Slight correction, you can shoot a bow incredibly quickly. I've seen practiced archers fire off a dozen arrows in less then a minute, and hit the target every time. Crossbows, however, are rather slow since you have to crank them between each shot.
Indeed, but its all relative. As I've done both sparring and shooting (neither with any great skill, but dozens of hours of each) I feel confident to say that someone at a basic level of skill isn't going to get off more than 10-12 hastily shot arrows a minute, while I could could certainly land more than that number of telling blows with any one-handed weapon, with ample time for defence and manoeuvre.
In my opinion, I'd have rate of fire improve from a basic level far more for archery than crossbows - likewise crossbows are significantly easier to aim and consistent in operation, so accuracy is likely to improve faster with a crossbow than a bow.
The recent updates has me wondering if we'll see realistic "damage type" VS armour type anytime.
You know, chain being superb against slashing but less so at stopping thrusts, while plate is great against said thrusts, too, so you'll prolly want war hammers or poleaxes or other anti-armour weapons. Maybe even padding under plate for protection against concussion.
I recall hearing something about something a little like that being in already, but could never find anything to substantiate it.
There is quite a bit argument over how good mesh-type armours (like maille/chain whatever you wish to call it) are against puncture-type impacts, due to the flex allowing them to more efficiently disperse the force without deformation of the armour's surface; meaning they are more likely to cause serious bruising and breaks than actually pierce the metal armour.
Blunt trauma however, can be much more easily transferred through the mesh as there is nothing to cushion the impact and the surface tension isn't high enough to spread the impact as efficiently as something like a plate.
In anycase, Toady One's latest comments indicate that he's looking into varying the effects. We will have to see what solution he comes up with - given how much the studies and reports vary in their results I don't envy him the task.
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Topic: Future of the Fortress: List of Remaining Items (Read 3667400 times)