Install Steam
login
|
language
简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)
繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)
日本語 (Japanese)
한국어 (Korean)
ไทย (Thai)
Български (Bulgarian)
Čeština (Czech)
Dansk (Danish)
Deutsch (German)
Español - España (Spanish - Spain)
Español - Latinoamérica (Spanish - Latin America)
Ελληνικά (Greek)
Français (French)
Italiano (Italian)
Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
Magyar (Hungarian)
Nederlands (Dutch)
Norsk (Norwegian)
Polski (Polish)
Português (Portuguese - Portugal)
Português - Brasil (Portuguese - Brazil)
Română (Romanian)
Русский (Russian)
Suomi (Finnish)
Svenska (Swedish)
Türkçe (Turkish)
Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
Українська (Ukrainian)
Report a translation problem
Discussions Rules and Guidelines
Report this post
First, I couldn't even hit the whole castel itself, now that's how I silent flies.
It is better to avoid firing targets too far and when the enemy gets closer try to fire big lumbs of enemies (big target vertically on screen) at first. The chance to hit someone is bigger and when someone gets hit in the lumb you can adjust your aim based on that. Moving targets are harder to hit and avoid them unless they are moving directly towards or away from you.
Kill close up until your bow skills level over 150, the variance on the shots means you can't get a very accurate aim as the arrows can go anywhere within a certain lateral shot radius, combined with the short focus time on the reticule, makes it hard to get ranged shots unless you're firing into a crowd.
Combine a typical siege choke point with blind fire and you can level up a lot.
Once you start getting closer to 200 the reticule is steadier for longer and the cone of fire has a reduced variance making it easier to predict where your shots are going to land.
Another good tip is to watch for damage indication and adjust your shots until you start seeing it.
I also vaguely remember reading somewhere that using any weapon with a minimum skill limit equal to the highest level of your skill works against you - ie a level 5 bow and you've just levelled enough to use it. Though maybe someone who's played longer than me can confirm/deny this.
A good place to practice is while walking around a castle courtyard outside of combat. You can pick a barrel or just a mark on a wall to aim at. You can also try practicing from different elevations to see how the flight path changes. Walk up to your spot when you run out of arrows to see how you did. Tab out of the courtyard scene and enter again to replenish arrows. This works great for practice with crossbows and thrown weapons too.
You should keep in mind that when in third person the camera puts you just above your character's head and this will make the crosshairs off by a certain amount. If you are in first person the crosshairs will be right on at mid range. In third person the crosshairs should be placed about a torso length above the target's head at mid range in order to have a center mass point of impact. You should get used to either 1st or 3rd person aiming so you can learn to judge how high to aim at different ranges with practice.
At long range judging the right height can be tricky but there is no wind so you can at least use care to make sure you are aiming directly above your target to maximize your chances of a hit. You can also prioritize targets that are in groups close to other potential targets so that a miss may still hit one of them.
Also keep in mind that the game does simulate loss of energy at extreme ranges so damage will be reduced. This means that you may wish to wait until the targets get a bit closer to do more damage. If you have very high power draw and a good bow you may be able to still get some one shot kills at long range but otherwise you are hurting your total potential damage output. Depending on the situation and number of arrows you have this may or may not be a concern.
You should try to get a bow that has a power draw requirement at least four levels lower than your current power draw, with an equal power draw requirement to your current power draw skill being ideal. Power draw in excess of four levels above the power draw requirement of a particular bow is wasted and will not increase damage further.
If you want to get very high proficiency it may be worthwhile to invest in some weapon mastery since that will have a significant impact on the rate you gain proficiency over time, as well as increasing the cap on proficiency point allocation. At high proficiency levels adding points becomes very expensive so you are probably better off putting some points in your lower skills. But, the rate of earning proficiency points from battles will still be significant and is incresed by higher weapon mastery. I have one character with 9 weapon proficiency that now has archery at about 500 and other frequently used weapon skills are above 400. Usually I stop around 4 or 5 weapon mastery which is enough to get above 300 proficiency by mid to late game. 300 is actually plenty but more is nice.
Just shoot... maybe a lot, in the beginning.
You're not a computer doing targeting with a laser range finder. Firing burning arrows (yes, there's a mod for that).
You need to get three things right.
Range:
Easiest method for non-snipers. Sight Picture. That is, if you see a particular 'picture', you know where to aim. This takes practice as it involves looking at how tall a target is on your screen and elevating your aimpoint based on that.
Fortunately, all humanoids in Warband have the same height, so what you need to do is pratice compensating for the target's size in height. If a certain target is 'that high/tall' on your screen, you need to know how much superelevation you need (how much you need to aim above the target) to hit it. Don't worry about seeing the arrow. Or the exact range. Don't start putting up tape or sticky threads on your monitor ^-^.
See target.
Target is of X height.
Aim Y above it.
Eventually, for a particular weapon (power draw, accuracy/etc), you'll be able to see a target and decide that you need Y elevation to hit it. When you change your weapon, you'll need to 'retrain'.
For a bit more advanced practice, aim for headshots. On crossbowmen ^-^
One way to speed this up, imagine a point at the target's neck. Draw a vertical line from it, going upwards. This line's length will be Y multiple of X. What Y is depends on your range. So with practice, you'll know. Don't try to work this formula out. The max range for arrows is around 200m... don't kill yourself working out the elevation for rank 148m vs 50m
Just do:
Point blank: Aim at the neck
Short Range: Aim above, 1/4 of target's height
Medium Range: Aim above 1/4 ~ 1/3 of target's height
Long Range is from 1 ~ 8 times the targets height. In Native, max would be around 4-5. But 90% of your shooting oppurtunities are for Point-Blank to Medium Range, so practice recognizing which of those 3 'ranges' the target's at.
Bearing:
This is easier, it's how much to the left or right.. which is none if the target's not moving.
Once you get the hang of it, you'll need to practice on moving targets (including those on horseback... try getting headshots on mounted targets) as well as firing UP/DOWN or targets that are on different elevations from you.
Just do the same thing you did for Sight Picture for Range, except this time you need to factor in 'crossing velocity' or how fast the target is moving from across your point of view. Forget working out things like target aspect or it it's moving away/closer to you. Your arrow's speed is high enough that you can use the Sight Picture method and just do it.
TLDR: Practice using 'Sight Pictures' = when a target is 'that tall', moving in 'that direction' with 'that speed', you need to aim 'that high' and 'that much to the left/right'.
Seriously, though, the mechanic is a pain. This game is not forgiving in any aspect, archery included. Practice is a good tip, as well as using first-person view. The real pain is mastering the arc. Modern rifles compensate for this by using adjustable sights. The reticle for the bow works much the same way, but the range at which it reaches harmonization (the arrow meets the reticle) depends upon your archery skill, the bow itself, the angle of attack, and your strength. This is where the practice part comes in.
Even trained riflemen have trouble with figuring out exactly where a shot will land, every shooter uses a different position, hence the military credo "shooter's comfort." This refers to placing all gear in such a way as to create the most steady and comfortable position. IRL, this means bone support, relaxed muscles, and steady breathing. It's not much different on a computer. You have to practice constantly until you get a feel for the weapon and the range of the target.
Shooting from horseback is an even bigger problem because the arrow, for some blessed reason, does not carry lateral momentum. I guess the physics engine missed that one. Normally, you'd lead behind a target to shoot when moving laterally. This game pulls a Galaga and simply uses the initial position of the shot, meaning a shorter lead. I have a terrible time with arrows because using them means un-learning almost everything I ever learned as a rifleman. Thank God for lances.
I know most of that isn't much immediate help, and I'm sorry I don't have any quick tricks for you. The best tip I can give you is to max horse archery and use a crossbow, as that eliminates a lot of variables. Just don't pont the blasted thing at me or it's lance-up-the-bum time :)