Longbows vs Crossbows

[Sidewinder242]

Just one thing has has always infuriated me about these games is the use of crossbows and longbows. Why are crossbows better in open field battles and longbows better at defending cities - in reality (I know this is a game but still!!!) even the English used crossbows for defence of towns and castles as longbows weren't as effective. Do you think they could change this for Civ 5 - would be nice.

[Aragorn83]

Well. I think that crossbowmen were good at short distances and longbows were at long range. That's what they did in Civ 4- crossbowmen had advantage vs melee units and longbows against the others so you could use both of them in city defence. I usually use crossbowmen as they are good in attack also. In civ 5 I'm sure everything will change because now archers are long range units and you can use them not only as deffensive units.

[Arioch IV]

In Civ V, the Longbowman is now one of the English civ-unique units. The Crossbowman now appears to be the only "regular" Medieval-era archery unit.

[Aragorn83]

In Civ V, the Longbowman is now one of the English civ-unique units. The Crossbowman now appears to be the only "regular" Medieval-era archery unit.

Maybe there'll be simple bowmen, crossbowmen and England will have longbowmen.

[Arioch IV]

Maybe there'll be simple bowmen, crossbowmen and England will have longbowmen.

Yes, that's how it looks.

[Black Gate of Mordor]

In Civ V, the Longbowman is now one of the English civ-unique units. The Crossbowman now appears to be the only "regular" Medieval-era archery unit.

Although other countries in Europe did have longbows, the English were the most effective at using them. That's why it's a UU.

[slowtarget]

Also, it was my impression that the reason why crossbows were so popular for city defense was because, if an army reached your city, you wanted as many people as possible to help in the defense.

A longbowman often trained for many years to be able to be effective at his job, and for that, he (rarely she) was unrivaled until age of firearms. On the contrary, the most difficult task a crossbowman had was in loading the bow quickly and without injuring himself. He could be trained to do this in a relatively short period of time. The skill required to aim and shoot a crossbow did not require years of training.

End result: if you're using crossbows, you could have a much larger defensive force, and your defensive force could be made of people who were not career soldiers.

(I don't have clear sources to back this up: historians feel free to correct me if I'm mistakenly quoting flawed research)

[IONDragonX]

Also, it was my impression that the reason why crossbows were so popular for city defense was because, if an army reached your city, you wanted as many people as possible to help in the defense.

A longbowman often trained for many years to be able to be effective at his job, and for that, he (rarely she) was unrivaled until age of firearms. On the contrary, the most difficult task a crossbowman had was in loading the bow quickly and without injuring himself. He could be trained to do this in a relatively short period of time. The skill required to aim and shoot a crossbow did not require years of training.

End result: if you're using crossbows, you could have a much larger defensive force, and your defensive force could be made of people who were not career soldiers.

(I don't have clear sources to back this up: historians feel free to correct me if I'm mistakenly quoting flawed research)

I think that you're right and, if I remember correctly, there was a Pope that tried to ban crossbows. He threatened excommunication for using them because they were "too deadly".

[spacejesus]

Just one thing has has always infuriated me about these games is the use of crossbows and longbows.

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