the bow is terrible at anything longer than melee range

[Judopunch 523]

This is untrue. I am able to hit a 60cm diameter target (mostly within about 5-15cm around the centrer) at 120 yards with my recurve. That's really the absolute limit for accurate shooting with that particular bow though. A stronger recurve could possibly go up to 150 yards. 50yards is very easily doable and is pretty much the distance every "competitive" archer is training at in outdoors environment. 70 yards is still fairly comfortable shooting.

 

Depending on the quality of the makeshift bow I could imagine it could be dangerous up to 50 yards as well. But it will mostly be shite so the current in game model does seem alright.

70 yards sounds about right, but a lot of people fail to ask themselves if they have had to walk 10 miles, hungry, cold, scared that either an infected human is going to eat you, or a non infected one wants to shoot you?

 

I have no doubt that they will be changing the bow at some point. I would assume its because they are tieing the arrows into the loot spawn or physics that they haven't yet.

 

Or they are simply working on more important parts of the game.

 

Also, the improvised bow probably shouldn't go much past 70 yards, if at all. But right now its about 40 feet (35 yards?) and thats pushing it lol.

[Whyherro123 2283]

70 yards sounds about right, but a lot of people fail to ask themselves if they have had to walk 10 miles, hungry, cold, scared that either an infected human is going to eat you, or a non infected one wants to shoot you?

 

I have no doubt that they will be changing the bow at some point. I would assume its because they are tieing the arrows into the loot spawn or physics that they haven't yet.

 

Or they are simply working on more important parts of the game.

 

Also, the improvised bow probably shouldn't go much past 70 yards, if at all. But right now its about 40 feet (35 yards?) and thats pushing it lol.

Pretty much. It is in reality little more than a bent stick tied off with string.  They should (eventually) give you the option to carve down a stick or piece of firewood into an actual bowstave.

[Accolyte 1727]

70 yards sounds about right, but a lot of people fail to ask themselves if they have had to walk 10 miles, hungry, cold, scared that either an infected human is going to eat you, or a non infected one wants to shoot you?

 

I have no doubt that they will be changing the bow at some point. I would assume its because they are tieing the arrows into the loot spawn or physics that they haven't yet.

 

Or they are simply working on more important parts of the game.

 

Also, the improvised bow probably shouldn't go much past 70 yards, if at all. But right now its about 40 feet (35 yards?) and thats pushing it lol.

 

Like I said.. 50 yards is plausible with an improvised bow.

 

Shooting a bow at 70 yards definitely requires you to be stationary and focused. If someone is shooting at you with a gun, you don't stand much chance of ever hitting them at that distance. Unless you are shivering uncontrollably from cold, I don't think anything else would really affect your shots with some practice.

[Judopunch 523]

Like I said.. 50 yards is plausible with an improvised bow.

 

Shooting a bow at 70 yards definitely requires you to be stationary and focused. If someone is shooting at you with a gun, you don't stand much chance of ever hitting them at that distance. Unless you are shivering uncontrollably from cold, I don't think anything else would really affect your shots with some practice.

I dont know, I've shot a lot of trap, and a little archery. Standing on a hill half falling over trying to hit a moving target at even 60 yards in the woods would get dicey, especially when I cant feel my stick ass fingers :)

 

I agreed with almost everything you said, but the weather environment thing I don't think people think about. The few times I went bird hunting I didn't do very well, even tough I consider myself well above average at trap.

 

And I guess the real point of it all is that I think people should be leery about how easy it is to kill other people or how effective weapons are in the game. You can make a million arguments about making weapons more or less accurate, but the important part is what makes more sense for the game? When you get to that question people will give you a couple answers, but the one that I find LEAST valid is 'its this way in real life'. But this game is just and always will be a representation, not recreation, of real life. You move your mouse over a target and click. You are not firing a real gun/bow/whatever. In that way we need to find solutions that are, as the developers have said, 'authentic' but not necessarily carbon copys from reality.

 

Truth be told I like the fact that the bow is only accurate if you wait for the sway to go all the way to the left. Its a very subtle thing to notice and is rewarding for the skill it takes to accomplish under pressure.

 

But yes, right now its a wee bit short on the range to be useful in many situations ;)

 

Edit: Your signature is judging my soul...

Edited October 27, 2014 by Judopunch

[gorvi 189]

The improvised bow is awesome, and I am able to get good body shots at 30m.

 

Crossbow is just plain deadly up to 100m and a little luck past that..

 

Remember, these are not hitscan weapons.  You must adjust for range and lead your target.

[UltimateGentleman 355]

It of course needs to be a bit better to be viable but I think the main issue really is arrows, there are so few.

 

Unless you get lucky you'll take forever to find 10, they're far too rare it's not like it's a godly insta-kill railgun it's an extremely basic weapon but because there's no ammo, ultimately pointless unless you happen to have an ashwood stick, rope and arrows and no other options.

 

But fuck, running is a better option currently.

 

They should (eventually) give you the option to carve down a stick or piece of firewood into an actual bowstave.

That'd be great.

Could add in some kind of big thick stick which you can either sharpen in to a spear for fishing or as a weapon or take some time to carve in to a bow.

 

 

I want to be able to use a bow as a main weapon but with the amount of arrows you get currently, the range isn't even a problem.

 

They should add another kind of stick to be made in to arrows, not the normal sticks we have now they'd be pathetic as arrows, maybe you could search bushes for straight sticks I dunno.

 

Regardless the bows need serious tweaking.

[Whyherro123 2283]

It of course needs to be a bit better to be viable but I think the main issue really is arrows, there are so few.

 

Unless you get lucky you'll take forever to find 10, they're far too rare it's not like it's a godly insta-kill railgun it's an extremely basic weapon but because there's no ammo, ultimately pointless unless you happen to have an ashwood stick, rope and arrows and no other options.

 

But fuck, running is a better option currently.

 

That'd be great.

Could add in some kind of big thick stick which you can either sharpen in to a spear for fishing or as a weapon or take some time to carve in to a bow.

 

 

I want to be able to use a bow as a main weapon but with the amount of arrows you get currently, the range isn't even a problem.

 

They should add another kind of stick to be made in to arrows, not the normal sticks we have now they'd be pathetic as arrows, maybe you could search bushes for straight sticks I dunno.

 

Regardless the bows need serious tweaking.

 

Those things are deadly, and look to be very similar to the in-game bows.

 

They make arrowheads out of nails; hammered flat, then into shape, then quenched and sharpened.

 

http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/47143#.VE6tkPnF-30

 

Currently, the in-game arrows have no heads. They would be very ineffective. I would like to see broadheads made from nails or knapped glass.

[Judopunch 523]

It of course needs to be a bit better to be viable but I think the main issue really is arrows, there are so few.

 

Unless you get lucky you'll take forever to find 10, they're far too rare it's not like it's a godly insta-kill railgun it's an extremely basic weapon but because there's no ammo, ultimately pointless unless you happen to have an ashwood stick, rope and arrows and no other options.

 

But fuck, running is a better option currently.

 

That'd be great.

Could add in some kind of big thick stick which you can either sharpen in to a spear for fishing or as a weapon or take some time to carve in to a bow.

 

 

I want to be able to use a bow as a main weapon but with the amount of arrows you get currently, the range isn't even a problem.

 

They should add another kind of stick to be made in to arrows, not the normal sticks we have now they'd be pathetic as arrows, maybe you could search bushes for straight sticks I dunno.

 

Regardless the bows need serious tweaking.

Its not a problem any more in Exp branch. You can scavenge feathers from chicken coups. 

 

The real hard part is the ashwood stick now, because you must have an axe.

[UltimateGentleman 355]

Its not a problem any more in Exp branch. You can scavenge feathers from chicken coups. 

 

The real hard part is the ashwood stick now, because you must have an axe.

Can you make arrows though?

 

I hope they make bows decent weapons in the end they should be the near perfect stealth weapon I'd love to have one as a main and a pistol as my zombie killer it'd feel much more rewarding to survive with one rather than letting gunpowder do 90% of the legwork.

 

Yeah they definitely need to streamline the process. You're probably better off using the axe you used to make your bow instead of the actual bow really and you'd have to be damn unlucky to not find several guns while looking for an ashwood stick, rope and an axe anyway.

 

Bows should be something of a necessity for bambi's I think not something you have to go out of your way to get.

[Judopunch 523]

Can you make arrows though?

 

I hope they make bows decent weapons in the end they should be the near perfect stealth weapon I'd love to have one as a main and a pistol as my zombie killer it'd feel much more rewarding to survive with one rather than letting gunpowder do 90% of the legwork.

 

Yeah they definitely need to streamline the process. You're probably better off using the axe you used to make your bow instead of the actual bow really and you'd have to be damn unlucky to not find several guns while looking for an ashwood stick, rope and an axe anyway.

 

Bows should be something of a necessity for bambi's I think not something you have to go out of your way to get.

You can make arrows right now. You sharpen a stick with something and attach the feathers :) With the ability to get feathers the only hard thing to find now is the ashwood stick because it requires you have an axe. Not because the trees are rare, they are everywhere!

 

Edit: Something being a knife, machete, pipe saw.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Judopunch

[UltimateGentleman 355]

You can make arrows right now. You sharpen a stick with something and attach the feathers :) With the ability to get feathers the only hard thing to find now is the ashwood stick because it requires you have an axe. Not because the trees are rare, they are everywhere!

 

Edit: Something being a knife, machete, pipe saw.

How do they function compared to the professional looking arrows though?

I hope they add another type of stick in for arrows like I said so you have the standard crappy stick arrows, half decent ones and then excellent compound arrows.

[Judopunch 523]

How do they function compared to the professional looking arrows though?

I hope they add another type of stick in for arrows like I said so you have the standard crappy stick arrows, half decent ones and then excellent compound arrows.

Currently there is no difference. 

[Whyherro123 2283]

Currently there is no difference. 

There should be.

 

Having nothing more than a sharpened wooden tip, the current "improvised arrows" wouldn't really cause all that much damage (relatively) All they would do is put an arrowshaft-sized hole in people.

 

I would like to see "improved improvised" arrows, with a tip made of sharpened metal (like the ones in the video I posted above), or knapped glass. They create a larger cutting surface, causing more damage.

 

Then composite arrows could be at the top of the list, damage wise (and, probably raw (read: dispersion) accuracy, too, with "final" accuracy being dependent on the user)

[gorvi 189]

I wish we could harvest an ashwood stick from a tree with hacksaw or have a chance to find them under random ashwoods.