Missile after melee

[Kongamato]

Once swords meet, I rarely even look at my pavise arbalesters. After battle, I have noticed that they can get up to 70 kills, most of which occurred out of my sight. This is simply poor micromanagement on my behalf and I am looking for strategies that would help me use my missile units during the melee phase of battle.

edit: plz tell me the strategies

[Dionysus9]

It sounds to me like you are spending too much time watching your melee troops slug it out. Once they are committed to battle you dont have to pay any attention to them until they break the enemy unit they are fighting at which time you have to decide whether to let them chase or pull them back.

Once you commit a unit to battle you can ignore it for a while. At some point all of your melee should be comitted and fighting. That is a good time to review your missile units and/or cavalry.

[LadyAnn]

I always bring along my pav once the melee begun. Put them in autoshoot (tend to have less friendly kill), pact them tight together (boost morale). Or I send them to my allies who could protect them and put them into use at different front. Reason to walk to the side is that I could use pav arb to shield away cav (if I let them behind alone, they would be killed by cav anyways, better let them be killed protecting their compagnions), or use them to flank, or give morale penalty to enemy (by shooting at them), or even step into the melee to releave some tensions (high val pav.arb is excellent at holding spears in place).

My favorite activity with my general is to hunt for left-behind-pav (maybe that accounts for the death rate of my general).

The above may not be the best advice and I could even better player if I didn't have that idea. But since you asked what to do with the pav once melee begun...

Annie

[Postino]

i generally use them to shoot into my hottest melee...unrealistic i know, but that morale penality is a help. hmmm, wonering if freindly kills also get morale penality? i think so, i have had "accidents" with suicide bombers before, or mabey it was just a coincidence that some units routed at that exact moment.

[Mithrandir]

it all depends on the situation, in a multiplayer MP game, I sometimes send them to allies to help, if I see my line is about to break, I send them from behind into the melee, either in lines to give the entire line (engaged) a slight advantage, or in wedge formation ,to maybe break the enemy (slight chance though ).

Sometimes I just make them shoot into the melee, where it's most needed.(to kill enemy +give them a negative morale penalty)

Usually though, I havent got many of them left after a shoot out and possible succesfull cav charges. so I just send them to the rear of my army,forget them a bit, and then put em in wedge, and charge into the frontline, or even use them for flanking, if the situaton allows me to.

[Nobunaga0611]

As long as they keep shooting, I don't really think about them too much. But depending on how the battle is going....if it looks like I'm definitely about to lose, and they're close to the line I'll try to reinforce it. Sometimes its all I need to get those extra 20 or so seconds that turn the battle back to my favor. Or, if it looks like I'm doing well, I'll send them to the flanks of my allies to aid in their missle battle.

[Knight_Yellow]

I notice that when battle starts the enemy general will sneak round and try to take them out.

so i make them val 4 then tell them to go into mellee and completely surround him.

many a time my 240 val 4 pavs have ripped appart even royal knights, consequently winning me the battle.

however if i use longbows when they run out i use them as flank protectors ill let the enemy calv flank then i use the longbows as mellee troops and in turn flank the horses.

theres just sumthing poetic about ranged units killing calvary.

[Alrowan]

depending on the units and situation, if im turks i will most likely have my missle units in the melee, if i have arbs, ill take them to the flank and fire or suoport an ally

[DthB4Dishonor]

Hmmmm, if your getting 70 kills for each pavise arbs your doing something right and dont need our help. Usually with there slow reload time arbs dont get alot of kills unless in a long shoot out. A big contribution they give to my armies is increase my infantries morale by being very close to them and lowering the enemies morale by being shot at while in melee.