What happens if there are no enemy archers (or no enemy flyers, if "attack flyers" order was given)? Are my archers "smart" and know to default to attack closest?
You shouldn't order them to "attach archers" , as this will make the charge them to kill them in melee.
Better order them to "fire at: archers". They will switch to another target ( : nearest) as soon as there is no more valid pre-set target, e.g. no archers, or all enemy archers routing.
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As for AI the most effective work around to this problem so far is to simply use an American instead, they tend to put up a bit more of a fight than your average Artificial Idiot. ... James McGuigan on rec.games.computer.stars somewhen back in 1998 ...