Re: Bugs to be fixed... (LONG)
re: English Longbowmen wheren't a chosen few -
I will dig up the refs for you. King Edward used less than 10% of those that came to serve when he went to Agincourt, iirc. But, as said, I will dig up the ref. And, yes, in general, bow fire was massed fire. The reason that the xbow was shot in a flat trajectory was because it COULD be shot that way. A flat trajectory comes from a fast moving object, nothing else (short of lift).
re: Do not use weapons with negative prec in the game.
ok, hadn't played with that. I was just considering how hard it is to learn how to shoot a bow properly, as well as the sling. If the xbow was taken as a base, then the others were worse... and since I was looking at it as the ave guy was 10s all around... newbie mistake, obviously.
re: Crossbows do not outrange Longbows:
pretty sure you are wrong on both counts but I'll dig up the Sci. Amer. articles. I need to get new copies anyway. Arrows are even worse than you suggest. Straight out of the bow, they wobble and bend. The path is more or less straight but the arrow flexed quite a bit. Hence, a real need to match the mass of the point, the wood and flex of the shaft, and the pull of the bow. Also, the arrow HAD to flex or it would not shoot true. I _believe_ it began to precess later in flight, but that may be me confounding information.
re : Additionally, bolts are much sturdier than arrows
very true.
re: - Longbows where used for balistical mass archery. The thick crossbow bolt looses too much energy when fired in a ballistic arc. Crossbows where fired straight at the nearby enemy, from the second or third row of the shield wall.
again, I will get the article for you and post the aerodynamic results.
re: 0 AP or low AP
as I recall the damage rules, the weapons would be: wpn base damage + str (if used) + 2d6. I was basically trying to suggest a way to model all the bows the same and still have the xbows do what they did best, which was piss of the knights since they could now be killed by poorly peasants. Well, that it was harder to ransom some dead guy than a live captive. The suggestion might not work out right.
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