Musketmen Will Not Shoot!

[YagaRF]

Im very new to ths game and got my friend to start playing it with me, so far we are having a blast but we have stumbled across a probblem. Our musketmen run up to our enemies to attack instead of shooting from 2-3 tiles away, even on flatland. Any explanations would be much appreciated!!!

[whlightnin]

musketmen are melee units, not ranged, so they don't attack from a distance

[Hope]

Originally posted by 50 Blessings:

Im very new to ths game and got my friend to start playing it with me, so far we are having a blast but we have stumbled across a probblem. Our musketmen run up to our enemies to attack instead of shooting from 2-3 tiles away, even on flatland. Any explanations would be much appreciated!!!

Musketmen are "melee" units. Unless it has the special "ranged attack" attack button instead of just the standard attack button it's a "melee" unit and will run up to its target to attack it.

Modern rocket artillery can only attack up to three or so tiles away, so the space each tile represents is pretty large, larger than what a standard soldier with a rifle would be able to effectively fight with standard equipment. This means your musketmen and other standard soldiers you'll end up getting later look like they're fighting pretty close to their target but are "realistically" fighting at the usual range they would be with what they've got.

[HEAVY FIRST RATE]

Exactly as Legend says, also don't be surprised when you get bazookas, tanks, antiaircraft guns,and antitank guns later on that they also only work from an adjacent tile. They are not classified as ranged weapons, so to speak, like bows,crossbows, catapults, trebuchets and cannons (have two tile range if unobstructed) and modern and rocket artillery (have three tile range and can shoot over some obstructions). Same with firearm equiped cavalry, they need to be on adjacent tiles to the enemy to fire.

I know that it is a bit confusing that bows and catpults appear to shoot further than a rifle but that is just the way the game is made and balanced!

[cerberusiv]

Originally posted by HEAVY FIRST RATE:

Exactly as Legend says, also don't be surprised when you get bazookas, tanks, antiaircraft guns,and antitank guns later on that they also only work from an adjacent tile. They are not classified as ranged weapons, so to speak, like bows,crossbows, catapults, trebuchets and cannons (have two tile range if unobstructed) and modern and rocket artillery (have three tile range and can shoot over some obstructions). Same with firearm equiped cavalry, they need to be on adjacent tiles to the enemy to fire.

I know that it is a bit confusing that bows and catpults appear to shoot further than a rifle but that is just the way the game is made and balanced!

Not quite. Gatling/machine guns and bazookas are ranged units with a range of one tile. They can only attack units in adjacent tiles but unlike melee units the unit they are attacking does not get to hit back.

[HEAVY FIRST RATE]

If the statement about Gatling and machine guns and also bazookas is true then I certainly did not know and have not noticed that, interesting fact to check out on my next game. However, I think the qualifying statement in my comment you referred to was " so to speak" because the original poster's confusion revolved around the need for certain units (whose concept in modern terms would appear to be ranged, i.e. musket and riflemen) to be on an adjacent tile to the enemy to fire and that adjacent tiles still represent some measure of geographical distance. The fact that two unit sprites on adjacent tiles in the game appear to be in each other's face makes that geographical fact overlooked and misunderstood by newcomers to the game!

While I understand the concept of a unit having a range of one tile, I did not notice that when machine guns and bazookas attack they did not take return fire like infantry do. Is the same true for antiaircraft and antitank guns as that would certainly help explain why the AI spams these items and uses them against infantry instead of their intended purpose?

[kingjames488]

AA guns are melle, not sure about anti-tank guns as I never really build them but I'd imagine they're in the anti-cavalry line like pikemen so probably not.

I assumed the AI built a lot of AA guns because they can counter pretty much every non-naval unit in the game and without them it'd be way too easy to take cities with air. (especially city states that often don't have any air units)

always thought a range of 1 was kinda odd... how can a machine gun or missile not shoot at least as far as an arrow? tho if they did have more range they'd be kinda OP.

[anarcher]

By modern era, the non-melee ranged attacks aren't 1-2 tiles away, they're either 3 (artillery) or further (airpower, missiles). The 1-tile ranged attack that the groundunits do are just there to do damage without taking any in return, not for the purpose the pre-industrial ranged attacks are.