Tips for training Bow at archery contests?

[NewbieOne]

As per titles. Training bowmanship on forest game would be a lost exercise on me, as I struggle to hit a huge deer halfway across a clearing. I do better at archery contests, meaning I almost always win beginner contents but almost never win advanced contests. My Henry carries a Sinew bow, has 20 Strength and Agility each and 19 Warfare.

The longer story is that in some cases I seem to be able to get a good hold of the aim and rhythm in advanced contests but am too slow. Obviously, it takes a while to pull the sinew bow, and I haven't yet mastered the art of shooting a bow halfway pulled in this game (although the concept is familiar and intuitive, meaning I spontaneously try to do it, I'm just not good at it).

So should I perhaps try with Capon's bow instead?

And are there some tricks of the trade that make your life easier learning this, other than installing a mod to add a crosshair?

[HunZolka]

In all my previous playthroughs I always carried a villager's ash/villager's dogwood bow for hunting rabbits, and the most powerful bow I could use at a time (for big game, fighting and piercing through mail).
It is good to stick with one weaker bow for the whole playthrough, as you get the feel of it during hunting, but if you keep switching, you won't be able to learn the bow's ideal distance that well, as it varies bow by bow.

The weaker bow's arrows start to drop earlier, so it is only good for shorter distance, but way faster to reload, therefore it is ideal for tournaments.
Technically it can also be just as deadly in a fight as well, considering that no matter how well armored the opponent is, if he wears an open faced helmet and you hit him in the face, he drops instantly.

I installed a number of mods, but the crosshair for bows always felt like cheating, in this game when I actually get the hang of reliably hitting my target for the first shot, then reliably making headshots without the crosshair feels like an achievement on it's own.

[DargonBlak]

Bow shooting turns out to be far more simple than it feels.

1. Once you pull the arrow back, the bow only sways side to side, so initially aim where you want the arrow to go, let the bow swing to the side and then release when it comes back to the center. Higher Bow Skill reduces the side-to-side sway.

2. Arrows drop after leaving the bow based on the distance and the Bow Strength (the Strength number needed for the bow) - this is mentioned during bow training with Bernard. So, for weaker bows there is more arc (droop), so you must aim higher. During initial training at the archery range, you have to aim near the top of the target stand. Higher Bow strength decreases arrow droop, and increases damage - one exception is Capon's Bow which does a lot of damage for the Strength (it's a Strength 5 and close to the Strength 8 bow).

3. Bow "Aim" - the game defaults to not having a bow reticle, which amounts to a "Dot" at the center of your screen. Some folks prefer to use the bow without the reticle for purism reasons. If you want, the bow reticle can be enabled using a user.cfg file. This link has the best description of how to do that:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/379430/discussions/0/1760230157498548893/

Archery Contests at an Archery Range:
The Archery contests at the Archery Range award 3 extra points to the Archer that finishes first - if those 3 points are going to make you win or lose, then yes you may want to use a weaker bow for a faster draw time. But this shouldn't matter if you can hit the bullseye region at least half the times (more often for expert). Having the reticle makes these contests much easier (for better or worse)

[Lieste]

I find Capon's bow, or at most the weakest of the Cuman bows to be an ideal for the competition shooting, hunting game and shooting lighter armoured enemies. It shoots a relatively flat trajectory (compared to the weakest villager bows), but is quick to draw and doesn't use as much stamina as the heaviest bows (helpful if you get caught by a charge by multiple enemies).

I point the whole screen centre just above the intended target, then draw and loose as the animation for the draw completes - this gives the fastest shooting and is consistent for 66pts with the 21 arrows of the master competition.

[MacSuibhne]

Originally posted by NewbieOne:

My Henry carries a Sinew bow, has 20 Strength and Agility each and 19 Warfare.

With those kind of stats you should be able to handle the Sinew bow. But what's your level in archery?

As I'm sure you know, the more you train with the bow the better you become--the less the bow sways, for instance, and at a certain point there is a slight magnification of the target.

I spend a lot of time in Ledetchko early game. I enter the Chumps on the River contest. This may be the best way to level your bows skills, bar none. At some point, you can increase your skills one entire level simply by playing Chumps three times in a row.

I am no great archer but when I can win every time and hit 18, 19 or 20 targets consistently, I am pretty confident. You can win as much as 100 gr. every go-round, as well.

I usually use a Cuman bow (the best one) as soon as I can acquire it and as soon as my stats allow. It draws faster than the yew longbow and is only slightly less powerful.

One thing that I discovered in my first play-through, however, is that you have to draw the bow all the way back--til the fletching disappears from your peripheral vision--to get maximum range and accuracy. Once you do that, release as soon as you have acquired the target. Holding too long will reduce your stamina to the point that your accuracy and range will suffer.

[NewbieOne]

Thank you. For some reason I forgot to mention my Hal's actual bow skill out of all relevant skills. Unfortunately, it's only 8.

Out of available shooting tournaments, I haven't played Chumps, I don't use the range in Prib (too much risk of harming someone, with people walking in front of the targets and the wooden fence having holes with a cottage behind it), and I don't really remember the ranges in other places (Merhojed, Uzhitz and perhaps one or two others), though I've used them too.

I sometimes manage to win advanced contests in Rattay with the sinew bow, but I usually come barely second, usually by such a narrow margin that shooting only a little faster would have made won with the additional 3 points for being the first to empty your quiver. It's not exactly rare for me to come third, though. Generally depends on how quickly I can get in a good position for 3's as opposed to 2's or whether I don't mess up by readjusting. The typical scenario is that I can get a nice position for hitting the centre but it takes two of those swinging/dipping-style side moves (or one and a half as is often the case), so I'm not fast. If I get a good position fairly quickly, I can forget about speed and win on accuracy alone in Rattay — but not in Prib. In Prib it turns out you actually can't win without being first, as in the other guys are going to get 39 from finishing first, so even if you score all 3s but finish second you won't win. But Rattay is more forgiving.

Also, I wonder what's better for XP — winning a beginner contest or doing well but losing in an advanced one? I have a suspicion winning gives you more XP but can't be sure. Still, in Rattay I tend to go advanced if only to train my player skill and get better at winning those, for better returns later.

I've also tried masters tier, but that's outta my league. I could try that if I could learn to score all 3s or 2 on the first shot and 3s later while shooting slowly, so maybe then the consistency could win over the faster-shooting AI opponents in at least some of those contests.

Right now I'm sitting at about halfway between 8 and 9, so my priority is to get to 10 and be able to use a trainer to get closer to 11 fast. Presumably this would make it a bit easier for me to win advanced contests if I often lose them by 1–2 points now.

Can't blame the game for going hard on the player in the name of realism. In real life you'd probably need much more shooting practice in order to get better, so all this game does is not make it ridiculously easy on the player for the sake of going nice and easy on the player.

[MacSuibhne]

FWIW, IMO, Chumps is the best mini-game in KCD, followed by Alchemy and Lockpicking. Although just for pure mindless diversion Farkle is right up there.

[DargonBlak]

Originally posted by NewbieOne:

Thank you. For some reason I forgot to mention my Hal's actual bow skill out of all relevant skills. Unfortunately, it's only 8.

As i mentioned, Bow Skill only reduces the side-to-side sway, nothing else.

The time it takes to draw the weapon is always based on the difference between Henry's Strength and the Bow Strength.

Whenever i play at the Archery Range, (not often), the sway time and the draw time are about the same, even for low Bow Skill, so a better Bow Skill would not benefit me much, since i'd still have to wait for the full draw.

What matters most for me is planning the Arrow Droop.

And if ur running without the reticle - kudos.

[Wolfr13]

Archery contest is bad for gaining bow experience.
When you are not sure, what you're gaining, go to the bow in the character menu and press 'q' and you can see your actual exp points and it is easy to follow, what you are gaining.

In a way, when you want to train with the range, go for the advanced competiotion, because iT's quicker and the highest gives not that much more. (And only the winning counts)

Chumps in Ledetchko is better, but you should have some skill and at least an average bow(perhaps use the marksman potion).
Here you should score 15 or better to get the most of the exp (more than 100)

The archery range is only useful for the DLC womens lot, to train theresa (and to earn some money for theresa).

[GrannYgraine]

Level up your bow skills by shooting cows, sheep, and pigs. Go at night and don't be seen. You can make them out in the dark but Nighthawk helps. I stay at the inn in Sasau for a while. There are several cows and pigs north of the inn.
I suck at Chumps.

[NewbieOne]

Tried switching to Capon's bow and joining the Uzhitz contest. Wow, winning advanced contests is so much easier now and such a massive source of quick XP.

[SenatorAri]

Honestly if you only want to improve in archery contests, then just practising is the best way. If you play them a lot you should get a fairly decent rhythm going to draw, aim and shoot in one motion hitting bullseye pretty consistently, just stick to one bow and you should get the hang of it. However Archery contests bore me pretty quickly, I would much rather just ride around through the forest hunting rabbits. Hitting a moving target is much harder but a lot more practical. With varying distances. Just takes time.

[NewbieOne]

Indeed, I try to just show up at Rattay shooting range in the morning and shoot till the evening (which is not that many contests, surprisingly, compared to e.g. the time consumed by melee training), and sometimes I shoot a couple of times if I'm passing by a shooting range that's about to be closed.

Right now, my Henry's skill is probably a third or fourth of the way from 9 to 10, and I want to hit 10 so I can train with Berthold to get to 11 fast. And at that point I'll see if I like contests any further.

Part of the reason for my trying to level bow is needing just a couple of XP to flip Warfare from 19 to 20. In parallel, I use maces in melee because that's the last weapon I haven't maxed (also 19, though).

It's not just minmaxing on paper. I really want that added tiny bit of speed, accuracy and whatever else Warfare does.

[Wolfr13]

I don't know, if the bow counts for warfare.

What conts is: fist fight, mace, axe and sword and all must be at 20 to get 20 in warfare.

I don't know, if I remember correctly, but the archery contest in Rattay gives less exp than the contest in Ushitze.

[MacSuibhne]

I read somewhere that winning Chumps gives you 25% of a skill point (level?). Winning other archery contests (when you choose 'Advanced'):

Rattay =5%

Uzhitz = 13%

Chumps = 25%

I can't confirm those stats personally or in detail but I know from experience that betting the max (50gr?) (same as 'advanced') and winning Chumps confers enough xp that if I play it three times in a row (sometimes four) I am almost guaranteed a level jump.

[NewbieOne]

Thank you. So it looks like I'm staying in Uzhitz for a while.

IIRC Warfare mentions unarmed and is encapsulated as your total skill in combat, so I would think Bow is included, though of course I have no way of knowing for sure.

Edit: Crawled my way to 10, got the scope-like aiming aid, then pulled myself to 11 and went to Berthold for some training, so 12 now and perhaps some third of the way through to 13. I now seem to usually get well over 30 in the advanced contest in Uzhitz unless I mess up badly.