What is an 'archer'?
 

I'm trying to think of ways to mess with enemy tactical orders, and I thought it might be fun to have a commander who's almost immune to missiles being targeted by enemy fire. The thing is, if the enemy is set to 'Fire archers' then I need a way to attract their bolts. So, I started to wonder how the game determines which of the enemy's troops are archers. If I give a fire bolas to a commander, does that make him a viable target if he's closer than other archers? Does it have to be a 2-handed ranged weapon? Or, is it essentially impossible to make a commander the target for this order?

Re: What is an 'archer'?
 

Got too many x-bow bolts coming your way of late?-)

Anyway, that's an interesting question I don't know an answer to. I'd like to add to it in case someone knows: What weapon is enough for an unit to be an archer? More specifically, javelins are ranged weapons. So are javelinists counted as archers?

Re: What is an 'archer'?
 

Good question.

A trick that can work sometimes, btw, is setting archers to fire.. then not specifying a target. They pick a random guy and start firing at him. Sometimes that random guy is a mage or other vital and possibly no prot commander.

Re: What is an 'archer'?
 

My impression, which may or may not be correct, is that anything with a ranged weapon is considered an archer, and the game picks targets within the allowed target group based on how many hitpoints of damage it expects to do (similar to spell targetting).

Re: What is an 'archer'?
 

Anything with a ranged weapon is an archer.

Re: What is an 'archer'?
 

Damn right! The sorcerers of Machaka officially declared that eclipse of the sun to be a "bad omen, possibly indicating the angering of the spirits," before being impaled by hundreds of bolts.

Continuing with the question, if something is set to Fire Cavalry or Fire Archers, then do they fire at the closest group or does it select randomly / based on expected damage?

Re: What is an 'archer'?
 

My experience with archers is that they tend to go for the nearest unit that qualifies for their targetting orders. Thus small decoy units at the front often draw fire.

This makes them differ from spells, which almost invariably look for most damage. Trying to distract mages with small 5-strong units pretty much never works. Firstly spells with AoE more than one cannot maximise damage, secondly low-prec spells are likely to miss. Consequently, mages will drop them into big unit concentrations.

Also, bear in mind these sorts of things also make cavalry much less likely to be targetted by mages. There are 3 infantry per square, at about 10HP each = 30+ total. Cavalry only fit 2 per square, as almost none have 15 or more HP, so have a lower HP/square. Add to that, heavy cavalry are often better armoured making them even likely to take less damage, and also operate in smaller groups so low-precision spells are more likely to miss.

Re: What is an 'archer'?
 

Another difference between enemy ranged attacks (archer fire) and enemy magic attacks is that the magic attacks retarget each combat round.

Once archers target an enemy combat group, they usually maintain that target until it is destroyed or has fled the battlefield.

So you can put a group of decoy shielded units up front, and enemy archers will continue to target them, even if your decoy does something like retreat to the rear (using Guard Commander). Sometimes the archers will miss a round of fire because they are trying to get back into range to shoot at your decoy group.

Re: What is an 'archer'?
 

I'm pretty sure that there is no fancy targeting algorithm.

Fire Closest will target the closest, of course. Any other targeting selection will select an entirely random squad of the specified type. It tends to be harder to see than with melee orders, but they both function in the same way.

Re: What is an 'archer'?
 

Followup question: what counts as "cavalry?" Do units have to be mounted to count, or is it on the basis of move (e.g., high move = cavalry), a charge attack or ???