Renewable weapon (bow and arrows)

[pixelpie]

I think that a (sort of) renewable bow would be a good idea. After a while you run out of ammo and your guns become unusable,so I think that you should be able to craft a bow and arrows at a workbench.

There will be some trade off's though.

The bow has decreased accuracy.(-25%)

It has a decreased range.(-25% or more)

Takes time to draw the bow.

You can craft the bow with some:

fishing line.

2 leather (The grip).

hardwood (any type).

There can be two types of arrows, metal or teeth.

Teeth arrows increase's the range and damage done by the bow.(probably by 25%)

metal arrows do not affect the statistics of the bow.

here is the crafting recipe for 3 arrow's:

1 refined wood.

3 cloth.

2 scrap metal or 3 canine teeth (from wolves); this means that you will have to be able to harvest teeth from wolves. each harvest should take about 5 mins.

Other mechanics:

Bow doesn't have aim down sights feature like the rifle.

Bows can only be repaired once,by using 1 reclaimed wood.

every shot decreases the quality or whatever it is called (cant remember other word) by 5%.

At 15% quality, the bow is mostly useless. (all statistics decreased by 50%).

Arrows can't be harvested.

Harvesting a bow will only give you fishing line and 1 leather.

The bow takes 5 hours to create.

For the 3 arrows it takes 30 minutes.

I don't mind if this isn't implemented because if I was a programmer it would be a pain and there will be more important things to do with the game like bug fixes. The only reason I came across this idea is because I usually die because I cant hunt or I cant fend off the savage beasts. So I would like this to be a last resort weapon, since this game is meant to make you die eventually from non-renewable resources running out.

[Boston123]

In all honesty....preferably not.

Bows and arrows are actually rather difficult to make in real life, at least, bows and arrows that are effective and accurate enough to take down "worthwhile" prey: large game. A "simple" self-bow (carved from one piece of wood) takes about a week, if not longer (to season), to make.

You can make "survival bows" pretty easily. They are called "bundle bows", and involve sticks being tied together in, well, a bundle. I wouldn't use a bundle bow for anything larger than a rabbit. They are too weak and inaccurate for anything larger. And hunting small game is essentially a waste of energy. You hunt large game, and trap small game.

For a survival weapon, why not a spear, or a sling? Both are weapons older than the bow, are far easier to make, and can be just as effective.

And, functionally, there is no functional difference between broadheads made from bone, stone, or metal. All will kill an animal within seconds (I saw a video of a guy taking a deer with a 50lb self-bow carved from yew and obsidian arrows [Replicas of a Neolithic archers equipment, actually]. The deer died within 30 seconds)

EDIT: also, if you are going to implement a weapon with explicitly-retrievable ammunition (arrows), why would you make them irretrievable in the name of artificial "balancing"? I find that line of thinking, to be perfectly blunt, foolish and stupid.

[harobed1156]

Missouri now allows hunting with an atlatl during deer and turkey seasons, and for some fishing too. I was surprised to learn you can spear a deer from a respectable distance with one. With that, a sling, and lots of practice you might eat well!

[The_Hawk35]

The Atlatl is an interesting weapon. it takes quite a bit of effort to be accurate (I tried making one and using it, I was shocked at how difficult they are to be accurate and powerful with).

Bows are an interesting weapon, unless you can find a good source of yew or aspen (more likely) a self bow is difficult. Again I tried to make one, it took me 5 tries before I had one that wouldn't break, or that had enough power to even go more than 1" into a hay bale. It's also a skill to make arrows, straightening them is a non trivial task, it involves heating and forming the wood.

I really don't see a bow as a reasonable weapon in the game until you've survived over 200 days, and then a very very low success rate.

A more reasonable option is a spear with either a bone or a fire hardened point. That could be used to fend off wolves quite effectively and so could be used to force a wolf off a kill.

[harobed1156]

+1 on the spear if you could fend off wolves with it.

I wouldn't mind finding bows and arrows as loot, just like rifles and ammo.

[Hotzn]

- 1 on the bow

As has been mentioned before, crafting a bow is an art that cannot just be performed like that, especially under winter conditions. Also, having too many craftable weapons in the game would make this game similar to all the other survival sandbox games out there. So, no bow for me. No offense intended 8-)

[Loppysaurusrex]

- 1 on the bow

As has been mentioned before, crafting a bow is an art that cannot just be performed like that, especially under winter conditions. Also, having too many craftable weapons in the game would make this game similar to all the other survival sandbox games out there. So, no bow for me. No offense intended 8-)

+1 to this guy

or is it -1?

Now I'm confused

[Hitchhiker]

I don't know much about bows and such and I pretty much think most regular people are like myself when it comes to archery and anything involving the crafting of archery equipment so I think where renewable or reusable weapons with the idea of getting by without rifle ammo the common saying "keep it simple" is probably the best way to go. An easy to craft even in the real world heavy spear with a fire hardened point or scrap metal head (perhaps using one of the hunting knives found along the way) would be a good substitute for a useless rifle or one could simply lash a hunting knife to the business end of said rifle after it was out of ammo. This could be a good alternative.

I feel the same way about the atlatl. While the light spears and the atlatl it's self may not be considered that hard to craft by some. At the very least it takes a lot of time and patience to learn to properly use one. One could die of starvation just learning to use the darn thing at least in the real world. Why not make the hunting knife and hatchet usable as defensive weapons? (I'm playing in pilgrim mode so forgive me if they are already available to use in the other modes of the game.)

I've heard suggestions about slings and blow guns of a sort (not here in the forums) but truth be told they are really only good for small game and so wouldn't be feasible to replace a rifle.

I think there should be a way to collect stone for the eventuality of scrap metal running out. Perhaps one could find flint or quartz or even granite in some of the caves.

Well, anyway these are my own suggestions for the game. Hope they are of use to the devs.