Crossbowmen taking cover behind their shield?

[Juggern]

Hello,

I had found a post about a mod that allows crosbowmen take cover behind their shield while reloading. I was wondering if it is included in Floris pack? Does anyone know this mod and where I can find it?
I am still a beginner and I still have a hard time to decide between crossbow and bows for my troops. Could anyone be kind enough to tell me the major advantages/disadvantages of each? (against cavalery in open field and siege?)

Thanks

 

[Ikaguia]

crossbow is better for sieges
bows are better for open field

 

[SirNitram]

I think the crossbow is not better at all if you think about it in the late game.
It is much "easier" and faster to learn and you will kill things quick enough, but a bow is even faster and if your bow proficency reaches about 200 you'll one-shot everything with a bow alike.
(exept for T6 and above, but thats the same for a crossbow)

 

[Windyplains]

I've usually had the impression:
low level: crossbowmen > archers
mid level: crossbowmen =  archers
high level: crossbowmen < archers

 

[Caulder]

Crossbows always have a place in my heart. The ability to shoot through shields is extremely helpful when camping the ladder and picking off people on the wall.

Not saying Bows aren't great, and you can definately get way more kills in a shorter time, not to mention it's way more viable using it on a horse.

However to answer OP's question all I can think of is Cartread's Deployable Pavise: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,117391.0.html
There could be another thing you're looking for but, I don't know then,

Would be quite interesting for 2.5 but they probably have everything they were thinking of putting in already so it wouldn't get in.

To answer his second question, it's as Nitram said: Archers for Open battle, Crossbowman for Seiges. It's really the obvious advantages and disadvantages that make them viable for what they're best at. Archers can unload arrows really quickly into an open battle where there's groups of infantry fighting. Crossbowman usually have more bulk, (stronger)shields, and the slower rate of fire during a seige means it'll be a long time before they run out of bolts, compared to archers. However both aren't too good facing a calvary charge. All in all, I just use the same culture archers that the majority of my troop's culture is, for role playing aspects.

However if this is for companions I almost always suggest using crossbows rather than bows, except for Bahestur or maybe Deshavi (Which I never use). The problem is that they only have so many skill points and I'd rather save them for party skills of some sort with a core set of battle skills, so crossbows are definately better in that case.

 

[Windyplains]

However to answer OP's question all I can think of is Cartread's Deployable Pavise: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,117391.0.html
There could be another thing you're looking for but, I don't know then,  Would be quite interesting for 2.5 but they probably have everything they were thinking of putting in already so it wouldn't get in.

This already exists in 2.4, but more variants of it will become available in 2.5.

However if this is for companions I almost always suggest using crossbows rather than bows, except for Bahestur or maybe Deshavi (Which I never use). The problem is that they only have so many skill points and I'd rather save them for party skills of some sort with a core set of battle skills, so crossbows are definately better in that case.

This is sound advice.  I still tend to make some archer heroes, but most start as crossbow types for the reasons listed above.

 

[imgran]

I've usually had the impression:
low level: crossbowmen > archers
mid level: crossbowmen =  archers
high level: crossbowmen < archers

That makes a lot of sense historically.  The big advantage of the crossbow is that they required less training to learn how to use.  The bow was much more effective when mastered but was far harder to master.

 

[Caba`drin]

I had found a post about a mod that allows crosbowmen take cover behind their shield while reloading.

However to answer OP's question all I can think of is Cartread's Deployable Pavise: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,117391.0.html
There could be another thing you're looking for but, I don't know then,

The mod Caulder linked only works for the player, and so far as I know, it is the only mod of its kind. It should be included in Expanded.