[janthony]

In my experience they always fire at the closest archer, which against the AI is an indie archer or slinger. The best result I've had from 'fire archers' is when I was LA Man playing Rl'yeh. The 'archers' were identified as the mass mind burning commanders. So my front line troops were massacred due to Rl'yeh's unique set up. But I still won the battle because longbows are just that awesome. I have noticed, with mounted archers, if you cast 'hold and attack > enemy archers' they will fire at the closest archers until they charge. That's a great way to flank and decimate a standard battlefield orientation. Of course you'll need infantry fodder to be engaged so your cavalry doesn't get sidetracked. I've even used 'fire archers' with flanking javelin infantry to decent enough effect. You will lose a lot of the javelineers, but they're usually replaceable.