[vanilla] Ranged Combat

BjoernLars · Aug 23, 2011

Using Your Ranged Units Effectively

Tactics and Strategy

Introduction
Getting up close and fighting dirty may not be everyone's cup of tea. For those who like to sit back and fire projectiles of death from afar, Civilization 5 has the units just for you! With the reinstatement of Ranged Units into the Civilizations series, the dynamics of combat have been expanded, bringing new life to this game. So, put away those "suicide catapults" and get ready to learn how to use Ranged Units effectively so your enemies will be begging for mercy.

Key Concepts

Before we dive into Ranged Unit tactics here are a few things to keep in mind when using Ranged Units. For more in depth information about how Ranged Combat works, feel free to visit the general Combat Article.

Firing Over A Distance - Ranged Units can fire on adjacent tiles and beyond. This is a one sided battle and your Ranged Units will not receive any damage from the targeted enemy. But beware, the enemy may be able to attack your Ranged Unit during their turn.
Extremely Limited Combat - A Ranged Unit's Combat Strength is very low compared to their Ranged Attack and the Combat Strength of Melee Units. Also, Ranged Units cannot engage in regular Melee Attacks, they can only fire with a Ranged Attack. All Promotions earned by Ranged Units effect their Range Strength and not their Combat Strength. Note: Ranged Units can enter and clear empty Barbarian Camps.
Line of Sight - This is where your Ranged Unit can and cannot see. Certain terrains, such as mountains will block your Line of Sight. If you cannot see it, you cannot shoot at it.

Line of Sight

There are certain terrains in Civilization V that you will block your path and prevent your unit from seeing the adjacent tile, even if it is within your visibility range. This lack of visibility also can reduce your how far your units can shoot. You are able to fire into the tile, but not past it.

The following terrains are not considered Open Terrain and can impede your visibility and firing range.

Hills
Forest
Jungles
Mountains

To overcome the visibility limitations of hills, forests and jungles you must elevate your units. To do, simply position your unit top of a hill. From this vantage, your units will now be able to shoot past other hills, forests on flat terrain or jungles on flat terrain. If the hills have jungles or forests on them, this does block your Line of Sight even if you are on top of a hill. This does not include shooting over mountains which are at a higher elevation than hills.

Spoiler Line of Sight :

It should be noted placing yourself in a forest or jungle on flat land does not let you fire past other adjacent forests or jungles.

Line of sight restrictions can be overcome by gaining the Indirect Fire promotion, which allows firing at any visible tile within range of the unit. Indirect Fire is a level four promotion (coming after three consecutive Barrage or Accuracy Promotions) but is automatically given to some units in the Industrial and later eras, such as Artillery.

If an Artillery is on the west side of a mountain and no unit can see the east side of the mountain, the Artillery unit is unable to fire onto the tile on the east side of the mountain. If an Infantry unit moves to the south of the mountain and therefore can see the east side of the mountain, the Artillery may now fire over the mountain and onto the tile on the east side of the mountain. This is possible because of the Indirect Fire Promotion. Had the Ranged Unit been a Cannon, it would have been unable to fire unless it also had the Indirect Fire Promotion.

Standard Archery Units

Your standard Archery unit will be with you from the start of the game until late Renaissance Era when Crossbowmen become obsolete with Rifling. During the beginning of the game, your Archery Units will help make clearing Barbarian Encampments easier and help weaken the enemy units your Melee and Mounted Units encounter.

Unit List

The Units are listed in the following format:

Name - Ranged Strength - Special Information

Ancient Era

Archer - 6
Bowman - 8 - Babylonian UU - Replaces Archer
Slinger - 6 - Inca UU - Replaces Archer - Withdraw Before Melee

Medieval Era

Chu-Ko-Nu - 11 - Chinese UU - Replaces Crossbowman - May Attack Twice
Crossbowman - 15
Longbowman - 15 - English UU - Replaces Crossbowman - +1 Range

Overview

In comparison to Mounted Archery and Siege units, standard Archery units are the cheapest to build, with comparable Ranged Strength to Mounted Archery units. Also, they are the middle ground of maneuverability. Given flat, open terrain, they are able to move one space and fire the same turn.

Scout Archer - In the beginning of game, your Scout might stumble across Ancient Ruins, which will potentially upgrade your Scout into an Archer. This new Archer will retain the Scout's ability of Ignore Terrain Cost, allowing it to move onto forests, jungles and hills and fire that same turn. The Ignore Terrain Cost ability allows the Archer to also cross rivers and fire the same turn. In Rough Terrain, this makes the Scout Archer an even more maneuverable unit than Mounted Archery units. Take care of this unit since it will be a valuable asset both in exploring and in war.

City Penalty - standard Archery units do have a -25% penalty against Cities. Early on in the game with a handful of Standard Archery units it is possible to bring down a City's Defenses. As technology progresses though, City Defenses will become greater. At this point, this becomes the job of the Siege units.

The standard Archery unit's job is to help soften up any targets that are launching a counterattack against your forces. At the end of the turn, if your Archery Units have no unit to target, taking a shot at the enemy City within range can be a good move since it will both decrease the City's Defense by a small amount and give your Archery Unit some XP (Experience Points). This XP will help your Archery Units gain promotions and bring you closer to spawning a Great General. Beware, moving a unit to a new position just for the sake of taking a pot shot at a city may open you up to attack from other troops. Keep your eyes open for potential attacks!

Upgrade Promotion Loss - One of the major downsides to Archery units is that when they get promoted into Riflemen (or an equivalent UU), you will lose all promotions that are directly related to Archery. There are only a few promotions that convert over when your Archery unit is converted into a Melee, Mounted or Gunpowder unit. With each promotion, it takes more and more XP to reach the next promotion. If you lose two promotions during the upgrade, it will take much longer for that unit to receive two more promotions than for a new unit to receive two promotions.

Early on in the game, this shouldn't be an issue for your since you need to focus on what promotions will serve you best at this time. When it comes time to modernize your Archery units, you have four options:

Disband and Rebuild - If you have cities that are dedicated to building military units quickly and have buildings such as Barracks that give XP to new units, disbanding your Archery units and building new Riflemen might be your best bet to keep your military well experienced.
Upgrade and Take the Loss - If you don't have cities that can give automatic XP to new units, upgrading your Archery units despite the loss of promotions might be your best option so you can keep your Cities' Production focused on other items that will best further your goals for victory. Having an inexperienced Rifleman instead of an experienced Crossbowman may be your best bet in Renaissance Era warfare.
Disband - If you have a bloated military budget that is starting to drag your empire's finances into the negative, disbanding your standard Archery units may be the best choice since they will be less effective against Renaissance Era units and they will not carry over their promotions.
Don't Upgrade - older units can still prove to be formidable opponents, particularly if they have a lot of promotions that would otherwise become obsolete via an upgrade.

Luckily, there are a few promotions that do translate over when your standard Archery units are upgrading into Riflemen. These include:

Cover I & II: +25% Defense bonus against all Ranged Attacks
Siege: Combat Strength bonus VS Cities
March: Unit will Heal Every Turn, even if it performs an action
Logistics: 1 Additional attack per turn (similar to Blitz: Unit may Attack multiple times per turn)

For Melee, March is a Level 4 promotion while for Ranged units it is a Level 3 promotion. To some, the loss of two Accuracy or two Barrage promotions for the quicker March promotion is worth while.

A Ranged unit that gets a Logistics promotion and is converted into a Gunpowder or Tank unit will be able to attack less times per turn than the same unit with the Blitz promotion. That means a Chariot Archer that gets the Logistics promotion and then upgraded all the way to a Tank will only be able to attack two times per turn. A Tank with the Blitz promotion will be able to attack up to five times per turn.

Mounted Archery Units

From the Ancient Era into the Classical and for some the Medieval, Mounted Archery units will be your tool to dash across wide open plains and help reinforce your troops in battle where help is needed.

Unit List

The Units are listed in the following format:

Name - Ranged Strength , Movement - Special Information

Ancient Era

Chariot Archer - 7, 4
War Chariot - 7, 5 - Egyptian UU - Replaces Chariot Archer
War Elephant - 8, 3 - Indian UU - Replaces Chariot Archer

Medieval Era

Camel Archer - 15, 3 - Arabian UU - Replaces Knight - Can move after attacking
Keshik 13, 5 - Mongolian UU - Replaces Knight - Can move after attacking

Overview

With a bit more Production (or Gold) you can bring Mounted Archery units onto the battlefield. On flat terrain, their high level of movement will allow you rush support to your Melee units when and where the help is needed. These troops are the most mobile of all the Ranged units. For example, the Chariot Archer can move three spaces over flat terrain and fire all within one turn.

Kiting - For those playing Mongolia or Arabia, the Keshik and the Camel Archer can be great units at "kiting" a slower moving unit. Kiting consists of taking a shot at the enemy unit and then moving back out of the enemy's movement and attack range so that enemy unit is unable to attack you back. This process is repeated until you successfully kill the unit, the unit retreats or you run out of space to maneuver.

Some players might be upset with the loss of the Knight's heavy hitting power when they play as Mongolia or Arabia. A Pikeman's +100% vs. Mounted Units makes the base Combat Damage higher than the Knight. Keshiks and Camel Archers are able to attack the Pikeman and not suffer damage (since a Ranged Attack is a one sided battle). With their ability to move after attacking, they pull back and stay safe. This can be especially helpful if, for instance, Germany decided to spam Landsknechts, their Unique Unit.

Rough Terrain Penalty - For the Ancient Era Mounted Archery units, the Chariot Archer and the Egyptian War Chariot both lose all of their remaining movement points when moving into rough terrain. So if your area of combat includes lots of forests, jungle and/or hills, this is probably not a place that you want to bring your Mounted Archery units for combat. The Indian War Elephant, Arabian Camel Archer and Mongolian Keshik do not suffer from this penalty but they do lose two (or more) movement points just like any regular unit that moves onto rough terrain.

City Penalty - Just like the standard Archery units, Mounted Archery units suffer -25% when attacking cities. Early on in the game a goodish amount of Mounted Archery units will be quite a threat to a City. Later on in the game as technology moves forward, using Siege units would be a better choice.

Again, use these units to help fight off any enemy troops that are repelling your assault on the city. At the end of the turn if there are no other targets for your Mounted Archery units to strike, taking a shot at the city for XP is again a viable option. Remember, moving your troops just to fire at the city could open you up to an attack from other enemy units.

No Defensive Bonuses - When your Mounted Archery units end their turn in a forest, jungle or on a hill, they will not receive the +25% defensive bonus that other types of units get when they are defending this position. To avoid this, keep your Mounted Ranged units out of harms way. The best way to do this is to have Melee units defending your Mounted Archery unit in the tiles between you and your enemies. Also, having certain terrain between you and your enemy will allow you fire at the enemy without being exposed to attack that turn. Some terrains include rivers, marshes, forests, jungles and hills. This will be discussed further in the Keeping Out of Harm's Way section of this article.

Upgrade Promotion Loss - Just like the standard Archery units, not all of the Ranged promotions will transfer over when upgrading Mounted Archery units. For Chariot Archers, Egyptian War Chariots and Indian War Elephants, this happens in the Medieval Era when you upgrade to a Knight. On the plus side, since this happens relatively early in the game you will have had less time to accumulate promotions and the loss may not be that great.

For Mongolia and Arabia, your Chariot Archers will keep their promotions when they are upgraded into the respective Medieval Era Mounted Archery unit. When it is time to upgrade to the Renaissance Era Calvary, this is when the upgrade promotions loss becomes an issue.

There are four options for dealing with upgrade promotion loss: disband and rebuild, upgrade and take the loss, disband, or don't upgrade. Information about these options can be reviewed in the Standard Archery Unit Upgrade Promotions Loss section.

Siege Units

Siege units will be providing you with lots of firepower throughout the entire length of the game. You will find that they will form the backbone of your army when laying siege to a City or defending a vital location.

Unit List
The units are listed in the following format:

Name - Ranged Strength , Range - Special Information

Classical Era

Ballista - 14, 2 - Roman UU - Replaces Catapult
Catapult - 11, 2

Medieval Era

Hwach'a - 25, 2 - Korean UU - Replaces Trebuchet
Trebuchet - 16, 2

Renaissance Era

Cannon - 26, 2

Industrial Era

Artillery - 32, 3

Modern Era

Rocket Artillery - 46, 3

Overview

Compared to the standard and Mounted Archery units, Siege units cost much more but with the benefit of a much higher Ranged Strength. One the major drawbacks to these powerful units is their very low rate of maneuverability. Since there are Ranged units all the way to the end of the game, there are no issues for Siege units with upgrade promotion loss.

Set up for Ranged Attack -- Before firing at an enemy unit, a Siege unit must set up. This action uses up one of the unit's movement points, greatly reducing their mobility. For most Siege units, moving one space over open terrain (without a road or rail improvement) and then setting up for a Ranged Attack will leave them without any movement points and unable to fire that turn. This attribute can hinder one's advancement in taking an enemy city but isn't that big of a deal for a Siege unit that has dug in for Defense.

Bonuses VS Cities -- When firing upon a City, early Siege units get an extra 50% to their Ranged Strength, with Cannons, Artillery and Rocket Artillery getting a 20% bonus. This makes them a extremely valuable asset to any army that is on the offense. A handful a Siege units can fire at a City and soften up its Defenses, making it ready for an assault by Melee or Gunpowder units. Due to their need to set up for a Ranged Attack, they will probably not be able to fire the first turn they are within range of the City.

No Defensive Bonus -- Just like the Mounted Archery units, Siege units receive no bonus when defending in any Rough Terrain that would provide Defensive Bonuses to Melee and Gunpowder units. The best counter for this is to position defensive troops between your Siege units and the enemy. More of this will be discussed in Keeping Out of Harm's Way.

Limited Visibility -- Siege units have a visibility of one hex, which is less than their Range. Usually this is not an issue since defensive units are placed in front of Siege units for protection. Even though a Siege unit might not be able to see the target directly, it can still fire upon if in the visibility range of any of your other units. This of course is require that the target is within range and their Line of Sight isn't blocked by any Rough Terrain.

Spotting -- In order to overcome Siege units' limited visibility, other units may be needed to see the target. Unfortunately, this can that spotting unit in harm's way. Since the minimum movement points for any unit in Civilization 5 is two, a unit can both spot for a Siege unit and keep safe. This requires the spotter to move into position to see the target. Before moving again, have all of the Siege units (and Archery Units) fire upon the target. Afterwards, have the Spotter move back to prevent them from being exposed.

Note: If attempting to move in territory of an enemy who has built the Great Wall, your spotter will ended up spending two movement points instead of one. This could easily leave your spotter stranded and exposed to enemy fire.

Spoiler Forward Spotting :

Spoiler Naval Forward Spotting :

BjoernLars · Aug 23, 2011

Keeping Out of Harm's Way
Location, Location, Location

The key behind good use of your Ranged units is location. From afar, your Ranged units can do devastating damage without being in harm's way. Up close in combat, they are quickly routed and destroyed by more powerful units. The most deadly units to your Ranged units are the Mounted units. With their extra Combat Strength and high movement, they able to easily reach your Ranged units and wipe them out on Open Terrain.

Terrain

As discussed in Line of Sight, terrain can block your Ranged units’ ability to fire upon an enemy. On the flip side, it can be used to keep your Ranged units safe. By placing your Ranged units on top of hills, you can overcome Line of Sight obstacles (except for mountains). The Line of Sight issue can be overcame if your Ranged unit has been given the Indirect Fire promotion.

With a range of 2 (or more) tiles, it is best to fire upon the enemy at the maximum range. With the minimum movement points of 2 for all units, even a Melee unit could cover that ground to attack. But, if the tile between your Ranged unit and the enemy unit is Rough Terrain (Hills, Jungles, Forest or Marsh), that unit will have to use both movement points in order to enter that tile. At this point, your Ranged unit can either fire upon the enemy or retreat.

If you retreat on to Rough Terrain, you will not be able to fire at the enemy since you have used all of your movement points (unless you have a Scout Archer). If you retreat off of the hill on to Open Terrain, there is good chance that you will not be able to fire upon the enemy since Rough Terrain will probably be still blocking your view. If you can still see your target after retreating off of the hill, then a tile of Open Terrain is available for your enemy to traverse and attack you on Open Terrain the next turn. Defending on Open Terrain give your Ranged unit a -10% Defense Penalty.

Instead if you decide to fire upon the enemy, you will damage them and possibly destroy them if they are already damaged. At this point, your enemy will definitely be damaged. They now have the choice to retreat or press the attack. With your position on the hill, your Ranged unit will have a +25% Defense Bonus plus the enemy will not be able to attack at full strength since they are already damaged. If the enemy decides to retreat, then your Ranged unit is safe (for the moment). If the enemy can retreat over Open Terrain, then they will be likely be out of range for your Ranged unit. If there is only Rough Terrain, then your enemy can only move one tile and will probably still be within range of your Ranged unit, allowing you to fire again.

If you find yourself using this tactic in Rough Terrain, you will be able to do more damage to your enemy if your give your units the Barrage promotion, giving them at least a +20% bonus when firing upon enemies on Rough Terrain.

The downside of this situation is that your Ranged unit suffers from lack of mobility just like your enemy. Also, this tactic doesn't work for Mounted units since they have a movement of 3 (or more). They are able to move onto the Rough Terrain and still be left with one movement point to attack your Ranged units.

Note: Marshes have a 3 movement point penalty, thus preventing most Mounted units from attacking your Ranged units.

As for Melee and Ranged units on Open Terrain, this tactic also doesn't work. Melee units will be able to move two tiles and assault your Ranged units. While other Ranged units will be able to move into Range and fire upon your Ranged units.

If defending your own territory, you could build the Great Wall to use this tactic against Mounted units on Rough Terrain and Melee and Ranged units in Open Terrain. The Great Wall increases the cost of enemies moving your territory by +1. Therefore, moving across Rough Terrain costs 3 (or 4) movement points while traversing Open Terrain requires 2 movement points. Mounted units on Open Terrain will still be able to attack your Ranged units.

Another Terrain Feature that you can use to your advantage is the river. Crossing a river expend all movement points (unless there is a road spanning it and Engineering has been researched). Even if a unit has 5 movement points, crossing a river without a bridge will end the unit’s turn. By placing an Archer one tile away on the opposite side of the river, they get one free shot at the enemy that turn. The next turn, the enemy can either attack or retreat. If they attack, they will already be damaged and therefore will have lost some of their advantage in attacking Ranged units. If they retreat, then might try to cross the river again and allow your Ranged units another chance to fire upon them.

While the glory of battle may be calling you to fire upon the enemy when using this tactics, a retreat (or advance in a new direction) may behoove you. If you find that your Ranged unit will only do 1 damage to the attacking enemy unit, it would probably be best for you to reposition you ranged unit and try a different tactic such as using Defensive units.

Defensive Units

Spoiler Basic Unit Place for Ranged Unit Protection :

Wonders of the World

When thinking about Ranged units specifically, one normally doesn't think about Wonders of the World. But in Civilization V, there are two specific Wonders of the World that can definitely help your Ranged units.

The Temple of Artemis
+10% growth in all cities, +15% when building Ranged Units

The obvious benefit from this Ancient Era Wonder is the +15% Production for building Ranged units. What this means is that every turn a city is building a Ranged unit, their Production is increased by 15%. This helps any empire that wants to start pumping out Ranged units to defend their borders or invade neighboring lands.

The +10% growth in all cities might not appear to have any direct benefits to Ranged units. Firstly, since Archery units go by the wayside in the Renaissance Era, this bonus gives the Wonder long term benefits. In the short run, by growing your cities faster, new Citizens can start working tiles or Engineer slots to give your more Production which is then increased when building Ranged units.

Note: The Temple of Artemis is only available in the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" DLC Pack.

The Great Wall
Enemy Land Units must spend +1 extra point when inside your territory. Becomes obsolete with the discovery of Dynamite.

Without the Great Wall, an enemy Melee unit can move two full tiles across flat open terrain. With the Great Wall, that Unit can only move one tile over open terrain. With this bonus, your Ranged units can move ahead of your cities to engage the enemy. With both standard and Mounted Archery units, you can move back a space and fire each turn without being at risk to a melee attack (provided there are no rivers or Rough Terrain blocking your path). The benefits from this Wonder is really seen with units that have the Range (+1 Range) promotion and Logistics (1 Additional attack per turn) promotion. English Longbowman automatically receives the Range promotion and Chinese Chu-ko-nu can attack twice without the need for the Logistics promotion.

Since Siege units lack the mobility of Archery units, this bonus translates to two shots on enemy units before you are forced to pull your Siege units back. With the Range promotion, Siege units have three shots before retreat. Stack that promotion with Logistics and one Siege unit could fire six times on an enemy unit before its safety becomes jeopardized. This defense here would quickly route any invading force in no time.

The Great Wall's benefits are not as strong against fast moving Mounted units since they can move 2 (and some units up to 3) tiles in Great Wall protected territory.

One major advantage of building the Great Wall is that you'll deprive your opponents of it. Given the difficulties that can result from having your movement severely constricted during an invasion, you don't want to be facing a foe that has built this wonder. And the best way to do that is to built it yourself.

Patch version of this article: 1.0.1.383

ShahJahanII · Nov 19, 2011

Just mentioning, the Keshik is actually counted as a ranged unit, not a mounted one.
This guide could really help beginners as they might not know how to use ranged combat as well.

ahawk · Mar 9, 2012

Great article, and the part on kiting with Camel-Archers and Keshiks is especially important to bear in mind, since this is a tactic that can help move you up a difficulty level without too much trouble. Particularly, Keshik kiting is among the best military tactics in the game, allowing players to take cities without taking any damage save for whatever their one horseman takes in actually capturing it after the Keshiks bring the city down to 1hp.

I don't have the link to it at hand, but the War Academy article about ZOC (zone-of-control) is an outstanding source of information on how to use your own melee-style units to full effect when trying to block melee enemies from your ranged-units. You don't necessarily have to put a melee unit directly between your ranged units and the enemy to protect them at first.

FeiLing · Mar 10, 2012

Someone needs to explain this to me:

First screen - city attacks a knight -18 strength -10% for terrain = 16.2 strength. Good.

Second screen - city attacks a war elephant (ranged units defend with their ranged strength rather then their normal strength when being shot at (which doesn't make too much sense, as they don't shoot back... but oh well)) ... anyway: 8 strength - 10% for terrain = 9. WTH?

vexing · Mar 10, 2012

check the mechanics of combat article. ranged vs ranged, the defender uses their ranged strength and always gets a 1.25x defense bonus. 8 * .9 * 1.25 = 9

FeiLing · Mar 10, 2012

mkay... thanks. Wonder what's the reason for that bonus though (don't see the logic behind it) and also why it isn't shown then as a modifier.

empirechen · May 15, 2012

The Incan UA seems to grant cannon ability to treat hills as open terrain, thus enjoying a semi-indirect-fire bonus. In my 383 game, cannons can definitely "shoot over" hills.

weregamer · May 16, 2012

One oversight/error - the Hwach'a has a *penalty* against cities, unlike all other siege weapons which get a *bonus*. This reflects the overall design of Korea as a "turtle" civ that is very strong on defense. I'd suggest putting this as a special note on the unit list for Siege, and probably calling it out in the paragraphs below too.

IronfighterXXX · May 26, 2012

Can somebody explain me why my frigate can't shoot at Indian infantry (next to cavalry)? Is this bug? Thanks!

DaveMcW · May 27, 2012

Yes it's a bug. There are two bombardment paths (SE-E-SE and SE-SE-E) but the game only considers one of them.

Blue Bacon 3 · Jun 10, 2012

Just bought the game.
Are there any high-speed artillery units (I intend to kite)?

Veneke · Jun 10, 2012

IronfighterXXX said:
Can somebody explain me why my frigate can't shoot at Indian infantry (next to cavalry)? Is this bug? Thanks!

I'm pretty sure this isn't a bug. Your frigate has rough terrain immediately to its right and one hex SE again. That's what's stopping you from targeting anything beyond it. If your frigate had indirect fire then you'd be able to hit it.

Blue Bacon said:
Just bought the game. Are there any high-speed artillery units (I intend to kite)?

Do you mean artillery units with a high movement? If so then the only real option is Rocket Artillery (movement 3), otherwise you're looking at bombers.

Blue Bacon 3 · Jun 10, 2012

Thanks!

IronfighterXXX · Jun 10, 2012

Veneke said:
I'm pretty sure this isn't a bug. Your frigate has rough terrain immediately to its right and one hex SE again. That's what's stopping you from targeting anything beyond it. If your frigate had indirect fire then you'd be able to hit it.

Ok but as you see on picture I"m able to target my cannon(next to anti-tank gun) and it's almost the same situation as with Indian infantry only on the other side

Veneke · Jun 10, 2012

The difference is pretty clear from what I'm seeing. The hex to the West (left hand side) of the frigate selected is open ground. The rough terrain obstacle isn't encountered until the second ring (1 hex west, 1 hex southwest). As far as I'm aware, rough terrain obstacles encountered in the second ring from the bombarding unit doesn't have the same effect that a rough terrain obstacle has if it's immediately beside the bombarding unit.

DaveMcW · Jun 17, 2012

Illustrated Guide to Range-3 Bombardment

Range-2 vs Range-3
Range-2 bombardment tries different paths to get line of sight around obstacles.

Range-3 bombardment only tries one path. If your unit is on the wrong tile, you will be unable to bombard.

Corners
Corners are the easiest to figure out. Each corner of the range-2 hexagon allows line of sight to a corner of the range-3 hexagon.

ENE/WSW Axis
Tiles to the east-northeast and west-southwest require line of sight from the tile next to your unit.

This means you can sometimes bombard over mountains!

Northwest and Southeast
The remaining tiles require line of sight from either the northwest or southeast.

Conclusion
By memorizing the patterns for range-3 bombardment, you can turn the buggy bombard system to your advantage in many cases.

Veneke · Jun 17, 2012

Huh... I wouldn't have believed it had I not tested it in WB myself. So, range 3 units ignore mountains (and I assume other rough terrain) if they're facing the right way.

I think your second picture is flawed because on the left side the mountain is clearly not in the way and on the right it clearly is (the warrior is beside the mountain in one and behind it in the other), but your point is well made with that last picture regardless.

DaveMcW · Jun 17, 2012

Ok, I fixed the second picture.

IronfighterXXX · Jun 17, 2012

Thanks DaveMcW for your 'Illustrated Guide to Range-3 Bombardment', it's really helpful . But I still wonder why they created such a strange ranged combat system.

[vanilla] Ranged Combat

Warlord

Warlord

Homesick Alien

King

Deity

knows

Deity

Chieftain

Gandhi of the Mongols

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Attachments

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King

Prince

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King

Deity

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King

Deity

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