Right now I'm using a sling. It's great. It's easy to make. It's small and extremely light. Ammo is cheap and easy to find or make. I can just pick up rocks off the ground if I'm out of better ammo. It does crush damage which one of the best damage types. You can even use a shield with a sling.
Compare the bow. It requires more skill and more materials to make. It takes up a shoulder inv slot to carry with you and is heavier than a sling. Arrows are a pain in the ass to make with many materials needing to be gathered: wood, arrowhead, string, feathers, and putting it all together takes many confusing steps, all for a single arrow. It does pierce which is inferior to crush. You can't use a shield with it.
I love my sling. But the bow is in no way a tempting weapon compared to the sling. It seems inferior in every way. I don't know if bows need to be better or slings to be worse but I think something needs to change. Is there anything bows can do that slings don't do just as well if not better?
Sling compared to Bow
Sling compared to Bow
"Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and numbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy." - Hamlin Garland
Re: Sling compared to Bow
In my experience the crossbow is the only good bow. FIRE and LOAD times are split, so there's a chunk of lesser RT at the beginning, if you get unlucky with timing. Good damage, especially with good materials/quivering bowstring/sharp metal tipped bolts. Other than that, sling is by far better.
This will change once affinities get added (Rias said he wanted slings to have affinity to be used properly) (TM), but do remember that in most cases, ranged is not intended to be the beginning middle and end of a fight all at once, though it can be (It will eventually change/the game will change around it).
This will change once affinities get added (Rias said he wanted slings to have affinity to be used properly) (TM), but do remember that in most cases, ranged is not intended to be the beginning middle and end of a fight all at once, though it can be (It will eventually change/the game will change around it).
Re: Sling compared to Bow
I didn't want to start a new thread for this, so apologies for the necroposting, but something else that warrants consideration: arrows are significantly heavier than other ammunition types (with the exception of javelins, which seem to be only a little over twice as heavy as an arrow of the same materials). Copper headed arrows, for example, clock in at 0.30 lbs apiece, while a bolt of the same mats weighs 0.20 lbs, and an clay bullet weighs .1 lbs (I didn't think to check copper, but iron is even lighter than this at .08 lbs).
I'm not sure how accurate to "real life" they might be, but it might be worth looking at arrow weights.
I'm not sure how accurate to "real life" they might be, but it might be worth looking at arrow weights.
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
Re: Sling compared to Bow
We'll look at a deeper dive into evaluation of the various ammo weights at some point, but arrows should be the same weight as bolts now. Not sure why they were heavier.
<Rias> PUT ON PANTS
<Fellborn> NO
<Fellborn> NO
Re: Sling compared to Bow
Appreciate it! I haven't played around with bows in a while, but this makes them way more manageable for me.
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."