Bows and Arrows
Kayne
don't
remember the url) written by John Hook, programmer of Quake Arena.
Arrows, as it turns out, have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the range
of a bow shot.
The way it is SUPPOSED to work is that the effective range of a bow shot is
the bow's range PLUS the arrow's range. Many people will contradict this
and tell you that, no, in fact, the range is supposed to be the SHORTER of
the two, the bow or the arrow, so to get the full range from a bow you must
use an arrow rated at AT LEAST the bow's range. This, however, is not true,
I assure you. If you want proof, go to a merchant who sells fletching
supplies. Purchase a point, a wooden shaft, a shield cut fletch, and a
medium groove nock. Combine these and you will see that this produces a
Class 3 wood point arrow with a damage of 2 and a range of 25. The reason
for this is that the base range of a basic arrow consisting of a point, a
wooden shaft, a round fletch, and a large groove nock is 50. The shield cut
fletch adds a point of damage to an arrow, but reduces its
range by 50, and the medium groove nock adds 25 to the effective range of an
arrow, so that the total range is found like so: 50 (for base materials) -
50 (for shield cut fletch) + 25 (for medium groove nock) = 25. Now purchase
an arrow point, a wooden shaft, a shield cut fletch, and a large groove
nock. Combine these four components and you will produce a class 3 wood
point arrow. On this arrow, however, You will see that the damage rating is
still 2, but there is absolutely no listing for range. Remember the base
range for a point, a wooden shaft, a round fletch, and a large groove nock
is 50. This arrow's range is figured like so: 50 (for base materials) - 50
(for shield cut fletch) = 0. This arrow has no range!
So, as you can see, the effective range of a bow shot is SUPPOSED to be the
range of the bow PLUS the range of the arrow. If ranges were figured as the
shorter of the two, the bow or the arrow, then a bow shot using the arrow
that I have described above would have a range of ZERO, it being the shorter
of the two ranges, which, of course, would be absurd.
Now, as I have said, although this is the way archery is SUPPOSED to work,
it does not. The range of an arrow makes absolutely no difference
whatsoever in the range of a bow's shot. So a class 2 wood point arrow made
with a point, a parabolic cut fletch, a wooden shaft, and a small groove
nock that has a damage of 1, a range of 150, and costs about 2 silver pieces
to make functions EXACTLY the same as a class 1 wood point arrow, which is
made with a point, a round cut fletch, a wooden shaft, and a large groove
nock, has a damage of 1, a range of 50 and costs only 4 copper pieces to
make!
Test it if you like. Use the recipe above and produce a few arrows with a
shield cut fletch and your choice of a medium or large nock (range 0 or 25),
and a few arrows using the small nock and parabolic fletch (range 150).
Find a creature who does not rome (one who spawns and stays in the same
place until it attacks or is attacked, such as a guard at a goblin or orc
camp), load one of the short range arrows in your ammo slot and target the
creature. Stay far enough back that you know you are out of range and
attempt to fire. You will get a message indicating that the target is too
far away. Now stay put and load the long range arrow. You will get the
same message. Put the short range arrow back in and get a little closer.
Try to hit the creature, if you get the message that you are too far away
then try it with your long range arrow. Continue this process until you
succesfully fire at the creature. You will see that your first succesful
shot will be with the short range arrow, indicating that the 125 -150 range
difference between the two arrows made no difference whatsoever in the
effective range of your shot. ie. if you are too far away with the short
range
arrow then you are also too far away with the long range arrow.
Why are things like this? I'm not exactly sure what Verant's reason for
this is, but I strongly suspect that it is just another aspect of the game
that is not finished, and it certainly pisses me off, because, before I read
Mr. Hook's editorial, like many others, I was under the impression that
longer ranged arrows were better and I wasted a hell of a lot of money
shooting them. Also, there is absolutely NO incentive to buy arrows with a
longer range, so that kills a large portion of the fletching business right
there. Also, the ONLY reason to produce these arrows is to increase the
skill. After they are produced, the best option, as things stand, is to
sell
them back to the vendor, at a loss, and produce arrows with the shortest
possible range for your own use (as these are cheaper and range has no
bearing).
Hopefully Verant will fix this soon. Hopefully VERY soon, like possibly
with this new "skills" patch that is on the test server now. This is a
problem that I feel should have been addressed long before the game's
release.
Arian of Rallos Zek