Defending archers do not do enough damage in siege.

[Lusted]

Well all it really needs is the projectile max angles bieng reduced, then missile units work like they should on walls. Only being able to shoot through crenels, but with archers and crossbows back ranks being able to fire over the battlements if they do not have a clear line of fire.

[Shahed]

How does it affect battle performance ?

[Lusted]

Well in field battles it just prevents the parabolic arc shot, in sieges it seems to improve things a bit.

[Shahed]

I'm asking coz I don't want to mess up the archers in battles. they do just fine there. Does it have any negative impact on battles ? It does'nt I suppose ?

[Lusted]

Well it just means archers wont fire at as high an angle, and will sometimes lead to the front rank of archers not firing if they are too close to the rear ranks of some of your units.

[Didz]

I suspect the developers were presented with a 'hobson's choice' over wall archers.

In theory, the battlements should not block the line of sight of missile troops on the walls, but if the battlements were dropped so that the wall archers could avoid using a 'parabolic' trajectory then I suspect that the archers of the assaulting army would also be able to target them using direct fire.

What is needed is some sort of recognition that the battlements are not an obstacle blocking vision but a shield protecting those behind it.

Incidently, I don't think crossbowmen are so badly affected by this problem. Certainly those in the rear ranks resort to 'parabolic fire' but I'm sure the ones in the front fire direct. That might be true of archers too but I just haven't noticed. I also trend to do the same as FactionHier and mass my archers in deep blocks on the walls so my results may be better anyway.

[Shahed]

Hmm ok thanks. Will need to do some testing.

[Miracle]

Perhaps a more sophisticated and permanent way CA can fix this is to have the archers load behind the merlons and then move in front of the crenels to shoot, moving back behind the merlons to reload.

Soldiers within a unit can alternate shooting and reloading a la musketeers.

It's extremely realistic and increases both firepower and survivability.