Straight shooters vs arcs? Friendly fire?

[MythTrip]

Straight shooters need a clear line of sight, arcs can shoot over your own guys. How do you tell straight vs arcs? Archers are arcs, are all the handbow/ hand crossbow straight? There isnt anything on the unit designation that tells this. Any other straight /arcs? I am playing dark elves.

Also, anything final on friendly fire? I noticed during my last battle that my front line had downward arrow icon on the unit card, indicating "taking fire", and I was the only side with archers, so the shots were from me. I saw a you tube tacticss video that tested this, and said it was still worth shooting into your front line melee engagement, cause you hit the other guys a lot more than your own. Any agree/disagree?

[an entire Roman legion]

projectiles hit friends as well as foes, with the same dmg output.

blackpowder units fire usally straight, except mortars and such

[Elitewrecker PT]

It's up to you if you wish to take friendly fire damage or not.
I go by the assumption that anything not gunpowder can fire in arc.

[Dominic]

I think its just one of those things you're supposed to figure out.
I think all Dark Elf missile fire can fire over the unit in front, but, if you fire overhead in to combat, you will hurt your guys at least a little, how much varies, best to micro it and make sure you shoot at the biggest enemy concentration, wheel round the sides and rear and shoot them in the back, or shoot anyone who runs and maintain your line.

[Iriath Zhul]

All gunpowder units are straight (it's actually a very shallow arc, noticeable with cannons) except Mortars and the Queen Bess.

All bow units are arcs, and while crossbow arcs are noticeably shallower than longbows, it's still sufficient to shoot over the heads of basically anyone unless your front line is made out of Hydras.

Even in the worst circumstances (directly behind your own troops), bow units will hit the enemy more than your own, assuming both the enemy and friendly infantry have the same numbers, but you'll have better luck the more your archers are firing from the side, so fewer of the arrows pass over your troops and inadvertently hit them.

There are other factors to consider, though--if the enemy are few in numbers, your archers are mostly just hitting your own troops. UNLESS the enemy is a large unit like a Necrofex, in which case, fire away. 99% of missed shots just go right past both units so it's harmless.

Gunpowder units technically follow the same friendly fire rules as above, but their "line of sight is blocked" condition is extremely sensitive so it's rare to be in a situation where they can fire over the heads of your own troops. Use them to flank, shoot at tall enemy units like Minotaurs and Giants, or find them a tiny hill they can stand on so they can shoot at the enemy units in the back. Dwarfs are particularly good at that since their frontline infantry are so short.

[DecayWolf]

I don't understand why, gunpowder units cannot shot on a high hill, where they have a perfect clear LoS. There's some positionament that allows that, but shouldn't be needed.
A small elevation doesn't work most of the time either.

Also why a powder units manages to shot with all their units at same time, if the front lines of their squad, are blocking the LoS of the ones behind?

[Drakenson]

Originally posted by Albob:

blackpowder units fire usally straight, except mortars and such

Just wanted to add that the skaven have shurikens and slings that shoot similarily to gunpowder, but without the damage-per-shot. Pretty sure reload is better though, which is expected.

As a response to the rest of the post, I find it best to have gunpowder infantry in front of your melee infantry in the beginning of the battle. No LOS issues, and using focus fire on 1-2 key enemies usually buckles the rest of the enemy's frontline. Pull them back after 1-2 volleys and, at the same time, have the melee infantry begin charging the enemy. After the frontline engages, then I would either keep the gunpowder back and use them to focus large entities or pull them around the flank and shoot into the enemy's sides.

For archer/XBow infantry, I like to keep them behind the frontline and near the edges of your formation, (not completely though). I would have the units on the left side of the formation fire into the enemies fighting the right side of your frontline and have my units on the right side of my formation fire into the enemies fighting the left side of your formation. I find that this way, there's far less friendly-fire / LOS issues occuring > more arrows are hitting the enemy > the flanks buckle extremely quick.

Hopefully this helps.

[fmalfeas]

For those who don't realize it, unless your frontline is agonizingly slow, like zombies, there's an easy way to get your flanking and backshots when they're most needed. Manually disengage the frontline unit from it's enemy, and swing it around before re-engaging. If the foe tries to rush your backline, you may need to settle for flanking in order to keep them tied down. If they try to stay on your tanking unit, it may take several attempts to get far enough around to have the enemy's back to your infantry.

Dwarves are shocking good at this, because they're (barely) fast enough, and because with their huge armor and leadership, they don't take a bunch of damage and rout while doing it.

[Swirler]

There is some nuance to positioning straight firing units.

This Imgur link shows some ways you can maximise using them.
https://imgur.com/a/NnQdt

[Supermarine]

Originally posted by Elitewrecker PT:

It's up to you if you wish to take friendly fire damage or not.
I go by the assumption that anything not gunpowder can fire in arc.

Crossbows might be an exception and shoot in a straight line. At least, that was the way they worked in previous TW games, as opposed to bows, which where the only weapons along with mortars and howitzers, that can shoot parabolic trajectories. Every other weapon (muskets, regular cannons, culverines, etc.) have direct, linear ballistics.

[Sir uP]

It would be cool to adjust your arc.

Even black powder like handguns should be able to in theory (and practice, I forget the name of the tactic but they would use machine gun fire to "rain bullets" in WW1/2"

[ℬℓα⊂₭ ℙℜ¡ℵ₠]

Originally posted by Swirler:

There is some nuance to positioning straight firing units.

This Imgur link shows some ways you can maximise using them.
https://imgur.com/a/NnQdt

What this guy linked, I just looked for it and was about to post until I saw it already here. It clears everything up.

[Elitewrecker PT]

Originally posted by Supermarine:

Originally posted by Elitewrecker PT:

It's up to you if you wish to take friendly fire damage or not.
I go by the assumption that anything not gunpowder can fire in arc.

Crossbows might be an exception and shoot in a straight line. At least, that was the way they worked in previous TW games, as opposed to bows, which where the only weapons along with mortars and howitzers, that can shoot parabolic trajectories. Every other weapon (muskets, regular cannons, culverines, etc.) have direct, linear ballistics.

Crossbows can arc. Dwarf quarrellers and rangers can arc over walls.

[Iriath Zhul]

Originally posted by Supermarine:

Originally posted by Elitewrecker PT:

It's up to you if you wish to take friendly fire damage or not.
I go by the assumption that anything not gunpowder can fire in arc.

Crossbows might be an exception and shoot in a straight line. At least, that was the way they worked in previous TW games, as opposed to bows, which where the only weapons along with mortars and howitzers, that can shoot parabolic trajectories. Every other weapon (muskets, regular cannons, culverines, etc.) have direct, linear ballistics.

Crossbows were direct fire in previous games, yes, but they're definitely arcs in Warhammer. Probably done so that the Dwarfs wouldn't end up with overly similar ranged units.

[Warlok]

Originally posted by Swirler:

There is some nuance to positioning straight firing units.

This Imgur link shows some ways you can maximise using them.
https://imgur.com/a/NnQdt

Good ideas. Thanks for the link.

[Redwolf]

Archers!

But sire won’t we hit our own troops?

Yesss.......but we will hit theirs as well.

Name that film?