The effectiveness of Mounted the Mounted Crossbow.

[X Clan]

Who is more effective, kill ratio wise, in a two to five minute Archery attack, Regular HR (included the mounted infantry/cavs with bows) or mounted X-bows?

In the past, I’ve been very reluctant to use mounted X-bows because of their slow rate of fire. They just didn’t appear to kill fast enough. Normally, when I needed Cavs in a rush, the HR were already out of ammo and ready for a mounted flanking attack or for running down routers. But Mounted X-bows were always ammo heavy when needed in a fast cav attack.

Just seems like a wasted resource when mounted X-Bows still have ammo when you need them for a different purpose.

[Patron]

Mounted crossbowmen have several roles in the field, the most important being the harrasment of horse archers and advancing armies whilst you are defending. A moving army cannot utilise it's archers properly and is reluctant to occupy it's cavalry chasing the crossbowmen.

The worst case scenario for chasing an advancing army is if you have no decent light cavalry and they have some light cavalry which manage to chase them into the edge of the map and kill them all or force you to rout them. So you will need to keep your mounted crossbowmen on a head on attack so they flee towards your men where they can kill any cavalry that strayed away from the main body of troops.

If the enemy army has no cavalry or is defending with no archers, then your mounted crossbowmen will rein supreme targetting halberdiers or the general and his unit of kataphrakts.

They also have some effectiveness at chasing away horse archers, they can fire 1 volley of crossbow bolts then chase after them as they are better in combat than run of the mill horse archers.

[antisocialmunky]

The Mounted X-bow's main disadvantage of slow ROF can actually be useful since you can volley fire and withdraw ratehr than need to sit there and pepper. They are quite useful.

[IrishMike]

I found them to be quite effective for defending bridges when you don't have the nessasary forces to hold them at the bridge head. Allows you to adopt a more mobile defense in depth strategy and reduced the infantry before they reach yours. The slow rate of fire helps by allowing you to repeat this process for a longer amount of time.

[Vladimir]

They're one of my favorite units. It all depends on what your target is. The heavier the armor the more you want the X-bows. They also have a better defense and (I think) morale. Once you tech them up a bit they can fit both the light cav role due to their speed and the medium role due to their defense and upgrades. I use mine mostly as "king killers" because that's what the crossbow is good for. I get in position to take out the heavily armored generals when defending (or the damned Huscarls in VI) and the AI always reaches a point when it leaves its archers vulnerable. I'm not sure if step heavy cav missiles are more or less armor piercing but I'd rather use those than anything. ONE of the things I love in XL about the Armenians is that you can have mounted crossbows and archers, that makes for some interesting tactics.

[mfberg]

With their speed, armour-piercing and mid-weight armour they are very good at taking on any knights in a chase. With armour and weapon bonuses they become decent medium cavalry. When I am playing Hungarians I use them extensively along with my HA and Szekely. The mounted crossbows take out the VG and Kataphracts, Knights, and Halbreds; the HA and Szekely take on spears, Byz swords, and archers.

mfberg

[m52nickerson]

Load up on mounted Crossbows and head for Constantinople. The Byz Kats will fall before the faster MC's.

[Ciaran]

They´re even tougher in the XL Mod and can beat Mounted Sergeants in close combat, as I found out to my misfortune.

[matteus the inbred]

i can't remember how many German generals my one unit of valour 6 mounted x-bows has assassinated..certainly more than 4, including an emperor! one unit, kill the knights; use foot archers to decimate the rubbish, and as i haven't got the XL mod, my mounted x-bows are never allowed to go up close and personal with anyone except routing peasants.

[el_slapper]

Every unit is useful(bar the crappiest ones). But it's always tough to find a use for EVERY in each strategy.

Mounted X are useful as an extra unit, outside the main group. They can slush armoured inf from position & lure it outside a defensive position(at least against IA). And having one or 2 is often a big annoyance for the enemy. More is a good way to lack firepower, though.

[gaijinalways]

I have also enjoyed taking them behind the enemy units by continually flanking. Even when I have lost some of my mounted x-bows, the distraction that they have caused and the enemy soldiers they killed made it worth it.

[ah_dut]

I've never found them to be worth the money but if I have some to hand or simply don't have any decent units they're better then nothing. I'm not a very good micromanager (especially comapared to others) so I prefer to use rathre more clumsy period-esque tactics

[matteus the inbred]

i think, like the Berserkers in VI (or any other small and specialist unit like Naptha Throwers or Hashishin), they're a rewarding unit if you take the time and care not to get them slaughtered but instead allow them to slowly build up valour and get them off the field in one piece at the end, and upgrade/retrain them where possible. i like 'em a lot, although you've got to keep them away from those xyz*$£ jinetes...

[Vladimir]

A tactic I've developed in XL with the Armenians is to pair them up with horse archers. Put the X-bows in front of the HA's and group them. If you're able to isolate a unit charge them with the x-bows and rear attack with the HA's, or just do the sandwich skirmish if their valor/upgrades are too low.

[Odin]

They are extremely effective for what there intended purpose is, to penetrate armor units. ROF is a legit gripe, but if you take time with them you can run them back and forth between your line and the enemies and really get some value out of thier assults.

That being said, they arent very good at anything else, save for chasing down fleeing foot units. So yeah, effective unit if used for thier stated purpose but not very multifaceted if you ask me, and for that reason thier value/effectiveness as a unit is somewhat limited.

[Roark]

As someone said, the Mounted Crossbow is the perfect kingslayer.

Being fast cavalry, they are always in demand in my German campaigns for chasing enemy horses that have been routed.

[Foreign Devil]

I love Mounted Crossbowmen, and when I play an early campaign I always snatch up any MC mercs I can- they're very useful early on against enemy Royal Knights.

[Just A Girl]

Hell i never saw no mounted crossbow men as the welsh in vi

[matteus the inbred]

Hell i never saw no mounted crossbow men as the welsh in vi

go and pick a fight with the Picts! horrible people to fight; Berserks, Celtic Warriors AND crossbows. and all on battlefields that give me vertigo, the hills are so steep.

[The Darkhorn]

Surprisingly, I have had mtd. xbows on a good hill actually outduel foot archers on more than one occassion. Once they outdueled several for a while as the archers kept adjusting position and such. Eventually I just charged them and they all ran. I use two of them in every Polish army.

[mfberg]

One of my favorite tactics to use in fixed defense is to have my mounted crossbows re-deploy behind my spears like an AP archery unit. They fire over the heads of my men, so I don't have to put them in front like the arbs and regular crossbows.

mfberg

[hlawrenc]

One of my favorite tactics to use in fixed defense is to have my mounted crossbows re-deploy behind my spears like an AP archery unit. They fire over the heads of my men, so I don't have to put them in front like the arbs and regular crossbows.

mfberg

Absolutely. In a fixed position defense I always carry a Mtd X-bow and a foot jav unit along with my army, even if I have to buy them. Javs lined up immediately behind the spear wall, Mtd X-bow behind them once the enemy line hits your spear wall and become engaged (especially if armoured) between the Javs being chunked and the Mtd X-bow firing they usually dissolve any heavy armoured unit. If the General's unit is in that melee amost guaranteed kill usually in first or second volley. Javs and Mtd X-bow bolts seem to have Wire Guided General Killer capability.