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[Afghani84]

I want to embark with a hunter and I am trying to find the best skills to use. I found this quote in one of the older threads:

Personally I always embark with a hunter (assuming a non-evil biome).  5 points Ambusher, 2 Marksdwarf, 2 Archer, 1 Swimming.

The swimming is so that if your hunter dodges right into a murky pool/river, he's more likely to survive.

Ambusher makes sense as you can approach animals faster and you will not be tracked as easily.
Swimming sounds like a good idea as well against prey that fights back.

What I don't get is the reason why you would split the remaining points between Archer and Crossbowman. Crossbowman increases accuracy and speed for crossbows. Archer - from what I can tell - encompasses everything you can shoot/throw. Does it increase accuracy and speed as well? If so, Crossbowman would be kinda redundant and points into Archer way better as they benefit all other weapons besides crossbows as well.

Hope this makes sense to anyone... 

[SpiralDimentia]

Archer increases the deadliness of the shot. Kind of. According to the wiki, it seems to somewhat ''reduce the chance of an enemy dodging the shot.''

[Afghani84]

Archer increases the deadliness of the shot. Kind of. According to the wiki, it seems to somewhat ''reduce the chance of an enemy dodging the shot.''

Hmm...the same can be found for Crossbowman in the wiki: "Higher skill levels grant better accuracy and a higher rate of fire. Additionally, they significantly reduce the probability of the enemy dodging."

I just don't understand what Archery does exactly...

[Dwarf_Fever]

Archer increases the deadliness of the shot. Kind of. According to the wiki, it seems to somewhat ''reduce the chance of an enemy dodging the shot.''

Hmm...the same can be found for Crossbowman in the wiki: "Higher skill levels grant better accuracy and a higher rate of fire. Additionally, they significantly reduce the probability of the enemy dodging."

I just don't understand what Archery does exactly...

Most likely he is trying to get more bang for his buck in terms of point-buy. It's cheaper to go from 0-2 archery than from 3-5 marksdwarf. However, that assumes that the two stack to be a useful line of thought.

[Afghani84]

Archer increases the deadliness of the shot. Kind of. According to the wiki, it seems to somewhat ''reduce the chance of an enemy dodging the shot.''

Hmm...the same can be found for Crossbowman in the wiki: "Higher skill levels grant better accuracy and a higher rate of fire. Additionally, they significantly reduce the probability of the enemy dodging."

I just don't understand what Archery does exactly...

Most likely he is trying to get more bang for his buck in terms of point-buy. It's cheaper to go from 0-2 archery than from 3-5 marksdwarf. However, that assumes that the two stack to be a useful line of thought.

I don't mind the few extra points spent at embark if it would give me a clear advantage later on

[BastiBasti]

5 skill points into something isn't a clear advantage later on, when you have a huge number of migrants and the ability to build large training centers. Archery mostly makes you shots less "dodgeable", but crossbowman helps with pretty much everything else. But unless you're going into a very hostile embark, just train it up later and put the points into turkeys, or something.

[vanatteveldt]

From the fine wiki:

A scientific test of how the Archer and Marksdwarf skills affect ranged combat: Dwarven Research: A Study of the 'Archer' and 'Marksdwarf' Skills:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=117284.0 seems relevant

Edit: Their conclusions:

• The 'Marksdwarf' skill is confirmed to affect weapon accuracy and rate of fire. It also decreases enemy dodge chance. It has negligible effect on the damage type.
• The 'Archer' skill is has almost no impact on crossbow ranged performance. The sole exception found in this study was dodge chance, which decreased significantly with an increase in skill (but still not as significantly as with 'Marksdwarf'). There was absolutely no significant correlation between 'Archer' skill level and damage type.

So it seems that it makes a lot more sense to just put all these points into marksdwarf.

5 skill points into something isn't a clear advantage later on, when you have a huge number of migrants and the ability to build large training centers. Archery mostly makes you shots less "dodgeable", but crossbowman helps with pretty much everything else. But unless you're going into a very hostile embark, just train it up later and put the points into turkeys, or something.

Well that can be said of almost everything you pick at embark, no? These extra turkeys are even more easy to replace, and the same holds for almost everything you take on embark except for the bare necessities. OT, my embark strategy is usually one good miner and mason and for the rest skills that are more difficult to train or are useful for training, such as military+teacher and smithing (which I consider difficult to train since it takes fuel, which can be quite scarce until you hit magma).

[Afghani84]

awesome, that is exactly what I was looking for. thanks a lot! 

[slothen]

Archer is the equivalent of Fighter, but for ranged attacks.  Useful, but not a specific weapon skill, and trained while doing things that also train other skills.  Crossbows, Bows, Blowguns, Throwing, and certain interaction attacks like fire breath and deadly spittle use and train up the Archer skill.

[SpiralDimentia]

Which i guess is why when the monarch arrives, his entourage has awesome weapon skills, but little to no 'fighter' skill. [So I've read.]