Archery in M2 - Analysis from in-game testing

[Kobal2fr]

Okay, so the most powerful longbow unit in the game isn't even English, it's French? Maybe rets need a boost after all. Then again, how many Scots Guard can you have and how easily, compared to longbowmen of all stripes? It might actually be okay play balance if the French get the best longbow unit but the English get more.

I'm not very sure about the history on this... were the Scots famous archers? I know they were good spearmen, but I always thought the Welsh (and later the English) were better at the shooting bit.

They're better archers all other things being equal (in the game I mean, don't know how true to history they are at all), but they're more expensive (both buying price and upkeep - city unit), and by the time the French get them, the English will almost certainly have at least a Master Woodsmen Guild, so they'll be able to crank out valour 2 retinue longbowmen, and of course they will also have been using and exping+retraining longbow units for much longer. Retinue'd have the same armor as the scots too, if the armor system worked properly.
Think the SG pool size and refill rate is quite low too, but I've never played my French campaigns that far TBH, so that much may be way off.

In MP, well, the English will be able to field 12 pure longbow units + 4 Sherwoods before hitting any unit cap, the French only 4 SGs.
Plus, and that's a big plus, SG's don't have stakes.

[andrewt]

I'm puzzled by both the SG and the French archers as well. Shouldn't the eastern factions (Egyptians, Russians, Turkish, Timurids, Mongols, maybe Byzantines as well) get the best hybrid archers in the game? The Turks' late-game missile cav selection is pretty disappointing to me.