Why can't my longbow shoot Madrid?

[NwabudikeMorgan]

So as you can see from the screenshot, I can see Madrid, thanks to my scout with Scouting I promotion, but for some reason my longbow cannot shoot the city. Except for the mined hill, every tile in the way is flat, but my bow can see around the mined hill to the left, so why not the right?

 

[tonberry]

It's the river, it count as 1 tile.

 

[comatosedragon]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=437132

A link to war academy, BjorenLars excellent guide on ranged combat and line of sight. I think you will need the 'indirect fire' promotion in order to attack from where you are right now.

 

[NwabudikeMorgan]

I dont think the river counts as a tile, the longbow can shoot his 3 hex range out to the east voer the river just fine.

 

[Peng Qi]

The hill is blocking your line of sight.

The quick way to determine if line of sight will be blocked is by trying to draw a line from the middle of your tile to the middle of the tile you want to attack. If that line goes even slightly inside of a hill tile, line of sight will be blocked. Note that skirting exactly along the edge of a hill tile will not block LOS.

 

[Callonia]

I think its because of the hill to the northwest of madrid that's blocking your line of sight.

 

[The_Quasar]

I confirm, it is the hill, with the mine, which is blocking the Longbowman's line of sight...

It would only be able to shoot under this circumstance if it had the Indirect Fire (the leaf) promotion.

Rivers do not block line of sight.

 

[callan]

You guys are missing his point I think. It's obviously the hill that is causing the issue but why is it possible to shoot the other square behind it (from the Longbowmans perspective). In other words; if LoS is blocked to the city, why is it not blocked to the hex left of the city, which is identically obscured by the same hill.

 

[Pisskop]

The Longbowman doesn't want it enough!

I am sure that the game calculates LOS the same way an old school game (like Wasteland or a grided TBS game) does... the exception being a hexagonal map. This style map layout is sure to produce some rather odd results, if you think about it. Either the whole square(hex...) can be shot, or none of it.

 

[joncnunn]

You guys are missing his point I think. It's obviously the hill that is causing the issue but why is it possible to shoot the other square behind it (from the Longbowmans perspective). In other words; if LoS is blocked to the city, why is it not blocked to the hex left of the city, which is identically obscured by the same hill.

It appears to trace paths to 3 hex distance via a specific 2 hex tile rather than using both. The tile to the left of Madrid is traced thru the tile to the left of the hill, while Madrid is traced onto the hill. Same thing appears to be going on in the NW with one tile blocked by forest because its traced thru it.

 

[Civologist]

You have to have a unit close enough to Madrid to make it visible to your Longbow. Your longbow may be able to shoot 3 hexes but it can only see 2 hexes away as it is not standing on a hill. If you move a unit closer to Madrid this may solve the issue. I usually bring a scout with my longbows to move in while all my bows shoot and then move out of the city range(or have +1 visibility). Madrid does not seem to be under the fog of war in the screenshot but I can't see a unit close enough to reveal it. All other tiles that are 3 hexes away are being revealed by another one of your units. Think of longbows as snipers needing spotters.

 

[NwabudikeMorgan]

I think joncnunn has it right, that the game calculates 3 range LOS in a bizarre manner, and that's what's causing this.

Civologist, I can see madrid, thanks to the scout left of the city with SCouting I promotion, like i said in the OP

 

[CoolLizy]

You have to have a unit close enough to Madrid to make it visible to your Longbow.

Madrid is visible in the screenshot; he can see what units are in the city.

 

[headcase]

It's picky, but it makes sense going from centre-of-hex to centre-of-hex. Ideally, there would be a semi-obstructed state that merely reduced the damage.

Edit: Oh, now I see what you mean; you can hit the longsword. Yeah that's inconsistent.