MrBonzai211
Legionary
posted 16 October 2007 20:48 EDT (US)
Is there such a thing as friendly fire in RTW or BI? I'm always afraid of putting an arrow into my cavalry's unprotected backs so I always have to make sure my archers are inactive when the hand to hand battles start. Is this good strategy, or is there really no friendly fire in this game?
MrBonzai211
Legionary
posted 16 October 2007 21:23
EDT (US)
2 / 15
So does that mean I'm also killing my own guard whenever I send a second unit into a melee battle and they throw their javelins? WTF!?
Marcus Victor
Legionary
posted 17 October 2007 00:55
EDT (US)
4 / 15
It's very much like real life, if you fire lots of arrows into a raging battle, you will take out your own men. Depending on how ruthless you are, you can do it or not. Personally, my men take their own chances charging into battle with me in command, but then I am evil......
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 17 October 2007 11:03
EDT (US)
5 / 15
You will take out a few of your own blokes when firing into a place where your own men are fighting, but the majority should hit the enemy, and remember although you may kill a few of your own men, the shock of the missiles could rout the enemy faster and save more lives than if you'd just hacked your way through with swords. Probably the best idea though to fire into the backs of the enemy and not the backs of your own men. Nobody likes an arrow in the back.
mikecz
Legionary
posted 17 October 2007 12:00
EDT (US)
7 / 15
Because of the friendly fire issue, I usually take missile units off "fire at will" when my infantry or cav are about to hit the enemy units. Depending on how many missile units I have & what the enemy has, I'll often have all missiles fire at one enemy unit (that I don't have engaged with melee units), hoping to get that unit to break into a route. As soon as combat is actually engaged, I like to try to break at least one enemy unit into route A.S.A.P. for the demoralizing effect on the other enemy units.
I have certainly had units (including pretty good generals) killed by friendly fire, especially by my slingers when I played Carthage. The Carthage campaign really taught me to think about how to place & move units to minimize friendly fire incidents.
LloydBrown
Legionary
posted 17 October 2007 12:30
EDT (US)
8 / 15
And on a similar note, since I played Britain, I've stopped using missile fire almost entirely. I played around with the head hurlers, which are amazing for all of 3 shots, but that's it. Once I conquered the world with footmen and chariots, I weaned myself of any reliance on archers.
On the other hand, they're great for defending your cities. An archer firing into a solid wall of enemies from behind cover is a happy soldier.
theboyne
Legionary
posted 17 October 2007 20:50
EDT (US)
11 / 15
I've managed to kill at least one of my generals because I forgot that automatic placement always sticks the artillery at the back of the army.
It shouldn't be possible to undershoot THAT much but no, a ball of flaming death straight in the back of his head in the first few minutes of the battle. Morale was not high after that, I can tell you.
Incidentally, the Roman Testudo doesn't protect you from getting shot in the ass.