What doe "Skirmish" mean in this game?

[Jose_Biden]

... because my History Channel-centric bro-knowledge definition was basically: "light, semi-committed combat (ranged and/or mellee) intended to disrupt the enemy in some way to gain an advantage in the battle."

but in this game it seems to be: "avoid all close combat from the nearest unit at all costs even if it forces you into close combat with a second unit."

I get that they were trying to use medeival terms for this ability, but they should really call it something else, like Avoidance or No Contact Mode... because i was confused as f*ck for like the first 50 turns of this game wondering why my archers were always spazzing out and running in weird directions while also wondering what the f&ck clicking on the "skirmish mode" button even accomplished.

or is my definition of "Skirmish" just way off the mark?

[Father Ribs]

Pro tip for archers: put them on hold position. They won't chase routers, and they won't run out of formation.

Skirmishing is one of those catch-all phrases that's not specific to one thing. To me, the primary characteristic of a skirmishing unit is that it is not the arm of decision, and if the enemy main body advances or heavy calvary charges in, they pull back.

[Cat®]

"Skirmish" is actually short for "Skirmish mode"; which is to facilitate skirmishing as seen on TV. The tutorial of 'Rome: Total War' explicitly details what skirmishing is and what its purpose is, and then that you have an option to make it easier with this button.

Just a legacy name. Skirmish mode just makes your ranged units avoid melee by running away; so you can skirmish easier. Though in this game skirmishing is basically not a thing. You see it a lot more in the historical games though. Skirmishing in Rome 1 is essentially the first third of most battles.

[[88th] ColPresumptuous]

Skirmish units are good at or should skirmish (they move faster than alot of units or have something to allow this and usually have some level of ranged ability they can use while on the move)... and to do that they should be stuck on skirmish mode. once a unit has lost all its ranged capability they will continue to act as if they still can fight at range and avoid combat, so you'll have to turn skimish mode off for them when they do if you want em to engage.

Although alot of 'skirmish' units arent built for prolonged melee engagements, their harassers, they go after and split off enemy units from the army and dont really do much damage but tie up larger slower units.

But all units can be made to Skirmish, weather they should or not is entirely a different question... archers, no, unless they can move while shooting since the archers will just keep moving to avoid melee and never stop to shoot which is a waste of a unit and when they do, well usually they end up in melee shortly after.

Ranged units with Stalk and or vanguard are good skirmishers, they can hit early draw away enemy infantry units at the start of the battle.

[zefyris]

unless the unit has fire while moving and 360° fire arc, (or that they're quite faster than the opponent) don't put them on skirmish mode, that's a terrible idea. Like someone said for the backline missile units, guard mode is good though

[Wendersnaven]

It's a hold-out from the old Total War historical games. It makes a lot more sense when you think about it in Napoleonic warfare- as a unit would actually move into a historical skirmish formation. It was part of the table codes used for programming that has gotten lost in translation over the years.

[Jose_Biden]

Originally posted by 88th ColPresumptuous:

once a unit has lost all its ranged capability they will continue to act as if they still can fight at range and avoid combat, so you'll have to turn skimish mode off for them when they do if you want em to engage.

yeah it took me forever to figure this out

Originally posted by Wendersnaven:

It's a hold-out from the old Total War historical games. It makes a lot more sense when you think about it in Napoleonic warfare- as a unit would actually move into a historical skirmish formation. It was part of the table codes used for programming that has gotten lost in translation over the years.

so they should rename it, maybe?

Originally posted by zefyris:

unless the unit has fire while moving and 360° fire arc, (or that they're quite faster than the opponent) don't put them on skirmish mode, that's a terrible idea. Like someone said for the backline missile units, guard mode is good though

so guard mode overrides skirmish mode, and they won't run away when enemy units get super close? i just hate toggling skirmish mode on and off for black ark corsairs w/handbows every 3 seconds when i need them to switch between mellee/ranged

[happyscrub]

people make this term more complicated than it needs to be. A skirmish unit is a unit that's good at kiting. Kiting just means staying at a distance of an enemy while still doing damage.

Skirmish units are either very fast to where they can out run most things and then turn around and fire for free... or they can fire while moving allowing them to run away but still do damage at the same time.

Skirmish units usually do less damage than a regular range unit but have better survivability

[Winter]

Skirmish is a skaven term for doing 'the horizontal no-pants rat-dance'.

[CRIMSON KING]

turn auto skirmish off in settnigs

Originally posted by T9_Gunman:

Originally posted by 88th ColPresumptuous:

once a unit has lost all its ranged capability they will continue to act as if they still can fight at range and avoid combat, so you'll have to turn skimish mode off for them when they do if you want em to engage.

yeah it took me forever to figure this out

Originally posted by Wendersnaven:

It's a hold-out from the old Total War historical games. It makes a lot more sense when you think about it in Napoleonic warfare- as a unit would actually move into a historical skirmish formation. It was part of the table codes used for programming that has gotten lost in translation over the years.

so they should rename it, maybe?

Originally posted by zefyris:

unless the unit has fire while moving and 360° fire arc, (or that they're quite faster than the opponent) don't put them on skirmish mode, that's a terrible idea. Like someone said for the backline missile units, guard mode is good though

so guard mode overrides skirmish mode, and they won't run away when enemy units get super close? i just hate toggling skirmish mode on and off for black ark corsairs w/handbows every 3 seconds when i need them to switch between mellee/ranged

[Father Ribs]

Yes, guard means it won't move at all unless you give it a command, and if it gets in melee it reforms if the other unit moves away. Guard mode is best used to put a unit in a position you don't want it to leave unless you tell it to.

For a handbow unit, just turning skirmish off may be a better choice, and I assume you're trying to move them around to the flanks. If you turn off skirmish and tell them to attack a unit, they'll follow the unit when it routs. If it's in guard mode it will just stand there if the enemy routs.

You'll also want to know how and when to turn off autofire. As DE, it's not the hardest thing to shoot your own troops in the back with those nasty crossbows. Ditto most race's artillery and many missile troops.

IE: Your crossbow"men"(druchii). Put them on hold position. As the enemy gets into contact with your front line, turn off autofire which would make them shoot the closest units (through your own men) and have them target enemy missile troops. This way they don't waste ammo shooting at things you don't want it to, and save it for what you most want them to do (ie calvary/monsters/unshielded heavy troops).

Missile troop management is central to victory in most TW battles.

[Nu Argama Lan]

Most of the time, skirmishing units rarely find their places in PvE stacks, because you have much more powerful and durable options.

Skirmishing is often seen more in PvP, aka. kite builds. E.g, one of the counter builds for TK against WE involves skeleton horsemen archers and nehekhara horsemen...very high mobility and requires a lot of micro, but very cost effective against WE.