What does the frontline of units affect?
Really I do not know whether it is better to use a wide or narrow frontline when a unit is attacking or defending, or charging.
Do ranger units shoot only the first or second line?
Does the unit formation have any influence on its effectivity?
Best Answer
After a while, a longer line will start to wrap around shorter line (if there is space to do so) and cause penalties to the shorter line for attacking from side/behind. But a long line can get killed from middle (because it's only a few ranks deep) and then opponent can start enveloping/just run through. Note, enveloping is slow and inefficient.
Larger contact area = more fighting = faster resolution of fight. Larger contact area = more individuals affected by charge, but with long shallow formation, a charge can get through.
Archers tends to miss both horizontally and vertically. Horizontal miss will hit someone else (they tend to shoot at middle of formation), Vertical miss can hit someone in front or behind center. A thin line can have less individuals in the area where arrows are hitting, so less of them get hit.
It looks like that all ranks shoot, if target is in range (so sometimes only one rank shoots if enemy is just a bit in range).
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