I am not sure if this has been changed, but could the damage done as a head shot be exponentially stronger than normal that does not require an attribute skill to unlock?
It seems a little strange to plug someone between the eyes with an arrow and have that same person still survive…
I understand that grades of arrows do different damage, however, if a flint arrow shot with a power shot strikes someone right in the gob with no armor protecting, that person should go down.
It seems equally strange that someone struck by an arrow in an unprotected gut survives when in reality, the person should die painfully of internal bleeding and organ failure.
In a game where an abstract form of “hitpoints” determines whether you survive or die, it’s no more or less realistic that headshots do more damage. It’s just a game mechanic to reward the player for better aim.
(As a side note, an interesting piece of trivia: most of the French knights who died to the arrows of English longbowmen at Agincourt were struck in the face after they had raised their visors so that they could breathe freely. The arrows hitting their armor mostly did nothing. So yes, medieval arrows hitting you in the face can still kill you.)
I believe part of the frustration is the system that assigns damage points to arrows and bows. A well placed flint tipped arrow in the real world could kill an armored opponent if it is a well placed shot in a vital area that’s not protected.
The ideas that arrows ricochet off of flesh is not realistic at all and need to be addressed. While it is true that arrows aimed at the head would more often than not ricochet like was posted in the comments, arrows striking the gut would no doubt stick in. I agree that the system needs to be reanalyzed for better gameplay.
In all honesty, archery in the game should reflect archery in the real world, not as a fantasy cliche. A warrior used the bow for far shots, or attacking the opponent at range, then drawing another weapon in hand-to-hand if need be. A typical quiver didn’t carry more than 20 arrows, however that number can be speculated by culture and so forth. Nomad cultures carried more than one quiver on horseback to facilitate their particular style of combat.
The damage done by an arrow should reflect reality. Arrows that are well placed and made of strong piercing material would and should be deadly. However, the slow draw time and focus required would balance out the rapid fire tactics employed on smaller draw weight bows. An archer with a full quiver using a light draw bow could if well trained launch arrows much like it is portrayed in the light shot currently in use by the game, however the piercing power that arrow has would be far less than it could be. On unarmored flesh it would be damaging but less than it would be if the arrow was drawn to full length and aimed well.
I feel the archer should be balanced as how it is in reality. The archer should carry a limited amount of arrows on their person, but each arrow should be able to do significant damage if not outright kill unarmored opponents with a single head shot. If they followed this principle to some extent I think archery would be more fulfilling. Players would have to be more careful in the assaulting of bases, since the threat even from thralls would be great. With that said, thralls shooting in rapid succession would only lay down a thick carpet much like they already do with quick shot. However, with careful draw like a power shot would be deadly if the aim is true.
Things to consider.
Interestingly enough, new evidence from Agincourt showed more knights died from being exhausted from the boggy terrain than from any English arrow storm. While many did die from lifting their visors up, the English yeomen clubbed them to death since removing heavy plate or mail from mud was disastrous. Love the history though…
By the by, thank all of you for the replies. You guys are awesome.
I think another fun immersive step towards real archer would be to have thralls have a limited number of arrows in their inventory as well. A quiver like we talked about earlier can hold an average of 20 arrows… Therefore once they run out of arrows they should draw their secondary close combat weapon. I think arrow racks should be a constructible building that can be put on battlements or anywhere that operates with a radius area like the thrall pot. Any archer thrall can automatically draw arrows from these racks while within the active radius. The players must constantly restock the arrow reserves in order to keep their thralls supplied. I think this level of immersion would on top of the ideas of real archery damage would take the game to a whole new level.
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