Crossbowmen

[nightrunn3r]

I suppose it's not really a software bug as much as a problem, but if a companion has a crossbow and a horse (ie a unique guy or a swadian crossbowman) they will take out their melee weapons and never use their crossbow after their first shot. In my case, my crossbowman charged into battle with his pick, and Borcha (who only had a crossbow and his horse) took one shot and charged into a mass of bandits without a weapon .
First of all, I don't think crossbowmen should even spawn with a weapon, and second, I think that the AI needs to be fixed so warriors decide which option would be more battle-effective. Or you could make it so you can issue commands to paticular groups instead of your whole party. I ordered a dismount, so Borcha hopped off his horse. So did my Guardsmen, in the middle of being impaled by a mass of raiders.

 

[Perturbatio]

I suspect this occured because crossbowmen cannot reload on horseback so they will only get one shot off.

 

[Nairagorn]

Yup, gotta tell them to dismount if you want them to be able to reload a crossbow, the "5" key orders dismount I think.

 

[GhostThaxian]

Yeah you can't reload a crossbow on horseback..
But seriously, anyone just really HATE it how you tell them HOLD FREAKING STILL (Hold position) and they go running off into a wall of spears....
It makes me twitch, only spears seem to be able to kill my knights.. When they run into a bizzilion of them it kinda defeats the purpose of me wanting to keep all 18 of my knights. o.o

 

[NorphTehDwarf]

I just keep a bevy of crossbowmen. It costs less, and I find it to be more effective to have my army be able to unload at the enemy as they advance.

 

[nightrunn3r]

I know you can't reload a crossbow on horseback... But I'm just saying, crossbowmen should not spawn with horses. In the case of unique companions, they should realize that they can't use their weapons on horseback, and automatically dismount.

 

[Manu]

Soem crossbows were reloadable on horseback : by increasing power you get :
the lightest one (reloadable by handd),
goat forks (which used a lever system)
cranequin (shich used a rack and pinion winch.

Of course even the cranequin was a relatively lightweight one, and none is very convenient.