Is there any noticeable advantage to holding high ground at all?

[patricktype1]

I feel like archers maybe do a tiny bit more damage but their range doesnt seem to change at all. I've seen people claim that it reduces charge bonuses but to what extent? I've had dark riders charge my spearwall sitting atop the steepest hill ive seen in the game so far and it doesnt look like theres any difference. Are there stats that i could look at or certain positons i should keep my men?

[Tom]

you get to look down at them and feel superior

[Bad_Lieutenant]

Higher melee defence I think on infantry...or maybe it's because your army wants to be Obi-Wan.

[ℬℓα⊂₭ ℙℜ¡ℵ₠]

Originally posted by patricktype1:

I feel like archers maybe do a tiny bit more damage but their range doesnt seem to change at all. I've seen people claim that it reduces charge bonuses but to what extent? I've had dark riders charge my spearwall sitting atop the steepest hill ive seen in the game so far and it doesnt look like theres any difference. Are there stats that i could look at or certain positons i should keep my men?

It's actually worse if you use cannons or arty that fires in a straight tragectory. If you are up on a hill and the enemy gets close then they can't depress guns enough to fire at them.

[patricktype1]

Originally posted by ℬℓα⊂₭ ℙℜ¡ℵ₠:

Originally posted by patricktype1:

I feel like archers maybe do a tiny bit more damage but their range doesnt seem to change at all. I've seen people claim that it reduces charge bonuses but to what extent? I've had dark riders charge my spearwall sitting atop the steepest hill ive seen in the game so far and it doesnt look like theres any difference. Are there stats that i could look at or certain positons i should keep my men?

It's actually worse if you use cannons or arty that fires in a straight tragectory. If you are up on a hill and the enemy gets close then they can't depress guns enough to fire at them.

I havent gotten the chance to use artillery yet but still very helpful.

[Brave and Fearless Sir Shiba]

only thing that comes to mind would be like riflemen like the empires hand gunners or (probably abit iffy on this one) irondrakes/warpfire throwers where they can fire abit over your guys heads unlike on flat ground where they usually cant

[ℬℓα⊂₭ ℙℜ¡ℵ₠]

Originally posted by Kitsue:

only thing that comes to mind would be like riflemen like the empires hand gunners or (probably abit iffy on this one) irondrakes/warpfire throwers where they can fire abit over your guys heads unlike on flat ground where they usually cant

Even then they still hit your own guys enough to make it a bad idea, it's usually better to take the time to flank around and hit the enemy in the back or even the side. You might still use some of your own but you will wreck the enemy unit fast.

[Sir uP]

I notice it doesn't provide as much of a combat advantage as in other tw games.

In Attila a slight hill was a big deal.

[DEOVONTAY MCSLANGA]

High ground increases a ranged units range, so you can get more damage off before a melee line closes.

Additionally, as some alluded to, you need to take arc into account. Arc is actually really intuitive, just think about how a weapon would logically fire in real life. Or watch it in game as it fires. Arrows and catapaults have a high arc, so they can shoot over infantry lines and hills. Guns and ballistae have a low/nonexistent arc, so they have to have a clear line of fire but generally do more damage or do armor piercing damage. Cannons and certain other artillery have a medium arc, which is obviously between the two.

On this topic, high arc weapons are typically less accurate or easier to dodge so they are better against clustered infantry. For example, a catapault will have a very hard time hitting a single target like a lord and is much better suited to aiming in the general area of massed infantry. Low arc weapons are extremely accurate, particularly because they almost always have a higher missile speed, and are therefore good at taking out single hard targets like monsters, lords, and chariots.

As a general rule of thumb, almost all ranged units benefit from being on a hill because of the increase fire range and easier line of sight. The exception to this is low arc artillery with forward splash damage, which is generally better on a flat surface. This makes sense when you think about it, a cannonball will roll forward with it's splash so you want it to land almost parallel to the ground so it can chew through more targets. You can test this really well with doom diver catapaults (if you manually fire them you can fly the goblins like a little plane). If you dive straight at the ground you will kill only a couple dudes in an infantry mass, but if you swoop in low then pull up so you're parallel to the ground you can kill a hilarious amount of troops.

[DEOVONTAY MCSLANGA]

tl;dr

Medium and high arc weapons are really good on hills, low arc weapons are sometimes good on hills.

High arc splash damage weapons are best for massed infantry, NOT FOR LORD SNIPING.

Low arc, high speed projectiles are best for single hard targets like lords, NOT FOR KILLING INFANTRY. Although they're ok at killing dudes they're more efficient at killing lords and monsters.

[Jsopasas]

Originally posted by DEOVONTAY MCSLANGA:

High ground increases a ranged units range, so you can get more damage off before a melee line closes.

^ This is what I've have noticed so far and I am more of a casual player. The Arty seems more accurate and the Range kills more/faster to put all this in simple terms. LOL

But as Deovontary put it in more detail- Yes it does.

[Bumble Beard]

If Anakin Skywalker tries to attack you he won't stand a chance.

[DasaKamov]

In previous TW titles, units trying to charge uphill would be Exhausted and Wavering much more quickly than units holding higher ground (or those charging downhill). That's still the case, is it not?

[Lann]

Pretty certain it affects charge bonus. I watched a unit test video on youtube several months ago between Dragon Prince and Chaos Knigh w/ Lance. DP has a slight higher ground advantage in fist test and won, but lost the 2nd test on flat ground.

[Æsir]

Units will also be much faster "tired" when running up a hill.

[Toby Larone]

It gives a leadership buff, which sadly is negated for meele troops when they meet the enemy, but if your guys flee up the hill they get the buff back and come back faster.
Your ranged units on the other hand profit nicely from it.