Bowmen only engage after Recuits are dead?

[Trunk]

On level 16. Fought a few bandit camps with ten Recruits and ten Bowmen. Lost a few recruits each time, the Bowmen not engaging (from viewing the playthrough). Finally down to one Recruit, ten Bowmen. I attack again: Recruit dies, followed by nine Bowmen.

Do the Bowmen not engage until all the recruits are dead? On level 16, is there any reason to use Bowmen at all? (Besides fact that they take up a different resource than Recruits.)

[galaxyrao]

here is the attack order, at lvl 16, against easy camp, recruits attack and r attacked always the first. but bowmen and recruits all attack at the same phase and same round.
Your problem may be that your recruits already kill all the bandits so that there is no one to attack for bowmen.

[Bobj]

Yeah like galaxyrao was saying there is an order of combat wich certain troops have to follow- dogs and cavalry for instance get to attack in the first strike round and can eliminate bowmen or other low-hp troops before they get a chance to attack. For the early rounds although it will seem like it is taking more time to get rid of those early bandit camps, this will save you a ton of time in the mid-term. Only attack when you have enough troops to eliminate the opposition in one "round" of combat, i.e. send enough troops so that there is no second round thus saving you troops and you will be able to move on to you'r next attack sooner because you did not loose more recruits than you needed to. Combat simulator will help you choose when you are ready and can take them down in the first round.

[Trunk]

Alright, thanks guys. I did try to look around and read first, but I didn't understand.

Cool game, nice forum.

[Trunk]

here is the attack order, at lvl 16, against easy camp, recruits attack and r attacked always the first. but bowmen and recruits all attack at the same phase and same round.

So what I said is true: "Bowmen only engage after Recruits are dead." You just said it in different words.

I wasn't wondering if the Bowmen would be engaged in a battle: I was asking why all the Recruits die before the Bowmen. Instead of ten dead recruits, why not five dead recruits and five Bowmen? Why do Bowmen just sit and sip tea instead of engaging in the battle with the Recruits?

[Bobj]

Instead of ten dead recruits, why not five dead recruits and five Bowmen? Why do Bowmen just sit and sip tea instead of engaging in the battle with the Recruits?

Ok so what you're referring to is the skill that bowmen/longbowmen+other similar units have called "cautious". It basically means that those troops wont get attacked while other recruit/militia/soldier units are still alive. There are certain units however (dogs, others) that have the trample skill which allows them to attack units with the lowest HP first, thus negating the cautious skill. So if you see trample, usually you wont want to send in low hp troops like bowmen or cavalry since its costly to loose these troops over sending recruits or militia to take care of a camp.

[galaxyrao]

So what I said is true: "Bowmen only engage after Recruits are dead." You just said it in different words.

I wasn't wondering if the Bowmen would be engaged in a battle: I was asking why all the Recruits die before the Bowmen. Instead of ten dead recruits, why not five dead recruits and five Bowmen? Why do Bowmen just sit and sip tea instead of engaging in the battle with the Recruits?

Isn't that a good thing? ur bowmen only have 10 hp easy to die. and recruit has 40 hp. Bowmen r cautious so they r protected by all melee units like recruits, militia, etc.

Edit : don't see Bobj's post. He explained more than I did.

[Oabol]

[

Isn't that a good thing? ur bowmen only have 10 hp easy to die. and recruit has 40 hp. Bowmen r cautious so they r protected by all melee units like recruits, militia, etc.

I think what Trunk is confused about (at least this is what I'm confused about) is why the bowmen aren't attacking at the same time - I understand that they are protected and therefore not attacked until the recruits are dead but why aren't they shooting arrows from behind right from the start of the battle?!? Just makes them seem a bit useless if they're waiting for all the recruits to die before getting involved at all.

[Bobj]

[


why aren't they shooting arrows from behind right from the start of the battle?!?

Unless your bowmen are attacked by first strike units (i.e. dogs) they do attack in the normal phase just like recruits do. The damage order is just recruits then bowmen then general.