Underpowered ranged weapons?

[Melonhead]

Has anyone looked at the stats of these things?

Javelin: 2 mt

Short Spear: 5 mt

Spear: 8 mt

Hand Axe: 3 mt

Short Axe: 7 mt

Tomahawk: 10 mt

That leaves the 2nd tier ranged with equal to or lower mt than IRON weapons, and All first tier weaker than Bronze. Also, the Axes have a little bit of an advantage here.. although that is more common in FE than you think.

Another thing worth mentioning is the uses of all of them is the same: 25. That makes the 3rd tier ranged almost as good as the first ones, if you don't count weapon skill needed.

No Wind Edges, we have a Levin sword as our only practical ranged, with 10 mt-but uses magic (ranged only). I can see a Tactican going crazy with these, though.

Is there an abundance of Bronze weapons in this game, making them the iron ones a luxury in early game? Or are they more of a throwaway weapon for enemies or hard playthroughs as in RD?

[Wooster]

Maybe it's to make Archers and mages useful?

[ReedTien]

In my experience, bronze and iron are more than enough for Normal mode. In fact, I relied on bronze weapons until mid-game for the most part because they are dirt cheap. Yet I'm really itching for steels in Hard mode now though, around chapter 12-13.

However, I must say that I like the reduction in ranged weapons' power. It gives incentive to attack at close range, which in turn makes combat slightly more dangerous/challenging.

[Anouleth]

The ranged weapons are also quite inaccurate and pretty expensive. Those Short Axes cost more than Silver.

It's a welcome holdover from FE12, however, especially considering how much more defense enemies are going to have.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Anouleth

[Thor Odinson]

Maybe it's to make Archers and mages useful?

^ Yeah, that.

Especially archers, since mages at least hit res so they can bomb some serious shit. Archers were horribly redundant in several prior FEs since Javelins and Handaxes have good enough stats that you can basically solo a game with them except with bosses, thus making Archers' ranged contributions not as valueable. With a deduction in the usefulness of 1-2 range Archers' niche as a ranged attacker would be more valueable.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Luminescent Blade

[Richard Lionheart Gasquet]

I'm currently doing FE7, and pretty much the only things I buy are javelins and hand axes. So, nerfing ranged weapons is probably a good thing.

[ZephyrD]

1-2 ranged weapons have always been obscenely powerful in terms of their flexibility, along with pretty good stats. (Can't count the amount of times I've slapped a hand-axe on a hero in FE6-8 and used ONLY hand-axes for their axe choice. Or gave Oswin a hand-axe after promotion and let him murder and entire map with some hand-axes in a casual normal playthrough.) They probably want you to focus on the flexibility part, and give you a much better reason to engage with direct attacks.

And hell, probably wanted to make Bows a bit better, because why the hell is throwing an axe a superior ranged option to a bow?

[Melonhead]

That was fast

I have always used archers, although they have seemed useless in my recent Fe11 playthrough, and the 1 range Tiki just killed me. (Killed Medeus with help from a Gradvius from Wolf about 30 minutes ago) I did like the Marksman range bonus, that would make for a good skill for ranged units.

Deadly Aim

Adds 1 to the maximum range to a unit. Mages, Archers and Manaketes only.

[Zyriex]

Yup, and I personally think it's one of Awakening's many gameplay improvements.

I like that bows are the best ranged physical option; gives them more use/ a better niche

[Melonhead]

Yup, and I personally think it's one of Awakening's many gameplay improvements.

I like that bows are the best ranged physical option; gives them more use/ a better niche

I seriously just pressed refresh after my post and this came up.

[McRamsey]

Maybe it's to make Archers and mages useful?

This is my guess. Especially archers. This is actually a welcome change in my opinion

[Peppy]

I honestly Like this Change to the Ranged Weapons since it makes you rely on using them less...

[Othin]

It works really well, from what I've found. You have to take a big power hit to get that super-useful ranged option, making both melee attacks, bows, and magic all more useful for their dominant roles as 1, 2, and 1-2 range that can no longer all be replaced by a Javelin or Hand Axe.

Eventually, the Javelins and Hand Axes really did just fall out of use. I found myself with several Short Spears and Short Axes, but there doesn't seem to be any place to buy them, so while they were effective, I was stuck with the limited number I had. I also got a Tomahawk, which I used from time to time, but with only one of them, its use was even more limited. I'm sure there's a Spear available somewhere as well, but I didn't get it. On the other hand, in the last third of the game where enemies are all promoted and using Silver or better for their weapons, they're chucking Spears and Tomahawks at you left and right, even on Normal.

And then there's the returning weapons Swanchika and Gradivus, although Gradivus is a bonus and I haven't gotten one yet.

Regarding Bronze weapons, they don't get used too much, although any new weapon starts at E rank and Iron is D so you can wind up using them for a while. They're also the main weapon for players and enemies for the first couple of maps, but that phase is very brief.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Othin

[Silith]

It makes positioning and archers much more valueable. If you compare it to Radiant Dawn where everyone just spams forged JAvelins and Hand Axes.

[Wooster]

Ya know, an alternative solution to Javelins and Hand Axes being over powered could be to make them have a durability of 1…

*Toss!*

You lost a hand axe.

[Diortem]

I guess this is good for balance. Plus, the Tomahawk and the Spear seem fairly decent, so at least those will have some use. I am disowning the hand axes and javelins for being more fail than bronze weapons, however.

[ISRMMBV]

I don't see what the problem is. There's always been a reason to use mages. They tend to be speedier than ax users, their tomes weigh the down less than Javalins weigh down Pegasus knights, and they target Res instead of Def, which makes them borderline game breakers, since most enemies typically have under 10 res at the best in later chapters. Archers have always been iffy for me though (mind, I always use the NeimixColm pair).

[arvilino]

I think the Javelin and Handaxe will still be useful in a few ways. They still should be be a nice choice to counter enemy mages and other low defense ranged units on the enemy phase.

Edited May 2, 2012 by arvilino

[Diortem]

I don't see what the problem is. There's always been a reason to use mages. They tend to be speedier than ax users, their tomes weigh the down less than Javalins weigh down Pegasus knights, and they target Res instead of Def, which makes them borderline game breakers, since most enemies typically have under 10 res at the best in later chapters. Archers have always been iffy for me though (mind, I always use the NeimixColm pair).

Isn't weight nonexistant in this game?

[Othin]

Isn't weight nonexistant in this game?

Indeed.

[ISRMMBV]

In previous games however, your Pegs tended to have 4 or 5 Con and Javalins weighed 11, cutting their speed drastically. Thankfully, this game doesn't have Weight, so now I don't have to worry about Sumia and Tiamo sucking (unless I get really bad level ups).