Bowmaker vs Bronzeweaponsmith...

[Deorum]

I have an idea.

Since Recruits and Bowmen have almost the same value in battle,

and since bowmaker uses much more recources, is slower, and takes one building slot,

would i be better without any bowmen from the start? what would you think if i tore the building down?

production is musc slower than bronze weaponsmith, and more expensive, units are more expensive too, and in battle they have the same value. Actually recruits might be a little better.

What do you think? Should i lighten my log consumption, and a building slot?

[Nukar]

Bows do more damage then recruits. But you need recruits infront of them to keep the bows in 1 piece.
So you want em in your army (as long as you are not facing dogs). As long as you keep em alive you will not need new bows.
But as soon as you can you will want to replace the bows for Longbows.

[Deorum]

Some simulations i did, it was pretty the same. for example.

100R + 50Bow men, agains 100enemies (50 + 50)
resulted in same exactly loses as
150recruits against the same number of enemies.

So why bother with bowmen?

[Nukar]

try simulations to larger groups of enemies.
I agree at 1st it doent matter much, and for the medium camps you will want recruits only for most of them anyway

[Deorum]

There goes (down) the bowmaker...

in a few days, i will reconsider building it...

[Qualan]

it dpends how much damage output you need. on the whole you might need bowmaker for some time to have the damage when needed and not havinga ccess to longbowmen yet- after that you dont need the building usually as you will most likely get more bows as adventure rewards than you use up later on- depending on playstyle and adventures you favor though )

and... bows are cheap to buy- very cheap

[Cotax]

yeah bowman sucks, didnt even build a single one.

just remove the building and put 2 cooking plants in return. thats a lot more for ur buck.

[Batina]

Recruits are uber cannon fodder. You will need loads of them. I have never lost a bowman... currently i have 4 upgraded bronze smiths working and actually lacking settlers rather then weapons / beer...

I.

[Mystic]

Bowmen rules untill the Longbows comes around. A recruit does 15-30 damage, while an bowmen does 20-40. Which is 33% more. Tricky point is that you need to send enough recruits to protect your bowmen. I never lost bowmen untill they became obselete, so it really pays to have an bowmaker. Basically an bowmen stands behind an recruits dashing out damage, while your recruits take the damage.
In a later stage you still want to have bows around as there are special cases in which you can better send bowmen then recruits as they do more damage, so you need less of them.