In praise of the Pavise Arbalester

[Cadmium77]

In MTW this unit intrigued me with the oddness of their contraption, but in practice I found that they were always at a disadvantage; they were slow and unweildly to move around and then when they did go into action their sheilds did little to protect them. They died in droves when put under fire by other crossbowmen or even archers. After some experimentation I tended to neglect their use.

But what have we here in M2TW? Some really hyper detailed crossbowmen with their big sheilds strapped to their backs. At first glance I thought it was a bit cheesy that they didn't deploy them even as well as the animations in MTW, but on closer examination I see that its really ingenious. Their sheilds are on their backs so that when they turn and reload their backs and heads are covered. This is one of the best animations I've seen in the game so far and one of the most detailed soldiers too..their equipment just glimmers with incredible details...



In my opinion these Pavise Arbalesters will be superior to musket men...really, they have better armour, can withstand missiles in a totally superior way, they're almost impervious, and if they do have to scrap at close quarters, at the command they'll pull out their stabbing swords and kill like Bulgarian Brigands, my favorite MTW unit. They can do it all.



If you haven't done it yet, run an Aztec battle just to watch them operate in detail. They're fantastic to see at work.

[0ldboy]

Funny you said all that! I just was playing the demo and was watching these guys in action, yeh they rule. I also thought the same about the shield, but then I watched them and saw the idea behind it - really cool. As for the musketeers, they just stood shot once halfheartedly got charged and died.

[Cadmium77]

Funny you said all that! I just was playing the demo and was watching these guys in action, yeh they rule. I also thought the same about the shield, but then I watched them and saw the idea behind it - really cool. As for the musketeers, they just stood shot once halfheartedly got charged and died.

The more I examine the loving details of this game, the more I think that this is going to be the most amazing computer game ever made, even better than STW...like someone said; it may not even need any modding at all.

And the trick with musket men is to really attend to their range; they will get slaughtered if you allow them to stay within archery range, but their muskets have a much greater range than any archers, so you've got to keep them at a great distance from everybody...then it's very cool to stand right behind them and watch them fire on their targets, who are left without recourse but to flop down and die.

Oh yes, and with all of these projectile troops, don't forget to turn on the "fire at will" switch or they will stand about doing not a hell of a lot.

[Germanicus75]

Yeah, they look good. But I guess the men with firearms have a "scare factor" advantage over them?

[Spart]

Meh, tough soldiers afraid of little smoke? Maybe first times when gunpowder was used..
Yeah, those guys are just great. Set them in to the line and let 'em fire and watch enemy knights falling to the ground.. And the sounds are good in those arbalests/crossbows.

[Lusted]

I do love those guys, and the amazing reloading animation and sound CA have done for the normal crossbowmen.

[Black Francis]

I am a big fan of the new crossbowmen in general. I also am in awe of this unit and remember them being not up to much in MTW. These chaps on the other hand are great fun and a pleasure to watch. My favourite unit so far.

[Vihuri]

I didnt find them too useful. Against Aztecs musketeers are a lot better. Just one volley from them and 120 peasants are running away like rabbits. Musketeers dont kill much but they scare the hell out of Aztecs.

[Shigawire]

Woah didn't catch this detail, was too busy winning a battle. I will take note next time though!

I do say though, the musketeers are killers..

[Fianóglach]

I don't know what MTW1 you were playing but in mine Pavise Crossbowmen were kickass. (Not to mention used by everybody worth 20 pence in multiplayer)

[WILHELM_II]

Those Crossbowsounds are amazing! I can just sit and listen a whole battle to them loading and firing and the release of those bolts! Very real, gave me goosebumps the first time... nah, now I'm overreacting :tooth: How do they make those sounds, are they artificial or real recorded sounds? Does anyone know?
If this unit is a standard for many more MIITW units to come...

[nameless]

I placed my crossbow men on the top hills and later in the fighting, they actually were able to "lob" their arrows over my units much in the same way as if they were longbow men. So their very useful. When reloading their almost immune to any missile attack.

[Cadmium77]

I placed my crossbow men on the top hills and later in the fighting, they actually were able to "lob" their arrows over my units much in the same way as if they were longbow men. So their very useful. When reloading their almost immune to any missile attack.

Not only do they lob their arrows over the intervening units but the animations of them firing their bows shows them doing it too, in a manner differentiated from normal level firing.


Can it be that CA is an enlightened company, and that they've looked at this franchise and realized that it's not a kiddie arcade game, and that in the long run it will be more profitable to them to develop it as a serious wargame for an older crowd that buys high end gaming computers?

This game is founded on an entirely different philosophy/approach than RTW...

[Candelarius]

Not only do they lob their arrows over the intervening units but the animations of them firing their bows shows them doing it too, in a manner differentiated from normal level firing.


Can it be that CA is an enlightened company, and that they've looked at this franchise and realized that it's not a kiddie arcade game, and that in the long run it will be more profitable to them to develop it as a serious wargame for an older crowd that buys high end gaming computers?

This game is founded on an entirely different philosophy/approach than RTW...

Well said! I definately agree that the thought and effort put into M2TW seems far more mature than RTW. I remember reading that M2TW was developed by a different team than the one working on RTW and it's expansion packs. I wonder how true that was? M2TW is a whole new animal, indeed, a giant step forward in the franchise's development. I can't hardely wait to try out the campaign map!

[Cadmium77]

Well said! I definately agree that the thought and effort put into M2TW seems far more mature than RTW. I remember reading that M2TW was developed by a different team than the one working on RTW and it's expansion packs. I wonder how true that was? M2TW is a whole new animal, indeed, a giant step forward in the franchise's development. I can't hardely wait to try out the campaign map!

Actually I meant to say SEGA...It seems that SEGA may have had a positive effect on Total War..

[Gaius Julius]

Actually I meant to say SEGA...It seems that SEGA may have had a positive effect on Total War..

I would wager that you're correct. Especially with the inclusion of blood in the game.

[Marshal Qin]

Actually I meant to say SEGA...It seems that SEGA may have had a positive effect on Total War..

It does seem that way. Even from day 1 when they started communicating with us. CA was pretty bad with customer relation for a while there, and they really seemed to be heading in the fantasyfanboyconsolekiddy direction. So far, I'm pretty pleased with the way things are going, SEGA appear to have taken strategy gaming seriously. I'm guessing the programmers at CA are happy too for that matter..

And yeah, MP was great in MTW. It was the whole reason I bought RTW in the first place... I remember those arb shootouts. They really started to take a toll. It was always a fine line between choosing to continue the attrition or making a move.

[BeastG33]

Great unit. I love the Pavise crossbowmen and I love the look of the French crossbowmen. My favorite looking unit, definitley. They just have that.. Medievalesque look about them. Sounds and animation are great too.

[awisler]

ive been looking forward to these troops a lot. even almost as much as heavy venetian infantry. i cant wait to have an army composed of mainly heavy venetian infantry and pavise crossbowmen(with a little bit of militia,general, and cavalry of course)

[Prince of the Poodles]

It was rare to EVER play a multiplayer game without seeing pavise arbs. In fact, Id say 95% of regular players used them. Sure there were turk armies(some of them even had unpavised xbows I believe) and some rush armies, but the standard for MTW battles was a pavise shootout before the main battle commenced.

This time was spent positioning troops and trying to gain every small advantage possible. Often the person who won the shootout could force an attack on his(her) terms with the remaining pavs.

This almost mandatory pav shootout has been both praised and hated. I liked it myself, as it gave some extra time for positioning and planning. Also the countless Pav rushes (where someone would try to rush someone elses pavs with cav to kill them off) were great tests of skill.

Of course some people didnt get what was so great about sitting around for 10 minutes shooting at eachother before the real battle began, which is understandable.