flaming arrows

[bnek]

are they more effective than normal arrows or against certain unit types/formations?

[Fearless]

I seem to recall that flaming arrows are better against mailed knights.

[Forward Observer]

That's a good question, and I suppose someone should do a test.

I use the flaming arrow mode almost exclusively because it make it easier to direct my missile fire and of course it looks cool when your target spontaneously combusts like the've been hit by a Molotov cocktail.

I don't have the feeling I am losing any effectivenes by doing so, but I could be mistaken.

In practice a flaming arrow would not have the range or accuracy of a regular bolt since to make it a flaming arrow in the first place it would be be weighted down with some type of oil soaked material wrapped around the head or shaft.

That alone would make flaming arrows sort of pointless except for the intended purpose of setting structural targets on fire, and of course this usage is not modeled in the game.

The arrows along with some of the flaming cannon ball effects are really pretty much gimmicks that the developers (Hollywood does this too) added to spice up the game, and compared to reality they are way over done, but as I said they do give one the ability to direct ones missile fire, and damn if they don't do exactly what the dev's intended---look cool as hell in the game.

Cheers

[Roy1991]

The drawback is that they take a lot longer to reload..
Firearrows are only good for dropping morale.

[FactionHeir]

In RTW, flaming arrows had:
decreased accuracy
decreased damage

but
lowered morale if it killed two or more units in a group

But IMO from the incineration effect you'd expect them to do more damage, but they don't.

[ScrapTower]

IIRC the tutorial said that they did more damage but were less accurate, and took more time to load.

[FactionHeir]

Yes, i forgot to mention that you fire at roughly half the rate at which normal arrows fire.