Longbows crush rifles

[Toulouse]

Got to this place in my Prince - Epic game where playing as Arabia I had to go to war against England.

My rifles/cavalry/cannon army mostly with cover promotion was absolutely crushed by an equal number English longbows with their muskets doing the mop up. The Longbows even managed to sink one of my destroyers !? with a one volley assist from a ship of the line.

Guess I should have stayed with camel archers?

Anyway it was this intense, vicious onslaught of uber deadly arrows almost as if the AI went haywire or something.

Jokes on me I guess.

 

[HamTard]

Defender's advantage is pretty huge in this game. Since ranged units generally have the same range, the defender gets off the first volley with no damage to themselves. If they have a lot of ranged units with upgrades, I can certainly see that complicating the invasion.

 

[Stalker0]

After playing 4 games, longbows are my favorite UU so far. 3 range is just amazing.

 

[Klaus_von_Kroft]

After playing 4 games, longbows are my favorite UU so far. 3 range is just amazing.

Considering you can fit a mountain in 1 hex, those guys could easily shoot an arrow across the Alps.

 

[Toulouse]

Bows shouldn't be able to devastate rifles, cannon or cavalry,especially rifles and cannon with cover promotions.

What's the point wasting all the hammers or gold to produce them? Why not just spam bows and arrows?

I'm genuinely confused about this. Is the game supposed to be a weird critique of modernity or is it broken?

 

[RX2000]

Yea I like the new combat system, but it does take away from the realism to see archers shooting a couple hexes away (or 3 with the longbows.)

I can understand it with modern artillery & rocket artillery, but its just really sucks the realism right out of it with ancient archers. I just keep telling myself its a game & its not supposed to be real though.....

 

[JudgeDeath]

Defense! Defense! Defense! Can't you just hear the crowd cheering?

 

[Thrallia]

actually, Longbowmen stayed worthwhile and productive long after you would have expected them to die out due to gunpowder weapons and siege weapons.

Not until Artillery and Rockets, but definitely until rifles/cannons/cavalry

 

[kaltorak]

In my game cavalry is the best for attacking. Ranged combat is better for defense.

 

[RD-BH]

IMO Longbows (RL) are still impressive.

 

[paradigmx]

At least it isn't Spearmen VS Tanks... Longbows VS Rifles I get, it could happen, it's not in the realm of impossibility.

As far as I'm concerned, that the problem is whittled down to this, it's only a good thing.

 

[bhavv]

Longbowmen, and Bowmen are my favorite UU's.

They are both brilliant, and I love defensive play with ranged combat.

 

[da_Vinci]

Longbow superior to musket I would agree with ... at 12 arrows a minute, they would mow down those rows of 18th century redcoats.

Longbow superior to muzzle loading rifle ... maybe, but effective ranges are now closer

Longbow superior to a breechloading rifle? Now I think it is becoming a stretch.

In the game, it is the rifle not being a ranged unit that generates this issue.

dV

 

[James009]

I have to agree that Longbowmen are overpowered. There is just no way they should be beating Riflemen that easily. I'm thinking that the more "modern" units should have a defense bonus against arrows (increases with technology).

 

[Toulouse]

It's not just rifles, as I mentioned Longbows also damage ironclads and destroyers, which is just absurd imo. Realism is one thing but not game breaking I suppose. What makes this intolerable imo is the amount of resources required to build those 19thC units versus medieval longbows.

This requires a fix or someone should really explain what I'm missing.

 

[Dermo]

Agree with OP.
My first game I played as England on an Archipelago map, between Longbowman and Ship of the Line bombarding the crap out of capitals I was able to win a conquest/domination victory pretty quick. Was playing at default difficulty though, may have to go higher next time

 

[Falcan]

I'm confused. How does having guns protect you from arrows?

 

[HannibalBarca]

At least it isn't Spearmen VS Tanks... Longbows VS Rifles I get, it could happen, it's not in the realm of impossibility.

Yes. Yes it is.

 

[duxup]

I'm confused. How does having guns protect you from arrows?

By shooting the people with the bows that shot the arrows.

Anyway I have to agree, 3 tiles for a longbow is way too far. They should just be archers with a power advantage.

 

[qyll]

I just finished a game with Napoleon on Emperor and got DoW'ed by Elizabeth. She had about a dozen longbowmen and my knights couldn't move an inch or else they got destroyed.

Solution: Invest in cannons. Longbowmen do 0-2 damage to cannons per hit, and cannons can take out a longbowmen in two or even one turn with the right promotions. I moved 4 cannons up to her frontlines and since Lizzy didn't invest in melee units, she couldn't do anything about them.

Result: World conquest.