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[sproingie]

Crossbows have a number of other disadvantages too, including short range, and a horizontal design that practically limits their size.  At Agincourt, the archers were using longbows as tall as a man with ridiculously high draw weights, with arrows tipped with what amounted to heavy steel daggers that could be flung over 150 meters.  Ouch.

Dwarves however live and train underground so there's little room for the "arch" in archery, don't have the same leverage given their size, and besides, mechanical contraptions like crossbows are just more dwarfy.  Makes sense to me.

[Reese]

Yeah, a peasant (worth almost nothing) with a crossbow (not worth very much) had a chance to take down a knight (worth shitloads + years of training) back in medievil times.

Though spears were good, very cheap, I think Robert the Bruce used them to take down English Knights.

Chance? A crossbow made out of paper with a paper bolt has been used to kill a person, a medieval crossbow could kill a knight easily if they used it right and targeted the right place and a modern crossbow can pierce 2-3 inches of iron plate(again, if you use it right and aim at the right place) and you're telling us that they had a chance to kill a knight? They would kill the knight no questions asked so long as the bolt hit the target...

my bolding up there...

an untrained peasant doesn't know how to use it or where to aim, but can still be deadly without much training because it's a lot easier to sue than a bow, that's the whole point.

And, actually, mythbusters looked into the whole paper crossbow thing... implausible, you'd only get a few shots, and you'd ahve to be very lucky to actually kill anything.

Armor technology improved right along with weapons technology, and a lot of what they could do with layered armor is only just being rediscovered by scientists; good plate armor could stop pretty much anything.

[Cockyy]

2007: Surinder Singh Bajwa, the Deputy Mayor of Delhi, India, was kicked by a Rhesus Macaque monkey at his home and fell from a first floor balcony, suffering serious head injuries. He later died from his injuries.[152]

Without Dwarf Fortress this wouldn't be as funny as it is.

[Lord Shonus]

Yeah, a peasant (worth almost nothing) with a crossbow (not worth very much) had a chance to take down a knight (worth shitloads + years of training) back in medievil times.

Though spears were good, very cheap, I think Robert the Bruce used them to take down English Knights.

Chance? A crossbow made out of paper with a paper bolt has been used to kill a person, a medieval crossbow could kill a knight easily if they used it right and targeted the right place and a modern crossbow can pierce 2-3 inches of iron plate(again, if you use it right and aim at the right place) and you're telling us that they had a chance to kill a knight? They would kill the knight no questions asked so long as the bolt hit the target...

Not true actually, this is a common myth, a knight in the most uptodate armour was invunerable to nearly everything on the battlefield, a crossbow bolt wouldn't faze them unless you were very lucky (or just shot the horse) its the same as people who believe that knights were vunerable to handguns, to begin with (up to about the 1540's) plate armour (espically gothic and italian) could easily withstand a muskect ball, all good ones were 'proofed' as evidence of this, anyway my point is that a crossbow bolt would in no way easily kill a knight!

This is not quite accurate. The only places where even late plate armor could reliably stop a bullet was in the breast. The vastly thicker armor there is what gives later models their almost feminine appearance. A shot from a hand cannon to the lower torso or back would penetrate, although the wound would be significantly lessened. When the arquesbus was introduced, even the chest area was uncertain except at long range, and a musket could penetrate anything a man could wear without making him immobile off a horse. Theres a very good reason why everyone but the Italians and a few small states had largely abandoned body armor by the mid 1500s.

[FluffyToast J]

Because of Dwarf Fortress...

... All my friends roll their eyes when I tell them about what happened in my latest fort, and about the new version's epic features.

I'll show them... Just like I showed that countess. They'll see... Oh, they'll see... :evil grin:

[Chewykittens]

Yesterday my father had spent most of the day trying to fix a leak in our kitchen faucet.  At about the 4 hour mark he got fed up and threw a few tools around, yelled profanities at the sink and cooled off in his room.

My first thought was " 'Dad' cancels task: Throwing Tantrum"

Also I'm planning on making him something for his bill-paying desk describing him as the record keeper noble. 

[dragnar]

Yesterday my father had spent most of the day trying to fix a leak in our kitchen faucet.  At about the 4 hour mark he got fed up and threw a few tools around, yelled profanities at the sink and cooled off in his room.

My first thought was " 'Dad' cancels task: Throwing Tantrum"

Also I'm planning on making him something for his bill-paying desk describing him as the record keeper noble. 

Is he superdwarvenly tough from all the record-keeping yet?

[inteuniso]

Girls pull the lever on my retracting bridge.

I think of people's skills as dabbling, novice, expert, legendary, etc.

[Blargityblarg]

I thought that even though armour would stop a bullet (and thus pass the 'proofing',) the armour itself would fuck up the knight's intestines and kill him with internal bleeding instead?

[Lord Shonus]

One of many factors I glossed over.

[Neruz]

I thought that even though armour would stop a bullet (and thus pass the 'proofing',) the armour itself would fuck up the knight's intestines and kill him with internal bleeding instead?

Against a musket, plate armour is actually quite effective.

You'll still suffer severe bruising, and possibly a cracked rib or two, but unless you're unlucky, you'll live.

[Lord Shonus]

Plate's never ben able to stand up to a musket. The older arquebus and handgonne didn't do as well, but the musket didn't come into play until a relatively late date, and were prized for their extreme ability to stop cavalry.

In any case, we've gone so far off topic it's not even funny.

[Innominate]

Plate's never ben able to stand up to a musket. The older arquebus and handgonne didn't do as well, but the musket didn't come into play until a relatively late date, and were prized for their extreme ability to stop cavalry.

In any case, we've gone so far off topic it's not even funny.

Indeed, if I'm not mistaken we've gone so far off topic that we've even taken the off-topic discussion into a different, still unrelated thread.

[darkrider2]

...I'm suspecting my history teacher of being an elven spy because he has one pointy ear.

...mushrooms taste better then they used to.

[jokermatt999]

...I demand the windows in my house be made from gems.

...I fear dust, knowing it will knock me out instantly.

...I know that a 10 foot square plot of land can feed at least 20 people for a season.