Question about Military Technologies

**bloodshed** · 03-19-2009, 02:04

May sound stupid and if so I apologize but maybe Im missing something. Alright so I researched Fire by Rank which was fine and then I researched Platoon Firing some turns later but my infantry are still firing by ranks. Am I missing something arnt they suppose to be platoon firing. Do I have to put them in small groups or something (dont know how to do that if so). Im sorry I dont understand. lol thanks for any help.

**pevergreen** · 03-19-2009, 02:15

As I understand, rank fire is rank 1 fires as one, then kneels, rank 2 fires as one, then kneels, rank 3 fire as one.

Platoon firing is like a line.

So rank 1 fires from left to right, one by one, then kneels so rank 2 can do the same.

**rossahh** · 03-19-2009, 02:22

Does your standard Line Infantry get platoon firing? They obviously get fire by rank, but I'm not so sure about platoon. Grenadiers on the other hand, do get platoon firing.

**bloodshed** · 03-19-2009, 02:23

Yeah but as soon as I researched platoon firing shouldn't have that replaced fire by rank? My units are still firing by line.

Edit: I dont know maybe the regulars dont get platoon firing. Thanks for replies.

**Shahed** · 03-19-2009, 05:48

Platoon fire is only for specialized units (grenadiers, guards, light infantry etc). It enables the whole squad to fire at once.

**butterfingers158** · 03-19-2009, 06:37

ya platoon fire is only for elite line infantry (guards, grenadiers) while normal line infantry uses fire by rank.

I prefer fire by rank anyways, platoon fire eats through ammo.

**geala** · 03-19-2009, 11:05

I did not watch it closely till now, but that would be very stupid. Of course line infantry should get platoon fire. It was developed for line infantry.

Maybe it's not necessary to explain, but perhaps not everybody has a clear picture what platoon fire means: Platoon fire in reality was neither the soldiers in a rang firing one after the other nor firing at once (that would be a volley). Platoon firing means that the battalion was divided in several fire units (platoons/pelotons), the soldiers in a platoon fired on command together, but each platoon fired after another platoon. For example you had this: 1-3-5-7-9-11-12-10-8-6-4-2. In this case a platoon would be one twelfth of a battalion, so about 65 soldiers. Platoon 1 with its 65 soldiers started fire, then 2 fired, then 3 and so on. The fire started so on one side, then from the other, the center fired at last. The fire could also start in the center in other systems. No rank fired but all, normally three, ranks in a platoon fired together. After firing the soldiers in a platoon loaded at once. The above is only an example, different systems did exist.

The advantage of platoon firing was that the battalion could hold a constant fire against the enemy (something not achievable with rank firing) while it also had a concentrated fire of a lot of fusils together (unlike disordered single firing).
The disadvantage was that platoon firing over a longer time was very difficult, only very well trained units could achieve this. You could find them mostly in the Prussian and British army.