AI Archers

[Fredrick Barbarosa]

How come everytime i get my swadians in a line and we destroy their infantry then we charged ttheir archers and when we get in hand to hand combat they destroy my men? Shouldent archers suck at hand to hand combat? or is it just my infantry are beat up from theirs and they die easy, Im not sure if thats it or archers in hand to hand combat in this game are really good.

 

[Buxton]

Huh?

 

[miclee1]

The archers weakened your men greatly, and then your men get ripped apart.

 

[Llew2]

Be the Veagirs. All your problems will be solved.

 

[HardCode]

Archers in M&B are extremely out of balance. Up until 0.808, they were better at hand-to-hand combat than archery! Now, they are great at AI archery, so it's time to mod out all of the shields, voulges, battle axes, etc. and give them short swords and small hand axes for the low tiers, and MAYBE a Sword for the top tier. No two handed weapons or shields at all.

 

[CBCRonin]

Archers in M&B are extremely out of balance. Up until 0.808, they were better at hand-to-hand combat than archery! Now, they are great at AI archery, so it's time to mod out all of the shields, voulges, battle axes, etc. and give them short swords and small hand axes for the low tiers, and MAYBE a Sword for the top tier. No two handed weapons or shields at all.

I think it should depend on the faction to some extent. I like the idea of Rhodok crossbowmen having spears as their secondary weapon (but lacking shields). It fits with their national identity and as bolts are carried at the hip, shouldn't hamper realistic access.

I agree with you on no shields for any archer though. I think they wanted to make archers an effective castle defender, regardless of their troop type.

 

[Lanky]

I don't think it is unrealistic for archers to have small shields at all. Small shields and hand weapons are what most have now anyway, except the nords which have two handed weapons frequently which is fine for them.

 

[lumikant]

I think that if I were going to outfit a group of archers, I would probably give them a shield, or a good two-hander. Foot men already do better hand to hand and fighting off cavalry, theres no reason to nerf archers.

 

[CBCRonin]

If there were bucklers I'd agree, but we don't have bucklers currently in the game.

If we did:
The percentage of their protection coverage would probably range from 10-15%.

 

[bugman]

If you are playing as Swadia, you really need mounted units.

 

[Lanky]

If you are playing as Swadia, you really need mounted units.

What does this contribute to the conversation?

 

[Toxicity]

If you are playing as Swadia, you really need mounted units.

What does this contribute to the conversation?

What does this contribute to the conversation? 

I think the archers work great atm, could use some improvement like giving them slightly lighter equipment.
I really love that archers can finally stand still and shoot in 8.9x. (except that shot-at-the-dead-guy thing
they like to do.)

I don't think they should be nerfed much.
(because I love my Vaegir marksmen) 

 

[bugman]

If you are playing as Swadia, you really need mounted units.

What does this contribute to the conversation?

His infantry get killed, so an easier way to defeat such an enemy is to use mobile mounted units.

In my opinion, archers are fine and charging with infantry is a bad idea.

 

[Lanky]

His question was not how to defeat the enemy, but rather wether or not archers in this current version are superior at melee.

 

[bugman]

His question was not how to defeat the enemy, but rather wether or not archers in this current version are superior at melee.

And trust me to leave the most important part of my post out...

It was going to read:

If you are playing as Swadia, you really need mounted units.

Ot:

Personally, I don't think the archers are too overpowered on their own, but when they have other men on the field who have suffered the enemy up, they are deadly. I see your point, but I disagree on the basics.

 

[Wonderland]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and assuming we're talking about the Swadian crossbowmen, because I'm not aware of Swadian archers as I haven't played them or against them extensively yet. So if it is the crossbowmen we're talking about, then they don't have to be purely skirmisher units. It doesn't take much training to use a crossbow so they could just be using that as a weaker-upper for the real battle to come when they bust out their real weapons. In this way they shouldn't be thought of as purely crossbowmen so much as heavy infantry who happen to have crossbows. Of course if they are supposed to only be skirmish troops, then it would make sense to take away all heavy weaponry and leave them with daggers or the sort, definitely.

 

[bugman]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and assuming we're talking about the Swadian crossbowmen, because I'm not aware of Swadian archers as I haven't played them or against them extensively yet. So if it is the crossbowmen we're talking about, then they don't have to be purely skirmisher units. It doesn't take much training to use a crossbow so they could just be using that as a weaker-upper for the real battle to come when they bust out their real weapons. In this way they shouldn't be thought of as purely crossbowmen so much as heavy infantry who happen to have crossbows. Of course if they are supposed to only be skirmish troops, then it would make sense to take away all heavy weaponry and leave them with daggers or the sort, definitely.

No, nearly every archer I've seen or personally fought has softened my men up with arrows and then decimated me in close combat.

 

[Lanky]

I think that the archers are all pretty vulnerable as it is. En masse, they are very effective against infantry and fairly effective against cav. Their weaknesses are their light armor and their low allotment of ammo. It doesn't take more than a minute or two for them to spend all their arrows. After that they are no match for heavy infantry units one on one. A good tactic for archers is to have them form s skirmish line in front of your infantry units. Once they are 3/4 of the way through their arrows you simply advance your infantry in front of the archers to bear the brunt of your enemy's assault with cav/infantry. Once this is over you simply advance your archer line through the infantry and let them soften up/finish off the remaining enemy archers. This way your archers will bear the brunt of any damage dealt by the enemy missile units, leaving your infantry fresh(ish) to deal with whatever is left when the arrows run out.