Fantasy Friday XIV - Human Archers

[Konstantin Fomenko]

Will there be further upgrades beyond veterancy? such as elite, etc?

We are still working on our research system, thus we couldn`t reveal much about that in this showcase. At this point I can only hint that research trees are giant - well over a hundred technologies and improvements to research for each race, and in the current design we have over a dozen of unique improvements for the Archer and Crossbowman unit.

I really picture humans as really organized and using lots of diverse tactics, such as this.

We had the same vision in mind. There are a lot of abilities and tactics human ranged units bring to the table. There are 4 unique formations for these units as well as several unique abilities - from flaming arrows, wooden defensive stakes or ability to switch to melee weapons.

Crossbowmen, meh. Probably won't build any

I personally love this unit. First it`s the only ranged unit capable of doing damage to highly armored units (Dwarven mercenaries not considered.) Keep in mind that heavy mailed units can in most cases simply walk towards shooting archers and have majority of arrows bounce off their armor. Crossbowman however can make short work of heavy mailed knights and even cavalry (as long as they got a nice cover)
In addition, with enougth research they become a pretty decent melee unit as well - and aside from all strategic benefits it`s absolutely epic to have 80-100 crossbowman release a volley, switch to long swords and charge the enemy.

[Swift sword]

Nice fantasy friday. I think I liked the pictures of the fort more though, which brings me to my first question: Is that a relatively small city? It doesn't look too big (not many buildings, far as I can tell) although there appears to be possibly 3 walls. It's hard to tell, that's all There also doesn't appear to be that many units on the screen (sorta Darssen numbers) although I could definitely be wrong.

Anyways, nice showcase. One final question- does heigt affect range? I thought it might for some reason, but if it doesn't it could mess up using crossbowmen on walls.

Edit: Now I know why the numbers looked small-it was focused on the smaller fight. Looking at the minimap, that city actually seems pretty large. Is it player-owned or NPC?

[Jonathan Werk]

The city with the badass gatehouse is Thorndale, an NPC city (which you can use in Lay Siege and Stronghold Defense skirmishes).

Archer range and line of sight goes up as they climb walls and towers.

[Justin]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Werk

Archer range and line of sight goes up as they climb walls and towers.

Yay, realistic logic that I actually like (in other words not negative) in a game.

[DarkMaster]

We had the same vision in mind. There are a lot of abilities and tactics human ranged units bring to the table. There are 4 unique formations for these units as well as several unique abilities - from flaming arrows, wooden defensive stakes or ability to switch to melee weapons.

You have no idea how happy it makes me to know this. Four formations? I LIKE!

Just noticed that the archery range is overlapping the buildings beside it. This is kinda cool IMO. You've really created the feeling of crowded city streets. Gonna have a lot of fun street-fighting.

[Alex Walz]

I'll answer questions later - but I forgot to add that crossbowmen also wield swords and can toggle between ranged and melee warfare, making them a very versatile unit. This feature was temporarily taken out and I can't promise it will be in the first closed beta stage, but it will be added back soon.

Also, we have more researches and abilities documented, I just wrote out what we have completely working and that will be in the beta. Some of our devs and writers are looking over this list, and we'll be able to add more abilities and techs once they're through with that.

[GPS51]

Excellent versatile units are always engaging. Glad to hear there will be plenty of upgrades for the archers and xbows.

[Swift sword]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Werk

The city with the badass gatehouse is Thorndale, an NPC city (which you can use in Lay Siege and Stronghold Defense skirmishes).

Archer range and line of sight goes up as they climb walls and towers.

Really? Thorndale stirkes me as a smaller city-it seems pretty large in the pictures there. Cool Then again, Dagbor was pretty huge, if a little overcrowded.

Anyways, thanks for the LOS and range answer. I thought I read somewhere that that's how it works, but I wasn't sure.

[Alex Walz]

And if i remember rightly, the wooden defences on walls can be built on any walls yes?

Yup, all races can construct hoardings on any stone wall - not including keeps.

Since they have less range, is it possible that the best range unit in this game can shoot them from a far when they are on the walls, but they cant shoot back cuz of the range?

Possibly, but the ranges don't differ dramatically. You can also prevent any cheap shots by protecting your walls with a mix of archers, crossbowmen, and catapults.

I think I liked the pictures of the fort more though, which brings me to my first question: Is that a relatively small city? It doesn't look too big (not many buildings, far as I can tell) although there appears to be possibly 3 walls. It's hard to tell, that's all There also doesn't appear to be that many units on the screen (sorta Darssen numbers) although I could definitely be wrong.

That would be Thorndale, a pretty average stronghold. The skirmish was in its infancy, so my units were still spread all throughout the stronghold, and I hadn't trained many new troops yet.

Just noticed that the archery range is overlapping the buildings beside it.

Yup, NPC/skirmish towns have some overlapped buildings and random props, but in a stronghold you build from scratch, you'll be using more organized plots.

[Darathor]

Looks very nice! I love the versatility and also that there are two archer types for the humans. Cool pictures and I really like some of their abilities.