RE: (TFT) Crossbows Are Too Powerful ?

["rsmith" <rsmith@lightspeed.ca>]

Hi Everyone,
	I seemed to have missed the post that
started this thread but here are my thoughts.

	The jump from a 1 die horse bow to a
1d+2 longbow for a only one point increase in
minimum ST bothered me to the point where I
increased the minimum ST of long bows to 12.
(I added a 1d+1 hunting bow at ST 11.)

	Part of the reason for this change was
you had to be STRONG to use a long bow
effectively.  Almost no one had the upper body
ST to use it, and it had to be developed with
years of practice.

	I added composite bows, (see my new
weapon list on Ty's site) which did more damage
for a given strength of draw.  However, as per
Steve Jackson's thoughts on rapiers verses
broadswords, I ignored reality and made them
require significantly more ST to use.

	After I finish up Undead, I was thinking
of writing rules for sieges in TFT.  I picked
up "The Palladium Book of Weapons & Castles"
by Matthew Balent.

	In this book, he suggests that the heaviest
crossbows (using steel instead of wood) did 2.5
times more damage than a long bow.  The wood,
composite and backed crossbows did damage near
what a long bow did.

	I agree, the ST needed to use a crossbow
quickly in TFT require the user to cock the bow
with brute force, thus prompting the high ST.
Much weaker people can use crossbows using goat
foots and cranequins (see Advance Melee).  The
cost is that they may only be fired once per
minute or so.

	(TFT is very generous about the firing
times for ranged weapons.  Longbows realistically
should be fired once every 2 or 3 rounds, & using
a cranequin should take a minute but TFT allows
it to be done in 30 seconds.  It is easier to
strike twice with a sword or another balanced
weapon in a 5 second period than get off a couple
of shots with a heavy bow, but bows are the only
weapon that get to fire twice per turn.)


	The thing is, any combat rules for a fantasy
game are unrealistic.  What we should strive for
(not necessarily in this order) are:

-  Fast
-  Playable
-  Tactically interesting


	Got to run, I may post more later.

	Rick



-----Original Message-----
From: tft-owner@brainiac.com [mailto:tft-owner@brainiac.com]On Behalf Of
Ty Beard
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2002 12:26 PM
To: tft@brainiac.com
Subject: (TFT) Crossbows Are Too Powerful in TFT or Longbows are Not
Powerful Enough


It's apparently so.

Longbows and heavy crossbows fire a projectile of similar mass, diameter and
velocity. The mass of a bolt or arrow is around .35g and the velocity is
about 40mps for he longbow and 42 mps for the heavy crossbow bolt. The
crossbow bolt has a higher ballistic coefficient, which gives it better
hitting power (and probably better accuracy) at a given range. But the
bottom line is that the kinetic energy of both weapons is about the same --
280-309 joules.

Also, the required ST for crossbows is way too high compared with longbows.

Of course, raising the damage of a longbow to 3 dice will make them *very*
popular. So I suggest a the following additional rules and changes for bows
and crossbows in TFT.

-Longbows require a ST of 13 and do 2+1 damage.
-Heavy Crossbows require a ST of 12 and do 2+1 damage.
-Light crossbows require a ST of 10 and do 1+1 damage.

These weapons ignore all armor and shields.

--Ty Beard
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