Night fights

[Askthepizzaguy]

Just to clarify:

Is it true flaming arrows kill armoured troops faster?

[WhiskeyGhost]

not noticeably, since it fires so much slower. If your at close range, then i'd say yes, if your shooting into the back of the enemy unit, i'd say no. Against some of the better armored units (Dismounted Norman Knights maybe?), using peasant archers, i'd say Fire arrows are your only real chance of dealing kills unless they turn their backs on you.

edit: by close range, i mean half or less of the units max firing range

[Sentinel]

originally posted by askthepizzaguy
Just to clarify:

Is it true flaming arrows kill armoured troops faster?

The answer seems to be No.

Quote (from another tread).

Custom battle set to VH, grassy plain, AI controlling a unit of Gaelic Archers (missile attack 7). Recorded below are the number of kills after archers fired 10 arrows.
The test was done first a Night to force the AI to use flaming arrow.
Then it was repeated at Midday for normal arrows

Noble Pikemen - Unit size 76, Armour 7(upgraded), Defence 7, Shield 0

Night attack 15, 12, 25, 22, 20, 19, 21, 17, 23, 14 = Avg 18.8
Midday attack 33, 25, 26, 31, 26, 25, 27, 32, 32, 24 = Avg 28.1


Highland Pikemen - Unit size 76, Armour 0, Defence 6, Shield 0.

Night attack 39, 37, 45, 53, 43, 35, 43, 39, 50, 47 = Avg 43.1
Midday attack 44, 57. 62, 67, 59, 55, 61, 64, 54, 52 = Avg 57.5

The number of kills per 10 arrows is higher for normal arrows, than for flaming arrows, on targets with or without armour.
In addition the rate of fire for normal arrows is about twice that of flaming arrows.

[WhiskeyGhost]

The answer seems to be No.

I ran a similar test as the one you quoted (half scale, due to time restraints) and came up with these numbers:

Grassy Plains map- Peasant Archer unit (5 missile attack)

61 Dismounted Norman Knights (7 armor + 8 Defense + 6 shield = 21)

Regular arrows:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

unit end result-
56-55-57-57-54

kills= 5-6-4-4-7

Fire arrows (night) :

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

unit end result
53-52-53-54-51

kills=8-9-8-7-10
---------------
Regular avg: 5.2
Fire avg: 8.4 + (penalty for double time between shots) 4.2
---------------
76 Italian Militia (0 Armor + 3 Defense + 6 Shield)
Regular arrows:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Unit end result-
43-45-43-48-45

kills=33-31-33-28-31
Fire arrows (night) :

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

unit end result-
60-62-62-66-59

kills=16-14-14-10-17
---------------
Regular avg: 31.2
Fire avg: 14.2 + (penalty for double time between shots) 7.1
---------------

So, using this info, regular arrows kill enemies faster, but fire arrows are more economical vs heavily armored units. Then again, how often does a person resort to using a low end archer unit against a high end infantry unit? It does suggest that fire arrows kill armored units better when working with low end vs high end, but this is under a controlled test as apposed to a live one, so actual results may vary.

Hell, someone kill me now, i think i'm just making it even harder for me to understand it... Actually, screw it, I typed it up and wrote all that down, i'm posting it anyways even if I think my own work is silly

[Old Geezer]

Don't Whiskey's results indicate that it is better to use fire arrows against high armored targets and regular against low armored units? The range fired at also makes a difference with accuracy and the depth of formation with crossbows at least. Cross bow arrows will often go through a first line of defenders and kill men in the unit behind. At close range I wonder if longbows would do such? I've never bothered to look, because usually if my longbows are at close range I'm getting ready to panic.