1. Archers/Slingers - Fire at Will 2. Secondary Weapons/Siege Assualts

[Hummer]

I'm wondering how much I should be micro managing my missile units.
Both of these questions probably have more to do with the RTW engine than EB.

Question #1.

If an enemy unit comes within range with fire at will turned on, obviously they start firing upon it. But if a second unit comes in range closer, do they switch to the closer unit or continue firing upon the first unit until it leaves the range?
I assume the missile unit is not smart enough to automatically switch to fire upon less armored units.

Is this a good rule of thumb? Have archers fire at unarmored/lightly armored units while slingers can fire on armor because of the AP ability.

Question #2.

This arises from a recent siege I was defending on. A unit of Elite African Pike-men assaulted the walls with ladders. I had sever small partial units defending. About 10 Heavy Skirmishers, 40 Native phalanges and 20 Theuropel (Hellenic Spearmen, how do you spell that?)

Anyway, obviously my native phalanges and the elite africans had switched to their secondary weapon to be on top of the stone wall. To my surprise my units all had positive kill to casualty ratio's. I expected my units to lose more men than they killed but that wasn't the case.

I guess the questions are. Why did the elite africans do so poorly(2 full units)? If a unit has switched to a secondary weapon, does it still have the same attack/defense stats as on the unit card? Do attackers have large penalties for assaulting walls and are the penalty's different for siege towers than for ladders?

[Entropy Judge]

If an enemy unit comes within range with fire at will turned on, obviously they start firing upon it. But if a second unit comes in range closer, do they switch to the closer unit or continue firing upon the first unit until it leaves the range?
I assume the missile unit is not smart enough to automatically switch to fire upon less armored units.

IIRC - I tend to turn FaW off for Archers/Slingers/Skirmishers - they keep firing at the unit they targeted first. Your assumption on AI behavior is correct.

About 10 Heavy Skirmishers, 40 Native phalanges and 20 Theuropel (Hellenic Spearmen, how do you spell that?)

Thureophoroi.

If a unit has switched to a secondary weapon, does it still have the same attack/defense stats as on the unit card? Do attackers have large penalties for assaulting walls and are the penalty's different for siege towers than for ladders?

No, secondary weapons have different stats than primary weapons. For the record, Elite African Pikemen have an 18-Attack Pike with .17 Lethality for their primary, but only a 10-Attack Sword with .13 Lethality for their secondary; Pantodapoi Phalangitai (Seleukids/Saba/Baktria/Hai/Pahlav/Pontos) and Machimoi Phalangitia (Ptolemies) have a 16-Attack Pike, and a 5-Attack AP Axe with .165 Lethality. As for penalties for attacking a wall ... well, with a ladder, the troops come up individually and fairly slowly, so it's possible that your units were able to kill off enough EAP to prevent them from gaining local numerical superiority - if they'd come in a Siege Tower, you would have been hit with a clump of 30-40+ men in a first wave, with fairly rapid reinforcement from the troops still coming up the tower. I am not aware of any statistical penalties applied to units attacking walls, however.

[athanaric]

Is this a good rule of thumb? Have archers fire at unarmored/lightly armored units while slingers can fire on armor because of the AP ability.

Yes, and try to avoid hitting their shields. if possible, target the enemy unit's right flank or rear.

I guess the questions are. Why did the elite africans do so poorly(2 full units)? If a unit has switched to a secondary weapon, does it still have the same attack/defense stats as on the unit card? Do attackers have large penalties for assaulting walls and are the penalty's different for siege towers than for ladders?

Peltastai are beastly on walls, Thureophoroi aren't too shabby either, and Machimoi Phalangitai can't really hit anything, but when they do, they land an armour piercing blow.
Try to get Machimoi swordsmen for wall defence. They have AP swords and more defence skill than pikemen. Also javelins, which are very useful when the enemy brings ladders. As mentioned, Peltastai, Thurophoroi, or Thorakitai will serve as well.
Galatian heavies and Basilikon Agema are your best choices when it comes to siege assault/defence troops.

[Bladvak]

I'm wondering how much I should be micro managing my missile units.
Both of these questions probably have more to do with the RTW engine than EB.

You're right, if you learn the mechanics on RTW, they are the same as on EB. But the similarities end around there. You should micro you missile units more than heavy, line infantry and less than cavalry, it's almost a rule.

Question #1.

If an enemy unit comes within range with fire at will turned on, obviously they start firing upon it. But if a second unit comes in range closer, do they switch to the closer unit or continue firing upon the first unit until it leaves the range?

Afaik, they don't switch unless the target gets out of the range.

Is this a good rule of thumb? Have archers fire at unarmored/lightly armored units while slingers can fire on armor because of the AP ability.

This is not a rule of thumb, this is a rule of war; this is the difference between good and lazy generalship.

Question #2.

This arises from a recent siege I was defending on. A unit of Elite African Pike-men assaulted the walls with ladders. I had sever small partial units defending. About 10 Heavy Skirmishers, 40 Native phalanges and 20 Theuropel (Hellenic Spearmen, how do you spell that?)

Anyway, obviously my native phalanges and the elite africans had switched to their secondary weapon to be on top of the stone wall. To my surprise my units all had positive kill to casualty ratio's. I expected my units to lose more men than they killed but that wasn't the case.

Native phalanx have axez as secondary weapons. As you know, axez are ap, they cut through armor. Regardless of the type of unit, there are also variables on the field of battle that can make an elite unit lose to a levy: heat, exhaustion, experience, morale, attacking the high ground, defending the high ground, attacking the walls, being sandwidched between two or more units, being outflanked, etc. Also, have you looked at the african pikemen when they fought on the walls? It is a lot harder than it sounds: any man that reaches the top of the wall will be attacked by superior local forces : it doesn't matter that the unit has 241 men, they still drop like sand in a clepsidra on the wall, while the towers from left and right take their toll on the men on the ground.

I guess the questions are. Why did the elite africans do so poorly(2 full units)? If a unit has switched to a secondary weapon, does it still have the same attack/defense stats as on the unit card? Do attackers have large penalties for assaulting walls and are the penalty's different for siege towers than for ladders?

See above. Also, when you compare fighting units, please make sure that you specify the size of the units: saying that 10 peltastai, 40 phalangites and 20 thureophoi fought 2 full units of african pikemen is like saying that a basket of apples is cheaper than a basket of pears. You didn't give any relation between the two. I presume you're not playing on huge size, as 482 african pikemen against 70 would have cut through cheese.

For the secondary weapons, I strongly suggest that you take time to read and install this precious script : http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...pen-source-mod
Also, you can look into downloading and installing EB Recruitment Viewer, useful for when you don't want to open the EB just to look at one unit. Crafty piece of a program, I tell you.

Galatian heavies and Basilikon Agema are your best choices when it comes to siege assault/defence troops.

Oh, I remember the funzies I usually have with Iberian Assault Infantry on the walls... the memories.

[athanaric]

Oh, I remember the funzies I usually have with Iberian Assault Infantry on the walls... the memories.

You know what's also cool? A unit of Carnute swordsmen posted defensively on the wall. Absolute nightmare to get rid of.
Anyway, the OP doesn't have any of those, as he's playing Ptolemaioi. Ptolies are a bit limited in their heavy equipment section.

[Hummer]

For the secondary weapons, I strongly suggest that you take time to read and install this precious script : http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...pen-source-mod
Also, you can look into downloading and installing EB Recruitment Viewer, useful for when you don't want to open the EB just to look at one unit. Crafty piece of a program, I tell you.

Thanks all. I have the recruitment viewer.
I tried the EU mod. I posted on that thread a few days back . I couldn't get it to work. But maybe I'll try it again.