Fantasy Friday XIV - Human Archers

[raving]

will there be an upgrade that will make sure ur archers hit moving targets better?

[GPS51]

Like ring thumb from AoK?

[The Witch King of Angmar]

I really liked the design of the archery range. Looks great guys.

Thanks

[Negthareas]

Wow - this Fantasy Friday is Fantastic! One question -

Do Crossbows take a lot longer to fire then bows? In BFME there was literally no difference, but historically, the difference was huge.

The more powerful crossbows had to be hand-cranked in order to draw the bolt back. It could take a while. The less powerful ones had to be placed with their tip on the ground, stock against the waist, and the whole weight of the soldier was used to "draw" [lurch/yank] the bolt back.

I hope that the difference in loading time is prominent.

That was the main difference between crossbows and bows. Crossbows were much more powerful, but at the cost of range, and a much longer reloading time.

[zach12wqasxz]

question, if a crossbow is much more powerful, how does it have less range?

[DarkMaster]

I think it goes that crossbows are less effective at "lobbing" arrows (or in this case bolts) over large distances. However, they are better at aiming directly at closer enemies.

I hope the training times for each weapon are realistic. It took years to learn to use a longbow effectively, but just about anyone could point a crossbow at something and pull the trigger.

[GPS51]

Provided they could load it

[Jonathan Werk]

question, if a crossbow is much more powerful, how does it have less range?

Heaver/shorter bolts, I would guess. Less suited for long flight, but better suited for impact.

will there be an upgrade that will make sure ur archers hit moving targets better?

It's possible, but there's also other things to think about. Upon levelling up, you can choose to upgrade their accuracy. Also, in most cases you're not shooting at a single unit, you are firing a volley of arrows at a battalion, so if your arrows are landing in roughly the right area, they are getting hits, even if the group is moving.

[Josh Warner]

Well, historically it's pretty simple - Bolts cannot be used in an arc. They had to be fired straight for various reasons, and that limits range tremendously. The range of say a longbow came from both the bow itself and the fact that you could choose whichever angle you wished and it would still be an effective weapon. Firing at the optimum angle allowed a significant increase in range without a large drop in killing power.


The idea behind the crossbow was two things - it was simple to use. The first Point and Click interface if you will. The only downside was that it takes a long time to crank. But considering anyone strong enough to crank a crossbow could use a crossbow effectively it was a great weapon, and as the crossbow became more popular, at the same time so did heavier armors. A crossbow bolt would punch straight through even the heaviest of armor inside it's smaller effective range. Arrows would simply bounce off plated armor short of nearly point blank ranges. Ease of use meant it was easier to train large amounts of men with them, whereas a longbow for example literally took a lifetime of practice and training to be effective with, while it was in most situations a better weapon you could field anywhere from half a dozen to a full dozen of peasants with crossbows for the price of a single longbowman.


In our game their advantage is again simple, against heavily armored targets archers will be very ineffective. Against average/light armor archers will be more effective, against heavily armored targets crossbows will be more effective. For best results you will need a mix.

[nickson104]

Originally Posted by Alex Walz

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

I thought Orcs only had wooden walls? Or do they have the opportunity later on to develop stone walls? Or perhaps to take over another races settlement?