Post by bahamutzero on Aug 13, 2007 11:41:08 GMT -5
By all accounts, archery is both incredibly obnoxious to train in, and incredibly powerful in PvP. When you reach 40 skill with a particular type of bow, you gain the ability to call a shot at a target's legs, allowing you to cripple them with ease from many tiles away.
The main downside to archery is that it takes a lot of effort to produce decent arrows and bows, and to skill up your archery skills.
Involved skills:
-Bowyery (carpentry subskill) for bow... staves? The wood part.
-Ropemaking? (tailoring subskill) for bowstrings.
-Fletching (carpentry subskill) for arrow shafts.
-Smithing for arrowheads. Not sure which subskill it uses.
Involved materials:
-Wood for bow staves and arrow shafts. Willow best for bow staves, birch or cedar best for arrow shafts. Use pine for skilling up. Only use good materials on 20+ QL items that will be used for real combat.
-Wemp for bowstrings.
-Iron for arrowheads.
-Assorted crafting paraphernalia for creating and improving the stuff.
Types of bows:
-Short bow
-Bow
-Longbow
The difference between them is their optimal firing range. Shortbows are best shot from 5 tiles, bows from 10 tiles, and longbows from a whopping 20 tiles. Each bow type has a seperate skill, and you only gain special attacks with types of bows you have enough skill in, so focusing in one type is probably a good idea.
Types of arrows:
-Arrow shafts (no head attached)
-Hunting arrows
-War arrows
The type of arrow is determined by the type of head attached. You can shoot arrow shafts without heads, but they are pretty terrible, damage and accuracy-wise, compared to complete arrows, and you seem to only be able to improve arrows with heads. The best use for headless arrow shafts is training with archery targets.
After experimenting a bit, I discovered that 10 tiles is the range at which you stop being able to highlight tiles with your cursor. That gives you a rough idea of the ranges of the bow and longbow. The longbow actually shoots twice as far as that. It's frighteningly long range. But conversely, if the target is much closer or further than the optimal range, you're going to lose a lot of accuracy. I think. I haven't actually tried using bows yet. But that seems like the logical penalty for shooting inside or outside the optimal range.
If you can't see 20 tiles away, which you probably couldn't in a forest or at night, the bow is likely superior to the longbow. If you're in a cleared, open area such as the Steppes, the longbow would be the better choice. The shortbow obviously works best when the enemy slips in too close for the other bows. Which to choose? I don't know! I can't decide!
The main downside to archery is that it takes a lot of effort to produce decent arrows and bows, and to skill up your archery skills.
Involved skills:
-Bowyery (carpentry subskill) for bow... staves? The wood part.
-Ropemaking? (tailoring subskill) for bowstrings.
-Fletching (carpentry subskill) for arrow shafts.
-Smithing for arrowheads. Not sure which subskill it uses.
Involved materials:
-Wood for bow staves and arrow shafts. Willow best for bow staves, birch or cedar best for arrow shafts. Use pine for skilling up. Only use good materials on 20+ QL items that will be used for real combat.
-Wemp for bowstrings.
-Iron for arrowheads.
-Assorted crafting paraphernalia for creating and improving the stuff.
Types of bows:
-Short bow
-Bow
-Longbow
The difference between them is their optimal firing range. Shortbows are best shot from 5 tiles, bows from 10 tiles, and longbows from a whopping 20 tiles. Each bow type has a seperate skill, and you only gain special attacks with types of bows you have enough skill in, so focusing in one type is probably a good idea.
Types of arrows:
-Arrow shafts (no head attached)
-Hunting arrows
-War arrows
The type of arrow is determined by the type of head attached. You can shoot arrow shafts without heads, but they are pretty terrible, damage and accuracy-wise, compared to complete arrows, and you seem to only be able to improve arrows with heads. The best use for headless arrow shafts is training with archery targets.
After experimenting a bit, I discovered that 10 tiles is the range at which you stop being able to highlight tiles with your cursor. That gives you a rough idea of the ranges of the bow and longbow. The longbow actually shoots twice as far as that. It's frighteningly long range. But conversely, if the target is much closer or further than the optimal range, you're going to lose a lot of accuracy. I think. I haven't actually tried using bows yet. But that seems like the logical penalty for shooting inside or outside the optimal range.
If you can't see 20 tiles away, which you probably couldn't in a forest or at night, the bow is likely superior to the longbow. If you're in a cleared, open area such as the Steppes, the longbow would be the better choice. The shortbow obviously works best when the enemy slips in too close for the other bows. Which to choose? I don't know! I can't decide!
