cavalry quite quickly as the jannissary keep them busy.

[MikeV]

Consider French revolutionary armies and it becomes pretty obvious that the instinct of untrained or scarcely trained men under fire was to spread out and use cover. No one needs to be trained to use their common sense. What they did have to be trained to do was operate in a formation even if it was an open and flexible formation.

Um, that time period (which is after the ending of the campaign in this one) featured the "Levée en masse," which was the 1st large-scale compulsory conscripting of the Industrial Age. Napoleon's tactics focused on a combination of massed cannons, cavalry charges, and infantry columns breaking through the enemy line and convincing the survivors to leave the field ... bloody, but effective (at the time: imitating them later led to the horrific casualties of the ACW and WWI).

Skirmishers were deployed relatively rarely, and even then they were recalled and re-attached to the assault column. One theater that saw extensive use of skirmishers (and guerrillas) was the Iberian Peninsula,