Musketeers?

[Roderick Ponce Von Fontlebottom]

I keep hearing that CA has extended M2TW to allow for musketeers at the end of the game? Does anybody know if this is true? Does this mean actual proper musketter using soldier?

[Dan.o6]

I hope not.

[CBR]

There are both arquebus and muskets in M2TW yes.


CBR

[Bob the Insane]

Well the earliest muskets fit into the timeframe of the game, but I do not expect to see Dartanian running around the field...

[Roderick Ponce Von Fontlebottom]

I wonder if this means being able to field full musketeer armies in the game?

Because doesent the apearance of muskets pretty much spell the downfall of medieval weaponry. While an arquebus may be inferior to the longbow in many ways and still prove less accurate and more likely to explode, the musket was a vast improvement over the latter, ushering in the development of an entire new style of warfare. A fully trained and experineced army of musketeer man would have no problem simply outclassing any medieval army with the apropriate cavalry support and such.

[CBR]

The matchlock musket had more power and range than an arquebus but it was also heavier and had a slower rate of fire. AFAIK it never replaced the arquebus completely. The arquebus, pike, pistol and cannons had already transformed warfare and the late 17th century flintlock musket (really a weapon in between the old musket and the arquebus) changed warfare again.


CBR

[Furious Mental]

You can't just train whole armies of musketeers. They have no bayonet and therefore get slaughtered in melee

[Fred]

I wonder if this means being able to field full musketeer armies in the game?

Because doesent the apearance of muskets pretty much spell the downfall of medieval weaponry. While an arquebus may be inferior to the longbow in many ways and still prove less accurate and more likely to explode, the musket was a vast improvement over the latter, ushering in the development of an entire new style of warfare. A fully trained and experineced army of musketeer man would have no problem simply outclassing any medieval army with the apropriate cavalry support and such.

Errrrr….No

Muskets where still not superior to bows and crossbows in accuracy, effective range and rate of fire. What Muskets did do was put an easy to use weapon in the hands of peasants that could pierce all but the very best armour, thus reducing the role of heavy armour on the battlefield. Combined with the resurgence of the pike, this meant that you could train and equip vast number of levies to a level that could defeat the old Knights and men at arms at a fraction of the price and in a relatively short time. It was however the centralisation of the European states that really caused the downfall for medieval warfare. With central government powerful enough to raise its own troops, it simply didn’t need knights anymore, in fact having groups of semi-independent warrior nobles all over the place, some of them running around with private armies, was a positive liability from central government’s point of view. Remember that pure combat effectiveness is usually a secondary consideration when countries put together an army. Cost, loyalty, logistics and politics can make just as big an impact on warfare in a certain area or period as what weapons and tactics actually work.

Gun probably didn’t clearly match or outclass bow and sling based weapons in every area other than armour penetration and possible ease of training (although that’s debatable when compared to crossbows) until the introduction of breach loading rifles.

[Furious Mental]

I don't think any of that really mattered anyway since field artillery would probably deal adequately with anyone who tried to attack such an army with bows from beyond the range of the musket.

[ProudNerd]

I wonder if this means being able to field full musketeer armies in the game?

Because doesent the apearance of muskets pretty much spell the downfall of medieval weaponry. While an arquebus may be inferior to the longbow in many ways and still prove less accurate and more likely to explode, the musket was a vast improvement over the latter, ushering in the development of an entire new style of warfare. A fully trained and experineced army of musketeer man would have no problem simply outclassing any medieval army with the apropriate cavalry support and such.

after centuries of medieval based warfare it would be great to ahve some musket based line to line combat. Sounds great to me.

[Bagpuss]

Lars573

cheers for that info , an the picture clips very good :)