Yertyl
Veteran
It may not surprise any Bannerlord player that horse archers are good units, but it may surprise you to which degree. In short, horse archer units are a counter to everything and the best by far in any scenario.
I did a few custom battle tests: 300 vs 300, desert map, F6 and no player involvement from the start. Results are listed as kills of each side, winning side bold.
Short analysis: For a player, it is pretty hard to hit anything with a bow from a fast moving horse, even at close range, and their angle of attack is limited. By comparison, the AI units seem to have a much wider angle of attack, and much higher precision even in full movement. ATM they seem to dish out as much damage as regular archers while being as mobile and well protected as regular cavalry. Needless to say that is an extremely strong combination in any situation.
The second large problem I see is that often archer units seem to be as good or even better than their melee counterparts even in a melee fight, both on horses and on the ground. Which of course makes ranged units much, much better than non-ranged overall. Archer units should probably have much lighter armor than their melee counterparts to make them more vulnerable in a melee scenario.
EDIT: Mounted units in general seem to be almost untouchable by both melee and ranged attacks while they are moving. The big difference is that melee cavalry comes to a halt with every attack, while mounted archers can often just keep moving while still dishing out a ton of damage.
TL: DR: In 1.5.6. horse archers are insanely powerful, even against cavalry and archers, and infantry is basically pointless, even against cavalry.
I did a few custom battle tests: 300 vs 300, desert map, F6 and no player involvement from the start. Results are listed as kills of each side, winning side bold.
- Marmeluke cavalry vs Aserai infantry: 291 -- 0
- Marmeluke cavalry vs Aserai archers: 268 -- 24
- Marmeluke cavalry vs Aserai Faris: 294 -- 61
- Khuzait Horse archer vs Khuzait spear infantry: 291 -- 13
- Khuzait Horse archer vs Khuzait archer: 294 -- 27
- Khuzait Horse archer vs Khuzait lancer: 171 -- 269
- Khuzait Horse archer vs Vlandian Knight: 229 -- 108
- Imperial Bucellarii vs Imperial Heavy Horseman: 289 -- 29
- Khuzait archer vs Khuzait lancer: 133 -- 299
- Aserai Archer vs Vlandian Knight: 196 -- 294
- Vlandian Hardened Crossbowman vs Vlandian Knight : 250 -- 171 (!!!)
- Vlandian Hardened Crossbowman vs Khuzait lancers : 214 -- 87 (!!!)
- Vlandian Hardened Crossbowman vs Khuzait horse archers : 122 -- 286
- Vlandian Swordsman vs Vlandian Knight: 12 -- 300 (!!!)
- Khuzait Spear Infantry vs Vlandian Knight: 193 -- 287
- Khuzait Spear Infantry vs Khuzait lancer: 234 -- 300
- Sturgian Spearman vs Khuzait lancer: 18 -- 254 (!!!)
- Sturgian Spearmen vs Vlandian Hardened Crossbowman on hold fire(!!): 131 -- 298
- Sturgian Spearmen vs Khuzait archers on hold fire (!!): 129 - 298
- Aserai Infantry vs Aserai archers on hold fire (!!): 239 -- 284
Short analysis: For a player, it is pretty hard to hit anything with a bow from a fast moving horse, even at close range, and their angle of attack is limited. By comparison, the AI units seem to have a much wider angle of attack, and much higher precision even in full movement. ATM they seem to dish out as much damage as regular archers while being as mobile and well protected as regular cavalry. Needless to say that is an extremely strong combination in any situation.
The second large problem I see is that often archer units seem to be as good or even better than their melee counterparts even in a melee fight, both on horses and on the ground. Which of course makes ranged units much, much better than non-ranged overall. Archer units should probably have much lighter armor than their melee counterparts to make them more vulnerable in a melee scenario.
EDIT: Mounted units in general seem to be almost untouchable by both melee and ranged attacks while they are moving. The big difference is that melee cavalry comes to a halt with every attack, while mounted archers can often just keep moving while still dishing out a ton of damage.
TL: DR: In 1.5.6. horse archers are insanely powerful, even against cavalry and archers, and infantry is basically pointless, even against cavalry.
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