Why are my new archers stupid ?

[Meneldil]

I've been editing some units for AoVaF, and I'm lost when it comes to understand which stat will have which effect on the unit's behaviour.

Right now, I've made some Viking Trell Archers. They have a bow and a knife. Supposedly, they should fire with their bows leave the hand to hand for Real Men. But whatever I do, they'll just fire one volley, kill of few guys, and then charge right away. And although they have sucky stats, they tear appart my Bondi spearmen (who got much more armour and a bit more attack)
What's the cause behind this ? I think they might be better than the Bondi because they're using a knife, but why don't they freaking fire with their bows ??

Here are the stats as found in export_descr_unit

type viking trell hunter
dictionary viking_trell_hunter ; viking trell hunter
category infantry
class missile
voice_type Light_1
soldier viking_trell_hunter, 60, 0, 1
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_sap
formation 1.2, 1.2, 2.4, 2.4, 2, square
stat_health 1, 0
stat_pri 3, 0, arrow, 100, 30, missile, archery, piercing, none, 25 ,1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 1, 0, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, knife, 25 ,1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 2, 1, 0, flesh
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 5
stat_ground 0, -2, 1, 1
stat_mental 1, low, untrained
stat_charge_dist 25
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 110, 70, 20, 30, 300
ownership ostrogoths, slavs, alemanni

[Dromikaites]

I've been editing some units for AoVaF, and I'm lost when it comes to understand which stat will have which effect on the unit's behaviour.

Right now, I've made some Viking Trell Archers. They have a bow and a knife. Supposedly, they should fire with their bows leave the hand to hand for Real Men. But whatever I do, they'll just fire one volley, kill of few guys, and then charge right away. And although they have sucky stats, they tear appart my Bondi spearmen (who got much more armour and a bit more attack)
What's the cause behind this ? I think they might be better than the Bondi because they're using a knife, but why don't they freaking fire with their bows ??

Here are the stats as found in export_descr_unit

type viking trell hunter
dictionary viking_trell_hunter ; viking trell hunter
category infantry
class missile
voice_type Light_1
soldier viking_trell_hunter, 60, 0, 1
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_sap
formation 1.2, 1.2, 2.4, 2.4, 2, square
stat_health 1, 0
stat_pri 3, 0, arrow, 100, 30, missile, archery, piercing, none, 25 ,1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 1, 0, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, knife, 25 ,1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 2, 1, 0, flesh
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 5
stat_ground 0, -2, 1, 1
stat_mental 1, low, untrained
stat_charge_dist 25
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 110, 70, 20, 30, 300
ownership ostrogoths, slavs, alemanni

Comparing your archer stats with those of the vanilla in RTW and BI i can spot 2 differences:


1. The charge distance is shorter (25) than the shortest charge distance in vanilla (30). This could make the the game engine order a charge. A well known behavior of the foot archers in battle is this: if they are getting close to the enemy while marching, they charge instead of stepping back. Cavalry units which can skirmish can be safely sent towards the enemy without the risk of charging as long as they still have missiles.

2. The primary weapon (bow) has 0 as charge bonus value. While it makes sense for the bow to have 0 bonus when charging with it, perhaps the game engine needs to have some value there different than 0.