Arrows a bit smaller and lighter...

[-stf-]

If retrieving arrows could be implemented, that would make carrying around 1000 arrows not needed....Just stick the amount of arrows used to kill in the loot, and voila   But I would agree with the earlier posts that only around 80% should be retrievable, but thats still a heck of a lot better than 0%

I agree with the retrieving in loot (maybe random amount ranging from 35 to 95%, simulating damaged arrows and depending on the skill - higher level = higher chance to gain the undamaged arrows back). It should be also possible to find some lost arrows around the battle field (unsuccessful hits) laying on the ground same way as if you drop an item.

[Caraick]

If retrieving arrows could be implemented, that would make carrying around 1000 arrows not needed....Just stick the amount of arrows used to kill in the loot, and voila   But I would agree with the earlier posts that only around 80% should be retrievable, but thats still a heck of a lot better than 0%

I agree with the retrieving in loot (maybe random amount ranging from 35 to 95%, simulating damaged arrows and depending on the skill - higher level = higher chance to gain the undamaged arrows back). It should be also possible to find some lost arrows around the battle field (unsuccessful hits) laying on the ground same way as if you drop an item.

It might be a bit difficult to have just random arrows lying around all over the place...That might just look sloppy IG and cause a bunch of lag...

[Nivm]

 It would be a step away from realism if skill effected arrow damage, since the more often a shot hits the target, the more likely it will snap on a bone or armour, but hitting vitals will keep it from breaking (but broad heads might get pinned between ribs). It should depend on the strength of arrow divided by the strength of the shot, and what creature is being shot at.
 If arrows are placed on the ground, how will the game decide where to put them? That's quite a lot more complicated, especially without any other physics engine in place. It would be better to start with arrows appearing in loot screens, then try that if someone finds a neat way to do it (on the internet?).

[-stf-]

My thought about the skill level and amount of looted arrows was this (strength can be accounted too):
1) Better skill level = more accurate shot = less number of lost arrows
2) Better accuracy = more hits into effective areas = less chance to lose the edge of the arrow or to break it = less number of damaged arrows
This is very close to realism.
If it is not possible to make the arrows that missed target appear on the ground (yes, I know about the physics), then some amount of these arrows could appear in the loot too.
About the randomness:
What I thought is that the random percentage of the undamaged arrows can be within say 15% range but start at say 20-35% of retrieved arrows at level 0 and 80-95% at maximum level.
About the strength factor:
Strength factor can be calculated as sqrt(50/strength), which would make the factor 1 for STR 50, 0.5 for 200 and cca 0.35 for STR 400 (with buffs). If you didn't mean the strength of character but only arrow strength given by the arrow weight and speed (probably affected by distance and maybe also bow quality) it would be different calculation, of course.

[Nivm]

 I meant both arrow strength and how much force is behind the arrow. Even flesh can break an arrow if it's weak enough and hits hard enough.
 On skill and realism, if you manage to pierce a creatures skull, you will insta-kill them, but almost certainly break your arrow. If you hit a human's jugular, it can still break on the spine. If you hit the heart, it can get stuck between the ribs, or break on the other side of the cage. It's just that aiming better will only have a marginal effect on whether or not your arrows can be retrieved, and can even have a negative effect in some situations.

[-stf-]

I meant both arrow strength and how much force is behind the arrow. Even flesh can break an arrow if it's weak enough and hits hard enough.
 On skill and realism, if you manage to pierce a creatures skull, you will insta-kill them, but almost certainly break your arrow. If you hit a human's jugular, it can still break on the spine. If you hit the heart, it can get stuck between the ribs, or break on the other side of the cage. It's just that aiming better will only have a marginal effect on whether or not your arrows can be retrieved, and can even have a negative effect in some situations.

It is depending on the arrow type. Iron arrow should only lose the edge or get stuck in some cases, wooden arrow (are they in the game?) can probably act more like you wrote. Anyway, getting hit into the throat (hopefully it is the proper word) does not much damage to the arrow but does very much damage to a person. And that is always the most uncovered part of the body while wearing armor. So that will be probably the most targeted part in many cases. And most people have strength over 100 or maxed, so they will never have so big chance to get too high coefficient.

[Nivm]

 Since it's ambiguous, do you really mean a solid iron arrow? Look up information and videos on the "archer's paradox". The shaft needs to be wooden, or something that will bend, to be accurate. If you have a steel arrowhead, deadly (medium-large game) force is still going to destroy your arrow on bones...Among other reasons I should have thought of before, like the arrow shaft being broken after lodging in the wound.

 Is your last sentence about strength saying that since people already have such high strength values, that the effect of strength on archery should be minimal? Or are you saying they could all pull the string of any bow back as far as possible? I don't understand you.

[kaerli2]

Since it's ambiguous, do you really mean a solid iron arrow? Look up information and videos on the "archer's paradox". The shaft needs to be wooden, or something that will bend, to be accurate. If you have a steel arrowhead, deadly (medium-large game) force is still going to destroy your arrow on bones...Among other reasons I should have thought of before, like the arrow shaft being broken after lodging in the wound.

 Is your last sentence about strength saying that since people already have such high strength values, that the effect of strength on archery should be minimal? Or are you saying they could all pull the string of any bow back as far as possible? I don't understand you.

The latter depends on the bow more than anything else.  You match the bow's pull to the archer, basically.

[-stf-]

Is your last sentence about strength saying that since people already have such high strength values, that the effect of strength on archery should be minimal? Or are you saying they could all pull the string of any bow back as far as possible? I don't understand you.

Yes, that was about the strength related to pull the string back, people with high strength are more equal and people with low strength have not enough power to pull the string back enough to do big damage (applied to both target and arrow).

[scotty110]

back on the subject of smaller and lighter arrows, a stack of 5 arrows should be roughly the same as the size of a shortsword, weight though would be determine by the material the arrow is made of. consider, when other types of arrows are implemented aside from just the iron arrow, that all arrows have wooden shafts, the most basic arrow would be just a sharpened stick, those would also be the lightest, say 0.2 weight, now when you get into arrowheads, those should really only marginally affect the weight of the arrow, an iron/bronze/gold/etc tipped arrow would probably be 0.3-0.4 weight, if we get into stone or gem tips (someone mentioned diamond tips) then maybe between 0.2-0.3 weight.

with those numbers if you take 5 stacks of 65 bronze tipped arrows that weight 0.4 each then you're carrying around 130 weight worth of arrows which for those with max strength and no buffs is nearly half of what they can carry as is.

as for recovering arrows from corpses, the realistic way of handling it is to add a fletchers skill for making arrows. when you shoot arrows the arrowheads should have of chance of being recovered but the shafts should become useless, so people can take the arrowheads they collect, get some new shafts and reuse the arrowheads that way.

[Nivm]

 Yeah, too bad there isn't a butchery or dissection skill we could attribute this to.