Reply To: Bow and Crossbow

GreatOne wrote:

I understand why thinking that xbow is slower that is why we gave him 1 shot per turn compared to bow is ok, but 2 shots have almost same hit chance and the problem is that picking right perks 2 shots gives archer insane boost.

It does not. Fast shot have 0% bonus and -4% penalty over each tile of distance.

Crossbow have +15% bonus and -3% penalty over each tile of distance.

Crossbow will always be more accurate and it only gets worst over distance. At 6 tiles it’s -24% for fast shot from bow and only -3% from crossbow.

Plus fast shot is -10% damage.

GreatOne wrote:

For example:
Overwhelm will allow you with 1 archer to debuff enemies so hard (2 shots are more than 1)
Berserk will allow you to make another shot after kill, crossbowman wont be able to do it coz of 7 ap reload (or you will make 1 shot but next turn you will make reload shot and thats all, no AP for reload)
Fearsome – (coz in total 2 shots on medium distance have higer chance to hit than 1 shot from xbow)
Fast Adaption – can compensate your accuracy at low levels and again 1 xbow shot miss +8%, 2 arrows +16% chance to hit enemy on next turn.

Take Headhunter and Killing Frenzy for crossbow and watch enemies in armor die in one shot.

GreatOne wrote:

And don’t forget Bow Mastery that gives you in total +2 range over xbow
You know that having even 10% chance to hit that nasty back-line must kill enemy is much better than having 0 chance to shoot at it at all.

Shooting at the backliner with 10% when there is target in front of him with 60% chance is waste of your archer, because on average you can kill backliner faster simply by first killing the guy in front of him then the nasty backliner.

GreatOne wrote:

And one more huge + of bow is that you can make a move and shot at least 1 arrow and it won’t affect your next turns and with xbow you can retreat only once, coz on next round you will do reload and after it shooting (In this case i really recommend for game devs to make xbow shooting 4 ap and reload 4ap, for much better balance)

You can retreat 2 tiles and shoot weak inaccurate shoot from a bow, while you can retreat 3 tiles and shot accurate powerful shot with high armor piercing from crossbow. Yes, you cant move again next turn with crossbow if you want to shoot again but then it’s still 3 tiles and 2 accurate powerful shots with crossbow versus 4 tiles and two weak inaccurate shoots from a bow over long run.

Both bows and crossbows have their weak and strong points. In general one is not superior to other. What makes one superior to other is situation. If you need distance and enemy is not heavily armored, bow is better. If you need to take down powerful melee units in lot’s of armor, you can’t beat crossbow. Which is why it is best to have both in your party.