The Big Debate-Crossbows vs Bows

[Aleolex]

Bows all the way, A good longbow, lots of arrows and high ground makes me a happy camper.

The main reason I go for a ranged character is because of sieges. I hate waiting my turn at the ladder and my fellow archers allways seem to miss the enemy's bowmen. And forget getting close to the action while defending, all that mass of bodies and narrow walls, just go find a high tower and ran down hell. In a open battle I normally stand behind my troops and pick out horses or head shot the riders after they make contact.

Bows! YEAH. My favorite is bows (if I invested in all of the proper skills)

But SSS with their heavy crossbows are my favorite ranged type.

 

[Dark_Squire]

I use bows... a lot. I used to be a crossbow-user, but the bows are more easily accessible on a horse and have almost no requirements.

A con to bows, though, is prolonging the aiming of one and once you put your bow down, arrows don't stay on your bow.

 

[Captivus]

Bows all the way, A good longbow, lots of arrows and high ground makes me a happy camper.

The main reason I go for a ranged character is because of sieges. I hate waiting my turn at the ladder and my fellow archers allways seem to miss the enemy's bowmen. And forget getting close to the action while defending, all that mass of bodies and narrow walls, just go find a high tower and ran down hell. In a open battle I normally stand behind my troops and pick out horses or head shot the riders after they make contact.

I agree...I do the same thing but with a xbow. And I love sieges. If my army is the besieger and im in one of those castles that takes a lot of time to get the ladder in position I walk to wall and start walking backwards killing everybody.

I’ve never edited my character so I can play with the bow and see the differences...so I can’t speak intelligently about the bow. All I can say is that I use the xbow. Eventually I will level up enough to use it, I’m using the same character since the first M&B, and I don’t like editing. Only export-import.

 

[Gilwe]

The type of bow depends on my play style. Mostly, I choose a Xbow over a normal bow, because I don't need movement if me and my army are waiting for the enemy to come. In terms of pros and cons for bow and Xbow, I choose damage over attack speed.

 

[Ludial]

also, a light crossbow in the hands of an experienced player can shoot almost as fast as a bow. plus it can be used on horseback and while it can't exactly match the speed, damage and accuracy of a good horse archer, it certainly shoots straight enough even without points in HA and has some pretty decent damage at short range.

Something I've been leaning to lately is crossbow for me and bows for my foot troops. A big mass of bowmen is deadlier than anything a single person can bring to a fight and if given a second quiver wouldn't run out of arrows as fast. Me, I can still be fairly deadly with my light crossbow and don't need to dump skill points I can't spare into a skill I ultimately don't need.

Not to mention that in early game, the hunting crossbow is more powerful and accurate than bows

 

[Captain_Octavius]

My first characters were fighter types and I used the bow a lot. Then I went to commander type characters for a very long time, and fell in love with Intelligence party skills and using crossbows. Now I realized that playing a commander character is making the campaign game too easy for me, so I just returned to playing a fighter type again. The lack of party/leader skills is a handicap I'm starting to enjoy. I kinda completed the circle now, I think I'll stick with fighter types.

 

[Dalkar]

I don't use bows, I use throwing knives now. Got to love Large Bag of Heavy Balanced Throwing Knives. I tried a commander char with a crossbow and I found it very hard to level up, I prefer fighter.

 

[Ludial]

I don't use bows, I use throwing knives now. Got to love Large Bag of Heavy Balanced Throwing Knives. I tried a commander char with a crossbow and I found it very hard to level up, I prefer fighter.

a commander is easier to level up because he stays unhurt longer than frontline brawlers. Especially in early game when soloing