What is the deal with "Defensive Bombardment" in Longbowman

[jkp1187]

Okay, I've heard about the "range zero" defense bombard and whatnot, but am not quite sure how it works....can someone give me a thumbnail sketch, please? Thanks in advance.

 

[Megabyte]

Hi!

IIRC, defensive bombardment means the unit has a free bombard attack if an enemies unit is attacking it.

Have Fun!

 

[jkp1187]

So does the Longbowman bombard at 4 (its attack strength) or 1 (its defense strength)?

Does the Archer have this ability, too?

 

[Megabyte]

Hi!

I think it bombards with its attack strength but i would not give an promise on that. Regarding the archer : no i think the archer doesnt have this ability.

Have fun!

 

[jkp1187]

Hey, thanks for your help!

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Sorry Megabyte, wrong on both count
(In c3c only)
Archers, Bowmen, Longbows, Guerilla, TOWs and Privateers got a 0 range bombard; this only works if another unit in the stack is attacked, and only once/turn. Of course, a stack of 2 Archers will defend each others.
The numbers that are involved are the Bombard value (2,IIRC) against the defence of the unit attacking.
RoF is pointless here, btw.

 

[DementedAvenger]

Doc, by saying RoF is pointless, do you mean that it will only take off one hit point? And is it once per turn per stack or per unit?

 

[Megabyte]

Hi !
@Doc Tsiolkovski : thx for correcting me...i must have mixed something up there...

Have fun !

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Defensive bombard will always take off only one HP (or none), regardless if RoF is 100 or 0 (the Privateer has 0, btw).
And any unit with Bombard (regardless of range/RoF) will only shoot once per interturn.

 

[morchuflex]

Defensive bombard can be quite effective and the AI is surprisingly clever at using it. In my last game, the Russians really bothered me in the second era, when their caravels kept unloading stacks of 1 musketman, 1 longbowman and one knight. My own knights had a hard time getting rid of these, because more than often they lost one HP before engaging the musketman, and then were killed or had to retreat.

 

[jkp1187]

Cool...so all those longbowmen I have hanging out in Rhodesia in my current game (a legacy of NO IRON or SALTPETER for most of the middle ages,) can ultimately get upgraded to TOW Infantry, so I'm always going to have that defensive bombard capability.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[tomart109]

IMO, this is one of the excellent additions to Conquests. But it means that your Longbow must be stacked with another unit; if alone, it uses its (pathetic) defense of 1. But a stack of 5 Longbows will get free shots (using the number in parentheses) at the first 4 attackers every turn. I've seen that turn decent attacks into mush. It adds a realistic dimension to combat and makes Longbows worth building (they now make a good complement to Medieval Infs.) Stack them with a good defender like a Musket, and multiple attackers could make him Elite instead of dead.