How important are ranged weapons?

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Ranged weapons were crucial in BG 1, but it's been my experience so far that melee is much more important in BG2. Whereas in BG1, it seemed to me like you needed four characters handy with some type of bow, in BG2 you can get by with two or three.

Opinions?

 

Depneds on situation. I found ranged weapons exceptionally useful in BG-2. I found various occasions that would have been quite hard to play without ranged weapons for me.

to name a few,: The party in the sewers, Koshi , larger numbers of mindflayers, and golems. Using the guard function my "archers" Mazzy, Kheldorn and Minsc open fire extremely quick and can cripple or destroy any opposing force quickly before switching over to melee. I think the party armamanet must be ballanced, so every fighter should have a ranged weapon at hand. To name it: The way I use my ranged weapons the in fact *do* dominate the fight - my party with the cavalier in front and his missile support behind is unstoppable.

slings: Since bullets are comsidered as blunt weapons, slings are very useful against skelettons and golems. Sling of everard´s ghost bullets can destroy adamantite golems and there is the sling or Arvoreen +4 that gives +4 on damage and THACO. In the later stages of the game I found Jaheira use slings with about 20+ damage each hit while attacking twice per round ... imagine a grandmaster with slings and 4 attacks per round ...

Crossbows, shortbows and longbows: Very useful weapons: Arrows and bolts do piercing damage and there are quite a number of good special arrawos available. But the coolest weapons here are gesen´s bow and tansheron´s bow: T-Bows ghost arrows can hurt iron golems and gesen´s bow deals out electrical damage to the opponent.

I think that ranged weapons are a necessary part of any parties equipment. Melee usually deals out more damage but ranged weapon fire is quicker on targed (arrows move simply faster than any fighter).

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited June 22, 2001).]

 

I agree with Ragusa!

The most used missile weapons in my party are: Tansheron's short bow +3 (Mazzy) and Short bow of Gesen +4 (Imoen). It is especially useful in the elven city where you can kill the huge adamantine golems with just massive missile fire. Also these bows require no ammo, so they are an absolute MUST for any party.

 

LOL. I have been training for four years now and I'm the best warrior there is. I'll kill you with my... err sling.

Slings are useful but it's just funny to have a berseker with a sling don't you think?

 

You need Ranged weapons to have Priest/Druid/Mage spells interupted, else they can often cast a spell before you reached them and damage them by the sword.

 

No Marnix, you can do it and more with simple silence spell. There are many items that provide it if you're not a mage...

Yet, there are areas like Underwater City you should have someone with ranged weapons.

In all, they are important in amount you think they are important. Each one of us has his own style of playing.

[This message has been edited by Extremist (edited June 22, 2001).]

 

I think the most usefull thing about them is that your whole party wont be able to fight in melee that often. Narrow pathways and such I think you find all over, and you dont have to run after a panicked hasted bad guy.

 

ranged wepons can swing battles, if a high level mage is at the other end of the room, and he has some good fighters/monsters with him, it can be very hard to get to him and stop him from casting - which can be disasterous ( i don't think i spelt that right, please forgive me, i am not very well today )

 

I think missle weapons are very important. My fighter dc thief has the Tuigan bow and 5 * in short bows, so he attacks 4 times per round. He's stolen as many magical arrows as he can carry and when he let's the Arrows of Piercing fly four times per round, he's a force. It's difficult for enemy mages to get spells off when their under a hail of deadly arrows. It gives my melee fighters a chance to close the gap and finish them off. Plus for slow-moving monsters like ghasts and ghouls, my character can often kill them before they can even get close enough to my party to attack.

 

ranged weapons? Important? Neccesary? AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAH. No. In BG1 and 2, All my playthroughs have been without ranged weapons. Period. Even my mages melee. And it works for me

 

I think ranged weapons play a very important role in the game. As said above, they are handy for disrupting spell casting, and can help get enemies before they get to you. The only problem with them is the vast amount of ammo required for them, and am looking forward to greatly the items in ToB which grant infinite +1 or +2 bullets, arrows and bolts. However the desigeners clearly put a lot more effort into melee weapons, and as there is such a great range of close combat weapons, they too become fairly vital.

 

Ranged Weapons? Yes, they ease the first quarter of the game enormously, 2nd quarter a little bit, third and fourth quarters though are filled with enemies who care not about projectiles shot at them... (Ever killed a Tanar'ri with a bow?) So, archer always is a worthy addition to the party, but he is nothing if a good long sword cannot find a place in his hand. In this case, Archer(Ranger kit) is a very capable solo character, but agile and not strong thief is not.

[This message has been edited by ayecapitan (edited June 25, 2001).]

 

I don't really favor melee weapons over ranged ones. I think it's fun to cast web on some creatures, and pick them off with ranged weapons.

 

I let Jaheira uses the Sling of Everand which requires no bullet

This can disturb the spellcasting and the most important is the 'no-bullet' feature!

 

The are very usefull. In the Planar sphere, my fronline warriors (Minsc, me / cavalier)and Anomen was blocked by maze/hold etc., leaving only Yoshimo and Valyghar availeble. Tuigan Bow/Heartseeker ... It was nice, the only problem that in the sphere I finished a big amount of arrows.

 

Indeed, with the Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy and good profiency/lvl you almost never miss and that disrupts casting much better then a silence-spell that needs time to cast. When you have good ranghed weapons you can have enemies damaged a lot before they reached you and then finish them with the sword.

 

About that, who is better, Mazzy or Valygar? I have the second in my party, with Heartseeker+3, but I want to try Mazzy. The strenght has influence for bow damage?
Sugestions?

P.S. who could master the crossbow?

 

Strength neither influences arrow damage nor does it influence ranged weapon THACO iirc. I think there is only one sling that adds a high strength damage bonus.
Ranged weapon THACO is just influenced by dexterity, the damage is influenced by proficiency, the weapon itself and the sort arrows you use.

And I definitely perfer mazzy to valygar - though it is funny to have Viconia, Mazzy and Valygar in your part at the same time (nice conversations).

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited June 27, 2001).]

 

I hate to have Mazzy AND Valygar both in the party. They remind me of that upcoming game - NWN. And I want them not to go there, but to get to the world of Arcanum or Torn!

 

I believe thrown weapon damage is influenced by strength however, but has limited range. Useful for my dwarf berserker.