Foot Archers...

**~~Echad~~** · January 25, 2008, 03:52 AM

Hi, infidels!

Want to start a campaign, wondering which faction has the biggest potential to use ranged troops, generally foot ones... I am a big fan of England and Venice from vanilla, so want to know, which faction would suffice for the similar tactics.

So far, I noticed that the Nigers have some potential in infantry, but no armor and some of the Indian nations got longbowmen as well, any ideas? =\

**kasimmorathi** · January 25, 2008, 04:08 AM

Kypchak make probably the greatest use of ranged and foot archers. There are several variations of dismounted archers who have some pretty decent armor and good ranged attack. Plus you have the mobility of the horse archers which makes for some very micro-managed mobile warfare.

**whhyy** · January 25, 2008, 04:13 AM

The Sultanate of Ghazni and the Rajputs come to mind.

**~~Echad~~** · January 25, 2008, 04:13 AM

Originally Posted by kasimmorathi

Kypchak make probably the greatest use of ranged and foot archers. There are several variations of dismounted archers who have some pretty decent armor and good ranged attack. Plus you have the mobility of the horse archers which makes for some very micro-managed mobile warfare.

Ok, will try them in Custom Battles, but I think they, as the Mongols are generally the horse ones... Nomads, what to say?

What about the potential of other factions?

2 whhyy:

I thought Seljuks were mostly mounted?

**whhyy** · January 25, 2008, 04:17 AM

"I thought Seljuks were mostly mounted?"

Yeah that's why I just edited them out

. But they do still have some excellent foot archers.

**~~Echad~~** · January 25, 2008, 04:19 AM

From faction tips:

1) With access to Turks skilled in close-range horse archery, the Seljuks may be one of few Factions able to completely win with horse-archery alone. And with their weaknesses in infantry and foot archery, they will have to rely on their horse-archery to succeed.

Foot archers is their weakness? Won't even bother! Will go try Ghazni, Rajputs and Kypchaks. =)

Any more ideas anyone?

**whhyy** · January 25, 2008, 04:21 AM

Kypchaks rely more on cavalry than foot archers. The Ghaznavids, however, rely on abundant foot archers and super heavy spearmen to defend them.

**suntaiguy23** · January 25, 2008, 04:39 AM

georgia and armenia both have pretty good archers

armenia also have the legionaryesqe vishap for infantry , and georgia has great line holding swordsman for england archer tactics, i belive both have good hybrid acher/swordsman as well

**~~Echad~~** · January 25, 2008, 04:41 AM

Yeah, I just figured it out about Kypchaks; Rajputs are mad, I cannot learn to train Elephants... =))) Gonna try Ghazna.

Any feedback on Nubians? Seem that they are pretty infantry-oriented with some cavalry chargers... Is the lack of armor so bad? =\

P.S. Georgians have really good hybrid troops, but it is not that I need, I prefer my archers far away and shooting, so the casaulties would be minimal... Also, the Georgians look uber, and I like to play them just for looks... Need to test Armenia more.

**Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh** · January 25, 2008, 04:53 AM

I find my archers to do nothing in sieges.. Really wierd.
Playing as KoJ, I seige a castle and my levantine Crossbowmen (4 units) sit around and do nothing, even though the bow symbol is on the card. And when I deselect fire at Will, and manually choose, the symbol appears for a second, and then dissappears. But my Turkopole archers (dismoiunted) worked fine.

Also happened as Oman.

**spooksman** · January 25, 2008, 05:03 AM

Are you still on official MTW2 patch 1.2, Doge?

I used to have that problem too until I patch up till 1.3. I can't say whether thats actually what fixed my problem but its largely gone now.

**~~Echad~~** · January 25, 2008, 05:04 AM

Maybe cause of wrong missile fire radius for x-bows... BTW, I liked Ghazni!

But not sure on them yet 'll probably need to test any faction that has good archers before... Still no feedback on Nigers?

P.S. 1.3 patch shouldn't fix anything, it's only for compatibily with Kingdoms, but who knows?

**AlphaDelta** · January 25, 2008, 06:06 AM

For both Makuria and the Rajputs, foot archery is supremely important with both getting access to longbows. Ghazni also must use foot archery in combination with spears to succeed on the battlefield.

For a faction similar to England I would suggest Georgia; Lots of decent infantry + strong cavalry + excellent elite bowmen.

For a faction similar to venice I would suggest The KoJ; Hordes of crossbows, med mercs and excellent charge cavalry.

Cheers

**~~Echad~~** · January 25, 2008, 06:55 AM

I'll probably play as Makuria or Georgia, thx everyone for feedback...

But would appreciate if someone will share his thoughts on a ranged compbat here.

**Sher Khan** · January 25, 2008, 08:39 AM

The Ayyubids can field the heaviest and most powerful foot archers. They have a defense of 20 and 7 (!) missile attack.

For one of the more balanced rosters, I like the Abbasids. Their Dismounted Faris are very nice armored archers that also sport shields, and they're protected by a very reliable infantry and cavalry selection as well.