Light Infantry vs. Regular/Elite/Trained Infantry

[Forris]

Hi!

My first post in this forum, aslo indicating that I'm new to this game.
I was wondering if Light Infantry plays an important role, or might be decisive, in a major engagement, for example when two 30-40k armies smash together in a large battle, compared to the "heavier" types of infantry? and if that's the case, how?

It's obvious that they might be better at raiding togheter with cavalry and similar tasks (thinking mainly of their weight, again, compared to heavy infantry),
but do they perfrom other tasks better than regular infantry, and should I include some of them together with heavier infantry when forming corps and divisions with the intention of participating in major battles?

(I've played WIA a bit, and there the "Light" infantry types usually are faster than "regular")

And please, I appreciate if experienced players would share some of their experiences regarding the use of different unit types best suited for different tasks, it would be really helpful, but mainly comparing "light" with "heavy" (including cavalry)

I cannot end my first post before mentioning how great some of AGEod's titles are (I've only tried WIA and ROP til now, love them, but there will be more :thumbsup

[squarian]

Hi Forris - welcome!

I've played AACW, WIA and now ROP, but I can't say I'm an experienced player - because I can't actually answer any of your questions.

I'm not sure that Light Inf always confers the skirmisher special ability (you'll see the little red icon in the unit panel), but it usually seems to - and that does have a significant advantage when the program calculates battles.

The widest school of thought says you should have at least some skirmish-ability units in every body of troops, and ideally a skirmish-able battalion in each infantry brigade.

(Now, whether it's realistic for this era to allow such composite brigades is another issue, and maybe that's something to consider as the designers work on improving the period "feel" of ROP)

As for other ways that elite/heavy/trained/etc interact - AFAIK these categories each function differently in battle calculations. Mostly, I don't worry about the calculations behind the scenes much and just rely on what I know about the period, trusting that the program will accurately reflect the reality -

Which was that heavy troops like cuirassiers and grenadiers were meant as battle shock troops, while the "lights" (grenzer, jaeger, hussars, etc) were best used operationally as vedettes, light cav screens between the main forces, guarding supply lines, etc.

No doubt someone will be along who can explain the math, though...

[Forris]

Hi Forris - welcome!

I've played AACW, WIA and now ROP, but I can't say I'm an experienced player - because I can't actually answer any of your questions.

I'm not sure that Light Inf always confers the skirmisher special ability (you'll see the little red icon in the unit panel), but it usually seems to - and that does have a significant advantage when the program calculates battles.

The widest school of thought says you should have at least some skirmish-ability units in every body of troops, and ideally a skirmish-able battalion in each infantry brigade.

(Now, whether it's realistic for this era to allow such composite brigades is another issue, and maybe that's something to consider as the designers work on improving the period "feel" of ROP)

As for other ways that elite/heavy/trained/etc interact - AFAIK these categories each function differently in battle calculations. Mostly, I don't worry about the calculations behind the scenes much and just rely on what I know about the period, trusting that the program will accurately reflect the reality -

Which was that heavy troops like cuirassiers and grenadiers were meant as battle shock troops, while the "lights" (grenzer, jaeger, hussars, etc) were best used operationally as vedettes, light cav screens between the main forces, guarding supply lines, etc.

No doubt someone will be along who can explain the math, though...

Thank you, this was for me a good start.

Do you think that the "main" part of a division, one with the intention of meeting large numbers, should be made up the heavier kinds (including cavalry and infantry), if the case is to make a somewhat "balanced" division?

Thus leading me to another question - do you think it's best to let different divisions (one with mainly light cavalry, another with heavy infantry and so on) make up a corps, or that all the divisions making up the corps should be balanced (a little bit of everything)?

I'm sorry if I write or formulate a little unclear or unspecific, english is not my native language

[caranorn]

As Squarian already mentionned, there are advantages to include light infantry (with skirmish capacity) in regular infantry brigades, this gives the skirmish bonus to all other elements in the brigade. This doesn't seem to be entirely realistic for the period though as light troops tended to be used in larger bodies on the flanks of their armies...

Light infantry moves faster than line (and I believe grenadier or guard)...

Light infantry has better patrol and evasion ratings than line, grenadier or guard infantry. That means they help detecting enemy forces as well as avoiding combat...

Light infantry can cross mountains and mountain passes in harsh weather, which other infantry can't...

Light cavalry is less adept at shock combat than heavy cavalry but usually has a rof of 1 (or higher?) and can therefore participate in fire combat...

Light cavalry moves faster than other cavalry types, is actually the fastest land unit type in the game...

Light cavalry has better patrol and evasion ratings than other cavalry types...

Light cavalry can cross mountains and mountain passes in harsh weather...

So how do I use light cavalry and infantry? I try to add a single light infantry battalion to any infantry brigades (so 3 line/grenadier/guard/militia and 1 skirmisher). Occasionally I will detach light infantry from those brigades to form ad hoc raiding/scouting or anti-raiding/scouting parties. I try to have at least one light cavalry unit per column or independant force, some additional such units operating detached for deep scouting, if I have to few light cavalry I will use heavy dragoons in the columns and reserve the light cavalry for scouting...