Bow and Arrow

[DVS_Zev]

I always wished there was a bow in DS.Seems like it would fit well with the crafting.EX: 1 board, 2 silk for a basic early bow.

Perhaps a twig, flint and feather to make an arrow.Now obviously, the bow cant do TOO much damage, as it would be

quite easy to craft.

i enjoy archery in games.especially in games of survival.I've been waiting years for a Bow in DS.come on Klei!

 

[Sinister_Fang]

You do know we already got darts, boomerangs and the weather pain for ranged weapons right? They're a little costly and awkward for a reason. Ranged combat puts you far out of harms way and makes the game way easier.

[Nicolews]

I'd still welcome a bow, though. Current options all have their interesting uses, but a low-ish damage, not that costly, reliable ranged attack option would allow support-minded players to contribute to a fight from a distance, which would be interesting to have as far as party dynamics go.

 

I believe you could achieve a balanced result by splitting the parts :

- Craft the bow with rare-ish components (reeds, spider-silk and Beefalo horn). Bows "spoils" (he strings getting slack),and even more so when wet; but they can be repaired with more spider silks (changing the string).  The bow is a regular hand slot item.

- Craft arrows individually (Twig + Flint + Any feather => 2-3 Arrows).

- Craft a quiver with Pig Skin and a Rope

- Load the quivers by putting arrows inside (a basic quiver should hold 15-20 arrows).

 

Using the bow would require to equip both the bow and a loaded quiver. Firing would consume durability (arrows) from the quiver, and should be slow-ish (like a blowdart). Damage should be equal to a basic spear. 

 

Why go through all that mess ?

- Having to equip the quiver prevents the user from wearing armor, which limits them to helmets for defense, limits hot-swapping between a melee weapon and a range weapon, and prevents the "backpack-wearing ranged fighter" approach.

- Having two durability meters (bowstring "spoiling" and quiver emptying) makes it harder to maintain, without putting all the strain on the rarity of the components.

 

Possible options for bowmens could include :

- A better bow, with a multiplier to damage, made from Living Logs, Spider Silk and the Deerclops eye (Sighted bow ?)
- A larger quiver (maybe made of slurper pelts ?)

 

[Arlesienne]

@ZupaleX made this style-consistent, tunable gem: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=488009136

It's actually pretty odd the transients make darts, but not bows, which are much more widespread in Europe and Northern America (that is the two continents they seem to come from).

[Ecu]

Honestly, I quite love the idea of losing a back slot to have a better ranged combat option.  As I posted in my rant thread, I feel they should overhaul blowguns to allow for ranged combat to be more reliably useful.  I am not sure I'd recommend adding bows, when we already have blowguns in game though.  Seems like there might be too much overlap.  I also worry a bit about allowing stronger bows via this suggested system purely because they could make ranged just the best combat option by far (as if you can kill everything before it gets to you, you don't need the armor anyways).

This is the reason with my suggestion on ranged combat fixes (mostly focused on the blowgun), I suggest a means where you have to refill the blowgun after every shot, leading to animation delays and making ranged a definite support role weapon and/or hunting tool for birds/rabbits/frogs.