SirLosealot
Recruit
Hi guys,
So after playing some custom battles (I played too many of them, somebody help me!), I notice foot archers are not particularly good at shooting down horse archers. So I did some little tests in custom battles to check out why the AI are bad at shooting horse archer formation.
First test: AI archers vs player as horse archer.
Army composition: 10 Fian champions for the AI vs 1 Khan's guard and I on horseback.
Testing method: I followed right behind my Khan's guard to simulate the AI's orbit around the foot archers' formation. One, I tried to shoot the enemy's formation while on horseback to see if it was easy. Two and the most important thing, I observed the enemy's projectiles coming at me and the ones in me and my horse to check the AI's aim.
Result and evaluation: Even though the crosshair spread was big while moving fast, I was able to hit the formation. This is as expected, because hitting one man is hard, hitting anyone in a almost-static formation is easier. The second and most important thing is, the projectiles coming from the enemy's archers almost always missed and flew past me from behind. Even if they hit my horse, the arrows always ended up in the rear of the horse. Take a look at the pictures below and see for yourself. Notice the rear of the horse and the flying arrow. This looks like the AI was aiming AT me and not AHEAD of me, resulting in so many misses by lagging behind.
But maybe it is not fair to judge the AI without trying to be in their shoes so let us move on to the next test.
Second test: Player as foot archer vs AI horse archer
Army composition: Myself with Longbow/Composite bow/ Crossbow vs AI commander who was also a horse archer.
Testing method: Trying to kill the horse archer before the enemy or myself running out of arrows and evaluating afterwards. That's it. Be aware that this is a 1 vs 1, shooting 1 guy on horse is harder than shooting at a formation of horse archers (at least for me).
Result and evaluation: Took me a few tries to get used to the way of the bow/crossbow but I managed to kill the enemy horse archer while he was still circling around me with the composite bow and crossbow. I could not kill the enemy while he was circling around me with the longbow. The reason is the spread of the crosshair while moving the mouse. It exists on every bow and crossbow, but the longbow suffers the most from this mechanic. Using the longbow, I could not track and lead the shot without the crosshair spreading out but I could with the composite and crossbow though.
Conclusion: It seems the AI's foot archers suffer from two things when facing horse archers. First thing is how they aim at the horse archers and not ahead of them. Secondly, the crosshair spread. I do not know if it affects the AI or not. If it does, then any AI archer with bow or crossbow will suffer against fast moving target because of the spread, especially the longbow. It's as if this mechanic was made to punish foot archers against horse archers. Because against infantry, archers don't have to move the bow too much. As for the player, when facing horse archer, use something that is not a longbow or maybe you fare better than me with the longbow against horse archer.
So what do you guys think about my tests? And what do you think about the AI's archers? Should there be changes or not?
So after playing some custom battles (I played too many of them, somebody help me!), I notice foot archers are not particularly good at shooting down horse archers. So I did some little tests in custom battles to check out why the AI are bad at shooting horse archer formation.
First test: AI archers vs player as horse archer.
Army composition: 10 Fian champions for the AI vs 1 Khan's guard and I on horseback.
Testing method: I followed right behind my Khan's guard to simulate the AI's orbit around the foot archers' formation. One, I tried to shoot the enemy's formation while on horseback to see if it was easy. Two and the most important thing, I observed the enemy's projectiles coming at me and the ones in me and my horse to check the AI's aim.
Result and evaluation: Even though the crosshair spread was big while moving fast, I was able to hit the formation. This is as expected, because hitting one man is hard, hitting anyone in a almost-static formation is easier. The second and most important thing is, the projectiles coming from the enemy's archers almost always missed and flew past me from behind. Even if they hit my horse, the arrows always ended up in the rear of the horse. Take a look at the pictures below and see for yourself. Notice the rear of the horse and the flying arrow. This looks like the AI was aiming AT me and not AHEAD of me, resulting in so many misses by lagging behind.
But maybe it is not fair to judge the AI without trying to be in their shoes so let us move on to the next test.
Second test: Player as foot archer vs AI horse archer
Army composition: Myself with Longbow/Composite bow/ Crossbow vs AI commander who was also a horse archer.
Testing method: Trying to kill the horse archer before the enemy or myself running out of arrows and evaluating afterwards. That's it. Be aware that this is a 1 vs 1, shooting 1 guy on horse is harder than shooting at a formation of horse archers (at least for me).
Result and evaluation: Took me a few tries to get used to the way of the bow/crossbow but I managed to kill the enemy horse archer while he was still circling around me with the composite bow and crossbow. I could not kill the enemy while he was circling around me with the longbow. The reason is the spread of the crosshair while moving the mouse. It exists on every bow and crossbow, but the longbow suffers the most from this mechanic. Using the longbow, I could not track and lead the shot without the crosshair spreading out but I could with the composite and crossbow though.
Conclusion: It seems the AI's foot archers suffer from two things when facing horse archers. First thing is how they aim at the horse archers and not ahead of them. Secondly, the crosshair spread. I do not know if it affects the AI or not. If it does, then any AI archer with bow or crossbow will suffer against fast moving target because of the spread, especially the longbow. It's as if this mechanic was made to punish foot archers against horse archers. Because against infantry, archers don't have to move the bow too much. As for the player, when facing horse archer, use something that is not a longbow or maybe you fare better than me with the longbow against horse archer.
So what do you guys think about my tests? And what do you think about the AI's archers? Should there be changes or not?
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