Archers

[fallendice]

I'm starting to see something odd in sieges, and offensive attacks.  People coming in with tons of Phalanx, Guardians, and Paladins, but absolutely no Archers.  I have run the calculator a couple times on some prospective attacks, and seen my 20k plus elite archers get wiped out.  Are archers actually a liability in an offensive attack, or am I misinterpreting this?

[victorklr]

from what i know archers reduces the moral loss

[Starbuck]

sending 0 archers in any attacking forces is usually kinda stupid.
even 50+ archers can help you lower your morale loss every round.

however, archers can't break walls and are really weak once melee starts, unless there is only spears in the defending side (but it would make more sense tos end swords then  )

archers will help you during the ranged attack phases if you have superior firepower than the opposing side, and during the siege phase if the garrison has no or extremely small stock of archers (1/20 or less of yours own stock)

[blackdeath]

They are especially useful if the enemy has loads of phalanx because they eliminate the force that will take down your cavalry. I learnt from starbuck that its good to send at least 5000 archers in each attack. that way in the melee rounds when they become butter, you dont lose that much. For sieges i usually send mostly swords, plus the cavalry to help carry the loot .

[Starbuck]

I learnt from starbuck that its good to send at least 5000 archers in each attack. that way in the melee rounds when they become butter, you dont lose that much.

I don't remember telling you that

there is really no magic formulas to how any archers you must send (or not send). What matters is that you understand the specific role of archers : lowering morale

Usually you send all your phalanxes, guardians and paladins in attack to maximize your power, but it's true that archers quantities you'll put on the field are very much depending on the type and quantities of troops you see on the other side.
And the reason is because they have a support role : they can't do more than a limited specific impact, and if you don't have enough of them to reach a certain threshold, then they do almost nothing.

a few examples : if the defender has 10k elite archers, then send min 15k-20k (30k+ being better) to get the upper hand, but no need to send 100k+ unless you want to see half of them slaughtered during the following melee phases.
and if you got just 10k archers, then send 100 only ... why ? coz you don't have enough to make a difference if there is a fight,so why sacrificing 50% of 10k ? and if the defender decide to avoid the fight, then 100 archers will be enough to make a difference during the field and siege phases of the battle


have fun,

[fallendice]

Nice, that makes a lot of sense.  I'll have to go back and look at the battle reports again, and check the oppositions make up.  Thanks for the info.

[blackdeath]

why ? coz you don't have enough to make a difference if there is a fight,so why sacrificing 50% of 10k ? and if the defender decide to avoid the fight, then 100 archers will be enough to make a difference during the field and siege phases of the battle


thats sort of the advice you gave me, at the time the numbers worked out to be 5k. anyways its still great advice, and i still learnt some more from this.

[D00M]

Nice, that makes a lot of sense.  I'll have to go back and look at the battle reports again, and check the oppositions make up.  Thanks for the info.

If no field army, then you can sent 51 archers with your troops. If you dont sent them, you will finish with 4 morale less (lets say 50 instead of 54 morale).
If the defender have army on field, in most cases I sent 300 E.archers. Often I sent phalanx little more than his phalanx+ his paladins. Little more cavalry from his and even less swords from his will be enough with the right starting morale and siege machines (in case you are in hurry and you cant wait to sent more troops). With this composition usually i have 60 ending morale. To make things simple, you can check at battle calculator first with 300 EA and then with more. If your ending morale is similar but you lose more troops when you are sending more archers, then its clear