Archery possibilities

[Angela Christine]

I want a mul or half-giant that carries a modified siege crossbow like Detrius the troll has (see Discworld novels for more information).  It can fire a giant siege bolt capable of punching through stone walls, or a bundle of a hundred modified bolts that tend to shatter into thousands of flying fragments and spontaniously burst into flame mid-flight due to the forces involved, making it the ultimate crowd control weapon.

When  Mr. Safety Catch is off, Mr. Crossbow is not your friend.


Angela Christine

[Synthesis]

Okay, people keep comparing apples to oranges here, and think they're being clever.

1) Sure, if a baseball hits you in the head at 90mph, you're going to get knocked the fuck out.  What happens if an -arrow- hits you in the head at 200mph? It's probably going to send a nice chunk of your brain screaming out the exit wound.

2) Yes, if a mul or a half-giant throws something at you, it's going to hurt very, very badly.  The code already reflects this, as I pointed out.  However, if a mul or a half-giant shoots you with a bow and an arrow that are large enough to reflect the fact that they are incredibly strong, again, it's going to hurt much, much worse than whatever they threw at you.  (Unless it was  friggin' boulder or something that wouldn't travel very far anyway. I'm limiting the discussion to regular throwing weapons.)

3) Getting hit with an arrow doesn't make you stumble to the ground, ever.  Unless it brings you to critical condition and you -crumple- to the ground.

4) Yes, archery can do vicious damage.  But throw can do as much or more, which negates any supposed damage advantage.  I've been shot by one of the best rangers in the game from 1 room away (The Bushman, you scary son of a bitch) and it hammered me for about 60hp.  Yeah, that hurt...but I've had a throwing knife hit my fricking -leg- before for 70hp.  That arrow nailed me right in the neck.  Now imagine how much more damage that knife would've done if it had been a -good- throw -and- a strong throw.

5) Another advantage of throwing weapons that I didn't cover in my original:  the wind is -never- blowing too strongly to prevent throwing a weapon from 1 room away.  In my above throwing example, I got hit from 1 room away during a blinding sandstorm.

[Kennath]

This is what i'd like to see: while HP STA and STU all clutter your prompt, add shock. Most everything kills through shock. Thats why if you shoot someone who is insane/high he'll keep running out you like nothing unless you hit something vital. I've seen police reports on the internet about it all the time with methheads chargeing at people and takeing a few bullets. Arrows had the same factor, the caused pain and even greater blood loss. Swords could kill this way too. Why do you think people faint? Lose consciousness in torture of non-vital areas? Blunt items may knock you out, but that arrow is gonna make you bleed. And characters max shock could increase with the more insane they became Your strength sux, your dex rox, your wisdom is horrible, your endurance is lance armstrong, your insanity is above average  :twisted:

[elvenchipmunk]

To the Original Poster, I like the second idea more than the first.

But, before something like this is put in (not saying it's going to be put in, just saying) I say archery be made a little...better. Now, I know that if you get really good at it, you can do some real damage, but I also think that if an arrow is shot at you, no matter if it's going 50 mph or 100 mph, it's going to stick in you, and hurt you. I think arrows must do 2 or 3 damage when you start out at the moment, and I'd like to see this changed, even if just by a bit.

I just realized that was kind of a derail, so, to sum up, the second idea would be neat, because it would be very realistic. You never know when the people fighting might suddenly take eachother's positions, and that arrow you just shot is heading straight for yiur buddy's back!  

[Delirium]

I just realized that was kind of a derail, so, to sum up, the second idea would be neat, because it would be very realistic. You never know when the people fighting might suddenly take eachother's positions, and that arrow you just shot is heading straight for yiur buddy's back!  :P

The code already accounts for the difficulty in accurately aiming at a fighting combatant.

[Maybe42or54]

I've seen three people die from a random dart to the head.
And I've been killed once from some shooting at me and running. Took about six shots with my regen rate.

[Armaddict]

Didn't look too deeply at this thread, because I think archery is pretty good right now, but I had a couple ideas of my own.  If they were already suggested and I missed them, I apologize.

Idea 1:
If you are currently 'taking aim at your target', and they leave that room, either heading to an adjacent room that takes them out of your sight, or towards you in a charge move...can't the arrow go ahead and be released, even if at a penalty?  Just kind of a peeve of mine when I'm aiming at something and wait for the delay, then suddenly get 'that person isn't there' or whatever the message is.  And in the latter case...come on, a guy with a sword charges me, and suddenly I can't fire anymore because he's now in the same room as me, rather than in a separate one?  Unless he has mad zig-zagging skills, that should be a surefire way to get a shot.

Idea 2:
'shoot west far'  'shoot west near'

If there's a group of PC's in an area, can we just fire an arrow in that direction, with the chance of hitting any or none of them?  Just thought it'd be sweet for volleys, rather than forcing a group of archers to insta-kill a pc at a time with uber-accurate volleys.  I dunno, thought it sounded more real to at least have this option.  Useful for if you aren't sure what the hell target to go for, but you still want to be shooting at 'em.

Feel free to 'shoot these down'!  Ahahahahah!  That's a kneeslapper.

Sorry.

[Maybe42or54]

The second one has merit, but what if you are just shooting a warning arrow to tell your friend the enemy is coming?

watch west
l e
You see a shitload of ready to kill pcs.

shoot arrow west

Your friend crumples to the ground as the arrows goes through his eye!

think Fuck, now I gotta set off the trap.

[Armaddict]

Oh yeah.

I forgot there are never stray arrows.  Ever.

[Ghost]

Those saying throw is more powerful than archery:  Have you checked it recently?  Or is it from old times?  I am asking because I had a character who was (to my observation) pretty high in throw, yet I could make really little damages from time to time.  And I do not remember dropping someone to dead with a few throwing knives.
There was also another player from my time, he was pretty skilled in throw too.  And yet, never again have I seen him doing any scary damage.
By scary damage I mean 35+.  These are all recent, I mean, like 5-6 months ago from now.

But arrow, I have seen rangers doing 60+ with a single arrow.  I have seen people drop with one or two arrows.  Two arrows would mean death to almost any PC in the game.

I am thinking throw is tweaked sometime ago, maybe that is the case?  Because I think I would notice the beauty of the damage with throw with that char of mine, but I did not.

[elvenchipmunk]

I just realized that was kind of a derail, so, to sum up, the second idea would be neat, because it would be very realistic. You never know when the people fighting might suddenly take eachother's positions, and that arrow you just shot is heading straight for yiur buddy's back!  

The code already accounts for the difficulty in accurately aiming at a fighting combatant.

I didn't know that. If you mean the code makes you miss more frequently when the target is currently fighting, then that's fine. But I meant the arrow actually hitting someone other than the intended target. Maybe you actually did mean that, and if so, then that's really neat. Either way is fine, of course.

[Maybe42or54]

Those saying throw is more powerful than archery:  Have you checked it recently?  

Not recently but a few months ago, I threw a dart at someone for "Training purposes" and it knocked the dwarf out and he was at "does not look well."