1075 Ft THATS IT !!!

[Lenwen]

level 15 longbowman can only shoot an arrow 1075 ft ? In real life I've seen arrow's get shot well over a quarter mile something like 1500ft ish an in the book they only get 700ft +25 per level ? IS this right or am I missing something obvious ?


-Lenwen.

[Vrykolas2k]

Ya.
The same reason "guns" in Rifts shoot feet instead of yards.
Lack of knowledge of such things on the writers' parts.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Also, isn't that linear distance?

That measurement is no way taking in to account, IIRC, the option of placing the sight of the bow further up into the air, in order to increase range/distance (and decrease accuracy).

~ Josh

[Lenwen]

I think I shall play it as such Josh lol was just a bit embarrasing to me as I bow hunt alot hehe imagin that a native who likes to bow hunt what in the world !!! anyways rolled up a longbowman the other night an was like what this cant be right . but I'll prolly just redo the whole distance personally thanks for your insight folks .


-Lenwen.

[Reagren Wright]

I remember going to some medieval festival in Michigan and I watched
these guys who were longbow experts shoot arrows at targets. They
offered people a chance to fire the bow. I could barely pull the string back.
I asked them about range and they said a quarter mile and I asked how
often in a minute and a guy estimated something like 10-12 accurate shots.
What freaked me out they described longbowmen as pretty much fodder
peasants.

[drewkitty ~..~]

level 15 longbowman can only shoot an arrow 1075 ft ?
...snip...

-Lenwen.

A 15th level long bowman can only shoot an arrow out to 1075' Accurately vs a man sized target.


That is why it is listed as 'Effective Range'. Same thing with modern weapons to.

[Aramel]

as a bowyer ( a person who makes bows for those who dont know ) , and long time archer i can say that in history, and probably where the writers are getting their information from is this..

the Medevil archer could shoot ( and practiced ) at distances out to 800 yards. in game mechanics the bow is a tool required to sustain life, not the recreational tool we use today. so when a tool means life or death then you would get to be able to use it better...

but in that same arguement the 800 yards was usually in volley form into large masses of people, accurately a person can shoot at best 100 yards.. and that is with a compound bow.. a longbow is about 50 yards tops with any kind of accuracy, and after over 20 years of archery i am not even that good. so keep in mind that this ia a fantasy game, and the writers chances are are going by what they read in a book somewhere and elaborating on it for entertainment purposes.

[Vrykolas2k]

as a bowyer ( a person who makes bows for those who dont know ) , and long time archer i can say that in history, and probably where the writers are getting their information from is this..

the Medevil archer could shoot ( and practiced ) at distances out to 800 yards. in game mechanics the bow is a tool required to sustain life, not the recreational tool we use today. so when a tool means life or death then you would get to be able to use it better...

but in that same arguement the 800 yards was usually in volley form into large masses of people, accurately a person can shoot at best 100 yards.. and that is with a compound bow.. a longbow is about 50 yards tops with any kind of accuracy, and after over 20 years of archery i am not even that good. so keep in mind that this ia a fantasy game, and the writers chances are are going by what they read in a book somewhere and elaborating on it for entertainment purposes.

I have to disagree here.
One of my relatives in Wales made a long-bow for me, with a 155 lb. draw, and I know for a fact the targets I hit are further than 50 yards, or 100 yards. And I didn't practice archery the whole time I was in the army.
My sensei's brother pulls off better shots with his daikyu, as well... honestly, no offense, but I think something is wrong with your training.

[Vrykolas2k]

I remember going to some medieval festival in Michigan and I watched
these guys who were longbow experts shoot arrows at targets. They
offered people a chance to fire the bow. I could barely pull the string back.
I asked them about range and they said a quarter mile and I asked how
often in a minute and a guy estimated something like 10-12 accurate shots.
What freaked me out they described longbowmen as pretty much fodder
peasants.

English bowmen were fodder peasants... the Welsh tended to take archery much more seriously, and trained from about the time they could hold a child's bow.

[Aramel]

it comes down to what you are comfortable with... i used to shoot my compound out to 100 yards or so, but that doesn't mean i will try to shoot a deer at that distance. as i stated.. medieval archers practised out to 800 yards ( and this has been proven through historical finds and documents ), but that doesn't mean i am going to. my hunting bow pulls 70 pounds, not 155 so there is a difference there, another difference is i only have woods like hickory and such to work with, where as your bow is probably yew or lemonwood, both much better woods. yrs i can sling an arrow several hundred yards, but does that mean i am going to, no. Arrows are expensive. and yes i can come close to a target, but i am more of a realist. meaning i practice at ranges that are suitable for hunting, because that is what i use my bow for. with the weight i draw i would not recommend anyone taking a shot that would wound an animal and cause that animal to suffer, therefor i shoot out to 30 yards at most. but as a part of my post from before, it comes down to the tool and how we use it, and what society demands from us. todays society can go to any store down the road and buy meat.. therefor hunting isn't as important to survival. we don't use bows to fight wars anymore, therefor we have no need to set up an army of targets and practice out to 800 yards shooting arrows into a charging horde. i think my point has been made...

[bigbobsr6000]

Check this site out. Talking about Viking Longbow.

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/article ... ng_bow.htm

It states, based on history stuff:

"Bows were made from the wood of a yew, ash, or elm. Typically, they were 1.6 to 2m (60 to 80 in) long. Arrow heads were made in a variety of shapes and sizes. Arrow shafts typically were 70 to 80cm (28-32in) long.

The estimated draw weight of one 10th century bow is 90lbs (40kgf), and the effective range of this weapon was about 200m (650ft).

However, medieval Icelandic law gives a different estimate. The distance of the flight of an arrow, ördrag (bowshot) was a unit of measure commonly used in Icelandic law. For example, Grágás, the medieval Icelandic law book, requires that the court empowered to confiscate an outlaw's property be held within a bowshot of the outlaw's home (K 62). A later addition to Grágás defines the bowshot to be two hundred faðmar (about 480m)."

So the range base on these statements is: 200m (650ft) to 480m (1,560ft). The average would be: 340m or 1,105ft. So, the authors were only off the lower range by 700ft -650ft = +50ft; only off by 1,075-1,105ft = -30ft using the average distance for the high end.

So, what do you all think?

[Aramel]

well said and researched. and thank you for the information, all of mine comes from the series " The Traditional Bowyers Bible". of which is a great set of 3 books if anyone wants to learn how to make their own bows.

[bigbobsr6000]

well said and researched. and thank you for the information, all of mine comes from the series " The Traditional Bowyers Bible". of which is a great set of 3 books if anyone wants to learn how to make their own bows.

Your Welcome

[Vrykolas2k]

it comes down to what you are comfortable with... i used to shoot my compound out to 100 yards or so, but that doesn't mean i will try to shoot a deer at that distance. as i stated.. medieval archers practised out to 800 yards ( and this has been proven through historical finds and documents ), but that doesn't mean i am going to. my hunting bow pulls 70 pounds, not 155 so there is a difference there, another difference is i only have woods like hickory and such to work with, where as your bow is probably yew or lemonwood, both much better woods. yrs i can sling an arrow several hundred yards, but does that mean i am going to, no. Arrows are expensive. and yes i can come close to a target, but i am more of a realist. meaning i practice at ranges that are suitable for hunting, because that is what i use my bow for. with the weight i draw i would not recommend anyone taking a shot that would wound an animal and cause that animal to suffer, therefor i shoot out to 30 yards at most. but as a part of my post from before, it comes down to the tool and how we use it, and what society demands from us. todays society can go to any store down the road and buy meat.. therefor hunting isn't as important to survival. we don't use bows to fight wars anymore, therefor we have no need to set up an army of targets and practice out to 800 yards shooting arrows into a charging horde. i think my point has been made...

The reason I like using a bow to hunt is, if the arrow-head is sharp as it should be, the deer or elk thinks it's been bitten by a horsefly... the hide twitches, but they die fairly easily and don't panic. That and, though I own several fire-arms, I don't much like them lol.
Yes, my bow is yew; I'm wondering where you live though, because I know of several fairly large stands of yew here in the states. Maybe you could find a place that sells yew "blanks" to make your own bow out of?

[The Beast]

Also, isn't that linear distance?

That measurement is no way taking in to account, IIRC, the option of placing the sight of the bow further up into the air, in order to increase range/distance (and decrease accuracy).

~ Josh

With the fire arms it seems to be effective range against a point target.

[NMI]

level 15 longbowman can only shoot an arrow 1075 ft ? In real life I've seen arrow's get shot well over a quarter mile something like 1500ft ish an in the book they only get 700ft +25 per level ? IS this right or am I missing something obvious ?


-Lenwen.

also forgetting OCC, targeting and Sniper bonuses to range.

[Aramel]

I live in West Texas, where the only trees that we have that grow here are Mesquite ( Great for cooking, but way to brittle to make a bow ) Pecan ( Fairly decent bow wood, but the nut is a cash crop here, so good luck finding someone to let you cut one) and Post Oak ( decently hard, but the grain is rarely straight enough for bow uses ). On buying a Yew Stave is always an option but i am not one to buy something like that unless i can pick it up and examine it myself. I will not leave it to someone selling them on ebay to take the pics that show me all the information that a 30 second examination can yeild. So for the moment i am stuck with whatever i can find in the lumber yard ( and I am lucky to find that 1 in 1000 board that is cut just right for use as a bow) and limited by the woods that the lumber yard carries, of which the most common is red oak. Red Oak makes a decent bow, but unless you back it your top draw weight is going to be about 45 pounds. Sometimes you can find hickory, but you must be careful on that one because most manufactureres of the wood often substitute Pecan in in place of hickory. Pecan is a good wood as i stated earlier, but the dynamics of the bow are different, thingsa like limb width length, and thickness , are different from hickory. So if you make a bow out of pecan that you think is hickory it will most certainly break within a few shots. There are the core issues with being a bowyer in Texas. There are many others but i will not get into them right now.