Getting Horse Archers To Stop Firing in Melee

[Seabourch]

Sometimes when Im using missile cavalry, I decide to have them engage the enemy in melee. I turn off skirmish, fire at will and press alt. to have them charge the enemy but as they are charging towards them, they still fire at the enemy and I've had a couple killed by friendly fire. Is there a way to stop them from doing this?

[Matty]

I have the same problem - the first line will engage but the remainder will hang back and fire. Better than doing nothing I suppose. Sometimes I have to 'force' them to attack in melee by repeating the order a few times.

[WhiskeyGhost]

edit: fixed, i mis-read first post

[vladiator]

Have you switched off the "fire at will" option? If you switch it off and then tell them to melee attack, that should do the trick.

Edit: Damn, I misread the first message too. You did everything and still have the problem. Sorry, I do't know what you should do then..

[Nebuchadnezzar]

As vladiator said. Switch off "Fire at will" and "Skirmish" then order them to attack but you must do this individually for each unit. If you have grouped or multiple units selected then they will charge the nearest unit or storm off in the opposite direction. A bug left over from RTW.

Also beware skirmish is also bugged. After you run out of arrows they no longer can skirmish even though the skirmish button stays lit.

[caravel]

This has been an issue since RTW with horse archers shooting as they charge into melee. You can turn off fire at will and skirmish but it still seems to happen.

The skirmish button bug also goes back to RTW, the AI runs out of ammo but still skirmishes the unit. I can remember chasing an eastern general around the field until I finally had to give up and end the battle. I had actually won quite an epic battle but had to give up becuase I simply couldn't catch him with the infantry I had left. The AI unit was still behaving as if it had javelins to throw.

I'm quite frankly astounded that none of this has been fixed in M2TW.

[Dead Guy]

It seems to me the issue is mainly that HA have a real hard time holding fire when you order them to... Sometimes it can take up to almost 10 seconds before they actually stop, which makes seizing opportunities like rear-charges etc very hard without suffering casualties from friendly fire if you have a HA-heavy army and don't like to micro-manage in absurdum. Ordering them to stop what they're doing (i.e. pressing backspace) is supposed to work if I remember correctly, but I'm not really sure about that. Read the hunters all their lives guide if you really want to master HA

[Nebuchadnezzar]

The skirmish button bug also goes back to RTW, the AI runs out of ammo but still skirmishes the unit. I can remember chasing an eastern general around the field until I finally had to give up and end the battle. I had actually won quite an epic battle but had to give up becuase I simply couldn't catch him with the infantry I had left. The AI unit was still behaving as if it had javelins to throw.

I'm quite frankly astounded that none of this has been fixed in M2TW.

How is that a bug? In RTW skirmish was automatically disabled as soon as you ordered an attack or alternatively you could manually turn of skirmish by de-selecting the skirmish button. I am sure nobody wants their HR's magically transforming into mallee cavalry just b/c their arrows run dry. Most players want to "drop & forget" their HR's to concentrate on the battle after infantry contact. Surely theres enough pointless micromanagement in M2TW already without adding more!

I presume you were attempting to catch and kill a Eastern general with a single unit of infantry? You need at least 2. If you initiated the attack its a certain loss. If the AI initiated then it should be a win for the player.

[WhiskeyGhost]

This has been an issue since RTW with horse archers shooting as they charge into melee. You can turn off fire at will and skirmish but it still seems to happen.

The skirmish button bug also goes back to RTW, the AI runs out of ammo but still skirmishes the unit. I can remember chasing an eastern general around the field until I finally had to give up and end the battle. I had actually won quite an epic battle but had to give up becuase I simply couldn't catch him with the infantry I had left. The AI unit was still behaving as if it had javelins to throw.

I'm quite frankly astounded that none of this has been fixed in M2TW.

if you do it right, chase em towards a wall, or a corner if you've only 1 unit, they will proceed to try to skirmish through your infantry and end up dead. Takes a bit of practice to get the timing right, but its possible.

[caravel]

That is what I was trying to do - herd the unit to the map corner. I ran out of patience however.

It's ridiculous that the player should have to go to such lengths due to poor game design.

[Shahed]

Sometimes when Im using missile cavalry, I decide to have them engage the enemy in melee. I turn off skirmish, fire at will and press alt. to have them charge the enemy but as they are charging towards them, they still fire at the enemy and I've had a couple killed by friendly fire. Is there a way to stop them from doing this?

1. Select target.
2. 1 HA unit approaches head on.
3. (optional) 2 HA units approach from flanks or flank and rear, if 4 approach from all sides.
4. All units 6 seconds away from target.
5. Auto fire on. Wait 2 seconds.
6. Auto fire off.
7. Alt click for melee charge.

Avoid units crossing each others' LOF (line of fire).

[TheLastPrivate]

One thing is that turning off "fire at will"
does NOT suddenly put locks on their bows.
There's a small delay time between switching from primary to secondary weapon unless the actual individual is engaged. This is true with gunpowder cavalry or even lancer cavalry.

[Shahed]

Correct, the animation has to end, before they stop shooting. You have to time it ahead.

[WhiskeyGhost]

Correct, the animation has to end, before they stop shooting. You have to time it ahead.

ah, that might explain why my Cuman Horse Archers only killed 4 enemy archers during that charge. Archers were pretty much stationary too