Are Riflemen and Light Infantry actually Infantry?

[dapamdg]

The reason I ask this is because in my latest 192 Campaign as Britain I devoted as many of my upgrades to improving infantry as possible (Double Line Formation, Divisional Artillery, etc.). With such a small population base, combined with the surplus of materials my developed economy produced, I decided to upgrade my army by producing some Light Infantry and Riflemen. I then proceeded to fight a number of wars (funny how eveyone hates you when you lead in glory[;)] ). I was using quick combat and noticed that my standard Infantry performed MUCH better than my Light Infantry and Riflemen -- the former lasted longer and rallied quicker than the latter. My Riflemen often headed for the route zone within the first couple of volleys. I would have written this off as luck if it had happened only a couple of times. However, this phenomenon persisted in battle after battle after battle. I would add that the Riflemen and Lights had morale as good as or better than my standard Infantry, and had equal sized units.

The only explanations I could come up with is either an incredible string of bad luck with these special troopers or, possibly, that the Riflemen and Lights might not get the advantages of all the Infantry upgrades (and the +'s these can add in Quick Combat).

Anyone had any similar experiences? Until I can figure this out, my British will just continue to turn out standard Infantry. To test the theory further, I will try out some detailed combat and see how the specialists fare.

[Hard Sarge]

not sure

did you try right clicking on the units before the battle, this will tell you what upgrades they have

should be easy to see if Lt Inf shows the same upgrades as normal Inf

???

HARD_Sarge

[Joram]

I can't attest to quick combat because I loathe it. However, in detailed combat, they are pretty much only useful for skirmishing and occupying rough terrain. Sure, anything can occupy rough terrain of course but why waste your good troops in them! With a couple target practice upgrades, they are quite devestating (as are your regs of course). I've had them melt away from cavalry charges quite frequently so I don't use them for key positions anymore.

[ericbabe]

They should be getting all the infantry upgrades both in QC and Detailed combat.

Riflemen do triple damage when firing on artillery units (this was a change we made in the last month of development which didn't make it into the manual).

[Mr. Z]

Riflemen do triple damage when firing on artillery units (this was a change we made in the last month of development which didn't make it into the manual).

It's in the addenda! [:)]

[Ralegh]

In detailed combat I like to use these units to absorb punishment - I put them in areas the enemy will pour fire into, put them in skirmish, and fortify them (so they automatically atempt to rest/rally every turn). I have found them amazingly resilient to the enemy, and they form the key point of my defensive positions. Their ability to go into skirmish at 100% reliability, and use only 2 movement points to do so makes them worth it to me when I am moving the lines forward etc.