Gun accuracy - Roger Hunt

[Jxrc]

Something funny I read in a magazine I had bought to get a something to sped the time on the train The magzine was called "Moyen-Age" (Middle-Age) is dedicated as you might have guessed to the Middle-Age !!! No idea if it good since it's the first time I got it.

To the point, in an article called "1415- disaster at Azincourt" the explain: "The English Bowmen, who can shoot ten arrows per minute, shoot so many arrows that the sky is full of those. (...). Relegated in the third line of battle, the [French] Crossbowmen ("gens de trait") cannot reply to the English arrows if they do not want hit the fighters in the firt line. The French use "canons and serpentines" with wich they kill only one single archer named Roger Hunt" (free translation).

At least one historical example that confirm what I have experienced when bulding culverin and the like in MTW ... Tough break for Roger Hunt (but who remember the name of the other bowmen who died that day...)

[matteus the inbred]

Heheh, poor ol' Roger, very unfortunate. In the reverse, I remember reading an article in a wargames magazine about the battle of Formigny, where the French deployed guns again and a single beefy English archer drew his bow by lying on his back using his feet to brace it (thus extending the range sufficiently), and actually managed to kill a French gunner on the first shot...!

This also seems a reverse of the typical and by now quite well-known (unmodded) MTW phenomenon whereby firing your artillery anywhere near the enemy general is highly likely to result in a small flat splattered enemy general!
As you say, MTW artillery is not noted for its accuracy in any other circumstances...

[Martok]

The French placed their crossbows in the third line? What on earth were they thinking?

This also seems a reverse of the typical and by now quite well-known (unmodded) MTW phenomenon whereby firing your artillery anywhere near the enemy general is highly likely to result in a small flat splattered enemy general!
As you say, MTW artillery is not noted for its accuracy in any other circumstances...

Indeed. Artillery usually can't hit the broad side of a barn in MTW--anyone who's played a few castle assaults can tell you as much. Place a general anywhere in one's field of fire, however (be it the enemy's or your own), and watch him get crushed by a big rock!

To this day, I still wonder how that bug (because I simply can't believe the coders programmed it deliberately) got in the game, and why none of us seemed to notice it until well after CA was done patching. It's not a huge deal, but I try to avoid using artillery in defensive battles for the very reason in that it's too easy to kill the AI commander (and thus winning the day).

[Jxrc]

The French placed their crossbows in the third line? What on earth were they thinking?

The "idea" was that it would be a crushing victory so that all nobles (dismounted knights) had to take priority, be in the first row and kill more Englishmen than the laymen ... Turned out that the field was quite muddy (due to heavy rain and the fact that the army and its horses had spent the night on it) ... Try to run five hundred yards in mud with a full set armour and nasty people throwing arrows at you .... Crossbowmen not being noblemen they had to remain in the last line of battle and could do nothing except killing their own man ...

Indeed. Artillery usually can't hit the broad side of a barn in MTW--anyone who's played a few castle assaults can tell you as much. Place a general anywhere in one's field of fire, however (be it the enemy's or your own), and watch him get crushed by a big rock!

To this day, I still wonder how that bug (because I simply can't believe the coders programmed it deliberately) got in the game, and why none of us seemed to notice it until well after CA was done patching. It's not a huge deal, but I try to avoid using artillery in defensive battles for the very reason in that it's too easy to kill the AI commander (and thus winning the day).

I only once killed an AI general using a catapult ... Would need to experiment that a bit further (perhaps that could explain why ballistas are used sometimes) ... The main oddity that I have constantly noticed is how easy it is to kill the AI general using Xbow and arbs compared with killing him in hand-to-hand combat (don't know how many times I have seen the AI general totally surrounded fight alone for ages before running away without problem) ..

[Vladimir]

Only 4 units can engage any single unit at one time. However, he can be hit by an unlimited number of missiles.

[Martok]

The "idea" was that it would be a crushing victory so that all nobles (dismounted knights) had to take priority, be in the first row and kill more Englishmen than the laymen ... Turned out that the field was quite muddy (due to heavy rain and the fact that the army and its horses had spent the night on it) ... Try to run five hundred yards in mud with a full set armour and nasty people throwing arrows at you .... Crossbowmen not being noblemen they had to remain in the last line of battle and could do nothing except killing their own man ...

Ah yes, how could I have forgotten about the arrogance of the French nobility? Still, I'm not sure which defeat was the bigger folly: The battle of Agincourt, or the battle of Crecy? One could make a pretty strong argument for either.

I only once killed an AI general using a catapult ... Would need to experiment that a bit further (perhaps that could explain why ballistas are used sometimes) ... The main oddity that I have constantly noticed is how easy it is to kill the AI general using Xbow and arbs compared with killing him in hand-to-hand combat (don't know how many times I have seen the AI general totally surrounded fight alone for ages before running away without problem) ..

Yeah, artillerty units in MTW have an unnaturally high probability of hitting generals for some reason--and in fairness, I should mention that I've been the victim of this phenomenon as often as the AI has. I learned the hard way that when engaged in battle, I need to keep my general out of range of enemy artillery at all times.

As for the relative ease with which you're able to kill generals with crossbow units, Vladimir has pretty much hit on the reason why.

[gaijinalways]

Of course your morale and valor help as well. I have had some gunners/xbows/javelin throwers couldn't kill people at point blank range (real blanks?) !