quote:
Originally posted by Jifodus:
<STRONG>To also make speed appropriate approximations of time you have to have a measurement of time. As well as a reference to something we humans would understand.Puke determined that one game day is 1200 game ticks long. So if we equate that to how many minutes are in a real day (1440), we come up to a single tick being 1.2 real minutes long (or about 1 minute 12 seconds).
It seems plausible to me that an archer should be able to fire at least 2 arrows per tick. An experienced crossbow archer could fire around 1 bolt per tick, and maybe 4 ticks per bolt for a dabbling crossbow archer.
Personally I don't see a problem with the damage handling. I think that having armor actually deflecting arrows would be the more ideal way to go.</STRONG>
I don't think that temporal interpretation really flies, because otherwise people would be able to swing their weapons at least 6 to 12 times per tick, and even more if they were going on all-out attack without regard for defence.
The way I see it, the time is an abstraction and can't be used as a solid basis for balancing ranged weapons unless the rest of the weapons are taken into account. To that end, I suggest that a bow action involve three stages:
1) Draw
2) Aim
3) Loose
Whereas a melee weapon involves three much different stages:
1) Swing
2) Repeat stage 1
3) Repeat stage 1
Pure baseline, I would say that it would take 3 actions to launch an arrow (regardless of type), 4 actions to launch a hunting quarrel (light crossbow), and 5 actions to launch a war quarrel (heavy crossbow). This is all in comparison to 1 action to swing a melee weapon.
The specific length of an "action" is dependent on the skill of the wielder, of course: a highly-skillful markself could certainly put three arrows into the air in a few seconds.
But don't be intimidated by that volume at higher skill levels. Another point of balance that's missing is the amount of work needed to continue firing bows. A standard longsword weighs about five pounds at a maximum in reality, and you don't exactly have to accelerate the longsword a huge amount to make a swing, either: a bowstring draw weight, on the other hand, is fifty pounds at a minimum and gets progressively worse from there. (I imagine that as the game currently stands, firing a ranged weapon takes the same amount of work as swinging a weapon; when it becomes a priority to balance ranged weapons, I'm sure Toady will fix that.)
Thus, highly-skilled characters will fatigue faster when shooting rapidly -- regardless of skill, a shot will still require a certain expenditure of energy to make -- so they will probably take a few rapid shots and then wait until they recover before firing off a few more rapid shots. Ultimately, the skill plays more into accuracy and the ability to unleash an effective barrage at any given moment moreso than it involves the ability to put more arrows into the air. Of course, most highly-skilled characters will probably have one or two benefits (Very Tough), which would allow them to have more stamina, which would allow them to put a little more iron into the air; that would work fine as it is.
Armour balance also needs to be done, but Bodkin-style arrowheads can actually penetrate armour a lot better than the people are suggesting here: only broadheads (intended for hunting and not war) have pathetic penetration ability, and that's because they're intended to be bloodletting warheads. For game purposes, I think it's safe to assume that most people would be using the most effective heads at any given time and that arrows are amorphous abstractions of all of the possible arrowheads put together. IF you want to de-abstract that aspect, you'd have to micromanage the actual arrow loads your troops are carrying at any given time -- I don't think I'd be willing to do that.
[edit]Let me revise my earlier cited actions:
MELEE WEAPON:
* Einshander: 1 action, moderate effort
* Zweihander: 1 action, significant effort
BOW:
* Load bow: 1 action, no effort (represents nocking arrow).
* Fire bow: 2 actions, significant effort (represents total aim, pull, loose).
LIGHT CROSSBOW:
* Load: 2 actions, very significant effort (represents drawing and nocking)
* Fire: 2 actions, no effort (represents aim and loose).
HEAVY CROSSBOW:
* Load: 3 actions, extraordinary effort (represents drawing and nocking)
* Fire: 2 actions, no effort (represents aim and loose).
[ September 27, 2007: Message edited by: JT ]