Archery.... worth it?

[olliewilliams01]

I've always been a crossbow guy, ever since i started playing M&B. I never understood why people chose archery. Seems like a waste of valuable skill points to pump up "power draw" when you could just use a crossbow, which are usually stronger. Granted crossbows take longer to reload and the good ones can't be used on horseback, but those seem like minor drawbacks compared to their awesome power and simplicity of use. I mean just upgrading strength helps a variety of things, while upgrading power draw only effects the use of bows. I don't think I have a single char with powerdraw over 1....

yet, I keep reading about archers on this forum, so I'm just wondering.... why do you choose bows and arrows?

 

[Coy]

Horse Archery.

 

[Ringwraith #5]

The inability to use strong crossbows on horseback is nowhere near a "minor drawback". Using one on foot is pointless, you're a sitting duck. What you want is the mobility that a horse gives you. Granted, horse archery is a lot less powerful than it used to be now that enemies carry portable deflector shield generators instead of ordinary wooden shields, but it's still far and away the most efficient way of killing enemies.

 

[drunkhobo]

Archery out damages crossbows, but it takes levels/time to build up the Power Draw to out damage it. Also the fire rate is much better.

That being said, crossbows are invaluable for the builds that aren't archery (Melee builds, Leader, Intelligence). All you need is 10 strength and you can do respectable damage with a Siege crossbow in castle attacks.

 

[Lord Brutus]

That's what I'm thinking, too, since I can never force myself to put points in power draw or horse archery.

 

[Subitai]

Here's why for me...

Run up to a castle or town during a siege and see lots of heads of (defenders) archers and xbowman popping up and shooting at you.  Speed makes a difference sometimes.

Running around with 7 or better PD, a Masterwork Nomad bow or MW Strong Bow and over 300 archery

The Fast rate of fire and hit and run Head Shots empties those walls allot quicker than a Xbow.

Sure, when it's only a couple of enemies you can dodge THEN shoot with a xbow.  But I feel like you can take on allot more archers head on with a FAST bow and WIN.

No Cheats and FULL AI and Damage btw.

Also I agree on horseback... for the reasons previously stated. 

And Hey, if you have 25-28p + the extra damage of 7 or more PD (ala + 14% each).  Not too shabby imo.

 

[NJSQRL]

I agree with them on why the bow is more useful...

However I still don't use it all that often. I prefer to put those points into power throw as my heavy throwing axe is far more versatile than some little twig with a bit of string on it.

I can carry 3 large bags which gives me enough ammo, use a shield with it, often 1 hko even on non-head shots, and no need to switch weapons if the enemy decides to try and hug me.. hit x and go chop happy.

 

[Ringwraith #5]

The Fast rate of fire and hit and run Head Shots empties those walls allot quicker than a Xbow.

Exactly. Winning depends on being able to kill their guys faster than they are able to kill yours, so being able to score kills faster is better. Hence, bows > xbows.

 

[Lord Brutus]

I swear I'm going to try an archer character as soon as I get someone to watch me and keep me from putting those skill points somewhere else. lol.

 

[KillerMongoose]

To put it simply, I can shoot and reload faster, the gear generally weighs less allowing me to run faster, much longer range and the arrow doesn't drop as fast as the bolt, crossbowmen reloading are a huge target for archers, I can pump a lot more arrows into a two hander charging at me than with a crossbow.

 

[fragonard]

I swear I'm going to try an archer character as soon as I get someone to watch me and keep me from putting those skill points somewhere else. lol.

Look at it this way: the extra points you put in PD almost pay for themselves from the extra XP you get from many more kills.  There isn't much difference in sieges because the limiting factor is ammo but on the field, a good archer can get twice as many kills.  In my many games, my archers advance about 20% faster; in other words, at day 300 or so, an archer will be at level 25 while a crossbow guy will be at around 20 or 21.

When I get to the point of re-rolling out of boredom, archers will be 6 or 7 levels ahead, almost, but not quite, the extra you need for PD.

 

[Subitai]

Just as a side note....  About AMMO

If a person uses the TWEAK MB  .txt editor   

You can finally have unlimited arrows during sieges.  I would never consider this cheating btw...

If a person was defending a castle, they most certainly would place extra Arrows or Bolts up on the towers somewhere for reloads.  It only makes sense.

Tweak was a Godsend when I finally found it. 

 

[Knighttemplar12]

I've always been a crossbow guy, ever since i started playing M&B. I never understood why people chose archery. Seems like a waste of valuable skill points to pump up "power draw" when you could just use a crossbow, which are usually stronger. Granted crossbows take longer to reload and the good ones can't be used on horseback, but those seem like minor drawbacks compared to their awesome power and simplicity of use. I mean just upgrading strength helps a variety of things, while upgrading power draw only effects the use of bows. I don't think I have a single char with powerdraw over 1....

yet, I keep reading about archers on this forum, so I'm just wondering.... why do you choose bows and arrows?

I have an archer character, but he started out as a knight with lance and one hand sword etc. and worked his way up every now and again with archery. Eventually I could use the good bows really well and I can't even tell you how many crossbowmen I've killed thanks to the quickness of my reload and the fact of horse archery. I do admit that crossbows are better for accuracy but I would choose a longbow any day over a crossbow due to it just being so much more useful! Btw ollie..... I WANT THAT PUPPY! lol 

 

[gingerbill]

Horse Archery.

exactly

 

[YTG]

Just as a side note....  About AMMO

If a person uses the TWEAK MB  .txt editor   

You can finally have unlimited arrows during sieges.  I would never consider this cheating btw...

If a person was defending a castle, they most certainly would place extra Arrows or Bolts up on the towers somewhere for reloads.  It only makes sense.

Tweak was a Godsend when I finally found it.

You dont need it, in sieges you can get more than enough arrows off the walls behind you (if your defending) and if your attacking there all over the floor or the tree or whatever it is your hiding behind.

 

[NJSQRL]

Just as a side note....  About AMMO

If a person uses the TWEAK MB  .txt editor   

You can finally have unlimited arrows during sieges.  I would never consider this cheating btw...

If a person was defending a castle, they most certainly would place extra Arrows or Bolts up on the towers somewhere for reloads.  It only makes sense.

Tweak was a Godsend when I finally found it.

You dont need it, in sieges you can get more than enough arrows off the walls behind you (if your defending) and if your attacking there all over the floor or the tree or whatever it is your hiding behind.

This is very true, I do at times run out of stuff to throw but there is usually a few javalins or axes laying around in the walls or on the ground. You can also pick up the arrows from your archers who have fallen...

Going to the point of making it "unlimited" as Subitai mentioned I feel would be a cheat... As TweakMB does not differentiate between siege and field battles for your ammo you could just as easily be walking around the battlefield with 2000 arrows... something that is a bit wrong imo.

I see no problem with raising the amount of arrows/bolts or what have you a hair... I up the bags of thrown weapons from 4 to 6, arrows from 30 to 50, and same for bolts for every mod I play, these smaller increases I find to be essential and not at all game breaking.


As a side note, you do not even need TweakMB for this, it is probably faster to make the changes yourself if you know how.

 

[hicisred]

Yea, siege defense and assault both offer unlimited ammo (usually).  Unless you're Swadians vs Rhodoks...then there will only be crossbow ammo.  But, generally, you can pick up a dead ally's extra ammo, arrows laying around, etc. 

Also, I'm pretty sure the damage multipliers are higher with PD 7 and a MW Warbow than a MW Siege Crossbow.  Mobility is another huge advantage.  The bow (in my experience/opinion) has a much longer range.  I can land those 14.4 difficulty shots much easier (urm...I get more lucky shots ).  Horse archery is essential for those 1000 vs 1000 troop battles, if you don't want to send your troops to attack without you, and thus lose every battle...

Once your proficiency, PD, and bow (MW Warbow) are high enough, you can pretty much 1 shot everything, especially if it's a headshot.  It's rapid one-shotting.

My favorite example of this is when I defended again 300ish soldiers in a siege.  Three of my companions had PD 5-7 and I was at PD 8.  We killed every attacker before the siege tower reached our walls (you do this by killing the guys at the siege tower, so it stops moving for a second while the attackers replace the dead guys).

 

[Remedius]

For an Englishman like myself it's also a matter of some historic importance - those that took an effort to study Hundred Years War know the role played by Longbowmen.

Even today those actions and events dwell proudly in the Englishmans heart.

In practical terms the reasons why English armies of that period used bows are pertinent to the game - fast heavy rates of fire.

 

[Roach]

And yet the historical reason why the longbow fell out of use in favour of the crossbow is similar to the game mechanics: it involves too much time and investment to be good at it!

I'd still rather have a bow though, but I usually build a character around it. If I have a melee character I don't use ranged weapons at all. 30 Sharpshooters are my ranged weapon.

 

[Skuadak]

As it been said it's totally worth it . Sure it takes some skill points,  but it's only one disatvantage. Accuracy it's not so bad to compare to crossbows, actually I don't know situations in this game when slowly sniper aiming its profitable, most times is about to kill fast and bows is just perfect for it. I made a little movie about how its looks like at higher lvl of power draw (9 in this case) and with warbow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov8XilJHL9c

And it's looks allmost like cheating . If you are more care- and skillfull than I was in this short example move you can kill way bigger armies by yourself. I think you can keep as much arrows as you want in this field chest, so it's really possible.