Archers: Why can't I seem to get any?

[The_Normal_Anomaly]

Its really quite simple.  I require freemen, the very first tier troop, to upgrade into archers.

I only ever get the option to recruit freeholders, or sometimes directly spearmen, who do not have the capability to become archers.

Therefore, I seem unable to have a ready supply of archers, at least if recruiting in the east.

Is this an intentional weighting of recruitment against archers, or is this an error?

 

[kalarhan]

ingame, open camp, open troops.

Check what troops each faction / region has.

Choose the ones you want.

Go recruit there.


OR

Hire mercenaries. Hire prisoners.

 

[DerHerbst]

I see Finn Archers in taverns all the time you should try those troops.  I like the lack of bowmen in the game personally.  While in real life there would be bowmen supporting the shieldwall, the game mechanics of Warband suck too much to use them properly.  Since bowmen are low-tier troops, AI armies tend to get bowmen-heavy during the recruitment/replenishment process.  After a while (especially in Brytenwalda) you spend half your time on the battlefield running down archers who back-step across the map.  Your shieldwall is also too stupid to counter bowmen since the AI has a hard time focusing on two enemies at once and tend to get a little schizophrenic.

 

[Chief_Einherjar]

I see Finn Archers in taverns all the time you should try those troops.

Finn Archers are the only archers within the game that will serve a decisive role in a battle other than "Warrior Archers". Just make sure the Finns do not enter melee! Mercs in Viking Conquest are nothing to be afraid of, sometimes they're better than normal soldiers.

 

[ttgg]

I think archers were rare for the time period. Ironically, you still get destroyed at range, only it's by throwing weapons like spears instead. More than once, I've gotten knocked off my horse by some farmer throwing a spear at supersonic speed into my chest. Not to mention when they get a headshot 

 

[DerHerbst]

Well nothing was worse than the Dena raiders in Brytenwalda!  Sometimes they would head-shot me while I was at a full gallop, shield raised about 100m away!  I find the javelin/spear mechanics much more realistic in VC.  Always have your shield up!

 

[The_Normal_Anomaly]

Alright.  I am just a fool, I see this now.  The problem was that I was heavily recruiting from the villages in Friese.  Their commoner units are different, and as far as I can tell, solidly inferior.  Since their commoner unit is so inferior, I stopped recruiting from villages, instead only going from towns as best as I could.  The towns across all Nordic lands also only give Freeholders.  But the proper Nordic villages give Freemen.  As long as you recruit from the Nordic villages, and not the towns, all is well.

It was my bad because I got tunnel vision on what I thought the problem was.

I suppose the next question is "Why are Friese commoners trash compared to the potential of any other faction's common troops?"
Is it just an option to play out as hard mode?  I mean, Friesians are on the level of bandits robbers and farmers as far as power and equipment go.  Everyone else can take common villagers and turn them into armored death machines.

 

[Chief_Einherjar]

Frisians have a tiny troops tree that lacks archers. I see them as a quick army though as their "max tier cav" upgrades directly from the peasant