Leveraging Magic Bows

[sansanjuan]

Interested to hear of community members that have effectively leveraged a mass of indy commanders armed with forged bows. Seems like that could be an effective mid game tactic. Are the gems and money just best spent elsewhere? With CBM you can make some decent bows at low research levels. Please share any experiences being on the giving or receiving end of leveraging the "buy anywhere" indy commanders with bows or other items...
-ssj

[Gregstrom]

I've seen Banes with Bows of War used on occasion. It semed pretty effective.

[Agema]

My perception of magic bows on heroes is that by and large you're still just hitting one unit per turn, and when I say "hit", I mean IF the arrow hits a square with a unit on, and IF it isn't parried by a target's shield, all of which means your average magic bow is pretty ineffective in terms of stopping an army.

The exceptions would be bows with area effect or multiple arrows. I figure 5-10 indy commanders with a bow of war would be a good archery force instead of about 50 archers, but you've probably got better things to do with your gems. Banefire crossbow I think has AoE 1, and a few others.

Where you may well get most leverage is assassinations and tackling thugs, and even then you probably need a precision booster to make sure you hit. An assassin with the right bow should be dangerous to the average mage without a bodyguard, and several bows might be very effective at downing or disabling thugs if can deploy them.

[ano]

One important note is that Flaming Arrows apply to Bow of War.
If you're playing an air nation, I think, it may be quite effective because one commander with BotW is nearly equal to 13 archers but he costs MUCH less in both basic cost and upkeep, doesn't need supply and can be given an Eye of Aiming. A drawback is, of course, that if he dies, it is also an equivalent of 13 archers

[Jarkko]

I've killed raiding SC's with indy commanders wielding Ethereal Cross bow. Just put 40 of the cheapest possible chaff as bodyguard around him, and the commander will get two (hopefully three) shots on the SC. Combine a few such groups, and you have a cheap hunting group. Does work wonders against those Vine/Eye shield + Frost/Firebrand SC's, but pretty much suck against SC's with some massive AoE spells.

I've found the Ichtyids to be the nice for such a cheap bodyguard unit, as they even have a change to web the target, and they have a mapmove 2 (so you can try to outguess the SC movement, move the hunters to position and hope for the best). And if led by a Ichtyid commander (although their precission is nothing to call home about, but with CBM the chance to deviate is low), they can go underwater to hunt stuff there too.

One additional bonus with the Ethereal x-bow is that it is "safe" to craft even with a hostile Arcane Nexus up. Not that it os of any great importance, but everything counts

[NTJedi]

Originally Posted by Jarkko

they can go underwater to hunt stuff there too.

I don't believe the ethereal X-bow works underwater... so the commander(s) would need to switch to the piercer or incinerate wand for underwater battles.

[Sombre]

I could see Banefire crossbow being fairly nasty against expensive troops.

[Jazzepi]

With EA Tien Chi one of my favorite tactic is to give the N1W1 or A1W1 mage commanders bows of bewolf. Script them to quicken self + eagle eyes/aim, then set them to fire large monster. Seed one in each of your border provinces. When an enemy attacks with thugs or SCs, they'll be retarded fairly quickly.

Jazzepi

[Jarkko]

Originally Posted by NTJedi

I don't believe the ethereal X-bow works underwater... so the commander(s) would need to switch to the piercer or incinerate wand for underwater battles.

Actually the ethereal x-bow *does* work underwater

[OmikronWarrior]

Originally Posted by Jazzepi

With EA Tien Chi one of my favorite tactic is to give the N1W1 or A1W1 mage commanders bows of bewolf. Script them to quicken self + eagle eyes/aim, then set them to fire large monster. Seed one in each of your border provinces. When an enemy attacks with thugs or SCs, they'll be retarded fairly quickly.

Jazzepi

First, great turn of phrase at the end there.

Second, does the "quickness" casting actually work for you? In my experience (which is limited after early failures), quickness results in an arrow being fired and then the unit merely advancing forward without taking a second shot.

On a more general note, check out Fire Ebola's for some interesting "bow" options. They are single handed, so a high preciscion unit can equip two (and hopefully an eye of aiming) and throw them into the enemy ranks causing some attrition to units on the front.