Archers

**Wheelchair** · January 03, 2009, 03:54 PM

Hey, I was wondering if archers are useful, for my next character I'm going to be a foot knight, probably wield a 2handed wep.

I was wanting to make a army of archers, are they effective? If so can you give me some hints on how to use'm

**stormbringer951** · January 03, 2009, 04:45 PM

Really effective right up to the point where the Swadian Knight rides up and cuts off their heads. To be honest, a bow for the main character is very good, but massed archers, apart from in late game, are not massively useful. Foot archers cannot run from cavalry and they aren't strong enough to take on lots of enemies mana a mano. So a mixed force is still best. Primarily archers with enough footsoldiers to hold enemies in place while you slice em up with a sword of war should be all right. But I haven't been playing massively long.

**Captain Jin** · January 03, 2009, 05:09 PM

Archers are great for siege defense. If you have your own castle I'd stock it with archers or crossbowman. As long as you and some strong meelee units protect the breach the archers have a field day with the attacking army. Otherwise I tend to avoid using them at all in open conflict.

**knight of virtue and valor** · January 03, 2009, 05:14 PM

I went straight to the Native expansion, and archers are pretty effective. I once got killed by to simotanous shots by BANDITS! in the mod, late Era archers like the Ivory archers are ok in melee.

**Gelgoog** · January 03, 2009, 06:56 PM

there are some mods in which range units really kick ass. one of which was Hegemony 268 B.C. in which I would mass archers and skirmishers in a line and they would decimate incoming troops. these games usually involve having higher damages for thrown weapons and archers. The Peloponnesian War does a pretty good job at this to.

**Armatus** · January 04, 2009, 09:34 AM

Two words:

Vegir marksmen

EDIT: ok four words...

Rodok Sharpshooters.

**molls** · January 04, 2009, 03:51 PM

yay Rhodok Sharpshooters are kinda good in meele, have a line of them shooting and after that hacking the enemy in pieces

**Kennylz** · January 04, 2009, 05:23 PM

Archer armies are probably the most lethal if you go all out. If you plan on really seeing how they cut down the enemy, you are going to want 2/3rds of your army as archers and 1/3rd footmen. Forget any cavalry at all. Find good hiils so that your guys get to start shooting early.

Oh, and pick Vaegir of Rhodok. Nords might work, I don't know, but the Vaegir have the best archers, and archers work better than crossbowmen in my opinion, but the Rhodoks have pretty decent defensive infantry and good shields so they will always win a shoot out.

**Internazionale** · January 04, 2009, 06:32 PM

Hundred Years War mod is a good archery mod. Longbows!!!

**Armatus** · January 05, 2009, 06:46 AM

Also experiment with tactics. You need some infantry to protect your archers from cav.

Examples of what I do depending on the size and type of enemy:

For example if I have a lesser force of cav than my enemy I find the nearest hill and issue the following orders:

Hold Position!

Cavalry Fallback!

Cavalry Dismount!

Infantry Advance!

This way you've got your archers protected by the infantry in the front and the horses in the back. If you're really desparate you can dismount your horse in front of your troops and watch the mountain bandits get caught up in them while your infantry cuts them down, but you horses will take more fire and some may end up running off.

**molls** · January 05, 2009, 01:09 PM

a short question here, I didn't want to open another topic for this:

The skill: "Horsearchery" says: Accuracy penalty lowered for archery and throwing from horseback.
Now: Mounted Crossbowmen. Does the skill horsearchery effect the accuracy of crossbows on horseback?

**~~sabaku_no_gaara~~** · January 05, 2009, 04:34 PM

I think it does, but shooting from horse with a crossbow is allready pretty easy

**allthesedamnnamesaretaken** · January 05, 2009, 04:37 PM

yes, but only the dinkiest crossbows can be used on horseback so there is little point.

**Decimus Equitius** · January 05, 2009, 04:45 PM

Archers are really effective. You need a big party and keep some good foot soldiers with you to take out the horses.
My favorite thing to do is line up all my men. Tell my archers to advance ten paces and hold their fire and stand closer together. Then I test fire with my bow and arrows until the enemy comes in range. Then I tell my archers to let loose. Then everyone dies

. If the enemy get through the arrow storm I tell my infantry to charge and that is usually enough to win the day.

**~~sabaku_no_gaara~~** · January 05, 2009, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by Decimus Equitius

Archers are really effective. You need a big party and keep some good foot soldiers with you to take out the horses.
My favorite thing to do is line up all my men. Tell my archers to advance ten paces and hold their fire and stand closer together. Then I test fire with my bow and arrows until the enemy comes in range. Then I tell my archers to let loose. Then everyone dies

. If the enemy get through the arrow storm I tell my infantry to charge and that is usually enough to win the day.

Hm, should try that once! +rep

**Savage_Swede** · January 06, 2009, 05:32 AM

Originally Posted by scheuch13

there are some mods in which range units really kick ass. one of which was Hegemony 268 B.C. in which I would mass archers and skirmishers in a line and they would decimate incoming troops. these games usually involve having higher damages for thrown weapons and archers. The Peloponnesian War does a pretty good job at this to.

I've been playing the Peloponnesian War mod like crazy lately, and it's awesome in most things. Ranged weapons, throwing above all, are absolutely lethal. It's jus recently when i reached a higher level and bought myself some badass armour that i can survive a direct hit from an elite peltast.

Never really tried to have alot of archers though, might have to give it a shot.

**Gelgoog** · January 06, 2009, 09:09 PM

holy crap, I just got slaughtered several times trying to take a castle from the rhodoks, those guys would rip apart my hired swords with those those crossbows when climbing that ladder and were a real

to fight once I finally got up there. yeesh khegerits were a positive pushover in comparison.

**Armatus** · January 07, 2009, 08:27 AM

You need to use the strategy of playing your enemies off one another. Frequent the castles that are being assaulted and if there is a break in the siege or a victor comes from it, you may have a very nice little opportunity to launch your own assault - on the already battered army left in the garrison.

**Captain Jin** · January 07, 2009, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by scheuch13

holy crap, I just got slaughtered several times trying to take a castle from the rhodoks, those guys would rip apart my hired swords with those those crossbows when climbing that ladder and were a real

to fight once I finally got up there. yeesh khegerits were a positive pushover in comparison.

Yeah! When I'm the Nords I just gather up a ton of Rhodok trained crossbowman, Nord Trained Footman, and Nord Veterans and use them to garrison my castle while I run around pillage the land with 30 Huscarls.