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[Scoops Novel]

I'm not fully familiar with the history involved, but as i understand it the invention of a weapon which suckered the advantage of knight's armour was quite troubling for feudalism and presumably changed tactics quite a bit. Additionally, I also struggle to recall much fantasy with crossbow's as run of the mill weaponry. Does anyone have much of a clue about the impact they had politically and tactically, and how they've been used in other settings?

[Loud Whispers]

I literally just got a pdf last week detailing how a crossbow's bolt would not have been able to penetrate the layered plate armour, padding and hauberk a wealthy Knight would have worn. If I find it I'll chuck it here.
In DF though, crossbows are all the rage. They destroy armoured and unarmoured humanoids.

[TeleDwarf]

That depends on a crossbow. There were crossbows that had to be operated by several men...

The main, decisive, feature of a crossbow was that it could streamline the drill, making it much cheaper then before (longbowman must be trained from the age of 5!). Same reason why early firearms became so popular while being weaker and less accurate and more weather-sensitive then other ranged weapons of the time.

[BoredVirulence]

A crossbows real benefit is ease of use. That is, it takes a great deal of training for a peasant to properly use a longbow. It takes a great deal less for a crossbow. Hitting a target from a distance is always difficult, but its easier to aim when you aren't constantly fighting 150+ ft lbs of force.

I believe there were a great deal of historians saying the what you've said, but I believe more modern tests have proven they are no better at penetrating armor than a comparable bow. We do know many rulers made them illegal, but again I believe it was because it was an easy weapon to use, and you don't want your peasants being comparable to your knights in combat.

Another issue was that it was easy to prevent a peasant from using longbows properly. It wasn't uncommon for rulers to have the upper section of the ring finger(?) removed from peasants so that they could not muster the force to draw the bow and hold an arrow. Crossbows can be drawn, and aimed separately, negating that ease of disarming the peasants.

[ShadowHammer]

Irl, longbows require much more skill and strength than crossbows, and as mentioned, longbow men trained from very young ages, which made them difficult to replace when they died. Conversely, a crossbow required less strength and skill to use. Therefore, the Lord of the castle could just throw some crossbows at his peasants, and be able to realistically expect them to be able to injure armored knights (assuming, f course, that the peasants didn't turn around and shoot him). Even if a crossbow bolt wasn't able to pierce layered plate mail, it would definitely still bruise. The main advantage of longbows is that a skilled longbowman would have been able to shoot up to around five times faster than a crossbowman (fire rate, not projectile velocity).

Basically, a crossbow is easier to learn, but a longbow has a higher skill cap.

EDIT: ninja'd

[Scoops Novel]

Alright, so what did nobles do in response? How did it change warfare and the use of heavy armour?

[Blastbeard]

What bothers me is, what did dwarves use for ranged combat before crossbows? Slings? You have to have some sort of ranged weapon, not everyone can learn to throw rocks and fluffy wamblers with sniper accuracy.

[Broken]

What bothers me is, what did dwarves use for ranged combat before crossbows? Slings? You have to have some sort of ranged weapon, not everyone can learn to throw rocks and fluffy wamblers with sniper accuracy.

Magma cannons.

[Manveru Taurënér]

Well, since the civs ingame are put down on the world already possessing advanced knowledge it's hard to say whether they knew how to make crossbows from the beginning of time, or whether their advanced mechanical knowledge made the idea to craft crossbows a guaranteed natural event soon after being given life.

[TeleDwarf]

What bothers me is, what did dwarves use for ranged combat before crossbows? Slings? You have to have some sort of ranged weapon, not everyone can learn to throw rocks and fluffy wamblers with sniper accuracy.

Dwarves still quite enjoy throwing tantrums, other dwarves and cave sections. But I think tantrum is the first ranged weapon of dwarfkind.

[Blastbeard]

Well, since the civs ingame are put down on the world already possessing advanced knowledge it's hard to say whether they knew how to make crossbows from the beginning of time, or whether their advanced mechanical knowledge made the idea to craft crossbows a guaranteed natural event soon after being given life.

I think I've figured out where Crossbows came from.

And lo, after Armok Almighty did drop The First Anvil from the heavens, and this Anvil did crush The Eighth Dwarf, did Armok bestow another gift to His chosen people in His one and only act of apology.
Thus, did the First Crossbow, and the First Bolts did descend from the sky, The First Crossbow crafted of finest Carp bone and the First Bolts lovingly cradled within a Scamps Leather Quiver.
And the Lord Armok did speak, and He said this,
"Here, make more of these too. Kthxbai."
And the First Dwarves did grin, for they knew much blood would be spilt with this holy device, and all reproductions which would follow, with which they would appease their creator, Mighty Armok, God of Blood, forever and ever, amen.

[MDFification]

What bothers me is, what did dwarves use for ranged combat before crossbows? Slings? You have to have some sort of ranged weapon, not everyone can learn to throw rocks and fluffy wamblers with sniper accuracy.

Dwarves still quite enjoy throwing tantrums, other dwarves and cave sections. But I think tantrum is the first ranged weapon of dwarfkind.

The real question is why are dwarfs able to throw snowballs with enough force to explode a bronze colossus' head? They must just be lightly tapping their enemies with regular weapons, since they're not exploding in gore with every swing.
I conclude that outside adventure mode, nobody really cares about this whole "killing" thing. They're just putting in the minimal effort and hoping nobody notices.

[Scoops Novel]

Every race get's crossbows, correct?

[Manveru Taurënér]

Every race get's crossbows, correct?

Only Dwarves and Goblins afaik?

[Larix]

Humans, too. Elves and kobolds are restricted to bows, the various subterranean animalpeople only use blowguns.