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.

**Quillan** · 03-19-2009, 14:21

Here's what I've observed in battles before and after I had the Platoon Firing tech:

With just the Rank Firing tech, rank 1 fires en masse and then kneels, when rank 2 fires a volley and then kneels, followed by rank 3 firing a volley and kneeling, at which point all three ranks are reloading. Rank 4 does not fire, only the first 3 do. Even though this is better than before I had the Rank Firing tech, when the entire first 3 ranks would fire as one followed by a long reloading period, there's still a period where the unit is not firing because all shooters are reloading.

With Platoon Firing, behavior is a little different. It's worth noting that I typically deploy my line infantry in 3 ranks so that they all can fire. It looks to me as if about 1/4 of each of the three ranks fires a time, so I see some shots from area A, then some from area B, etc. The result is the unit never stops firing. They do not have the same concentration of fire they did with Fire By Rank, but the shots are constant and they seem to cause more casualties as a result. Perhaps that's because targets aren't doubled up nearly as much.

**antisocialmunky** · 03-19-2009, 14:31

I would think that it would disrupt the enemy formation more because they are continually shifting men forward to replace the constant stream of losses rather than all happening at once. Then there's always the issue of fire at rank encountering a bad angle.

**Barkhorn1x** · 03-19-2009, 15:37

Platoon firing is indeed for "elite" units only and looks wicked cool.

***

***...yet another reason to research it ASAP.

**JeromeBaker** · 03-19-2009, 16:00

I forget the name of the tech, but has anyone got an opionion of the tech that lets you advance and still fire?

**Quillan** · 03-19-2009, 18:48

My opinion: it sucks. The toggle is apparently not for that unit, but for the entire army. If I pick one unit and turn F&A on, all my line infantry units stop whatever they were doing (including shooting) and proceed to pick up with the rank fire and advance in whatever direction they were going, no matter if they have a target in range or not. It's a waste of ammo and costs you control.

**antisocialmunky** · 03-19-2009, 19:14

It really should be you move your unit, half the unit advances, the other half doesn't move and covers the first half. When the first half is out of range, the second half moves up. Long distance movement is accomplished by leapfrogging. You can turn it off for your men to move faster. Really you can do it yourself. If you have the patience :-p The only thing that really adds anything is fire-by-rank.