The problem is the weapons differ merely in a linear progression of stats. They need to be shifted around somewhere, for example make the shortbow quicker than the longbow. In fact, ideally make the shortbow more accurate with lower damage, and the longbow higher damage with less accuracy. It's then a choice between chipping away slowly at the target health, or a gamble on causing serious damage with a much higher chance of missing.

personally i think shortbows should be in basic equipment and longbows a specific later tech. this way i will not be ten techs into warfare before i get any archers and 12 techs in before i end up replacing them.

Agree that decisions are necessary.   Even range would make it worthwhile - short = 4 tiles, long = 6-8.

Short, 3gp, 3 damage, 4 range, 80% accuracy, usable mounted, 20 ammo, piercing

Long, 8gp, 6 damage, 7 range, 70% accuracy, not usable mounted, not usable if enemy adjacent, 20 ammo, piercing

Great, 12gp, 9 damage, all tiles, 70% accuracy, not usable mounted, not usable if enemy adjacent, if hero use-strength taken into account for damage, 20 ammo, piercing

Then have 2 or 3 unique bows with great bow stats but special on hit.

Still think its way too cheap, as it is now, why would I build anything else?   5 stacks of archers = 10 ranged shots = all fodder dead on first round, then chip away at larger.   Then, when crystal starts coming in - I buff my archers into "rangers" and give them +attack magical gear and movement...unstoppable.   Need ammo limitations/range limitations, etc   Could buff damage and make more inaccurate I guess.

I really like the range limitation.  But I would probably even go a step further.  Start decreasing the ammo count as your bow gets better.  Have Long have 15 shots and the Great have 10.

Since Long and Short are the only two in the game.  I don't recall the material count but I would add an additional point for long bow, and add on extra gp. You could also require the long bow be used by veterans or above.  Love the suggestion.

...fanboy

...must...not...be...rude...

ok.  here is the problem with your logic.  say i bought a car one month ago, i drive it home and it starts to show a TON of problems.  the dealer agrees to take it to the mechanic three times, and it is still not working properly.  the dealer then tells you that he will have it fixed next week.   in the meantime you are walking everywhere. 

not entirely related but i want to continue this metaphor:

here is the best part - those of us that bought this game because we love strategy games know that the BMW of strategy games is coming out soon(and it won't cost the much more than the clunker did!).  now will you keep walking?  or will you buy the bmw?  it would be funny if it weren't soooooo sad.

stardock screwed up big time by not getting this game fixed before CIV5...

One we need a more effective armor system -   

Light Armors should have no penalty to movement- (thanks for Noticing my fail logic Malsqueek) 

Each armor should have a Ratting for Blunt, Pierce, Slash, Magic(or element) This would be added or subtracted from the damge done by weapons of this type.

So light armors Such as Padded,Leather,   would be weak to pierce,  but stong vers Blunt, normal for slash.

So you have a Def of 3 from the padded  With  a subrating of (+2,-1,0,0)  Its alwyas Blunt,Pierce,Slash,Magic  

So a he gets hit with a club , for this attack its Def 0-3 +2  So he will always roll at least a 2 for def up to 5 just for his chest piece,  

Now if He had been shot with a short bow it would be 0-3-1 so He can only roll a 0-2 on def.  

Shields should have an % to block arrows...  Bigger shields biger block%   add a speed penalty for larger shields   

This would make the armors much more tactical -   So chain mail dose almost nothing to stop blunt weapons but its really good vs Pierce and slash.

Bows need lots of work...    They need  a min range, and a longer max range with a Close, medium, long, extream  each range would have a +- modifire

Short bows - No min range, max of 6  

Long Bows - can not shoot next square, range of 9 

Great Bows- Can not shoot right next to them, range of 14 

Cross Bows,  Really would like to see cross bows, Unlike normal bows they only get one use per turn - No min range - but get a 10% to hit bonus- get a + pierce damage mod.

Hand Crossbow - Small off hand Weapon dose 3 damage  max range of 4  can be used mounted 

Crossbow- Damage of 8  max range 8 

Repeating Crossbow- Small Crossbow that can befired mutiple times a turn-   Damage - 4 max range 5 - can be used mounted 

Heavy Crossbow- Damage Of 12 max range 12 

Arrow Head techs- The +- Pierce only comes in to effect if the armor has a Pierce +-Ratting  Dose not incress damage -    

Barbed Arrowheads,- equipment -  These arrow heads have jaged bladed sides with a back facing barbs -  + 3 Damage - 1 Pierce 

Armor Piercing Arrow Heads - Equipment -   These arrow heads are forged to penatrate Heavy armor -  +3 Pierce 

Heavy Armor Piercing Arrow Heads - Equipment -  Theses are Heaver Armor Piercing Arrowheads , + 6 pierce - 1 range 

Lol now Im late for work .....  

Is this supposed to be a sarcastic thread?

There is absolutely no difference in item shop costs with version 1.08. Ceder longbow is still 152 gilder, same as it was before .. btw so is the price of everything else too. The only changes I've seen so far are 75% reduction in gold & experience from combat and a flat 1mp cost across terrain types (basically units go a bit faster through woods now).

That's a little backwards.

Wearing MORE things should never make you move faster unless it is power armor. Light armor (padded, leather) should have a negligible effect on movement, and all other armors should reduce your maximum speed to a set amount.

.

a product is a product. 

if it helps:

say i bought a game one month ago, i take it home and it starts to show a TON of problems.  the developer agrees to patch it three times, and it is still not working properly.  the developer then tells you that they will have it (mostly) fixed next week.  in the meantime you are wasting time posting on their forums. 

this is not a metaphor:

here is the best part - those of us that bought this game because we love strategy games know that the pinnacle of strategy games is coming out soon(and it won't cost the much more than elemental did!).  now will you keep wasting your time waiting for this game to get out of beta?  or will you buy CIV5 and forget about this game?  it would be funny if it weren't soooooo sad.

stardock screwed up big time by not getting this game fixed before CIV5...

is that better?

Um, I'm sorry but, you're the one that haven't played the game enough. It's true that for Kingdom factions, you need to research advance archer to get long bow, but it's not for Empire factions, for them it is one (Piercing Weapons).

On brad's note about today's quick update, the longbow is suppose to be 40 gold.

I agree with you on the master archer thing though. Not only is it too simple to get bows, it also completely breaks the empire tech tree. You could get lord hammer in 1 warfare tech if you do.