Gothic 2 .. the bow

[johns1234]

Gothic 2 newbie ... I have a hunting bow 30-30. Sometimes it works, but
mostly it doesn't. It seems to work when I'm so close that I have trouble
putting it away before the beast is on me. If it is a range problem, it seems to work from about 20 feet away, and that is all. In Gothic 3, my bow was my best weapon most of the time. Can I increase the range of the bow
by using learning points with trainers ? Or do I have to have a better bow ?

[Omid-]

You need more dexterity to shoot from a longer distance. But my strategy with bows is always climb on something the enemy can't reach.

[kjmarket]

To add to what he said...using boulders, walls, or anything that keeps you out of reach is a great way to hunt. An dyes, the more you train your bow skill, the more often you'll hit your mark from a greater distance.

[johns1234]

Nothing is for free in this game. I've developed a "run and gun" tactic
with the bow. I even got a horned small dragon at the Pass that way.
Sword was worthless against him. I went right up to the beast and
shot an arrow, and then ran like stink down the trail until he quit chasing
me. Save and do it again and again and again. Even with Medium Merc
armor, and the best Long Sword, I cannot defeat one of those dragons.
And at the Prisoners Fort, some guy tried to rip off 10 LP for sword
fighting, so I will have to wait until I get back to Khorinis for training
... where I can get my monies worth. I'm glad they didn't make it this
hard in Gothic 3. I could use a few easy quests about now ... say a
camp full of about 50 Orcs in Nordmar :-)

[eldawen]

And at the Prisoners Fort, some guy tried to rip off 10 LP for sword
fighting, so I will have to wait until I get back to Khorinis for training
... where I can get my monies worth.

10 LP's to increase sword fighting by 5%? That's the normal cost when you have reached sword fighting to 30% and the cost is same everywhere. Or at least I haven't found any NPC who teaches something with different price than others do.

[kjmarket]

10 LP's to increase sword fighting by 5%? That's the normal cost when you have reached sword fighting to 30% and the cost is same everywhere. Or at least I haven't found any NPC who teaches something with different price than others do.

That is the normal cost everywhere at that point.

[Thorwyn]

You need more dexterity to shoot from a longer distance. No, for that you have to increase your bow-skill. Dexterity is only necessary to use (cross-)bows and increases your damage.

Addition to the LP-costs:
You always have to pay 2 LP for 1%, when the lower skill is one level beneath the higher skill (e.g. when you are a 1h-master and a 2h-fighter). Then the lower skill is automatically increased, until it reaches the same level as the higher skill.
(without addon)

[johns1234]

No, for that you have to increase your bow-skill. Dexterity is only necessary to use (cross-)bows and increases your damage.

Addition to the LP-costs:
You always have to pay 2 LP for 1%, when the lower skill is one level beneath the higher skill (e.g. when you are a 1h-master and a 2h-fighter). Then the lower skill is automatically increased, until it reaches the same level as the higher skill.
(without addon)

Does that mean I should focus on increasing my 2h-skill, and then my
1h-skill will also increase automatically ? I must be doing something
wrong with my LPs. I'm a good 15 hours into the game, and I feel like
I should be much stronger and have better weapons.

I'm trying a Ruby Blade right now, and it doesn't seem to be as good as
my Fine Long Sword even though it has higher hit-points. I think I'm
being tricked by the game into false assumptions about upgrades.

[Thorwyn]

Does that mean I should focus on increasing my 2h-skill, and then my
1h-skill will also increase automatically ? Yes. But nevertheless you'll be able to reach very high skills; in Gothic 2 without addon it's quite easy to get 100% weapon skill and more than 200 strength/dexterity.

I'm trying a Ruby Blade right now, and it doesn't seem to be as good as
my Fine Long Sword even though it has higher hit-points. I think I'm
being tricked by the game into false assumptions about upgrades. These two weapons have a different range. The ruby blade's is 70 and the fine longsword's is 90, so that you can hit an enemy more easily with the fine longsword.
But since you are playing an archer, you should mainly increase your dexterity, to do more damage with bows, your sword doesn't have to be the best ...

[Omid-]

What? In gothic 1 wich i played a week ago.. i didn't have any bow skill but 115 dexterity, i shot everything from a very long distance. With 240% range of view i could shoot when i just saw an enemie. So i think you need dexterity to shoot from a long distance unless they changed this in Gothic 1.

[Thorwyn]

[...] unless they changed this in Gothic 1. They did. ;)

[Omid-]

They did. ;)

How come you know all these stuff about Gothic. You always have the correct answers :D. Just tried, started Gothic 2 and cheated to get 2000 dexterity, didn't really work shooting from a far distance :D.