Dear all,
I have some issue improving my skill and I would like to ask for some help.
Assume I play as English. And this is mostly a late game issue. With large armies
Main question:
Is there some way to make auto targetting of archers better? So they target non/low armoured units in range first instead of the closest (probably heavy armored unit).
Scenario:
Often I encounter opponents having a MAA wall with handcannoneer / Crossbow behind.
I could counter the this by mirroring my composition and then it is a little bit toss the dice who will win het battle depending on small things, unit production and resources.
Counter strategy:
I try to do better. I am experimenting having a MAA wall with massed late game longbows behind them, fully upgraded, and especially having the ‘Silk Bowstrings’ upgrade and also ‘Incendiary Arrows’ from the university.
The longbows are much cheaper and they could easily pick siege weapons from behind and then they COULD start shooting the handcannoneer / Crossbow from behind the MAA wall very fast (especially when I use Arrow Volley).
Outcome:
However, the longbows will target the closes MAA, and will do about zero damage. My MAA wall is killed soon by all the handcannoneer / Crossbow and opponent MAA wall will still be large. The opponent has almost no damage, all my armoured units have been killed. The longbows do not stand a chance on their own and I will lose the battle / game.
Issue:
How to make the longbows target the less armored units behind the MAA (or Knight) wall?
- I could SHIFT+click desired enemy units one by one but then ALL longbows will shoot at the same unit, causing a lot of damage not being done.
- I can try to group them SHIFT+click a few enemy units per group but this is very tedious. It causes me to lose as it is not fast enough and I cannot manoeuvre my archers (e.g. to keep MAA between longbows and Knights) as they loose all the SHIFT+click commands and I have to do it over again.
- Also, If enemy units manoeuvre the SHIFT+click will cause my units to walk instead of shoot another low armored unit in range.
I think this tactic is one of the purposes of having the Silk Bowstrings upgrade so archers / longbows can remain an effectieve unit late game. Especially, when considering unit cost and/or when running low on gold.
The strategy could be sound but is now doomed only because the micromanagement is undoable when having a large army vs a large army. It is a shame as it would be fun to effectiveley use dark age units late game.
Is it possible to influence / tune / improve the auto targetting of archers (like target non/low armoured units in range first) instead of the closest (probably heavy armored unit)?