How to horse archery?

[Zawarudo]

Horse archery... I never could learn it. It is like a skill that only a select few, a select chosen can really enjoy. And even so I have my doubts anyone can pull 50% accuracy on this.

But lets say it is possible to become really good at it...

First question: Is it really possible?

Secon and more importantly: Howwwww???

If thats possible I will really appreciate some tips on how to learn and practice and become good at it.

Maybe proficiency is a must? Maybe I can only enjoy i after some 500 weapon points?

[Twinkletoes]

First: it is possible and no you don't need 500 proficiency to do it.

About 100-170 proficiency and you can get some decent shots in.

Second: Archery on a horse gets big penalties, so big there is an entire skill dedicated to lowering said penalties.

Accuracy is one of those penalties. If you want to be a horse archer, you need power draw, proficiency, horse archery and a bit of practice.

You need to know what bow you are using, figure out the speed of your arrows(again, practice) and then you just have to adjust your aim for enemy movement alongside the speed of your horses gallop.

The faster you go the more you need to compensate, but once you get used to it you will be able to pop enemies at full speed.

Normal archery you just lead your target since arrows have travel time, on a horse you just have to adjust for your own speed(that might include aiming and shooting around your enemy instead of at them, the arrows will carry some of your momentum and adjust mid flight).

It sounds alot more complex then it actually is.

[Esce]

Yes, it is possible and also the best way to cheese the AI.
I guess I achieve more than 50% accuracy, especially more than 50% of my foot archer accuracy.

You need a feeling about the speed of yourself and your opponent and of course 5 points into horse archer, so your arrow flys there where you aimed.
Maybe try learning to hit moving objects while standing stil, for example grab a bow and shoot down steppe bandits.
A fast horse can help you closing in distance.

It is not easy, but a thing you can learn. Just pratice a bit, maybe with a cheated character, so you do not have to care about health and stats.

[Kharn the Betrayer]

If you go horse archer, never use Khergit Horse Archers unless it's a mod. they are hilariously bad at fighting,

[Thermal Lance]

From my experience. Going first person helps horse archery a lot. Thing is, camera being overhead and not over the shoulder, you need to take that into account for the range. The more far it is... the worse it gets. PLUS leading your target as you race across the battlefield.

Going first person let you focus on leading only. So, first person is WAY more easy to grasp and do if you got the situational awareness. To be honest... archery in first person is way better for aiming itself. SURE you can adjust to the overhead view but that takes time on its own. If you just want it to work, go first person. Just that will improve your aim very quickly. When I play, I switch to First person everything I shoot.

[Twinkletoes]

I actually prefer 3rd person.

In first person you have to aim both your character and the horse, in third it feels more natural like it is a single entity and not 2 separate entities.

Similarly for regular archery. Yeah it is a bit easier to line up a shot in 1st, but it is actually easier to adjust since you have a better angle to see where your shot is going.

That just my opinion.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Twinkletoes:

...
That just my opinion.

I prefer Third Person as well. The only time I'd switch is for difficult long-range bowshots when wondering why I haven't yet planted an arrow in my target's head. :)

Oh, and for shooting through the embrasures in certain sieges. (The arrow slits in towers/walls.) It's nearly impossible to accurately shoot through those in third-person view.

"Horse Archer" is the "Skyrim Stealth Archer Build" of Warband.... Once it's built properly, it's usually waaaaay overpowered. (As long as one has arrows, that is.) I prefer "Battlefield Tank" and only equip a bow in very specific battles. (Sieges, mostly, but one can gain an edge in fighting some armies in certain mods if one has good bow skill/gear..)

So, anyone ever try out a Horse Javelinier? Mounted Dagger Thrower?

[Esce]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

So, anyone ever try out a Horse Javelinier?

On my Khergit playthough I also used throwing weapons and got them to 400. Not my main weapon, but it is nice to have a thing that will kill. Even with 7 powerdraw and 500 in archery an arrow will not kill anything anytime, a jarid on the other hand hits for over 200 damage and will kill even knights no matter what.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Esce:

Originally posted by Morkonan:

So, anyone ever try out a Horse Javelinier?

On my Khergit playthough I also used throwing weapons and got them to 400. Not my main weapon, but it is nice to have a thing that will kill. Even with 7 powerdraw and 500 in archery an arrow will not kill anything anytime, a jarid on the other hand hits for over 200 damage and will kill even knights no matter what.

That's something I really fear on a Warband Singleplayer battlefield - A Javelin to the face. That is the wtf-killed-me more times in siege, as the attacker, than I can remember... Or, rather, that really stands out in mind... since it was literally through my darn "head." :)

I started out specializing in throwing weapons in one playthrough just because getting killed by darn javelins was so frustrating I wanted my enemies to experience it. :) But, I switched, just because it was so darn difficult to do effectively and ammo was a serious issue. Arrows you can find on a battlefield, but I had issues finding javelins, knives, axes, etc... (Admittedly, a pack of javelins is pretty easy to spot, yet still had issues.)

[LUKE]

It takes a lot of practice. Try keeping enemies in the left/back of the horse to optimize effective shooting area and kite. It fun but honestly putting those hours in lancing will probably yield more effective results unless you're playing a mod with really op bows options like silverstag or prophesy

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by Luke-PC:

It takes a lot of practice. Try keeping enemies in the left/back of the horse to optimize effective shooting area and kite. It fun but honestly putting those hours in lancing will probably yield more effective results unless you're playing a mod with really op bows options like silverstag or prophesy

I disagree. There is no mod in which lancing is more powerful than learning how to thrust a long spear from horseback, and there are exactly two mods in which thrusting from horseback is more powerful than archery (Viking Conquest and Brytenwalda)

So, archery >> thrusting >> couching, in terms of kill per second. If you are really, really good, a quick one handed weapon and a shield can compete with horse archery in murder rate, and completely outclass it in terms of sheer badаssery and flashiness. But that's really hard to pull off.

Still riding through the enemies, and cutting five enemies in a few seconds is awesome. In that time, you may shoot three, spear two or lance one.

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Learning how to couch is the easiest to master, though.

[LUKE]

@Tuidgy fsr steam wont let me quote your reply. Technically lances are spears are the same thing, except a lance is used on horseback. Lances are not restricted to the great lances you see in tournaments.

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by Luke-PC:

@Tuidgy fsr steam wont let me quote your reply. Technically lances are spears are the same thing, except a lance is used on horseback. Lances are not restricted to the great lances you see in tournaments. :warplate1:

In common usage, all lances are spears, but not all spears are lances. When most people say 'lances', they mean weapons used by horsemen, usually, but not always, in charging.

In Mount&Blade jargon, a lance is a spear predominantly used for couching. As lances are spears, they all can thrust, but most are pretty crummy at it. Still, a good player can use a lance that way. This is why I did not say "spears >> lances", but "thrusting >> couching", and even that, only when it comes to kill per second.

A lance needs quite a bit of time to be readied for couching. Also, it leaves you exposed to projectiles for longer than a properly timed spear thrust (yes, that includes lance thrusts, too)

But lances have they uses. As far as I am concerned their best use in Mount&Blade single player is to increase your polearm proficiency, so you can use other weapons better.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Tuidjy:

...So, archery >> thrusting >> couching, in terms of kill per second. If you are really, really good, a quick one handed weapon and a shield can compete with horse archery in murder rate, and completely outclass it in terms of sheer badаssery and flashiness. But that's really hard to pull off.

Still riding through the enemies, and cutting five enemies in a few seconds is awesome. In that time, you may shoot three, spear two or lance one.

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Learning how to couch is the easiest to master, though.

^-- This.

As I've said before, and will always credit, I was a big fan of couched lance combat in general until your VC "mounted spear" vid inspired me to try it out. Now, I only use a couched lance in certain very, very, specific situations in specific mods. Even then I might defer to the spear, depending on its quality/stats/type. (Some units in PoP will laugh at common spears, but won't laugh at a couched lance hit with a common lance. Typically can't be easily one-shot at that level, though.)

I stopped using mounted spear combat in an earlier version of PoP because it's overpowered... Overpowered. In PoP... In Prophesy of Pendor.

I'd argue that without being truly specialized in horse archery with appropriate gear, an easier to build mounted spear user would have a faster kill rate than such a horse archer and many other weapon builds.

(Just for general consideration- mods matter. Some mods have terribly overpowered weapon and use combos that just throw silly things like "best practices" out the window.)

[ricklong]

For the original poster...remember that you only really need to hit somebody....not exactly the opponent you were aiming for. This is important when developing a horse archer since you can get groups of looters (and later sea raiders) to bunch up while you just ride around in circles firing in their general direction. The speed of the horse means you aren't getting hit while sometimes they are. Eventually you get good enough to hit most of the time. To get a good feel for it, try going to the training grounds.

I have tried javelins and other thrown weapons from horseback, but mainly because I wanted to do some lancing, couldn't get myself to go without a side arm, and had one slot left. I generally reserved the jarids or whatnot for horsemen running directly away from me, or pikemen or other no-shield pole wielders. Its also nice going up the ladder in sieges. If you have plenty of guys with thrown weapons, there are lots of missed ones to grab for more ammo. That said, I still normally prefer a bow so I can head shot as many defenders as fast as possible.

In mods like PoP, the lance (or spear) can become more significant since some of those guys will take a lot of arrows to put down. Of course if you can manage to get the Banner of Sarleon, that gets even better. Scooped it off of the ground once in the middle of a battle, and man that thing is amazing when you combine it with an noldor horse.

[Twinkletoes]

Meh.

I used to enjoy couching in the original, sure it was a bit overpowered but now it is completely gimped.

In the original a lance is couched from your right side, you could not move it. That however worked to your favor cause it helped aim the lance. Plus there was no cool down so you could chain couch enemies.

Now, between the awkward jittering when aiming and the cooldown. Yeah, couching is not worth the effort..