Combat bonus on expert?

**Dayve** · 04-25-2006, 21:25

Does the AI get a combat bonus on expert? Frog's guide doesn't say this but it seems like it to me... I just invaded Scotland, playing as England, early period, expert difficulty. (I'm new but i want a real challenge)

Anyway, i had 3 spearmen and 2 archers, and a 4 star prince. The scottish hillmen dudes seemed to completely rip apart my spearmen, even though my spearmen have 166 men in a unit compared to the hillmens' 100. Is this just a morale bonus? I seemed to lose an awful lot of royal knights fighting enemy archers too... On hard/medium i barely took any casualties from archers when fighting them with my cavalry, so i'm thinking there must be a combat bonus.

**Mithrandir** · 04-25-2006, 21:53

Clansmen have a great charge&armour piercing IIRC,so that may have influenced it...

**drone** · 04-25-2006, 22:06

Don't think they have armor-piercing, but highlanders will absolutely shred ordinary spearmen. Charge 6, Attack 5. With the added morale bonus (morale being a weak point for HC in normal), clansmen are going to be very tough in the early game.

**Dayve** · 04-25-2006, 22:14

So there is no combat bonus? I hate combat bonuses. A couple of weapon upgrades i would be fine with, morale bonus is great because it means longer and more fun battles.

I'll have to develope those men at arms quickly or i'll never conquer Scotland. I'm doing a bit of a roleplay. I'm gonna stick to the British isles until 1200Ad or so, make it really developed and prosperous, then create an empire on the other side of the map, and be the strongest naval power on the board.

**Dayve** · 04-25-2006, 22:40

Another question i have. How can i make my archers behave? They don't follow orders, and when in skirmish mode they seem to run toward an enemy as it charges at them rather than run AWAY from it... They just will NOT do what i tell them to. When i double click for them to run behind my line it is completely ignored and they start to turn and do silly things... Putting them into loose formation is a hazard because they find it even MORE difficult to follow orders then, so i have to leave them in tight formation which is no good for skirmishers.

Is it just me having this problem or does everybody have to suffer with it?

**Martok** · 04-25-2006, 22:48

The AI's troops receive a +4 morale bonus in combat, but I think that's it. Of course, that much of a morale bonus can make a pretty huge difference!

As for archers, yeah, I think quite a few of us have that problem (I know I do, anyway). As a rule, most missile/skirmish units in MTW require the player to baby-sit them to at least some extent. Some units are better than others, but you still have to keep an eye on them so that they don't get caught in melee combat.

**naut** · 04-25-2006, 22:56

It can be quite anoying. So I just never put them in skirmish mode, always in hold position and behind my line of infantry. This does restrict me, but it stops them from doing half the stupid stuff they do.

**bamff** · 04-26-2006, 02:20

I follow the same pattern as Rythmic - I usually put them in a position where they can't really do their own thing....although sometimes you really pay a price for it...

**Csargo** · 04-26-2006, 05:24

I do what Rhythmic does. Archers really piss me off the only ones I really like are longbowmen anyways.

**Kommodus** · 05-03-2006, 21:53

Originally Posted by Dayve

Another question i have. How can i make my archers behave? They don't follow orders, and when in skirmish mode they seem to run toward an enemy as it charges at them rather than run AWAY from it... They just will NOT do what i tell them to. When i double click for them to run behind my line it is completely ignored and they start to turn and do silly things... Putting them into loose formation is a hazard because they find it even MORE difficult to follow orders then, so i have to leave them in tight formation which is no good for skirmishers.

Is it just me having this problem or does everybody have to suffer with it?

What I do with my archers is this: place them in a long line just in front of the main infantry line. (If the infantry line is short I'll split the archers into two lines, with one line in front of the infantry and the other behind). All are given hold formation/hold position orders.

As the enemy approaches, the archers out in front will start firing at them. Any archers behind the main line will of course wait a bit longer before opening fire. When the enemy gets close, I select the line of archers out in front and ALT-LEFT CLICK on a central point behind the infantry. (Note that alt-left click gives the order to move while retaining formation/facing.) I then press CTL-R to get them to run.

The archers will simply turn around and quickly run behind the infantry for protection. Once they reach their destination, they'll return to their original facing and formation.

Note that you can't wait too long to give the retreat order with this tactic, or your archers will be caught by the charging enemy. This has happened to me quite a bit actually, especially when I was learning how long I could wait before giving the order.

I like having some archers out in front so that I don't give the enemy a range advantage. However, they can be tricky to manage, and you cannot count on the automatic skirmishing.

Finally, I only use loose formation with archers that are in a missile duel. If they are not under fire, close formation is better since it makes them more maneuverable.