Mobile Ranged Unit Improvement

[st.patrik]

Hmmm... I'm afraid I really don't like your suggestion Gandalf. The change you suggest would make sense for experienced archers more than for skirmish archers, but D3 has its own mechanism for depicting experience and unit type isn't it (you could argue for a few exceptions, such as daughter/mother/crone, but definitely not in this case). Those mounted archers are as green as a newly recruited militia!
As to the idea of the higher positioned viewpoint, yes it would give a bit better visibility, but then again few battlegrounds are perfectly flat, and archers (unmounted) generally would take the high ground for this very reason - enough that they may be higher up standing on their own two feet than mounted archers on their horse on the plain.

By contrast, I do rather like BigJMoney's suggestion. It seems somewhat realistic too: I would imagine that units not specifically designed to 'fire on the move' would need a couple of minutes to ready themselves, lay down their extra bale of arrows etc.
The missile troops more used to shooting on the go would be prepared and so wouldn't need this time. They could move into position, loose a round or two, and immediately move back. This type of behavior could be hard-coded into the 'mobile-archer' commands so that they work differently from reg. archers.
I think once they are backed against the end of the field they should probably auto-rout, and I think that 'mobile archer'-types should get a minus to their precision (or other archers should get a plus), because of the unstable mount beneath them and the fact that they are loosing a lot of shafts quickly.

[Gandalf Parker]

I should have mentioned that I liked his ideas also. I was just going for a quick fix since the code is already there for attack commanders.

[st.patrik]

well that is one benefit of your suggestion: it would be easy to implement - so we can agree on that

[B0rsuk]

Firing ranged weapons and keeping distance from melee (skirmish) is what light cavalry should do. That's how it worked in history.
BUT I have a feeling Illwinter would implement it looong ago if it was relatively simple.

[Wauthan]

Hmmm... Well this is just an idea but instead of empowering the "skirmishers" couldn't we weaken the archers bit?

I only aquired Dom3 a few days ago and have yet to start some real modding. But I have managed to import my own Avatar v12.4 mod from Dom2.

I nerfed the actionpoints for all units that are dedicated archers (the ones that rely on missiles to do their damage). I then increased their precision slightly. I meant this change to reflect the aiming and reloading, and perhaps somewhat poor tactical skills (iow they retreat slowly and take a lot of casualities while doing so).

This means that the skirmish units get slightly stronger by comparison. They are not very accurate but take their position on the battlefield quickly, and they are able to retreat from the battle which such speed that they usually take no further losses.

I also created Rider versions of most missile weapons (eg Rider's Short Bow) with much shorter range, far less ammo(6 shots) but improved precision.

Slings got a similar treatment. I don't know much about ancient warfare. But I don't feel that the descriptions I've seen seem to match up well with Dom3. True, I've not managed to come up with a good balance myself but I want to make the weapon fire slowly, with much shorter range, and with better precision. Sort of like a really light crossbow without armor piercing. But I'm having trouble getting the range and precision just right.

My mod works for me so I figured the idea might work for someone else as well. It's only halfway finished and balanced for singleplayer though, so my idea might not be of much help.