Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Frogwarrior]

I have this pathological fear of modding. Otherwise I'd be equipping every last dwarf with a *steel carving fork*. Things are NASTY with that 1 contact area.

[Eoganachta]

6 shots? Boy, you need to learn the thumb draw and quick draw.
Skip to 1:10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqqStGeYsj8

Have you ever *shot* a high power long bow? Not a recurve bow, a proper English LONG BOW. They average draw weight is about 120-150 pounds. A good archer might get off ten shots a minute, but not for long. In proper war, if you got off 6 a minute you were considered amazing.

We're talking about bows with a higher draw weight than some people weigh. They are no laughing matter. My hunting bow is around 80 pound draw and it'll kill a bear.

I have shot a war bow and own a few myself. as a re-enacter I understand full well what a bow can do and I love shooting the things.

   [WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_BOW]
      [AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_ARROWS]

I personally mod war bows into the game add give them to humans. just copy and paste the WEAPON_BOW code and edit it so it has a different name and a greater damage.

[Vanaheimer]

6 shots? Boy, you need to learn the thumb draw and quick draw.
Skip to 1:10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqqStGeYsj8

Have you ever *shot* a high power long bow? Not a recurve bow, a proper English LONG BOW. They average draw weight is about 120-150 pounds. A good archer might get off ten shots a minute, but not for long. In proper war, if you got off 6 a minute you were considered amazing.

We're talking about bows with a higher draw weight than some people weigh. They are no laughing matter. My hunting bow is around 80 pound draw and it'll kill a bear.

I have shot a war bow and own a few myself. as a re-enacter I understand full well what a bow can do and I love shooting the things.

   [WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_BOW]
      [AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_ARROWS]

I personally mod war bows into the game add give them to humans. just copy and paste the WEAPON_BOW code and edit it so it has a different name and a greater damage.

Whats the draw weight? What wood is it met of? And what the balls is a "war bow"? Is it recurve? Longbow style?

[Lordraymond]

I'd imagine a war bow would just be that: a bow fit for war.

A bow meant for military use rather than self defense, sport or hunting. Like you have small handguns for self defense and outdated rifles for target shooting and hunting, but you have military grade weaponry.

Also, IIRC, one factor that let bowmen get off more shots is that, for the most part, they didn't actually aim. That's why most of them were prized on strength and not agility or accuracy, as being stronger let them get off more shots without tiring. In reality, being an archer mostly consisted of lining up in huge ranks, aiming in the general direction of the invading force and letting go when your commander gave the word. When you're taking about forces in the thousands or tens of thousands, you're almost guaranteed to hit something in the vicinity.

Then again, Longbowmen were getting close to the time of the musket and such, so they may have had to be more accurate than most medieval bowmen.

[Vanaheimer]

Your bog standard hunting bow is more than sufficient to kill people. Well more.


And accuracy wasn't a big deal on the battlefield, during training accuracy was prized.

[se5a]

I could see dwarfs using a reflex bow...
They're suitably hard to make,
have a high draw weight and short length.

humans should probably have longbows

and maybe give the dirty hippy's recurves?

it'd be nice to see some more diversity in the ranged weapons.

Your bog standard hunting bow is more than sufficient to kill people. Well more.

**** yes. there was a hunter a few years back in NZ who got hit in the shoulder with a modern hunting arrow. they got him to the hospital ok... but they were not able to stop the bleeding.
a modern hunting arrow with a bodkin is a fearsome thing. 

[NonconsensualSurgery]

...What if the bear had steel armor?

A bow is a bow. Hunting bows often have excessive power for the target to flatten the trajectory and make it harder for the creature to dodge. It's not uncommon for people to hunt rabbits with equipment that could also kill any living terrestrial being.

The arrows are what separates war and hunting equipment. For hunting, you want arrowheads that are designed to be difficult to remove and cause massive, wide tissue damage - what you think of when you think of an arrowhead is probably something like a hunting broadhead. Those were fine for slaughtering uppity peasants, but if you had to kill enemies in armor you wanted a thin pointy arrowhead like the bodkin.

And accuracy wasn't a big deal on the battlefield, during training accuracy was prized.

The other big thing was ease of use. The first muskets were a significant downgrade in accuracy and rate of fire over a bow but they still gained popularity. Why? Anyone could use them and quantity trumps quality. Idiots, weak people, people with short limbs... crossbows are the missing link between the two in every way. Dwarves shouldn't even be able to properly use human bows because they couldn't handle the draw length.

I actually picture dwarves with something like a chu-ko-nu. A magazine-fed crossbow plays to a dwarf's strengths (literally, you have to be very strong to use one that has any draw weight) and explains the freakish rate of fire.

[DJ]

It's not uncommon for people to hunt rabbits with equipment that could also kill any living terrestrial being

I can't really see any bow killing an elephant, a hippo or a rhinoceros.

Well, not right away at least. I guess they could die of infection in a couple of days.

[se5a]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5289118/Woman-hunter-kills-elephant-with-bow-and-arrow.html

oh and:

http://www.bowhuntershalloffame.com/members/hillhoward/index.html

[Stil]

We're forgetting the most important point here. What steps can dorfs take to stop bow strings pulling on their beards? Think of the beards!!

[Mimodo]

Making me look all weak with my 30 pound longbow -.- Then again, we're lucky to have a place to shoot a bow... If you're accurate enough, even my bow could kill a bear in steel armour... Unless the armour magically covers every single weak spot in the body... I mean, an arrow through the eye and you're most likely dead...

A dwarf with a longbow... The thing would be double his size! He'd need to carry a stool into battle just so he could get it far enough off the ground to aim... And then, how the hell would he pull it back?

And yes, the beard! The pain you would experience with a bowstring pulling your beard from your face... I don't even want to think about it! I think crossbows are much more suited to the dwarves. Or any bow small enough for them to hold.

Elves and humans should be left with the longbows...

[Dareon Clearwater]

We're forgetting the most important point here. What steps can dorfs take to stop bow strings pulling on their beards? Think of the beards!!

Well, Dwarven Amazons could cut off half their beards.  A fate worse than sobriety.

[Dragula]

I think the edge crossbows had over bows is that they don't fire in an arc, so you get more accuracy, is this correct?

[FrisianDude]

English and Welsh longbowmen were amongst the most lethal forces on any medieval battlefield, and they made crossbowmen and regular archers look like children playing with nerf guns.

Lol, no.


But anyway, I love marksdwarfs a lot as well. Problem is that I often forget to make enough bolts. Like in my current fortress. More than half of my marksdwarfs had NO bolts. Even though I have a legendary bone carver and enough bones! Bone bolts are better than no bolts.

[HorridOwn4ge]

I think the edge crossbows had over bows is that they don't fire in an ark, so you get more accuracy, is this correct?

Looking at the devlog I'm wondering if bows will fire in a parabolic ark too after the next update?