How is Archery/ranged combat going to work?

[Nyramael]

Hi,
I have my hopes up for ranged attacks and i was just wondering how is it going to work properly/realisticaly. A trained english longbow archer can fire 12 or so arrows (some sources say 24) a minute. that\'s about a spd of 5 or so. If we are sitting ducks while we draw and fire then being a living archer would be quite hard.
Also what about ammunition? I would like to see the arrows limited. But they should also be able to be recovered from the targets body in loot and picked off the floor if they miss. Characters should also be able to craft them and buy them cheaply. As a side note, would there be magic arrows?

What are your thoughts?

DKR
a.k.a Nyra

[Gripen]

I am an archer in real life.  Although, one can fire off many arrows in a short time doesn\'t mean that the target will be hit, especially a lethal blow. For a lethal blow one must know where to aim. For a good bulls eye hit the archer must take time to aim, but not hold too long or the release will go haywire. [therefore archer skill should increase accuracy even for flit and hit, but no skill--careful]

In war the archers fall back and are not attacked much, they flit off as many arrows as they can for a rain into the mass of the enemy horde--thus the fast arrow shooting of the english long bow. Midrange combat requires aiming, and among the midst of fighting, or on an animal--the short bow dominated, because it was fast and easy to handle in most any body position (also short range).

there should be an aim and release mechanism for archery, not a long hold=not a perfect aim; too long a hold=too strong release and resulting missfire spring (misfire relevant to proximity of proper release point) [perhaps a bar like the magic bar, but a draw (pull) bar--draw bar indicator fill, more and more with length of draw, but too much=sproing!]

by the way, bows and close combat do not work unless you want to break your bow beating the enemy with it.

Just some ideas

[zanzibar]

*cough* Fletching!  :-D

[Mindari]

this is one of the things i use to fill targets full of holes
this one is based on a short hunting bow

http://www.samicksports.com/imgs/imgs_161.gif

i dont understand how you can misfire as a result of holding the string back for too long, all that happens to me is my arms get tired and accuracy decreases horendously

also, i bring the string back to the right draw length before i take aim, you cant do both at once and expect to stay on the target. so there is a delay while you draw back the string, and a second delay to catch your breath and take aim. you can argue that there isnt enough time to do this with a powerfull bow, but in that case you simply aint strong enough =p
the time it takes me to aim is based upon the following:
>how tired i am
>luck
>concentration
>strength, ability to hold the bow steady
>eyesight, sense of perspective, and some instinctiv-ness

speed of shots is strongly affected by how good you are

i dont understand what you mean by a \"lethal bow\"... my 40lb bow the same ability to kill as a 100lb bow, under the right cirmunstances

[Hirogurth]

I agree completely with mindari
I also think if the monster you are fighting gets with in a few feet of you and you have a bow out shouldn\'t there be a panic factor hat decreases you accuracy for you last shot?

[defender43]

But then it\'s right in front of you... how could you possibly miss?

And what about crossbows? They should take more time between shots, but also be a little more accurate, right?

[Nyramael]

Citing the wikipedia...

Crossbow could be trained in about a week, skilled longbow took years
crossbows could have a draw force up to 350 lbf, Longbow 60-180 lbf.
Crossbows were acurate (not as accurate as fully trained longbow) but could be kept cocked allowing for sniping, and also being able to cover an area.
Crossbows could quite easily penetrate heavy armor on a mounted knight.

*edit

Yes i can imagine a point blank shot from a longbow would hurt considerably, and strike with more force.

[nightstalian]

Originally posted by Nyramael
Hi,
I have my hopes up for ranged attacks and i was just wondering how is it going to work properly/realisticaly. A trained english longbow archer can fire 12 or so arrows (some sources say 24) a minute. that\'s about a spd of 5 or so. If we are sitting ducks while we draw and fire then being a living archer would be quite hard.
Also what about ammunition? I would like to see the arrows limited. But they should also be able to be recovered from the targets body in loot and picked off the floor if they miss. Characters should also be able to craft them and buy them cheaply. As a side note, would there be magic arrows?

What are your thoughts?

DKR
a.k.a Nyra

yes they already have some of the things needed for archery but they are not implanted yet. I belive  if you go to the Ps floder, then just look trough thoughs you will see arrows and magical arrows

[Nyramael]

I belive if you go to the Ps floder, then just look trough thoughs you will see arrows and magical arrows

I was under the impression that those were for use with the magic spells \'summon missile\' and \'energy arrow\'. I just can\'t see them on the mac version of .12. Though it would make sense that archery would just use the picture for summon missile.

[nightstalian]

Originally posted by Nyramael

I belive if you go to the Ps floder, then just look trough thoughs you will see arrows and magical arrows

I was under the impression that those were for use with the magic spells \'summon missile\' and \'energy arrow\'. I just can\'t see them on the mac version of .12. Though it would make sense that archery would just use the picture for summon missile.

well maybe they are.

[Black_rose]

Originally posted by Gripen
I am an archer in real life.  Although, one can fire off many arrows in a short time doesn\'t mean that the target will be hit, especially a lethal blow. For a lethal blow one must know where to aim. For a good bulls eye hit the archer must take time to aim, but not hold too long or the release will go haywire. [therefore archer skill should increase accuracy even for flit and hit, but no skill--careful]

In war the archers fall back and are not attacked much, they flit off as many arrows as they can for a rain into the mass of the enemy horde--thus the fast arrow shooting of the english long bow. Midrange combat requires aiming, and among the midst of fighting, or on an animal--the short bow dominated, because it was fast and easy to handle in most any body position (also short range).

there should be an aim and release mechanism for archery, not a long hold=not a perfect aim; too long a hold=too strong release and resulting missfire spring (misfire relevant to proximity of proper release point) [perhaps a bar like the magic bar, but a draw (pull) bar--draw bar indicator fill, more and more with length of draw, but too much=sproing!]

by the way, bows and close combat do not work unless you want to break your bow beating the enemy with it.

Just some ideas

pretty smart,

i think it should work like this, thing of fps and tps, use those two styles and you may be able to make this work. aim/shoot a reload skill and acuracy will be a real life skill (takes actual talent to shoot not just in game)

[nightstalian]

Originally posted by Gripen

by the way, bows and close combat do not work unless you want to break your bow beating the enemy with it.

Just some ideas

why not use a war bow, a bow that that has blades on ethier end

[Darkblade]

Originally posted by nightstalian
why not use a war bow, a bow that that has blades on ethier end

Defeats the purpose of a ranged weapon. Not to mention it could get damaged easily when in combat (melee).

Besides, what archer would not carry a fall-back weapon into combat? Those of the long-range prefer to use upon blades like a short-sword, dagger, etc. as a back-up.