5 Missile Damge (No, AP) for Reutine Longbowman?

[john1995122]

What is the strategy of using these longbowman? Their damage (5, No AP) equals to a vanilla peasant archers. We all knows that vanilla peasant archers are useless and can hardly damage anything. Worst still, in this mod, the armor values of all units increase generally. Which means, the longbowman may perform even worse.

Are range units in this mod useless since all of their armor piecing attribute is removed and damage is lowered? Are crossbowmen perform way more better than most of the archers?

[NorseThing]

Range units can still be used for what different factions did historically. Some used the weaker ranged units to be in a sort of skirmish mode to cover the better unit advancing. Some were used in a sort of flank which is very effective in the Stainless mod no matter which unit is performing a flanking maneuver. Some would be used more as a defender on the castle or town walls and backed up with a sword bearing defender. So no -- they are not useless. They are relatively less awesome though. Limited, but then we all have our limitations and find ways to work around them. My own disappointment with any of the weaker units is when they cannot also be garrisoned free of support costs.

[Sar1n]

Set them up for flank shots. Don't waste arrows trying to shoot any enemy from the front.

Here's a little tip. You can use archers or crossbowmen to shoot enemy flanks from behind you line. All you really need is to give them right targets. Don't let them attack nearest enemy, attack the ones attacking your opposite flank. So archers behind your right flank should attack the enemy against your left flank, shooting across the whole line, and vice versa. Hold fire until you get the good angle.

[Duck of Death]

I can attest to that... set your archers firing at the enemies flank (especially when the enemy unit is also engaged at their front with your infantry) and you can rip them to pieces.
Even tough units tend to break ranks when caught in that kind of crossfire... then you get to shoot them more as they run away

[paleologos]

My favorite use of peasant archers in my latest campaign is as a morale sapping agent with their flaming arrows.

I know they are doing even less damage kill-wise but they are invaluable in shortening the time it takes for enemy troops to rout.
I certainly need a solid line of spearmen for this tactic to work and I do lose a big chunk of their (spearmen) strength until the enemy troops rout but spearmen are easy to replace.

The benefit is that cavalry units are easier to level up by cutting down routers than by killing enemies who stand their ground.
All my knights, mounted sergeants and militia cavalry -not counting the latest recruits- are in the golden chevrons, many of them having maxed out their experience.
That gives me an advantage in cavalry-vs-cavalry engagements and once the enemy riders are out of the picture the battle is pretty much over with hammer and anvil.

The point is that units are -or are not- useful within holistic contexts and there are situations, combinations of conditions and strategies in which most troop types are useful in ways not proportional to their stats.

That being said, in M2TW the archer stats you can see in the EDU file are not the only ones that determine missile troop performance.
It's been a while since the last time I investigated missiles but think I can remember that missiles (and I do mean the projectiles here, not the troops) have such stats as speed, mass and accuracy, all of which affect their lethality.
So I do think that SS longbowmen at 5 missile damage will outperform other archers that have the same nominal missile damage but are shooting lighter, slower arrows.

[Alavaria]

It's usually surprising to find out how lethal almost any missile unit is when behind someone.