How in all that is holy do you succeed using a bow!? I admit it, I suck at it. I have pumped up my bow skills to 100 and I still can't hit jack on a horse. I did get the power draw skill and the horse archery one to minimize the reduction of accuracy on a horse. However, I still get completely owned if I try to use a bow. It's very hard for me to hit anyone on horseback unless I'm super close or come to a complete stop, and when that happens I usually get overrun and beat down. What are some successful strategies that you powerful and mighty bowmen and women use? I have the whole "charge with a big ass lance and put it through their heads" tactics down pat. But man, if it was me vs. Barney in an archery fight, I fear the winner would be purple and singing children's songs. Thanks for the help...
My bow is broken
- Thread starter Tumburu
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Pevs
Recruit
Heh, try to aim past the target, if you get me. The crosshair is where the arrow ends up, so sometimes you need to aim seemingly over their heads, but actually itll land in the ground behind them. But hit and run, hitting something whilst you doing much more than trotting is pretty hard, and will waste ur arrows.
Arthur
Recruit
Tumburu said:
It's better to dismount to fire your bow unless you have a lot of horse riding and horse-archery skill.
Aim-Draw-Fire in that order. If you draw before you aim the shot goes wild. You also want to have a melee weapon for when they come in close.
I usually aim for the chest and then the head when they get up close.
Lhorkan
Master Knight
When your opponent has a shield, it gets really fun. You draw your arrow, wait on your horse for him to come close, and usually he'll walk a while against you for a while. As soon as you see his arm move (to strike you), the shield won't count anymore, and release the arrow, If you aimed for his head, he'll be dead soon. If he isn't dead from the first shot, simply draw a new arrow. Your opponent will have his shield up again, but they're so stupid to give you enough time to draw and aim for the head. Again,as soon as he starts to move, release. Works as a dream in tournaments. Also, you might want to ride a little if he should strike anyway, and not run against you with his shield.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Effidian
Recruit
When you draw your bow you'll notice the targeting reticle getting smaller. To get the most accuracy wait until it is at its smallest and then release the arrow. Letting go too early has very bad aim. If you hold too long, the reticle starts opening up again and releasing it at that point has much less accuracy. At higher skill levels the reticle will stay at the smallest point for a decent amount of time, but at lower skill levels it doesn't stay small for very long.
Arrows are affected by gravity. The further away your opponent is the higher you have to aim. Additionally, you have to lead your targets. The distance you have to lead is dependent on how fast your target is moving and the angle they are moving relative to you. If they are coming straight toward you, you just don't have to aim quite as high. If you've got a mounted unit galloping perpendicular to you 300 yards away, you've got a tough shot. (I got a 12.3 difficulty on one like that with a crossbow.)
Moving lowers your accuracy. To get the most accuracy you'll want to stop. The faster you are moving the lower your accuracy is. This is especially the case on foot. At higher proficiency and horse archery levels this becomes less of an issue when you are mounted.
If you are on foot, you'll want a high athletics skill and ... well ... allies or another weapon. You aren't going to last long on foot against other soldiers that get close. So, try to pick them off at a distance and either switch to a weapon or get your allies to protect you if they come too close (use the Hold command).
If you are on foot and have a mounted unit coming at you. Draw your bow and let the arrow loose right before you get charged. This will break the units attack and you shouldn't get hit (try to sidestep so the horse doesn't hit you). You can usually turn around and plant another arrow in the unit's back while he is getting away.
For a horse archer you'll want high riding and horse archery skills. You can take unshielded enemies out at your leisure at whatever distance you like. You'll want to keep moving when there are other ranged units so you don't get hit as much.
Enemies with shields pose the most problems for pure archers. There are a few tactics to get around those shields. Hitting them until they are destroyed is not efficient and unless you have a ton of arrows in your pack or are fighting very few enemies and have a lot of patience, that isn't the way to go.
You can wait till they strike (as mentioned in a previous post). This is probably the easiest method. This can be done for both foot and mounted units. For mounted units just run a bit ahead of them, you'll have to let them get close enough to "think" they can hit you. Then release your arrow. Pretty much the same thing for ground units, but you don't have to move very fast. Make sure not to run into obstacles in either case (boulders, trees, other units). This brings you to a stop and could be followed by a painful lesson. Finding an open field is the best way to go, you can just circle the field picking your opponents off.
Also remember that you can pretty much only shoot to your left when mounted. If the reticle disappears it means you are aiming too far to the right. You'll want to circle in a counter-clockwise direction.
There are other ways to get around shields. Shoot the units in the back if they are going after other enemies. Charge them and release the arrow as you are going by and they try to strike you.
You also may want to practice shooting with a crossbow on foot. When using crossbows the reticle doesn't grow after it reaches its smallest point. This allows you to take your time and aim as you wish. Good for practicing distance shots, but on the horse your going to have to rely on that bow.
Practice makes perfect...
Arrows are affected by gravity. The further away your opponent is the higher you have to aim. Additionally, you have to lead your targets. The distance you have to lead is dependent on how fast your target is moving and the angle they are moving relative to you. If they are coming straight toward you, you just don't have to aim quite as high. If you've got a mounted unit galloping perpendicular to you 300 yards away, you've got a tough shot. (I got a 12.3 difficulty on one like that with a crossbow.)
Moving lowers your accuracy. To get the most accuracy you'll want to stop. The faster you are moving the lower your accuracy is. This is especially the case on foot. At higher proficiency and horse archery levels this becomes less of an issue when you are mounted.
If you are on foot, you'll want a high athletics skill and ... well ... allies or another weapon. You aren't going to last long on foot against other soldiers that get close. So, try to pick them off at a distance and either switch to a weapon or get your allies to protect you if they come too close (use the Hold command).
If you are on foot and have a mounted unit coming at you. Draw your bow and let the arrow loose right before you get charged. This will break the units attack and you shouldn't get hit (try to sidestep so the horse doesn't hit you). You can usually turn around and plant another arrow in the unit's back while he is getting away.
For a horse archer you'll want high riding and horse archery skills. You can take unshielded enemies out at your leisure at whatever distance you like. You'll want to keep moving when there are other ranged units so you don't get hit as much.
Enemies with shields pose the most problems for pure archers. There are a few tactics to get around those shields. Hitting them until they are destroyed is not efficient and unless you have a ton of arrows in your pack or are fighting very few enemies and have a lot of patience, that isn't the way to go.
You can wait till they strike (as mentioned in a previous post). This is probably the easiest method. This can be done for both foot and mounted units. For mounted units just run a bit ahead of them, you'll have to let them get close enough to "think" they can hit you. Then release your arrow. Pretty much the same thing for ground units, but you don't have to move very fast. Make sure not to run into obstacles in either case (boulders, trees, other units). This brings you to a stop and could be followed by a painful lesson. Finding an open field is the best way to go, you can just circle the field picking your opponents off.
Also remember that you can pretty much only shoot to your left when mounted. If the reticle disappears it means you are aiming too far to the right. You'll want to circle in a counter-clockwise direction.
There are other ways to get around shields. Shoot the units in the back if they are going after other enemies. Charge them and release the arrow as you are going by and they try to strike you.
You also may want to practice shooting with a crossbow on foot. When using crossbows the reticle doesn't grow after it reaches its smallest point. This allows you to take your time and aim as you wish. Good for practicing distance shots, but on the horse your going to have to rely on that bow.
Practice makes perfect...
Ancientwanker
Master Knight
My guy has 200 with bows and a 4 horse archery and the riding and shooting is still a matter of luck (for me). You really need to have a very high horse archery skill to move fast and fire at range.
If I want to fire from horseback I either stop my horse or get up right close behind them as Im chasing.
If I want to fire from horseback I either stop my horse or get up right close behind them as Im chasing.
Killertron
Recruit
What's that talk about aim getting wild if drawn before aiming? I never experienced that. And the arrows definitely do NOT land on your crosshair. The crosshair is means which direction your arrow is initiatively going to fly. If you have lots of power draw, the arrows will go slightly above the crosshair in the beginning of the flight path.
Mounted archery at the lower levels is basically good for riding by close targets and shooting them straight in the chest when they try to swing. If you're fighting lots of mounted units, that's the way to go, just ride by at close range and shoot them. If you're fighting lots of foot units, have your army hold position, dismount on a level surface and aim the reticule *slightly* above your enemies heads (at relatively long distance, where your reticule will be about the size of your target). This will get you many headshots.
Just a guess, but I think it's calculated based on distance and reticule size. I guess the point is to have bragging rights and a self pat on the back when you get that 7.8 difficulty shot.
[bulletproof]
Recruit
Use it to guage how accurate you are at distances. I think it's helpful, and just fun to know that you just executed a horse-jumping headshot on a mounted enemy with a difficulty of 9.0. Not that I've ever done that more than once.
Eduardo X
Recruit
I do extremely well as a horse archer. I miss perhaps half my shots, but I usually distract the horse-riders and pump arrows into their horse until the horse dies, at which point I pump arrows into the rider.
Then I pick off the enemy archers and then go help my melee fighters.
It all works quite well. I haven't tried any other type of fighter, but I don't see myself doing that for a while.
Then I pick off the enemy archers and then go help my melee fighters.
It all works quite well. I haven't tried any other type of fighter, but I don't see myself doing that for a while.
JohnathanStrange
Recruit
The difficulty rating is mostly for your own amusement although as you know a successful difficult shot (=higher difficulty rating) can increase your skill points in the weapon used and you can proceed accordingly.
HORSE ARCHERS
I have an archer with at least 175 points in archery and 4 points each in Horse Archery and Riding, and I still mostly get my moving hits on close pursuers and footmen who've lowered their shields to strike. After that, my moving shots are against horsemen directly ahead of me or mobs of hostiles.
Stationary shooting from horseback is the most accurate mounted shooting but after awhile the least fun (although that's plenty fun indeed).
Moving shots while passing an enemy who's distant enough to be challengin is the most difficult and the most fun, but other than practice practice practice I couldn't say too much different from the previous advice.
HORSE ARCHERS
I have an archer with at least 175 points in archery and 4 points each in Horse Archery and Riding, and I still mostly get my moving hits on close pursuers and footmen who've lowered their shields to strike. After that, my moving shots are against horsemen directly ahead of me or mobs of hostiles.
Stationary shooting from horseback is the most accurate mounted shooting but after awhile the least fun (although that's plenty fun indeed).
Moving shots while passing an enemy who's distant enough to be challengin is the most difficult and the most fun, but other than practice practice practice I couldn't say too much different from the previous advice.
