Crossbows are incredibly underpowered

[SniperAssassin6]

The crossbows in this game, even before the nerf, are horribly underpowered and are much worse than bows on every level.

Crossbows have a fraction of the DPS a bow does. Bows and crossbows require 2-3 bodyshots in general to kill an enemy, despite bows having double the fire rate of crossbows. Even headshotting enemies with a single crossbow shot is not possible most of the time. Even the most damaging crossbow in the game, the bound crossbow, is unable to kill PEASANTS AND MILITIA with a single headshot. Thats insane and makes playing an archer feel useless, since your 20 bolt quiver has 10 kills in it if you make every shot. Most crossbows AND bows should be able to kill MOST ENEMIES IN THE GAME WITH A HEADSHOT. Crossbows should be able to kill most unarmored units in the game with a single body shot.

I get that the AI archers feel too strong, but crossbowmen are far too weak. The DPS and kills of my archers exceeds my crossbowmen in every. single. engagement. This is horribly balanced.

Maybe the AI should deal less damage with their ranged weapons than the player since they have an inherent boost to accuracy being computer controlled, but as it stands the crossbows in this game in the hands of the player are incredibly underpowered and borderline useless and there is currently no reason to take them over bows.

 

[Etherius]

The crossbows in this game...

This issue may be caused by the fact that all bolts have 0 blunt damage, at least it shows such numbers in the game when you hover over them in inventory or trading menu.

 

[Yeahbooi]

Yeah pls fix this, its is impossible to play the crossbow. You cannot use the crossbow on horse after getting the perk on riding for it ;_; . Also, this perk is twice in the game: in the riding- and crossbow skilltree.. why?!?

 

[Meaning481]

While I have enjoyed using crossbows in Vlandian tournaments, I have not bothered buying one for my character in single player, as I have not yet found one that is priced under 22,000 denars. There appears to be no option for a crossbow focused character to start with a crossbow.

 

[bm01]

Even though the bolts don't have bonus damage (bolts aren't finished, they also deal blunt damage which is probably unintended), crossbows are very powerful. You're comparing a low level crossbow, the only one currently available, with top tier bows. Other crossbows can be activated through modding and they're actually way more powerful.
Basically, not a balancing issue, just unfinished / bugged stuff.

 

[wookdaddy]

IDK, can't use them because just having 1 point in it (from the start menu option) will never get me to 20 proficiency. Why even have an option for 1 level to only be 15 if 20 is required for everything??

 

[Ichon]

IDK, can't use them because just having 1 point in it (from the start menu option) will never get me to 20 proficiency. Why even have an option for 1 level to only be 15 if 20 is required for everything??

Tournaments... will eventually get you to 20 proficiency but yeah- the whole crossbow thing is very weird and seems that crossbows are useless compared to bows at the moment.

I haven't unlocked the higher tier crossbows by modding the files but if they are 3x better than the base crossbows (which they should be) then they also need to take maybe +20% longer to reload while the base crossbows need a -40% reload speed since you can move with a bows while reloading without disrupting the animation but a crossbow if you move you are starting the whole reload animation over again making them WAY more difficult to use.

Really strong crossbows required a crank/lever and not to be moving around while hand-drawn crossbows were much weaker- but also could be fired on the move while riding or walking.

That would also mean starting with weaker crossbows to level up proficiency would be viable as they would start out weaker than same tier bows but eventually end up much stronger per shot after investing the time to level up AND not always be clearly better in every situation (sniping in sieges/behind shieldwall would be quite a lot better with a crossbow vs horse archery and hideout attacks that would still favor bows) and that is probably historically realistic.

 

[SniperAssassin6]

Even though the bolts don't have bonus damage (bolts aren't finished, they also deal blunt damage which is probably unintended), crossbows are very powerful. You're comparing a low level crossbow, the only one currently available, with top tier bows. Other crossbows can be activated through modding and they're actually way more powerful.
Basically, not a balancing issue, just unfinished / bugged stuff.

I am currently using the tier 6 crossbow that I had to get from a mod. The tier 6 crossbow currently struggles to OHK militia and low tier troops with a headshot. It deals maybe 60ish damage on a bodyshot on low tier troops. Mid and high tier troops often require 2 headshots and 3 bodyshots to kill with the tier 6 crossbow. Thats absolutely terrible and underpowered. The tier 6 crossbow should AT LEAST be able to OHK any troop in the game with a headshot. I dont even want to think about using the basic crossbow because if the tier 6 xbow has pathetic dps, then the basic xbow will be a pain to use.

 

[Meaning481]

It looks like in the new 1.1.0 beta branch they have finally fixed the 0 blunt damage problem. They have also made a lower tier crossbow available for purchase in empire cities for 1000 denars at the earlier tiers.

 

[Yeahbooi]

But even then you cannot reload on horseback with the right skills !