I need someone to clear this up for me, the range weapons...

[Hochmeister]

Ok, this will be multilayered question.

First - type of ranged weapons - bows, crossbows, handcanons and the "stronger handcanons" (I don't know the english name for it, in czech it's called "hákovnice")

Ok, I guess bows are meant to be used, when you need high fire rate and you don't really need armorpiercing damage.

handcanons and "stronger hand canons", when you need full high armorpiercing damage, and you don't really need accuracy.
but here I would like to ask you, if there is another difference between those two except different fire power?

Crossbows - I guess, when you want solid armorpiercing damage, but you need accuracy for more distant target.
But here again I need to clear this up, when to use ligth crossbow (up to 200 firepower), medium (up to 380 power) and heavy crossbow (up to 550 firepower?)?
Sofar it seems to me, that light crossbow only for tournaments (faster reload), medium crossbow - universal compromise, heavy crossbow - during defence in sieges.


And last the arrow types, I am confused, is the armor piercing stat like hidden modifier, which you don't see it, or there is no modifier and better armorpiercing arrows, better hunting arrows and better wounding arrows are same in damage output?

[s.aitken88]

Handcanones were utterly useless for me in the entire game. Too slow to reload, so the best you get is one shot, then it's back to the sword.

Actually I did use it once, on a side quest where a noble expected me to duel him wearing only rags, while he got to wear armour. I was so angry at his cheating and cowardice that I handcanoned him in the back when the quest was over.

For bows/crossbows I honestly only care about fire rate, as I hate having to wait to reload. The only distinction/variance I know of in this regard is that the heavy crossbow is super slow to reload because he has to pin it against his foot to wind it up, whereas smaller crossbows (I think its called the vintage field crossbow?) can be reloaded by hand which is much faster so I prefer it.

To be honest bows and crossbows are something I had little use for in most of the game either. Since completing the main quest I've gone to a few bandit camps and started my raid with one crossbow shot, but then they charge me so, just like with the handcanon, I get one shot then it's back to the sword.

I like the variety of weapons in the game but in truth you only ever need a sword.

[Private Homestead]

Higher quality bows with good arrows can do good against armored troops. And with handcannons, while I guess it is 'the dream', that first shot will be very telling.

[Harukage]

Originally posted by Hochmeister:

"hákovnice"

It is an early arquebuse with a hook to stabilize it when firing from battlements. Also known as Hakenbüchse in german. The thing will see a lot of use at Hussite Wars and the wide spread of wagenburg and similar style field fortifications through all the Europe.

[Saizo]

The fire rate of the bows is not good enough to make up for the low damage and armor piercing unless you use arrows with bane potion, then they kill enemies with one hit and faster than any other ranged weapon.
But wthout any poison, you better use a crossbow because you may draw your bow back faster, but you also need more arrows so the crossbow will be faster at the end.

The fast crossbow is for contests and that is why I carry that one with me in my current playthrough, but I really like the heavy crossbow because of its reaload design and damage.
It can oneshot enemies like the handgun, just with higher accuracy and slow motion during aim.
The medium crossbow should be middle ground between those other two crossbow types, but it can't really do anything as good as the others.
It's not as fast as the lighter crossbow, but it also can't kill enemies with one shot, so i's only good if you haven't got anything else.

Handguns don't allow you to aim, have just a little bit more damage than heavy crossbows, their ammo can't be poisoned and the delay it has while pointing at the enemy and the shot is enough for them to catch up and attack you, so I don't really use them other than for fun.
That is one reason why I can't say for sure if ther's any difference between the normal and stronger handguns, but as far as I can tell they are pretty much the same.

The arrow types should have a hidden modifier, otherwise it wouldn't make sense for the wound arrows and the armor piercing arrows to have the same damage.
I think it's like in the description, one is better if you want them to bleed, while the other can better pierce the armor of the enemy.

[ZeroOne]

Bows have the higher fire rate but the are only useful after reaching lvl 20 archery and and using good arrows ,,, then bows are very good (how to train at the start ? at any shooting range nearest at the start below Troskiviz castle you need a bow and some money and repeat the ranged tournament then which increases your warfare strength agility and of course archery)

[Zaris]

To keep it short: Use only fast shooting bows with bane poison arrows (enemies drop dead after 3 sec with best grade poison). With a fast shooting bow you can kill a whole enemy camp without problems before they even reach you. Combine it with stealth gameplay at night with low visibility / noise gear.

[Buttwheat]

Honestly most enemies can be dropped with a decent bow, arrows and poison. Crossbows can be useful at longer range as they shake less. As for the guns, pistoles, hand cannons, whatever. It's basically all just "i win" buttons at point blank, so choose whomever has the heaviest armor.

[Saizo]

Originally posted by ZeroOne:

Bows have the higher fire rate but the are only useful after reaching lvl 20 archery and and using good arrows ,,, then bows are very good (how to train at the start ? at any shooting range nearest at the start below Troskiviz castle you need a bow and some money and repeat the ranged tournament then which increases your warfare strength agility and of course archery)

You don't need to do contests, just take your ranged weapon out and fire at the target, that is faster than having to repeat the contest and wait for the others to fire their last arrow and you can do it even at night.

[Infevo]

I thought range weapons are bugged and do not do anything. I keep shooting bolts point blank at targets and there is absolutely no feedback of hitting someone. In fact, I do not even see a bolt being fired.

[Hochmeister]

Originally posted by Saizo:

The fire rate of the bows is not good enough to make up for the low damage and armor piercing unless you use arrows with bane potion, then they kill enemies with one hit and faster than any other ranged weapon.
But wthout any poison, you better use a crossbow because you may draw your bow back faster, but you also need more arrows so the crossbow will be faster at the end.

The fast crossbow is for contests and that is why I carry that one with me in my current playthrough, but I really like the heavy crossbow because of its reaload design and damage.
It can oneshot enemies like the handgun, just with higher accuracy and slow motion during aim.
The medium crossbow should be middle ground between those other two crossbow types, but it can't really do anything as good as the others.
It's not as fast as the lighter crossbow, but it also can't kill enemies with one shot, so i's only good if you haven't got anything else.

Handguns don't allow you to aim, have just a little bit more damage than heavy crossbows, their ammo can't be poisoned and the delay it has while pointing at the enemy and the shot is enough for them to catch up and attack you, so I don't really use them other than for fun.
That is one reason why I can't say for sure if ther's any difference between the normal and stronger handguns, but as far as I can tell they are pretty much the same.

The arrow types should have a hidden modifier, otherwise it wouldn't make sense for the wound arrows and the armor piercing arrows to have the same damage.
I think it's like in the description, one is better if you want them to bleed, while the other can better pierce the armor of the enemy.

And differences between hand gun and Hakenbüchse? just in size of firepower?

[DylanCut]

So let me see if this will help clear things up on the stats margin. The 200, 280, 550 this is the total maximum piercing threshold the weapon can do. The arrow has a number as well which usually mimics but never matches the siege crossbows 550 so it’s kind of a gimmick weapon.

The piercing threshold must be more than the armors pierce resistance to make a “hit” otherwise it will bounce off unless the armor was damaged then there is a damage modifier pierce minus 30-70% depending how broken the gear. The other thing is locational damage if you hit the exposed face it’s as if he had no armor and a headshot so instant kill. Or if he’s wearing light armor on his arms significant damage.

Now onto the arrow type:
Wounding arrows cause bleeding if you get an actual hit
Piercing arrows have an extra modifier to help go through armor
Hunting arrows give more damage to animals
Long range arrows give more distance
With the “best arrow” being the black Arrow

Now for guns: they are an amazing weapon IF you use scattershot. It’s a shotgun. I have blown away several enemies at once with scattershot it’s amazing. 10/10

[Hochmeister]

Originally posted by DylanCut:

So let me see if this will help clear things up on the stats margin. The 200, 280, 550 this is the total maximum piercing threshold the weapon can do. The arrow has a number as well which usually mimics but never matches the siege crossbows 550 so it’s kind of a gimmick weapon.

The piercing threshold must be more than the armors pierce resistance to make a “hit” otherwise it will bounce off unless the armor was damaged then there is a damage modifier pierce minus 30-70% depending how broken the gear. The other thing is locational damage if you hit the exposed face it’s as if he had no armor and a headshot so instant kill. Or if he’s wearing light armor on his arms significant damage.

Now onto the arrow type:
Wounding arrows cause bleeding if you get an actual hit
Piercing arrows have an extra modifier to help go through armor
Hunting arrows give more damage to animals
Long range arrows give more distance
With the “best arrow” being the black Arrow

Now for guns: they are an amazing weapon IF you use scattershot. It’s a shotgun. I have blown away several enemies at once with scattershot it’s amazing. 10/10

Ok, and differences between hand gun and Hakenbüchse? just size of firepower?

[Hochmeister]

To those who say, that bow is useless if you don't use poisoned arrows, I must disagree partially, yes against more armored opponents bow is not really usefull, but if you are in the situation, where you face multiple but lightly armored opponents, the bow is actually very usefull range weapon in this situation, like I said before, if you need high fire rate and you don't need armor piercing damage...