how to use advance and fire?

[Prussian to the Iron]

how can i use this? i tried it once but my men just stood there, and i was afraid of advancing and having them not fire.

[pevergreen]

I think they do it once they are in range of firing.

[nafod]

Somewhat off topic, but does this tech seem somewhat worthless to anyone else?

You get partial shots at intervals and move like a turtle. It seems better to just close to within range halt and fire, or just go ahead and charge.

[Smellycat]

why would one want to get closer anyway?

[NimitsTexan]

why would one want to get closer anyway?

To charge . . . battles of this period were decided by the bayonett (and this is reflected in the game . . . charges will decide the issue quicker than fire combat, generally).

Ideal use is to halt somewhere inside of musket range, use fire and advance to work to optimum charge range, then charge home.

[nafod]

To charge . . . battles of this period were decided by the bayonett (and this is reflected in the game . . . charges will decide the issue quicker than fire combat, generally).

Ideal use is to halt somewhere inside of musket range, use fire and advance to work to optimum charge range, then charge home.

Right but this can be micromanaged much more effectively and with relative efficiciency.

As:

March to range

FIRE

Run halfway

FIRE

CHARGE

this tech makes them waltz up all slow like.

[Khorak]

To charge . . . battles of this period were decided by the bayonett

Uh....no they weren't. A bayonet charge was a useful tool to use in specific circumstances, not the battlefield endgame. Wellington himself used the word 'contemptible' to describe French forces attempting to attack his men in column formations. While the shock value of the bayonet charge was very effective, it was a deciding move only in that the attacker realistically had to have already defeated the enemy by placing him in a position disadvantageous enough for it to work. Without such conditions you get shot to hell coming in and bounce off a well ordered, disciplined formation.

The mythos of the bayonet is a romanticism even the people of the day bought into, when in reality it was overused by the French to the point of self destruction when they suddenly came up against well trained, stubbornly tenacious British forces, or couldn't find the massive local numerical superiority needed to shove enemies off the objective with sheer mass without breaking them down first. The effectiveness of bayonets in Empire: Total War is...well....largely broken when compared to reality simply because it's a game using a stats system and rules so different from real life that to find similarities you have to get down to the point of "they walk on two legs, like real people!".

[nafod]

To charge . . . battles of this period were decided by the bayonett (and this is reflected in the game . . . charges will decide the issue quicker than fire combat, generally).

Ideal use is to halt somewhere inside of musket range, use fire and advance to work to optimum charge range, then charge home.

Uh....no they weren't. A bayonet charge was a useful tool to use in specific circumstances, not the battlefield endgame. Wellington himself used the word 'contemptible' to describe French forces attempting to attack his men in column formations. While the shock value of the bayonet charge was very effective, it was a deciding move only in that the attacker realistically had to have already defeated the enemy by placing him in a position disadvantageous enough for it to work. Without such conditions you get shot to hell coming in and bounce off a well ordered, disciplined formation.

The mythos of the bayonet is a romanticism even the people of the day bought into, when in reality it was overused by the French to the point of self destruction when they suddenly came up against well trained, stubbornly tenacious British forces, or couldn't find the massive local numerical superiority needed to shove enemies off the objective with sheer mass without breaking them down first. The effectiveness of bayonets in Empire: Total War is...well....largely broken when compared to reality simply because it's a game using a stats system and rules so different from real life that to find similarities you have to get down to the point of "they walk on two legs, like real people!".

Wellington was born in 1769. Waterloo was fought in 1815. Age of Empires takes place from 1700-1799.

Might want to think about that.

[Didz]

Uh....no they weren't. A bayonet charge was a useful tool to use in specific circumstances, not the battlefield endgame. Wellington himself used the word 'contemptible' to describe French forces attempting to attack his men in column formations. While the shock value of the bayonet charge was very effective, it was a deciding move only in that the attacker realistically had to have already defeated the enemy by placing him in a position disadvantageous enough for it to work. Without such conditions you get shot to hell coming in and bounce off a well ordered, disciplined formation.

The mythos of the bayonet is a romanticism even the people of the day bought into, when in reality it was overused by the French to the point of self destruction when they suddenly came up against well trained, stubbornly tenacious British forces, or couldn't find the massive local numerical superiority needed to shove enemies off the objective with sheer mass without breaking them down first. The effectiveness of bayonets in Empire: Total War is...well....largely broken when compared to reality simply because it's a game using a stats system and rules so different from real life that to find similarities you have to get down to the point of "they walk on two legs, like real people!".

Seconded....The myth of the bayonet charge was based upon a fantasy propagated by those who never actually saw the front line of battle, but thought they understood what it was about. Actual historical evidence suggests that opposing troops only every crossed bayonets on three occasions during the entire Napoleonic War and two of those were accidents. The only deliberate bayonet v bayonet action occured at Austerlitz when a column of Russian Infantry and a column of French infantry emerged from the mist opposite each other and just kept marching forward rather than trying to deploy. Another accidental bayonet fight occurred between oppositing light troops who were both rushing to secure the top of a ridge line and arrived at the same moment.

By comparison there are numerous eyewitness accounts of soldiers just a few paces apart racing each other to relod their muskets rather than risk the lottery of trying to use their bayonets.

However, Nafod makes a valid point the Napoleonic Wars do not fall within the period covered by ETW. I'm not sure whether bayonets were used more aggressively in the 17th Century, as musketry was in a period of evolution throughout this period.

[DisruptorX]

Uh....no they weren't. A bayonet charge was a useful tool to use in specific circumstances, not the battlefield endgame. Wellington himself used the word 'contemptible' to describe French forces attempting to attack his men in column formations. While the shock value of the bayonet charge was very effective, it was a deciding move only in that the attacker realistically had to have already defeated the enemy by placing him in a position disadvantageous enough for it to work. Without such conditions you get shot to hell coming in and bounce off a well ordered, disciplined formation.

The mythos of the bayonet is a romanticism even the people of the day bought into, when in reality it was overused by the French to the point of self destruction when they suddenly came up against well trained, stubbornly tenacious British forces, or couldn't find the massive local numerical superiority needed to shove enemies off the objective with sheer mass without breaking them down first. The effectiveness of bayonets in Empire: Total War is...well....largely broken when compared to reality simply because it's a game using a stats system and rules so different from real life that to find similarities you have to get down to the point of "they walk on two legs, like real people!".

Bayonets are hardly that effective in ETW unless you are attacking from multiple flanks, or attacking light infantry. Attacking a full strength unit head on with a bayonet charge in ETW results in heavy casualties for both sides.

[Skunker4455]

Somewhat off topic, but does this tech seem somewhat worthless to anyone else?

You get partial shots at intervals and move like a turtle. It seems better to just close to within range halt and fire, or just go ahead and charge.

Yeah, very useless tech. It would be much much better if your troops actually did advance, though. Instead they fire a volley, move about two steps and fire another. I would prefer they fired a volley, hustled a fair distance, and had then had the other group fire another volley and do the same. I envisioned a kind of "bounding overwatch" when i first read the description of the tech but when I used it i started laughing and immediately turned it off.

To use it, just hit the button or use the hotkeys and click to attack the unit you want to fire and advance towards. Watch as your guys are outgunned horribly.

[Prussian to the Iron]

oh, ok. thankx. requesting close/lock

[Fiddling_nero]

It can be useful for elite troops or those with experience.(for when reload skill increases) And when they are deployed in blocks after all you are not using breachloaders so you need to have a much larger pool of men to draw from to advance.

[Warhammer3025]

I think someone said before that the only reason this tech exists is so that we can recreate that scene in Zulu where the redcoats were advance and firing on the charging natives.

Otherwise yea, this tech is pretty much useless and will get you killed by anyone who can return missile fire.

[Dayve]

I think they just included it because it looked cool in Zulu.

It really has no use, and any use that it was intended to have is obviously bugged because your soldiers move as slow as a snail.

[pevergreen]

Its changeable.

[Husar]

Its changeable.

That's nice for you but not everybody is pevergreen the mod-god who has nothing better to do all day than tweak game files.

[pevergreen]

That's nice for you but not everybody is pevergreen the mod-god who has nothing better to do all day than tweak game files.

thats a nice title.

I started modding properly today. I spent about 4-5 hours throughout the entire day on it, most of that just finding out what everything did.

VEM (link in my sig) should do something to address this issue.

Problem is, I don't know if it will make it worse or better. I'm presuming better, from how I changed it.

[MikeV]

thats a nice title.

Are you a lone "mod god," or part of a mod god squad? (Sorry, couldn't resist. )

I started modding properly today. I spent about 4-5 hours throughout the entire day on it, most of that just finding out what everything did.

Are the tables in the wiki proving to be helpful?