Is there any plan to do something about the auto-face for...

[Lamachus435]

Actually that's not quite true. Tissaphernes' wing at Cunaxa withdrew from the Greeks (who mistakenly believed they were fleeing but as the wing was a cohesive whole after the Greek advance, it's pretty clear they were just withdrawing. They weren't firing as they went, mind.

Our best source (Xenophon) claims that the Persian infantry has really left the battlefield, while Tissaphernes with his horsemen managed to break through the Greek peltasts and joined the king: "On the left were troopers wearing white cuirasses. That is Tissaphernes in command, they said, and next to these a body of men bearing wicker-shields, and next again heavy-armed infantry, with long wooden shields reaching to the feet. These were the Egyptians, they said, and then other cavalry, other bowmen; all were in national divisions, each nation marching in densely-crowded squares... before they had got within arrowshot the barbarians swerved and took to flight... The latter [Tissaphernes] had not fled in the first shock of the encounter; he had charged parallel to the line of the Euphrates into the Greek peltasts, and through them... Thus it was that Tissaphernes, having got through haphazard, with rather the worst of it, failed to wheel round and return the way he came, but reaching the camp of the Hellenes, there fell in with the king; and falling into order again, the two divisions advanced side by side... The Hellenes pressed the pursuit until they reached a certain village, where they halted, for above the village rose a mound, on which the king and his party rallied and reformed; they had no infantry any longer, but the crest was crowded with cavalry, so that it was impossible to discover what was happening."

[SRW1962]

Would it not be possible to give MF archers a firing arc which works much the same way as a charging arc does, this would mean if the target unit was not in their firing arc when they want to fire then they cannot fire at the unit. So, whilst they can withdraw they cannot keep withdrawing and firing in the manner they do now. This should equally apply to Cavalry with bows who are allowed to do the same thing.

[andersm73]

I'd like to see Drilled units reduced in agility, perhaps turn face and move or move and turn face, rather than the current turn face and move then turn face again which is too effective in my opinion.

Firing arcs would seem a good solution to the free turns for having missile weapons, same arc as for charging for medium and heavies and maybe 360 degrees for lights.

[batesmotel]

All missile troops already have a firing arc through their two front hex sides that is the same as their charge arc. The issue is that they get a free change of face to bring a target within their firing arc if they choose to shoot at a target that isn't already in their arc. If their firing arc wasn't restricted then there would be no need to make the free change of face when firing.

Chris

[Paisley]

And so to enforce the 'arc', it's really down to move OR fire for non-lights (though as I say, I'd allow a change of facing and firing with no actual movement between hexes as fair enough).

[batesmotel]

And so to enforce the 'arc', it's really down to move OR fire for non-lights (though as I say, I'd allow a change of facing and firing with no actual movement between hexes as fair enough).

To avoid completely neutering non-light missile troops, I think they need to be able to continue to move and shoot, maybe with a penalty for MF having moved as added in the 1.1 patch. Given that all non-light troops in the game generally have enhanced maneuverability regarding facing compared to the TT rules, I think that a special change for non-light missile troops to prevent them from moving will make them even less useful than they are now where they already seem to have rather limited value. (I generally don't use them in my DAG armies.) Just eliminating the free facing change would seem enough. There is already an incentive for an army including a large number of MF missile troops to tend to stand back and shoot rather than to charge in which would seem to be the real explanation for such armies using defensive tactics as opposed to charging into close combat.

The game might well be improved overall if there was a general reduction in the ability of units to face about and move but that would be a major change and require extensive testing to get such a change to balance correctly.

Chris