[Balance] Ranged Weapons - Bow/Xbow/Throwing discussion

[Morbo513]

Discuss ranged weapons.

In WB you needed significant investment into the archery/crossbow skill to make quick and accurate shots, on top of power draw to make the most out of those hits. In Bannerlord, on first impression it feels completely trivial to score hits consistently especially against static targets, without having specced into the pertinent skills at all. Further, even low-tier ranged AI troops are perfectly capable of accurately leading targets and scoring hits against troops fighting in melee, especially with crossbows. It seems to me that projectiles travel faster in general too, but I may be wrong on that. Regardless, coupled with gimped shields (which is good imo), they seem to be even more disproportionately powerful than those of Warband.
Throwing weapons I'm pretty happy with so far.

 

[Sidhwen_Khorest]

I'm glad that bows are actually scary though, in warband they were so pitiful versus anything unless they were in a castle. now I have to think twice before spearing a group of archers while on horseback.

In multiplayer, I pretty much exclusively played archers and players were still able to kill me often, the fact that you have to stand still to have an accurate shot at all makes you pretty vulnerable. bows on horseback are pretty scary though, still as accurate as my top level archer in warband and mobile as heck.

 

[Flauvious]

I have 5 now skill yet I in tournaments, the only time I use bows, I feel like I can use them as effectively as anyone. Honestly skills overall feel largely meaningless; I can already one shot most people with a 2 hander, 2 shot if they have good armor, and my skill isnt even 40 yet.

 

[Morbo513]

I have 5 now skill yet I in tournaments, the only time I use bows, I feel like I can use them as effectively as anyone. Honestly skills overall feel largely meaningless; I can already one shot most people with a 2 hander, 2 shot if they have good armor, and my skill isnt even 40 yet.

Agreed - I didn't spec into 2-handed whatsoever either, and in tournaments can usually one-shot the weaker opponents with them. It seems like a weapon's effectiveness is determined much more by its stats alone, with skills barely factoring in.

 

[Sidhwen_Khorest]

weapon's effectiveness is determined much more by its stats alone

I see that some weapons have limits on what your skill needs to be to equip them, so maybe thats where the skills really matter? that and the perks.

 

[Romanski]

I have noticed they improved the ai by a lot. Now they actually predict where a target will go instead of just shooting it directly. The biggest example I noticed is in the arena. Where in WB you could just run diagonal towards the archer and never get hit, now I almost get hit everytime. As for the damage it still takes about 2 to 3 shots from a low tier bow to kill a low tier enemy.

 

[Arakos]

They are just too accurate on low skill in my opinion...
My dude has only 5 skill on Bow and it is so damn accurate in the arena, aim for the head and you hit the head from 20m, I am really curious about how it should get even more accurate with more skill.

M&B Warband archery was really hard in the early levels without bow proficiencies, but now it feels like you don't need any.
I liked the feel that you are a god damn peasant with a bow who has to train with it instead of being Legolas from the start.

 

[Morbo513]

Yeah, the issue isn't that AI can now lead targets effectively - that's a good thing*. The issue is that they lack mechanical inaccuracy - as long as the shooter is aiming at/leading the target appropriately, they are practically guaranteed a hit. There's little potential error introduced by the skill (or lack thereof) of the AI/Player characters nor the weapon its self. Without having invested into the pertinient skills at all, bows and crossbows are both extremely accurate and rapid compared to how they are in Warband.

*Target leading efficiency could be variable in NPCs based on their control skill and/or individual weapon skills. In other words, lower level troops will be worse at leading their targets.