Platoon fire against Fire by rank - Empire total war, Darthmod test

[RIcYanng]

historically, platoon fire is more effective than fire by rank, here are few reasons, first of all, some ppl think fire by rank has three ranks shooting like a cycle, so when their last rank fires, first rank can immediately follow up and fire, which is really wrong, why? back to that day, it takes more time to reload the musket than u think, but platoon fire can be continuously firing, u can see the action in this vid. second of all, when the musketeer has to stand up and fire, it's accuracy is far worse than the one who uses platoon fire, because the rest of regiment always have plenty of time to aim enemies. then, it's about smoke, platoon fire can have clear vision all the time, however, for fire by rank, first rank must have clear vision to let them aim, the bad thing is that after first rank finish, there is smoke in the front, and when the second rank finish, it's almost like the fog, which is totally blocking how they see ppl in another head.

of course, platoon fire has it's cons, i think there must be at least one disadvantage for any formation.

[onlypeaceindeath]

The first Gustavus Adolphus did was to deploy his forces in a new fashion, which was the birth of the very linear tactic that was used by most soldiers, also known as line infantry, during late 17th to late 19th century. The second thing he did was to train his musketeers to such a extent that when most musketeer formations had as much as ten ranks
Gustavus could decrease it to just three. The first rank was kneeling, the second crouching and last standing. I'm open for correction if needed.

[Zankaru]

Tried clicking fast-forward so they would get to the fighting already, then realized I was watching a video and not playing the game.

[lyanna]

Fire by rank better
Here is why
At first all guns are loaded and they fire, but platoon (lets say it starts from right to left) left is waiting time for nothing . But in fire by rank fires/minute is much more than platoon. For continuous fire, just do 4-5 soldier line. Per time domain more shots are done

[merton]

In those days people didn't really copy tactics. napoleon had a tactic called the battalian line or something like that where an entire army would form a huge line and basically march into the opposing army, absorbing their fire. no one copyed it and it was indestructible until it met the British!

[NightHawk]

Platoon fire works better with ranks of only 1 or 2, not 3 like rank fire. It is actually really effective over range, but sucks during a charge- I do wish that there was an option to select between platoon or rank fire, even in Darthmod.

[Ezeekiel]

Its funny how Shogun 2's Arquebusiers could annihilate any rifle using group in Empire. Makes you wonder which game overbalanced their units? Empire for making the battles last longer or Shogun 2 for having a chance against sprinting samurai

[DrCroccer]

There were a lot of different firing drills. Maurice based his tactics on old Greek and Roman military ones. So, yeah, multiple lines relieving eachother were used, in a similair manner to how Roman legionaries relieved eachother in a rotating fashion. The Japanese did it similairly, but simply out of pragmatism. The arquebusiers would sit behind barricades, fire, and then move to the back to reload, whilst the next line would fire, and so on.

[willgirvan]

This would irritate me so much that there is no toggle switch for tactics and how to fire. It's just always fire by rank or platoon fire when you have the technology researched

[oxjmanxo]

The British forces stopped and get into position to fire at the french first. While the french went too far forward which gave the British more time to shoot. All and all the test favored the british but we couldnt really see who was taking more of a beating and who routed first

[onlypeaceindeath]

I don't know if its exactly the truth. But if I the information i have found is correct so was the tactic developed from a dutch tactic invented by Maurice of Nassau witch was used during the Dutch revolution againt Spain. If you have played Medieval2 Total War and remember how the musketeers constantly swapping ranks when the first have fired, well thats Maurice's tactic. The firs real rank fire was, if i remeber correctly invented by Gustavus Adolphus the Great of Sweden.

[cryptdid]

I believe that Platoon Firing is only available to either more experience troops and/or the more elite troops(guards, etc.) Because in one battle I had Line Infantry and Guards firing at the enemy, the guards were using Platoon Firing while the Line Infantry used Fire by Rank, although IDK if enough experience allows a Line Infantry unit to do platoon firing.

[LucanJacups]

Yeah, I've had well-timed rank fire volleys shatter units of charging armed populace- it's deadly in darthmod, up close (5 meters) one volley from an experienced (2 to 3 chevrons, if you have more than that it's even higher) can kill up to 60 people. It's a big help against riskers of souls, considering that taking them in melee with anything other than a line infantry unit that has 5 experience or above or a grenadier unit is suicide (on a man-to-man basis.)

[ToreDL]

Meh I`d rather have the first 2-3 ranks fire and reload as fast as they can instead of fancy rank/file firing, in the end it just goes down to a plaff boff bang pang baff blang and is much more wittering.

[DrCroccer]

Maurice of Nassau used multiple firing drills and tactics. The first true firing drills were used in Japan several decades before.

[katerobertson]

I noticed the AI on Darth mod spams militia units simply becAuse they outnumber every other regiment. And standing toe to toe with them using line infantry results in a rout by my line infantry simply because they are outnumbered. So stupid.

[minigun]

platoon firing is great but the fire by rank and fire and advance looks way cooler, also fire and advance rapes everything

[PolaPack]

About platoon fire. It has his name about the platoon size of soldiers wich all fire at the same time here, platoon after platoon. It made a constant fire wich never let ennemy the time to breath and crush their morale easily.
Platoon fire ask for a great synchronisation, so soldiers were better trained than usual.
So with the morale impact and the better training of the soldiers, platoon fire was normally better than Fire by Rank...

[merton]

A mental king must have come in somewhere! I think the main factor was a sympathy wamoung our army when it came to their bid for independance. E.g. William Howe, a general who beat Washington 6 times, did not go forward and attack the Yanks at Valley Forge because he was desperate for peace.

[MrHawkeye]

The whole point of platoon fire is to be able to outgun the enemy, if the enemy is charging for melee or they have melee units, get into a dominant firing postition, are just charge them back. thats really the only way platoon fire is effecive, also, sometimes you can rout the enemy from the shear amount of firepower before they can even get you. but in the end your fairly right, it can fking suck sometimes... :)