Crossbow vs compound bow

[RipClaw]

Crossbow should become a viable option as a filler between bow and guns again. That was a nice progression path in game with a logic rate of increasing damage while you level.

 

In A16 and before, I rarely used a firearm. The crossbow was always sufficient and with the exploding bolts I could kill many zombies in the horde night. Besides the deers always flew so beautifully when I accidentally had an exploding bolt loaded.

[mr.devolver]

ALL bows and crossbow suck at the moment. Compound bow isn't that much better than a wooden bow and yet it's considerably harder to repair on the go and both bows suck for being slow and unreliable at longer distances, both bows are probably the worst weapons to use in situations when you have to deal with several zombies at once in which case it's better to just give up and run away if possible. Crossbow used to be a decent weapon for stealth as well as a decent backup weapon even in those situations when you're running away from horde, you used to be able to take down some zombies to remove the biggest threat to get more time for retreat, however for several Alpha versions it's been cursed with the double reload bug TFP doesn't care about fixing, which puts usability of this weapon on the same level of compound bow if not even lower.

[canadianbluebeer]

Well, I upped the damage for both, and made my xbow have a mag size of 10.

 

Works well.

 

[meganoth]

The crossbow has too much range, hits with too little impact and the handling makes it seem like it is designed specifically to get you killed.

 

Are you saying that too much range would be a disadvantage?

[mr.devolver]

Well, I upped the damage for both, and made my xbow have a mag size of 10.

 

Works well.

 

 

The main purpose of mods should be to add more fun to the game, not to fix its bugs.

[mr.natural]

Seems that everybody is forgetting about the explosive bolts, just saying

[RipClaw]

Seems that everybody is forgetting about the explosive bolts, just saying

 

Probably because explosive projectiles in A17 didn't work properly in the beginning. That was fixed in the meantime but you still have to invest points in the perk to get them to work the same way as in A16.

 

I loved the explosive bolts. You could turn a horde of running zombies into a horde of crawling zombies.

[canadianbluebeer]

The main purpose of mods should be to add more fun to the game, not to fix its bugs.

 

I just added a 0 to the mag size to see if it would work. It does, and it is fun.

mind you, without a scope, the stack of bolts blocks your view. (fine)

 

Damage... well, I thought most of the weaps were wussy so cranked it.

Went too far in a few cases, but it is amusing to me, and the drawbacks make it worth it.

 

EG don't use the shotgun on meat critters, it gibs them. no meat. same for a full burst from the machinegun. (not ak47)

 

the ragdoll effect is hilarious too.

 

explody bolts were great, and are not bad now. just expensive to make.

[Old Painless]

Are you saying that too much range would be a disadvantage?

 

I mean that a crossbow has far less range than a longbow which would give some differentiation between the arrow-based weapons.

60 feet versus 300 feet of range according to YouTube.

 

A crossbow allows a novice to use larger bolts compared to what they could draw back with a longbow.

 

It's like Hellboy; he's a terrible shot but his handgun uses really big bullets.

[RyanX]

I've rethought the crossbow. I now use the compound at low levels and switch to the crossbow for high levels. You can put a scope on the xbow, there is WAY less arrow drop and I one shot zeds in the head easily. I never use it with a lot of zeds cuz I just pull out a pistol for that. The arrow drop/scope advantage with the xbow changes it to be better than the compound for me. And yes, explosive bolts too.

[Syncrinity]

I agree with Ryan. The crossbow is my go-to choice for ranged combat. It took a lot of getting used to after swapping from the bow but nowadays it feels second nature. Even without a scope I feel like I can hit every shot I fire.

[OldManBrian]

I HATE the compound bow's sights.

 

Just on that alone, I can't use it with that giant circle ring in the way of your view.

 

Personally, I always mod the game so that the base bow and crossbow can compete with other weapons mid-late game in situations with lower enemy counts.

 

The base bow I make fire faster with higher quality bows so you can pull some legolas stuff.

 

The crossbow I make much more powerful so it knocks back enemies and can kill them with 1 shot.

 

 

Vanilla though, I generally don't like any of the bows because the zombies can usually close the distance before I can take them out. I'm generally using either melee or a gun. Then again I'm still playing a16 so this stuff might have changed in a17.

[Morloc]

I mean that a crossbow has far less range than a longbow which would give some differentiation between the arrow-based weapons.

60 feet versus 300 feet of range according to YouTube.

 

Err...so, Tom Brady can throw a football over 4x farther than a proven instrument of death once outlawed by The Church?

 

 

 

-Morloc

[OnlyMeiya]

I use the compound bow from early game all through late game, once you get used to the arrow drop you can snipe heads with it in sneak mode reliably and a modded up bow with steel arrows performs just as good as a crossbow damage wise, late game your perception and boom headshot perks should be max or close to max to where it doesn't matter,

 

You should always be aiming for head shots on zombies.

 

IMHO the crossbow is terrible all around.

[Old Painless]

Err...so, Tom Brady can throw a football over 4x farther than a proven instrument of death once outlawed by The Church?

 

-Morloc

 

Apart from that being completely lost on me, what's your point?

[OnlyMeiya]

Apart from that being completely lost on me, what's your point?

 

Hes saying that the crossbow does not have a range of 300 meters.

[captaine]

I feel that the crossbow would be a better weapon if you had to manually reload it. At least then you'd have the ability to retreat to a better position before incurring the reload penalty.

[Old Painless]

Hes saying that the crossbow does not have a range of 300 meters.

 

I meant 300 for the bow. I was giving an example, I don't know what the exact figures are; it was more about the difference between the two types of weapons.

[OnlyMeiya]

I feel that the crossbow would be a better weapon if you had to manually reload it. At least then you'd have the ability to retreat to a better position before incurring the reload penalty.

 

I've asked the Devs to create a setting where you can toggle Auto-reload on and off, especially with the "Run and Gun"Perk not being readily available at the start, being forced into a reload situation by the game when you aren't in a good position too can literally get you killed.

 

I might not want to reload that weapon I might want to switch to another one that is already fully loaded or I might want to retreat to a better point where I have the distance from zed to do so.

[captaine]

I've asked the Devs to create a setting where you can toggle Auto-reload on and off, especially with the "Run and Gun"Perk not being readily available at the start, being forced into a reload situation by the game when you aren't in a good position too can literally get you killed.

 

I might not want to reload that weapon I might want to switch to another one that is already fully loaded or I might want to retreat to a better point where I have the distance from zed to do so.

 

That would be great as well, really anything that gives the player the choice about when to reload slow single-shot weapons would make them more viable. Perhaps people would even start using the blunderbuss

[OnlyMeiya]

That would be great as well, really anything that gives the player the choice about when to reload slow single-shot weapons would make them more viable. Perhaps people would even start using the blunderbuss

 

I don't know about the blunderbuss. I find that weapon to be the "Forgettable" one as I usually make a bow within the first 60 seconds of starting a new game.

 

A noisy weapon that shoots resources I really need for other things and doesn't do much damage anyway.

 

Stealth is more important in games like this.

 

Also considering the rate at which you find guns now destroys all value to guns in general.

[Morloc]

Apart from that being completely lost on me, what's your point?

 

My point was that your numbers seemed suspect.

A 20 yard range for a crossbow seems far too low when a person can throw something over 80 yards.

 

Some info...

 

 

-Morloc

[Data]

Crossbow is excellent, I use it all the time as my sneaky head shot weapon, get some steal arrows, single right click to aim, works ace

[OldManBrian]

I've asked the Devs to create a setting where you can toggle Auto-reload on and off, especially with the "Run and Gun"Perk not being readily available at the start, being forced into a reload situation by the game when you aren't in a good position too can literally get you killed.

 

I might not want to reload that weapon I might want to switch to another one that is already fully loaded or I might want to retreat to a better point where I have the distance from zed to do so.

 

Can this be modded in currently? Or are there no hooks for it?

[OnlyMeiya]

Can this be modded in currently? Or are there no hooks for it?

 

I'm pretty sure it can be, since there has to be something there for the game to know when to auto-reload (Which is pressing the "Fire" Button when your ammo count =< 0 there should be a way to tell it to not do so in which case it could be configured to be toggle-able.