Firebows strength?

[Psycho_Ivan]

Why is it that the Amurite Firebow, a defensive unit, has more offensive strength than defensive strength. This confuses me quite a bit- shouldn't this be changed from 5/4 to 4/5?

And another thing about them- without Copper or Iron it's almost useless to upgrade any Archers you own into them, not to mention the fact that they won't be getting the ability to cast fireball without a little combat.

All this is intentional, right?

 

[Micky Onimusha]

Well, I always liked Firebows with Apprenticeship for instant Fire-Ball casters straight out of the city, but yeah, they'll need enough XP for a promotion to get the Fireball casting promotion, so if you do intend to upgrade an Archer I suppose saving some XP when you get close to Bowyers (which is so overpriced beaker-wise /thread derail) is the best idea.

Deep down I'm fascinated at the possibility of getting an Adventurer from a Dungeon as the Amurites, turning him into a Firebow and giving him some Govanann teachings for some kind of insane Mage-Archer with 2nd tier expertise in all of the spell casting arts and eventually make him a Marksman (we can dream).

 

[Merddyn]

I always just saw it as, especially because of their fireballs and they're trying to keep people out of the mage's enclave, that they're more "aggressive defenders" like I sometimes tend to be. Sure, you could wait out a siege for them to attack you, possibly starve to death, and is just a time-consuming pain that your mage CERTAINLY doesn't want to have to deal with during his studies... Or you can go out, kick their sorry ***es, and be home and done with it in time for breakfast... And your sponsoring mage need not ever know they were even there, unless he reads/listens to your reports.

 

[Sarisin]

I was building Firebows and had Govannon nearby to teach them Fire I. Their first promotion was to Fire II, so they immediately could fling fireballs - of the weaker variety.

What surprised me was that they could fireball and attack in the same turn. I thought they would be able to do one or the other. I was able to get them quite a bit of XP as they would fireball first to weaken the enemy, then kill it for the XP.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

All normal arcane spells can be cast then followed up with an attack on the same turn, no matter who's casting them. Divine ones too for that matter.

 

[Caradoc]

All normal arcane spells can be cast then followed up with an attack on the same turn, no matter who's casting them. Divine ones too for that matter.

Yes, but the Firebow is the only ranged offensive unit with a ranged destructive spell. Other than maybe the Dwarven Druid, other offensive spellcasters are not so good in the direct combat.

 

[Anathema]

Priests are actually capable attackers if you get them early enough - it's possible to have priesthood when other civs are still using axemen and archers, at which point a confessor using his +1 strength buff or a ritualist that weakens his targets with ring of flame can easily kill regular units. The only casters I don't frequently attack with are adepts/mages, but even they can get some easy xp off units near death from damage spells or collateral damage.

Anyway firebows are not alone in being able to combine damage spells with a regular attack to kill tougher units, and they are definitely better than normal longbows even on defense - sending in 1-2 fireballs at enemies as they approach your city should more than make up for the lower defense strength.

 

[JonathanStrange]

I'd play the Amurites just for the firebows, I'm such an archer fan. And archers with a ranged attack? How weird!! I must tell Gilden!

"Distance is the only armor I need" ~ Gilden Silveric of Evermore.

"I don't run from danger. I walk - very fast." ~ JStrange of Santa Fe.

 

[WarKirby]

All archery units in FF have a ranged attack ability. (and mages with Force II)

And you can use it with a spell in the same turn, on any unit that happens to be capable of both.

 

[Gwythur]

Actually, I had a game where I started as the Elohim, with Amurite and Ljosofar neighbors. I also got the event where all your archers are given combat 1. So I had dextrous combat 1 archers promoting to firebows, and firebows promoting to flurries. Those 4 flurries pretty much took a continent for me.

 

[cabbagemeister]

In my current Amurite game, I'm playing with the idea of not promoting my 2xp apprenticeship firebows to FireII, as I at first assumed I should, but rather sending them to Govannon for teaching and then giving them EarthII as a first promotion. Stoneskin is one of the strongest buffs in the game, essentially giving the equivalent of the Heroic Defense I-II and Drill I-III promotions (FIVE promotions!), which is why normally it's restricted to mages. Given that I already have enough fireballs to throw with my horde of FireII mages, my Stoneskin, iron, flaming arrow Firebows are 8/9 str with 4-5 first strikes. Even offensively, they are far stronger than Champions, AND once they win a few fights they can get the FireII promotion I passed up earlier.

I think they might be the strongest T3 unit in the game (yes, even stronger than Stygians).

 

[Capn Charlie]

As cool as I think stoneskin firebows are, I'd almost rather see a similar unit with stoneskin available to the dwarves in lieu of their missing longbowmen.

 

[JonathanStrange]

In my current Amurite game, I'm playing with the idea of not promoting my 2xp apprenticeship firebows to FireII, as I at first assumed I should, but rather sending them to Govannon for teaching and then giving them EarthII as a first promotion. Stoneskin is one of the strongest buffs in the game, essentially giving the equivalent of the Heroic Defense I-II and Drill I-III promotions (FIVE promotions!), which is why normally it's restricted to mages. Given that I already have enough fireballs to throw with my horde of FireII mages, my Stoneskin, iron, flaming arrow Firebows are 8/9 str with 4-5 first strikes. Even offensively, they are far stronger than Champions, AND once they win a few fights they can get the FireII promotion I passed up earlier.

I think they might be the strongest T3 unit in the game (yes, even stronger than Stygians).

That's something I'm going to have to remember as an Amurite leader.

 

[Thunder_Gr]

In my current Amurite game, I'm playing with the idea of not promoting my 2xp apprenticeship firebows to FireII, as I at first assumed I should, but rather sending them to Govannon for teaching and then giving them EarthII as a first promotion. Stoneskin is one of the strongest buffs in the game, essentially giving the equivalent of the Heroic Defense I-II and Drill I-III promotions (FIVE promotions!), which is why normally it's restricted to mages. Given that I already have enough fireballs to throw with my horde of FireII mages, my Stoneskin, iron, flaming arrow Firebows are 8/9 str with 4-5 first strikes. Even offensively, they are far stronger than Champions, AND once they win a few fights they can get the FireII promotion I passed up earlier.

I think they might be the strongest T3 unit in the game (yes, even stronger than Stygians).

Indeed, Stoneskin, if they are to be near the action, or spirit, if they are to stay guards of "safe" cities(or if I deem it better for the situation), are definatelly better choices than fire for Firebows. When I get G, I just train them accordingly...