Mounted Archers Get Slaughtered

[HigherGround]

Yesterday I had a battle where I used some Vardariotai Units. They were operating behind the enemy lines, harassing enemy from behind, killing unprotected ballista crews, pursuing routing units so they did what they should. After the main lines contacted I did not have time to micromanage the Vardariotais so I let them on the right flank with the enemy well within their range. Despite being on skirmish they were caught and decimated by slow heavy cavalry (Ghulams). As they were not cornered I do not really understand how this happened.

I've seen this in the RTW and in other MTW2 battles. (In a battle my skirmishing mounted archers were caught by infantry, madness! )

The funniest thing is that to capture an enemy mounted archer is really tricky, I have to use a lot fast cavalry and try to corner them but still it is a cumbersome job. For the AI it is nothing.

Is it a bug? Any tip how to fix it? Put them under AI control?

Thanks

HG

[Viking]

If you set them to attack a certain target, it is possible that they in an attempt to get back into a distance where they can fire at the target, they got caught by enemy units. If you simply set them to skirmish they should not get caught otherwise cornered. It is also possible that the cavalry had poor stamina and got tired before the Ghulam cavalry?

[Monsieur Alphonse]

There is an other option. When they run out of arrows they seem to forget that they are skirmishers. They like to think that the have become spectators and are not longer taking part in the battle. If you don't withdraw them manually once they shot their last arrow they can get caught by armed turtles.

[TheLastPrivate]

when they skirmish out of range, and they run in to close in for range again they tend to run in TOO close and hurriedly run back again. In the process a straggler gets caught in the melee forcing ALL of the HAs in the unit to switch to melee and die a sad death. As annoying it is, you have to maintain unit cohesion manually from time to time to avoid this.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Monsieur Alphonse is correct.

Skirmish is broken. After they run out of arrows the skirmish no longer works even though the skirmish button stays lit up. Just make sure you leave a few arrows remaining before concentrating on the main battle or hold back and charge them into the back of enemy infantry as it engages your lines.

[TevashSzat]

Never ever use skirmish. Just micromanage them since all it takes a pause every 30 secs or so which isn't too bad. IMO, if heavy cav comes towards my HA, I'd mass attack it and hopefully quickly wipe it out with superior numbers and then be grateful that the enemy just threw away one heavy cav unit

[Jason X]

as these units are somewhat overpowered, i regard the extra micro required as fair enough ... i try not to pause at all.

[Alexander: The hellenic empire]

I think the deal with Horse Archers is that they are very difficult to use effectively. When I first played the game I let AI control them. Now I am trying to tackle the issue myself.

[Odin]

If you set them to attack a certain target, it is possible that they in an attempt to get back into a distance where they can fire at the target, they got caught by enemy units. If you simply set them to skirmish they should not get caught otherwise cornered. It is also possible that the cavalry had poor stamina and got tired before the Ghulam cavalry?

This is what I am thinking as well.

[Noir]

I think that skirmish mode makes the skirmishing unit retreat from the unit it fires upon - and not from all others. That was the case eversince the older games (STW/MTW).

Noir

[WhiskeyGhost]

I think that skirmish mode makes the skirmishing unit retreat from the unit it fires upon - and not from all others. That was the case eversince the older games (STW/MTW).

Noir

I don't think its that, its that they try to advance to the target, but an enemy unit gets too close, forcing them to bounce until the enemy unit catches them. The HA keeps trying to get back into range, but can't do it without running into an enemy and skirmishing back, which results in the enemy unit eventually closing the gap. At least this is what i've observed happening under most circumstances.

[Viking]

In M2TW units reacts much slower to your commands. Playing more, it appears to me that they also react slower to their common sense....because even if you just set them (the horse archers) to skirmish, it is still possible for them to get caught by....infantry, even.