Which is Better? Detached Skirmishers or Sharpshooters?

[Hardcase726]

Who do you prefer?

Detached skirmishers for extra flanking, defending, distracting, backup charge, cannon fodder, and scouting... (250 men)

or

Sharpshooters for long range damage, scouting, (500 men)

whats your opinion?

Edited April 7, 2017 by Hardcase726

[Wright29]

detached skirmishers for about 80 reasons. 

Don't occupy a brigade slot, can be reattached and detached again to recover men, guns tend to be easier to get, guns tend to be cheaper/ more likely to be dropped, don't require as much micro, you have the option of using them instead of being stuck with them, can take on cannons without breaking the bank, doesn't kill the officer when the unit shatters, officer can't get wounded. 

But most importantly, the AI gets get Black Ops quality skirmishers due to autoscaling when you have sharpshooters. 

Ok I know I came up like 70 reasons short, so sorry about that. 

[The Soldier]

2 minutes ago, Wright29 said:

But most importantly, the AI gets get Black Ops quality skirmishers due to autoscaling when you have sharpshooters. 

Pretty much *the* reason I never use camp-made Skirmishers anymore.  Not unless I want to farm Spencer Carbines, but I can do that with Carbine Cavalry.  I think I found out that Skirmishers scale 1:1 a while back (although if you think about it, it would have have been pretty obvious).

[Hardcase726]

2 minutes ago, The Soldier said:

Pretty much *the* reason I never use camp-made Skirmishers anymore.  Not unless I want to farm Spencer Carbines, but I can do that with Carbine Cavalry.  I think I found out that Skirmishers scale 1:1 a while back (although if you think about it, it would have have been pretty obvious).

 

Not to mention that Sharpshooters even with sharps or Whitworth's of five hundred can only get (20-60) kills each volley where the detached skirmishers can get (40-80 or 100+ on the flank) kills while being a fresh unit with no veterancy.

[Wright29]

The only benefit of having sharpshooters is that you MIGHT get 1000 casualties at a cost of 0 men if you micro some. But, at the end of the day, you need guys to hold the enemy in place. So I'd much rather have an infantry brigade and detach the skirmishers to the flank where it can get like 350 kills at the cost of 50 men while the infantry gets 1000 kills at a cost of 250 men. With sharpshooters, you mismicro for a single volley and you might lose 90 men which are much more expensive to replace. 

[vren55]

Pretty much. Moreover, you wouldn't want your actual skirmisher units scouting ahead of your army, because they'll get casualties that they can't absorb well. 

Actual skirmish regiments are also hella vulnerable to cav. Detached skirmishers are too, but it's not a risk if they get one-shotted.

[Lif]

I love Sharpshooters. No unit has more kills.^^

But yeah, otherwise detached skirmishers make much more sense.

[Beruldsen]

I'm a big, big fan of sharpshooters.  Playing as CSA on normal (BG) ... I've had a sharpshooter unit that inflicted over 3000 kills at the 2nd Bull Run, 2000 kills at Fredericksburg, 1500 kills at Chancellersville.  I even employed a smaller sharpshooter brigade at Chancellersville that had close to 900 kills.  Admittingly, they are best used on defense where they can remain somewhat stationary and just shoot away.  They also require a lot of micro-management.

[Wright29]

11 hours ago, Beruldsen said:

I'm a big, big fan of sharpshooters.  Playing as CSA on normal (BG) ... I've had a sharpshooter unit that inflicted over 3000 kills at the 2nd Bull Run, 2000 kills at Fredericksburg, 1500 kills at Chancellersville.  I even employed a smaller sharpshooter brigade at Chancellersville that had close to 900 kills.  Admittingly, they are best used on defense where they can remain somewhat stationary and just shoot away.  They also require a lot of micro-management.

did you have fun at Rio Hill? 

[Beruldsen]

I don't think I used them on Rio Hill ... that battle is best left to the infantry ... flank and slug..

[Wandering1]

I would point out; if you don't forcefully scale the enemy skirmishers to snipers on Rio Hill, sitting on the 100% cover on the capture point is going to be a lot more painful, because they just use Spencers instead. If they have snipers, they poke at your one squad on the capture point for about 5 damage each at max range. Spencers are more likely to cause a rout by virtue of faster firing rates and flank attacks.