Gatling Range?

StukaScream said:

I would like to have archers also this way, because its not realistic having long range on archers like cannons and siege weapons.

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Medieval archers using a standard longbow could fire at target groups roughly a quarter-mile away. 16th century cannons also fired a similiar distance. the first form of artillery fired about 3/4 mile away. I think the ranges for these units are spot on, as a machine gun/gattling gun likely does not have very good accuracy firing at targets more than a quarter mile away, and are clearly deadly at ranges of less than a quarter mile.

Also i think the difference between a basic archer and a well-experienced archer in RL does not equate to the more experienced one being able to hit targets half a mile away, yet thats what the range promotion does. Just because an Elizabethan-era knight has a higher "rank" than some of his peers, doesn't mean he's capable of doing any more damage than the rest of them. A sword is a sword. Promotions are meant to enhance gameplay, not hinder it.

You always have to value the range 2 and range 3 attacks against other ranges in the game :

- Range of City Defense and of most of the early (unpromoted) ranged units is 2, so a range 3 unit can attack a city without getting damage from city defense or most defenders. A range 2 defender would have to leave the city to attack the range 3 unit and so itself gets vulnerable.

- In a siege you normally do not have a lot of tiles in front of the city to place your attacking force, so being able to also attack from the 3rd line is a huge advantage and increase in firepower / attackstrength.
(Some of the TSL World Maps are so tight that distance between many capitals in europe is only 3 - 4 tiles, e.g. british longbows in London may target Paris ...)

- Movement rate in unimproved or unfriendly terrain for most units is 1-2 tiles. In such a terrain a range 2 unit can attack a movement 2 enemy but has to fear a direct counterattack. A range 3 unit can attack at max distance (preferably from a hill) and does not have to fear a counterattack. A range 3 defender in a city can target fleeing enemies for more than one turn.

Range 3 in pre-artillery game is a very powerfull ability ... it is like a license to kill.

It really hurts to upgrade high-level (+ 50% damage, 2 x attack, range 3) crossbows to gatling guns ... (especially since they then can no longer react to attacks of range 3 SotL and LongBows.)

It is obvious that the game uses different tactical scales for pre-industrial and post-industrial military units.
- Typical ranges of pre-industrial weapons are less than 1 km, so for pre-industrial eras a distance of 3 tiles might correspond to 500-1000 m.
- Modern weapons (WW2) have higher range, e.g. infantry weapons ca 300 m, MG 1-2 km, tank and AT gun 1-2 km, light field gun 3-5 km, heavy artillery 5-20 km, railway gun 20-40 km. So in post-industrial era a distance of 3 tiles might correspond to 10-15 km.
The misfortune for Gatling Gun is that they become available in the game when the military (tactical) scale is changed from 3 tiles = 1 km (pre-industrial) to 1 tile = 1-2 km (post-industrial).