For the unit, see Line Infantry.
Line Infantry are a type of infantry in Empire: Total War, Napoleon: Total War and Fall of the Samurai. They form the backbone of most armies. In terms of defensive capabilities and staying power, they are nearly without peer.
Empire: Total War[]
Line infantry form the heart of any army in Empire: Total War. Durable thanks to their high numbers, excellent defense, and high morale, line infantry form the lines of battle and fight in the most pivotal areas of the battlefield. In a head-on fight, a line infantry will be able to beat almost any non-line infantry regiment (with the exception of a well-angled and timed salvo of canister shot fired from an artillery piece). Line infantry hold the advantages of superior numbers (and therefore superior firepower when Fire by Rank is researched), morale and defensive capabilities. Their melee capabilities are usually some of the best for their respective factions. Coupled with their high defense and good morale, line infantry generally fare very well in melee combat unless outnumbered or tired.
Line infantry have many technology upgrades available to them. Plug Bayonets increase their melee capabilities, but require the infantry to equip them manually and force them to remain in melee mode until after the battle; Ring Bayonets are permanently and automatically attached, and still allow the infantry to fire, but reduce their firing rate; Socket Bayonets neither sacrifice shooting abilities nor speed while providing the line infantry with good melee capabilities.
Bayonet technologies aside, line infantry benefit enormously from Fire by Rank, which enables all ranks of the infantry to fire one by one as opposed to just the first rank. Fire and Advance gives line infantry the ability to close in on enemies while simultaneously delivering fire to against them. Finally, Square Formation allows line infantry to form a square, reducing their firepower and sacrificing their ability to move but giving them a powerful defensive bonus against cavalry.
Every major faction in the game has slightly different line infantry. The British, for example, have some of the finest all-round line infantry in the game, while Russian line infantry have very poor shooting characteristics but have unparalleled charging bonuses. The Ottoman equivalents of line infantry are the Isarelys and the Nizam-I Cedit Infantry, while the Maratha Confederacy have Bargir Infantry and Sikh Musketeers.
Austrians have the advantage of having line infantry regiments with 25% more manpower. For example, on ultra settings a full non-Austrian regiment has 160 men; Austrian regiments have 200, instead. On the other hand, Austrian line infantry have generally very poor stats and are the most expensive to field.
Tactics[]
Line infantry are at their best when their flanks are defended by yet more line infantry. They also serve as a shield for less durable units, such as Grenadiers and generals.
Prior to the introduction of fire by rank, commanders can increase the effectiveness of their line infantry by forming them in long, thin ranks, increasing the firepower of the regiment. However, this formation has some drawbacks, increasing the exposure of troops to the enemy, providing more targets and increasing casualties. Should cavalry attack, they can easily break through thin lines. Spread out formations take more time to form squares than compact ones.
Napoleon: Total War[]
Line infantry serve the role of being the standard frontline troops. With almost no exception, every faction has at least one type of line infantry. They have far superior reloading than their Empire: Total War counterparts. To compensate, they no longer have the ability to use Fire by Rank. One way of resolving this problem is by stretching their lines out thinly so that as many of them as possible are firing and reloading.
While they are deadlier, line infantry are also overall more vulnerable. Their defensive stats are far worse than their Empire: Total War counterparts. They are no longer capable of forming square formation if they are already under melee attack, and the relatively better melee stats of other unit types mean that line infantry have lost much of their edge in melee combat. Cavalry, in particular, are much deadlier: even light cavalry can inflict heavy casualties in a very small window of time if left unchecked, and cavalry that can reach line infantry that are not in a square can mean doom for the line infantry unless they are quickly supported, unlike Empire: Total War where even an unprepared line infantry regiment can usually fend off cavalry with moderate casualties.
Arguably just as important to the decline of line infantry is the fact that light infantry are significantly better than their Empire: Total War versions. Light infantry in Napoleon: Total War have 75% of the manpower of line infantry, superior range, better accuracy and reloading skills, and are even almost as capable in melee combat. Line infantry are still indispensable at absorbing damage and attention, but they require more support from other troops than ever, or they cannot be expected to last long unsupported without suffering heavy casualties.
Fall of the Samurai[]
Line infantry return to the Total War series in the Fall of the Samurai, serving a similar role to their Empire: Total War and Napoleon: Total War counterparts.
Line infantry are once again the mainstay of most modern armies. Their ranged capabilities are even better than that of their Napoleon: Total War counterparts, with 125 range and a far superior reload rate. This makes approaching line infantry head-on with melee based troops nearly suicidal. Offsetting this is their even poorer defense. Dedicated melee infantry and cavalry that are able to reach line infantry without breaking have an opportunity to deal heavy damage. Line infantry thus work best when closely supported by other elements of the army to ward off close-range troops, such as cavalry or melee infantry.
In Fall of the Samurai, factions are divided into three allegiances: Shogunate, Imperial, and Republican. Three types of line infantry, Shogunate Infantry, Imperial Infantry, and Republican Infantry, are available only to their respective factions; they disband automatically if their faction changes its allegiance.
Certain factions, such as the Aizu, have access to some unique line infantry with different statistics.