Crafting arrows, bowstrings, and spears

[Sencha 100]

Using the bow needs to be made more appealing. At the moment it is far easier to get a weapon and ammunition, not to mention a thousand times more useful, seeing as how 40 rounds of pistol ammo, or 20 rounds of rifle ammo, takes up one slot, while 5 arrows take up two slots in your inventory.

 

I suggest letting players craft their own arrows from sticks. For the arrow heads you can use flint which you could scavange for in the sand near the coast, sort of like how you pick apples or berries. Fletching them with chicken feathers you could scavenge for in barns, again, same way you do with berries and apples.

This would give people a reliable way of getting arrows, and would make the bow a valid weapon to use. Because right now, getting a mosin and a couple of hundred rounds of ammo, is a hundred times easier than getting everything needed for a bow, and a hundred times more useful as well.

 

As for bowstrings. Traditionally you would use chewed animal sinew. So if you haven't found rope, tendons could be harvested from dead animals and fashioned into string.

 

Of course you would need a way to kill the animal first, which brings me to my last suggestion. Sharpened sticks. At first you could just get an ash wood stick and sharpen it with a knife, but once you got rope or animal tendons, you could attach flint pieces to it to make a primitive spear.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Sencha

[Nesuma (DayZ) 108]

You're damn right, and after the last patch I can imagine that they are capable of actually implementing these things.

But I'm still wondering why ammo is spawning in groups of 20-50, in the beginning people said that's because we've alpha right and and with more ammo we can try more things and find more bugs. But right now, I don't think there is anything about the mosin and it's ammunition to find out anymore, or am I missing a part?

[degude 133]

You're damn right, and after the last patch I can imagine that they are capable of actually implementing these things.

But I'm still wondering why ammo is spawning in groups of 20-50, in the beginning people said that's because we've alpha right and and with more ammo we can try more things and find more bugs. But right now, I don't think there is anything about the mosin and it's ammunition to find out anymore, or am I missing a part?

You'll never find every bug, so there is more to find out.

I heared that the ammount of weapons and/or ammunition will be reduced, and the number of zombies will at least increase by the factor 3 (which is a lot). Imagine that future scenario, less ammo, more zombies, it's going to be a lot about stealth so the bow will probably become quite usefull. Additionally with less weapons and ammo the bow will of course be more valuable. I think it's just a matter of time.

[Sencha 100]

You'll never find every bug, so there is more to find out.

I heared that the ammount of weapons and/or ammunition will be reduced, and the number of zombies will at least increase by the factor 3 (which is a lot). Imagine that future scenario, less ammo, more zombies, it's going to be a lot about stealth so the bow will probably become quite usefull. Additionally with less weapons and ammo the bow will of course be more valuable. I think it's just a matter of time.

 

I hope so. Although I wish they wouldn't implement stuff that makes it harder to fight zombies, before fixing zombie behaviour. They still spot you through walls, and they still run straight through solid objects.

[degude 133]

I hope so. Although I wish they wouldn't implement stuff that makes it harder to fight zombies, before fixing zombie behaviour. They still spot you through walls, and they still run straight through solid objects.

That is what they are working on right now with a lot of effort. I think they even hired new people which are just there for the zombies.

[Draco122 411]

Perhaps you can use arrowheads from other materials instead of just looking for Flint at the beach, I'm pretty sure you could fashion an arrowhead from an empty tin can or a shard of glass from a broken window or bottle. At least when they start adding miscellaneous Junk items like empty tins, soda cans and glass bottles we can probably use those to craft arrowheads. Alternatively you can just sharpen the heads of arrows into a narrow point, won't cause as much damage but at least you'll be able to craft several in a pinch.

 

As for Spears I'm all for 'em, use it as either a stabbing weapon with a much longer reach or throw 'em to stick into targets. Overall there needs to be more an emphasis on home-made crafted weapons such as bows and spears, perhaps even later down the line one could fashion a knife from a piece of flint