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Rain of arrows
- Thread starter RomerG21
- Start date
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Good question! I hope so, it's a logical thing. I think it'll depend heavily on how big the battle scenes are. If they're large enough that arcing fire has time to come down on enemies before they close with allies, it might become a thing.
I personally think it would be cool if you could order an archer group to fire on a targeted ground area. Just give us an order that forms a big circle where you point, let the circle size be relative to the squad size, and have the archers shoot high to get over buildings and terrain. Could be interesting because it gives archers another angle of approach to problems
I also think I've seen this.
There is a thread of mine related to this.
From tips and methods for making these tools.
Pelicanmeat
Regular
What? Archers always shot arcing volleys. In almost every culture.
This. On the battlefield, this was the preferred method of fire, as they fired for volume and not so much individual accuracy. Shooting this way gave arrows a higher chance of dropping down behind trees, shields, whatever was in front of the target group, and obviously allowed them to shoot over their allies' heads as well.
Well you should probably give it a bit more thought. By shooting straight you are more accurate, and the penetrating power of the arrow is much higher if compared to arc. Besides medieval iconography shows archers aiming straight very often rather than upwards, even in field battles. I'm not saying it was never done, just that it makes more sense to shoot straight always when possible, especially if enemy is wearing heavy armor. There are plenty of youtube videos about the subject.
Archery in medieval times wasn't necessarily about accuracy it was more like a couple of dudes shooting arrows at the same time at the same area, archery was used more like artillery at the time. Range of bows are not that good, even medieval longbows had a max range around 200-250 meters so for a man 100m away from you you would have to shoot in arc unless you target was a couple meters away from you
I'm no expert but...
There is some debate to this. For example, the battle of Agincourt, contrary to what most believe had archers fire straight instead of arching volleys. Firing arrows into the sky is not actually ideal for casualties regardless of volume, as the only force acting on the arrows when they fall is gravity, compared to firing straight ahead which actually utilized the force from releasing the bowstring.
Example
In this video, you can clearly see the arrow cannot pierce the armor head-on from a straight shot. What you are suggesting would do very little against armoured units, such as the French knights that the English Longbows shredded.
As for the answer.
Currently, at least in the Enhanced Battle Test mod archers will not loose arrows if there are infantry in front of them. This can change in the EA version for singleplayer although I don't really expect it.
Pelicanmeat
Regular
Arrows do have more power when they’re shot straight. But they shoot further when shot at an angle. Archers would shoot volleys until infantry closed enough for them to fire at selected targets.
The fact that arrows can’t pierce plate is hardly any matter. They shot the horses, breaking the charge and severely limiting the mobility of the knighthood.
Sidhwen_Khorest
Sergeant
Even my modern compound bow I use for hunting has about a 40 yard range before the accuracy starts to drop off and you need to adjust for arc. I would imagine that most bows back then weren't even created at the best technology allowed, rather produced en masse so that unskilled peasants could provide support to the better equipped and trained of the army.
modern compound bows are mostly in 40-80lb range while English longbows and mongol composite bows were +100 pounds (some were as powerful as 170 pounds) but yeah bows aren't that accurate even a sharpshooter would be effective around 60-70 yards and yeah you would have to shoot in arc, that was the point I was trying to make.
It is certainly of debate. I was also going to list agincourt as one of the more documented examples of archers waiting until they could shoot flat before starting to shoot.
But theres also there's also evidence in old artwork and the like that archers in battles waited to shoot straight rather than firing arcing volleys. But it's hard to give good answers because battles in these periods werent very well documented.
But theres also there's also evidence in old artwork and the like that archers in battles waited to shoot straight rather than firing arcing volleys. But it's hard to give good answers because battles in these periods werent very well documented.
After a few minutes of half-assed googling, I can say with some certainty that both the available historical evidence and the opinions based thereupon are mixed. You can look at agincourt and say "flat." You can look at Visby and say "arc." So here's my crazy theory: maybe it varied depending on the specific tactical requirements of a given situation?
Pelicanmeat
Regular
In any event, there should be an arcing volley order in Bannerlord.
