Archers

[gabrielvilleda]

I have been reading the other forums (where us n00bs can't post http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif ) and I have see some posts referring to archers. Some say they are weak and somesay they have even modified their stats. Are archers really weak or were they really like this in real life. Note: I am using MTW pre-patch so if someone could also explain the differences between the patches in terms to archers I would be eternally indebted to you.

Once again great game and forums

[Naagi]

Well I'll try to help some. As it stands right now, archers cant hit the broad side of a barn. The patch didnt help archers, but cavalry got a nice boost. Some people are able to adjust the hit ratio of their archers or even the ammo amount, but you'd have to look in the dungeon for modding advice on this. I think archers were more effective back then but not a whole lot, except maybe the longbowmen. Go for the crossbowmen and arqubelustors(sp). Slower rate of fire, but more hits without modding I believe.

Naagi http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[LadyAnn]

When people say archers are weak, it is usually not on the context of single player game, where you take a faction and play against computer.

In multi-player games, archers are weak compared to other units. That's in totally different context.

I would say in SP mode, you play the game as it is, without mod first, or else you will get so used to a shooting game, making the tactical maneuvre of foot and cavalry units less important and kill the original intent of the game.

Keep in mind that you should try to build crossbow and arbalesters as soon as possible (era and faction permitted) because these are more powerful range weapons.

As of reflecting reality, I think the developpers want to make parallel with the true events. We should keep in mind there are always an arm race. The arbalester and crossbow developments were a response to armour gets heavier in the high-medieval time (the armour are getting heavier due to advance in metalurgy and mining technologies), rendering bows less effective. The desire to carry heavier soldiers also lead to breeding of taller and stronger (but slower) horses. However, some authors assert that the ability to breed stronger horses was made possible by the use of horse as beast of burden in Western Europe. The same for castles and forts: elaborate castle defense was racing against advance in seige weaponery.

Annie

[the_rydster]

I have been playing the battle of Agincourt of late and it does seem to me that the default longbowmen are underpowered to a degree.

The longbow is considered the 'machine gun' of the 14th and 15th century was superior overall to the crossbow (The battle of Crecy where Genoese Crossbowmen were routed in a duel with longbowmen) because of its range and higher fire rate, and helped English armys to become the most feared in Europe during this period.

I do not think that the longbowmen do enough damage in the Agincourt battle. For example it is not uncommon to see only one or two French knights from a tightly bunched unit fall over having loosed 110 arrows from one unit of longbow men.

I think penalties against longbow men for not seeing the enemy properly could do with revising maybe because the longbow was an INDIRECT fire weapon at long range. If the leader of the unit can see then surely they can all fire.

The longbow is very poor at short range. Granted that the crossbow is more accurate at short range maybe, but the longbow was invented by the Welsh as a hunting weapon, if a unit of knights are charging down my longbowmen they seem helpless......at least the front row of knights should get an arrow in the chest I think

With regards to Agincourt, has anybody won on Expert? I have not tried it above normal yet because I am trying to get the positioning perfected. It seems that the more options you give the longbowmen the larger front you have to defend so you end up packing your archers together and they are less effective. Not good having 100 knights bearing down on you when you are out of arrows and your Billmen are wavering



http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Hey, the_rydster http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

Have you noticed that the last reply was in Dec. 20 2002? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-wink.gif

But if you want to know more about underpowered archers, just read this thread:

Archers Underpowered in MTW (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=15;t=13193;hl=archers+underpowered)

[the_rydster]

er.......thanks.

No I didn't notice. My browser keeps going to page 80 (ish) of the forum and I clicked on 'new posts', which I now know thanks are not so new.