Archers or crossbowmen for my army ?

[Immaluckez]

^

[Bordric]

I prefer crossbow the Vlandian Sharpshooter. They are decent infantry also.

[halofan9394]

early game archers all the way but mid game pass i have 70 percent of my range be archers the 30 percent are crossbow its nice to have both because the enemy with always have alot of unarmored troops but also some that do have armor so you need both

[.]

All fian champions. OP unit.

[Digstar]

The Vladian Sharpshooters are a decent archer/infantry hybrid being tanky and ranged. I have a strong preference for archers however for range.

Originally posted by .:

All fian champions. OP unit.

^ This.

[Scrotum Scratcher]

i prefer archers. the crossbowmen only have 20 bolts and have a slower fire rate while still having to use around 2-3 bolts to kill a unit.

[halofan9394]

but if you only have archers some of the armored troops dont take much damage i prefer archers for sure but its nice to have a few crossbowmen you need need much since you will face more unarmored troops you want more archers than crossbow for sure

[Miggy]

Crossbowmen are deadlier, more accurate and have a larger range than the average archer but archers have a much higher rate of fire and Fian Archers are just deadly overall. A healthy mix of both is a pretty good composition though I prefer mine to have more archers to keep the rate of fire up and because those Fian Archers are just too good to pass up. They are also so easy to get once you either have your own fief with a training ground or you have the disciplinarian perk from leadership.

[pTivo]

archers can grab arrows on the floor and still firing in long battles. Battanian fian are OP but hard to get. Crossbows is the best way to up fast an army, as they have a very good ratio kill/survival and are pretty good as infantry.
so in early game > crossbows, and mid/late game > battanian fian

[halofan9394]

Originally posted by pTivo:

archers can grab arrows on the floor and still firing in long battles. Battanian fian are OP but hard to get. Crossbows is the best way to up fast an army, as they have a very good ratio kill/survival and are pretty good as infantry.
so in early game > crossbows, and mid/late game > battanian fian

how so early game you dont have to deal with armor as much so rate of fire is much better

[Digstar]

I've noticed crossbowmen aiming high to shoot like in a arc volley which seems a bit odd. Longbows do this which gives them greater range but not crossbows as the bolts in a volley don't have the impact of the heavier arrows.

[HolyCrab]

I don't prefer any weapon, I prefer units. My best infantry unit is Imperial Palatine Guards, they are perfectly fit to my play style. They are great bowmen as well as good melee fighters and my second favorite unit is Cataphracts to defend IPGs against emeny cavalary.

XBows are good too but I prefer rate of fire, a wise man once said strength in numbers.

[Thrax]

Originally posted by Princess Soap:

Originally posted by Bordric:

I prefer crossbow the Vlandian Sharpshooter. They are decent infantry also.

Crossbow men are excellent at sieges, defending, and coordinated advances.

One complaint I have about AI, and sergeant command is that Crossbow men tend to do boneheaded things, like back off 10-20 paces, switch weapons constantly, and get confused when enemies are close by. They can be fantastic sharpshooters, and good in a melee, but you will need to give them some attention.

If you fall in battle, they revert to A.I, so archers are much more reliable in that situation.

[Azrael]

Having a Healthy Mix is key, Enemies use masses of unarmored infantry and cavalry with yet unarmored horses (probably the AI doesn't buy the necessary Warhorses for Upgrades for whatever reason), for this archers are great.
Crossbowmen, although longer reload, balance this out through higher range and armor penetration.

Battanian Fian Champions though are great, they got powerful bows and archery skills, thus they should be able to take down unarmored targets so fast, that they easily can deal with armored targets through concentrated fire.

[FracWiggles]

Archers due to their rate of fire, as well as not having to stop to reload. as i have seen my xbows stop to reload when i move them back from a cav charge. but to be honest. enough of either and it wont matter. a hail of arrows or bolts generally mow down most armies before they can close the gap. maybe some cheap fodder to charge in to stop their advance and make them clump up.

[Swirler]

Whenever they fix the crossbow on horseback reloading perk I'm gonna have so much fun. I played a battle with a crossbow by accident and it was so nice to use even having to dismount to reload.
Then the game crashed when I tried to pick up a bow after using all my ammo. :/


I'll ride around with crossbow horsearchers for my companions. Will make hideouts a cakewalk too.

All that said.
Currently bows are in vogue. Good dps, good accuracy, armour doesn't seem to do much against ranged attacks. Battles are quite short so the slow reload on crossbows is a big drawback.
Honourable mention to the javelins, they're very strong and I think they're great for dealing with cavalry.

A couple of crossbows doesn't hurt ofc, and it depends who you're fighting against to some extent.
In sieges crossbows show their true value. With enough time to deal all their damage they are a good choice. Especially as the attacker.

In beta 1.3 lords use better quality troops which sort of mitigate the value of archers a bit, but the the battles are still so short that crossbows just don't have the time to really get to work.