15-04-2012, 03:17 PM
So this seemed like the area to discuss if Archer and Crossbow might need tweaking.
First my sources.....
Video showing Longbow vs. Crossbow fire rate
A general comparision of Longbow and Croosbow users stats
So I started out thinking that bow users were not getting fair stats versus crossbow stats. Longbow especially due to recent changes. I seems though that I was not as spot on as I thought.
When I compare the histrorical info, and the video, it seems that for the most part our ranged weapons are rather spot on for the most part. There might be need to tweak a few things, but depending on game mechanics I do not fully understand this might not be needed. So here what I can call out.
- Shoot speed needs to be balanced some. As I currently see the bows all have slower shoot speed then equal cross bows. Shoot speed I assume is how far the fired round (arrow/bolt) travels. Longbows had about twice the range of a crossbow for simular accuracy. So I would suggest that bows see a increase in shoot speed, or crossbows see a decrease.
- Currently bows do half the damage of an equal crossbow. Using the data I found both weapons could penetrate (i.e. kill) a plate wearing soldier. The crossbow could do this at close distances, but the longbow needed more distance to target to gain kinetic energy. Also the crossbow could penetrate plate armor at distances beyond the 30 yard limit longbow had for plate armor penetration. So I would suggest that bows (or atleast longbow types) have 1/3 to 3/4 the damage of equal crossbows. This would allow crossbows to still out damage within effective ranges, but give longbows greater damage for their extended range.
- Please remove crossbows from using the support slot for their ranged weapon. Or allow bows to be slotted in the support slot. Archers are forced to either load double ammo, or have a melee weapon. Crossbows can load double ammo and have a melee weapon. Crossbow can also triple load ammo, but doubt they would go weaponless. Please just asking for a fair option here.
- Make crossbows heavy to carry. Archers are lightly armored, and lack melee combat skills. Crossbow users were usually medium armored, and had more time to train in melee combat skills. Archers trained for years versus the few months for a crossbow. So by increasing their weight they would run more slowly. This seems a fair trade off for the advantages crossbows have over archers. I am not sure lowering their athletics would be fair, but if they ran some what slower while having simular training it would equal out.
So there are some ideas for balancing, but I can not say that they are absolutely needed. The mod is rather well balanced as far as the classes are concerned. No one class should out shine the others since working together they are most effective. Bows were the ranged option until advances allowed the crossbow to offer a new option. Just like firearms made both bows and crossbows less effective. So Archers shoot fast, crossbows can one shot, and the melee classes can handle close quarters better then both.
First my sources.....
Video showing Longbow vs. Crossbow fire rate
A general comparision of Longbow and Croosbow users stats
So I started out thinking that bow users were not getting fair stats versus crossbow stats. Longbow especially due to recent changes. I seems though that I was not as spot on as I thought.
When I compare the histrorical info, and the video, it seems that for the most part our ranged weapons are rather spot on for the most part. There might be need to tweak a few things, but depending on game mechanics I do not fully understand this might not be needed. So here what I can call out.
- Shoot speed needs to be balanced some. As I currently see the bows all have slower shoot speed then equal cross bows. Shoot speed I assume is how far the fired round (arrow/bolt) travels. Longbows had about twice the range of a crossbow for simular accuracy. So I would suggest that bows see a increase in shoot speed, or crossbows see a decrease.
- Currently bows do half the damage of an equal crossbow. Using the data I found both weapons could penetrate (i.e. kill) a plate wearing soldier. The crossbow could do this at close distances, but the longbow needed more distance to target to gain kinetic energy. Also the crossbow could penetrate plate armor at distances beyond the 30 yard limit longbow had for plate armor penetration. So I would suggest that bows (or atleast longbow types) have 1/3 to 3/4 the damage of equal crossbows. This would allow crossbows to still out damage within effective ranges, but give longbows greater damage for their extended range.
- Please remove crossbows from using the support slot for their ranged weapon. Or allow bows to be slotted in the support slot. Archers are forced to either load double ammo, or have a melee weapon. Crossbows can load double ammo and have a melee weapon. Crossbow can also triple load ammo, but doubt they would go weaponless. Please just asking for a fair option here.
- Make crossbows heavy to carry. Archers are lightly armored, and lack melee combat skills. Crossbow users were usually medium armored, and had more time to train in melee combat skills. Archers trained for years versus the few months for a crossbow. So by increasing their weight they would run more slowly. This seems a fair trade off for the advantages crossbows have over archers. I am not sure lowering their athletics would be fair, but if they ran some what slower while having simular training it would equal out.
So there are some ideas for balancing, but I can not say that they are absolutely needed. The mod is rather well balanced as far as the classes are concerned. No one class should out shine the others since working together they are most effective. Bows were the ranged option until advances allowed the crossbow to offer a new option. Just like firearms made both bows and crossbows less effective. So Archers shoot fast, crossbows can one shot, and the melee classes can handle close quarters better then both.