Fire and advance button wont show up?

[Turtles]

I just researched the Fire and advance tactic. But when I am in battle the Fire and advance button wont show up when I click on my line infantry. How do I make it show up? Do my line infantry have to be a special rank to get the tactic?

[DING!]

It's at the bottom right of the hud. Hovering over it says "toggle fire and advance" and only western line infantry can use it but here's a tip don't use. It's useless.

Your line infantry has to set up and open ranks before they can fire which usually gets your line all shot up before they can even release their vollies. Its extremely disadvantageous especially since Empire is all about who shoots first that wins an engagement. Sure, you might win a few engagements but you could have sustained less casualties had you just used Fire by Rank because it responds faster.

It's not continuously firing and advancing either. There is a gap between where after the last rank fires they have to reload and fire again then the first rank can move up to fire even if the first rank has already reloaded, is ready, and can advance to fire on the enemy, they still have to wait.

It makes your unit a bigger target too since you're moving closer to an enemy who not only shot first but also already has fire superioity over you simply because they can unleash vollies at a faster rate. Trust me don't use it. Even against line or militia that doesn't use Fire by Rank you can achieve a higher kill/loss ratio by just simply using Fire by Rank instead.

Trust me, I bought this game only 30 minutes ago. I know.

[Turtles]

Originally posted by DING!:

It's at the bottom right of the hud. Hovering over it says "toggle fire and advance" and only western line infantry can use it but here's a tip don't use. It's useless.

Your line infantry has to set up and open ranks before they can fire which usually gets your line all shot up before they can even release their vollies. Its extremely disadvantageous especially since Empire is all about who shoots first that wins an engagement. Sure, you might win a few engagements but you could have sustained less casualties had you just used Fire by Rank because it responds faster.

It's not continuously firing and advancing either. There is a gap between where after the last rank fires they have to reload and fire again then the first rank can move up to fire even if the first rank has already reloaded, is ready, and can advance to fire on the enemy, they still have to wait.

It makes your unit a bigger target too since you're moving closer to an enemy who not only shot first but also already has fire superioity over you simply because they can unleash vollies at a faster rate. Trust me don't use it. Even against line or militia that doesn't use Fire by Rank you can achieve a higher kill/loss ratio by just simply using Fire by Rank instead.

Trust me, I bought this game only 30 minutes ago. I know.

I have seen many people saying it sucks and you have convinced me. Thos you said it was in the hud, I don't have the button in my hud... But nevermind, thank you for the help :)

Guess I'll use platoon fire instead...

[DING!]

No, problem, but in my opinion, I think Platoon Fire isn't as good as Fire by Rank. Platoon fire suffers from the same drawbacks as Fire and Advance where they too also need time to set up and open ranks before firing.

You can reduce this reaction time by stretching your Elites into two lines but this comes at the cost of reduced firepower and rate of fire. Instead of 8-9 shots per volley it's 3-4 shots per volley. I wouldn't recommend this tactic in a frontal confrontation.

Platoon fire is at its most effective when you've tied down you're intended target with Line or Militia. Once that's done you can move your Elites on to the target's flanks where you'll have time to set up unmolested by enemy fire and can then inflict high casualties and morale shocks at maximum effectiveness. Platoon Fire is only really effective because Elites have high stats.

Put them on the same stat level as Line Infantry that uses Fire by Rank and they almost always lose. Such as using Scots (United Provinces) against any other Line, besides maybe Russia and Austria who have the worst line, and the Scots usually lose because they lack the ability to inflict quick and massive casualties like Fire by Rank.

Fire by Rank causes massive morale shock too and is most effective when using it in two Lines because you can fire everything in two vollies instead of three. Don't believe me try using Austrian Line (the worst Line in the game) stretched out in two lines against any other Line besides Elite.

In three lines they would usually lose, even if they fire first, but in when in two lines they always come out on top because they can exchange more fire in less time and the extra manpower also gives an advantageous bonus to the two line tactic.

Usually, with that tactic, against other Line Infantry, Austrian Line wins with a 3 to 1 kill/death ratio but that's only in ideal conditions and terrain. Anything else you have to adapt to but these tactics are none the less still effective. Another downside is that it takes longer to turn to engage enemies on the flanks and form square.

You may be more vulnerable to cavalry too because you're in two lines and have less men to take a cavalry charge directly but you can also cause more damage to cavalry before they even come into contact with your line because you have more guns in the front rank. This applies in reverse too. The longer your line the more devastating your bayonet charge will be too because you have more men to make contact with the enemy.

Sorry, this is so long.

TL;DR Fire By Rank is the best firing drill.

[cody]

Mass volley fire is my favorite firing drill, but it requires some tweaking of the unit stats.

[Turtles]

Originally posted by DING!:

No, problem, but in my opinion, I think Platoon Fire isn't as good as Fire by Rank. Platoon fire suffers from the same drawbacks as Fire and Advance where they too also need time to set up and open ranks before firing.

You can reduce this reaction time by stretching your Elites into two lines but this comes at the cost of reduced firepower and rate of fire. Instead of 8-9 shots per volley it's 3-4 shots per volley. I wouldn't recommend this tactic in a frontal confrontation.

Platoon fire is at its most effective when you've tied down you're intended target with Line or Militia. Once that's done you can move your Elites on to the target's flanks where you'll have time to set up unmolested by enemy fire and can then inflict high casualties and morale shocks at maximum effectiveness. Platoon Fire is only really effective because Elites have high stats.

Put them on the same stat level as Line Infantry that uses Fire by Rank and they almost always lose. Such as using Scots (United Provinces) against any other Line, besides maybe Russia and Austria who have the worst line, and the Scots usually lose because they lack the ability to inflict quick and massive casualties like Fire by Rank.

Fire by Rank causes massive morale shock too and is most effective when using it in two Lines because you can fire everything in two vollies instead of three. Don't believe me try using Austrian Line (the worst Line in the game) stretched out in two lines against any other Line besides Elite.

In three lines they would usually lose, even if they fire first, but in when in two lines they always come out on top because they can exchange more fire in less time and the extra manpower also gives an advantageous bonus to the two line tactic.

Usually, with that tactic, against other Line Infantry, Austrian Line wins with a 3 to 1 kill/death ratio but that's only in ideal conditions and terrain. Anything else you have to adapt to but these tactics are none the less still effective. Another downside is that it takes longer to turn to engage enemies on the flanks and form square.

You may be more vulnerable to cavalry too because you're in two lines and have less men to take a cavalry charge directly but you can also cause more damage to cavalry before they even come into contact with your line because you have more guns in the front rank. This applies in reverse too. The longer your line the more devastating your bayonet charge will be too because you have more men to make contact with the enemy.

Sorry, this is so long.

TL;DR Fire By Rank is the best firing drill.

This was pretty hard to read XD

Thank you for spending all this time helping me. I appreciate it. You have convinced me to use fire by rank because the other ones totally sucks.
Guess I'll just use fire by rank next...
"how could this happen to meeeee"

You said that Russia has the worst line. I am playing as Russia. (No, I am not Russian. No, I am not a bug fan of Russia) May the reason why the fire and advance button wont show up be that I got a country with a bad line? I know it's pretty unrealistc if total war would do it like that but I am a stupid, weird guy XD

Again thank you for spending this much time helping me. You really have helped me. It dosn't matter if your text was long. Just pretty hard to read for lazy people (me). I appreciate it.













how could this happen to meeeee