Hello there! Looking for feedback and to share my opinion on archery today.
I've been giving some more chances to single player campaigns recently, and I decided (for purely flavour-related purposes) to create a Battanian archer character.
Previously I've steered clear of archery since I was spoiled by too much horse archery in Prophesy of Pendor (Warband mod, go try it out, it's awesome) but I was curious about how it's handled in Bannerlord, most of my experiences with it having been in multiplayer so far. I took every possible background perk which favors archery, an older character start and immediately started taking down group of looters on my own, building up a sizeable army and taking my first castle in 30 days or so.
I found out the archery system is... well, to avoid using a more loaded term... "lacking." First of all, the character seems to have (no offense intended for people with similar issues) cerebral palsy. There's this little "double-tap" system that wasn't there some versions ago... it makes absolutely no sense in my opinion. Every single time the bow is drawn, the reticle goes haywire and reverts to its previous position for an instant, only to go back to normal. What were they thinking when they added this? NPCs are clearly not suffering from this issue, since "mere" imperial archers literally draw and release arrows faster than my character, who sits at 200 archery and has the best nomad bow I could find coupled with the best arrows. Horse archery is handled similarly to how it was in Warband, having changed little I also have little to report or share on it - I almost always play a foot archer (no, that doesn't mean he nocks arrows with his feet.)
Another issue that impacts archery in general is the AI of every archer unit in the game. They simply do not prioritize their own survival, choosing to aim at ten archers and twenty infantrymen in a shieldwall at very long range instead of releasing arrows towards a throng of cavalrymen climbing a hill to get to them, or even horse archers who are killing half a dozen of them with single volley and are practically holding still at close range: perfect targets that go untouched for some reason. The archery AI during sieges is absolutely abysmal, and to be frank... a little embarassing after 13 months. The incredible kill/death ratio the archers enjoy, from what I could see, is due to the inability of the AI to deal with the archers themselves and the little threat posed by most cavalry units. The shieldwalls are, for example, very happy to sometimes face the opposite way - giving your archers plenty of time to turn them all into pincushions.
The mechanics that allows archers to release arrows aiming way up as to simulate real-life longbowmen tactic is really cool, something I wished we had in Warband. "Ohhh, look at them go" kind of cool, the first time you see them doing it at least. The issue with that is, they're just wasting arrows. There's no morale penalty to infantry receiving those weak, inaccurate volleys from a distance, and it'll be a miracle if the archers can injure one of the enemy soldiers seriously, not to mention downright kill him.
Then there's the issue of control. The current unit control system is very, very lacking, and while it's a general issue I think it might be affecting archer units the most. There is no real way of telling, let's say, half of the archers to pick a specific target and fire at that unit until you say otherwise. You can awkwardly (it takes some keyboard madness) split them and tell them to "look" in a specific direction, but I've noticed they almost always just turn around and keep targeting the wrong unit. That makes the player unable to control them properly.
Last and perhaps least, the lack of flavour in both the archery gameplay and the archer units of all factions.
Flame arrows to spook horses or burn down siege engines. Different nocking mechanics from bow to bow. More realistic arrow drop. More piercing-resistant armor, not much sense in having a hauberk if an arrow shot by a peasant with a flimsy, cracked bow can still do pretty much full damage.
Unique archer formations and tactics (orders, too) according to the unit's faction of origin, or bonuses when fighting in the "right" terrain. I could see Sturgian archers skirmishing in the snow and dispersing as they're chased by slower units, or Battanian fianns having strong bonuses fighting in wooded areas.
Those are just a few little ideas, I know the likelihood of them being noticed and added is minuscule, but hey! And please feel free to add more, that's the whole reason I posted this for. Looking forward to reading your opinions!
I've been giving some more chances to single player campaigns recently, and I decided (for purely flavour-related purposes) to create a Battanian archer character.
Previously I've steered clear of archery since I was spoiled by too much horse archery in Prophesy of Pendor (Warband mod, go try it out, it's awesome) but I was curious about how it's handled in Bannerlord, most of my experiences with it having been in multiplayer so far. I took every possible background perk which favors archery, an older character start and immediately started taking down group of looters on my own, building up a sizeable army and taking my first castle in 30 days or so.
I found out the archery system is... well, to avoid using a more loaded term... "lacking." First of all, the character seems to have (no offense intended for people with similar issues) cerebral palsy. There's this little "double-tap" system that wasn't there some versions ago... it makes absolutely no sense in my opinion. Every single time the bow is drawn, the reticle goes haywire and reverts to its previous position for an instant, only to go back to normal. What were they thinking when they added this? NPCs are clearly not suffering from this issue, since "mere" imperial archers literally draw and release arrows faster than my character, who sits at 200 archery and has the best nomad bow I could find coupled with the best arrows. Horse archery is handled similarly to how it was in Warband, having changed little I also have little to report or share on it - I almost always play a foot archer (no, that doesn't mean he nocks arrows with his feet.)
Another issue that impacts archery in general is the AI of every archer unit in the game. They simply do not prioritize their own survival, choosing to aim at ten archers and twenty infantrymen in a shieldwall at very long range instead of releasing arrows towards a throng of cavalrymen climbing a hill to get to them, or even horse archers who are killing half a dozen of them with single volley and are practically holding still at close range: perfect targets that go untouched for some reason. The archery AI during sieges is absolutely abysmal, and to be frank... a little embarassing after 13 months. The incredible kill/death ratio the archers enjoy, from what I could see, is due to the inability of the AI to deal with the archers themselves and the little threat posed by most cavalry units. The shieldwalls are, for example, very happy to sometimes face the opposite way - giving your archers plenty of time to turn them all into pincushions.
The mechanics that allows archers to release arrows aiming way up as to simulate real-life longbowmen tactic is really cool, something I wished we had in Warband. "Ohhh, look at them go" kind of cool, the first time you see them doing it at least. The issue with that is, they're just wasting arrows. There's no morale penalty to infantry receiving those weak, inaccurate volleys from a distance, and it'll be a miracle if the archers can injure one of the enemy soldiers seriously, not to mention downright kill him.
Then there's the issue of control. The current unit control system is very, very lacking, and while it's a general issue I think it might be affecting archer units the most. There is no real way of telling, let's say, half of the archers to pick a specific target and fire at that unit until you say otherwise. You can awkwardly (it takes some keyboard madness) split them and tell them to "look" in a specific direction, but I've noticed they almost always just turn around and keep targeting the wrong unit. That makes the player unable to control them properly.
Last and perhaps least, the lack of flavour in both the archery gameplay and the archer units of all factions.
Flame arrows to spook horses or burn down siege engines. Different nocking mechanics from bow to bow. More realistic arrow drop. More piercing-resistant armor, not much sense in having a hauberk if an arrow shot by a peasant with a flimsy, cracked bow can still do pretty much full damage.
Unique archer formations and tactics (orders, too) according to the unit's faction of origin, or bonuses when fighting in the "right" terrain. I could see Sturgian archers skirmishing in the snow and dispersing as they're chased by slower units, or Battanian fianns having strong bonuses fighting in wooded areas.
Those are just a few little ideas, I know the likelihood of them being noticed and added is minuscule, but hey! And please feel free to add more, that's the whole reason I posted this for. Looking forward to reading your opinions!