Unskilled launchers in early dungeon

[Berder]

Using a launcher or throwing weapon in the early dungeon can really help you survive and make it to lair. You don't need to train them. Just use them to soften up approaching enemies. But which is best?

As a HuWz with 0 skill, with 7 str and 11 dex, fighting an iguana, I got the following results in fsim.

hand xbow = longbow = javelins > greatsling (sling bullets) > shortbow = greatsling (stones) = hunting sling (sling bullets) > hunting sling (stones) = tomahawks

So it appears a hand xbow, javelins, or a shortbow are your best bets among the ranged weapons commonly found in the early dungeon.

Blowguns, of course, are far and away the best, but don't fsim well.

[edgefigaro]

Do the numbers change with 11 str and 7 dex (or maybe whatever a skald/equivalent might be)?

[Siegurt]

Using a launcher or throwing weapon in the early dungeon can really help you survive and make it to lair. You don't need to train them. Just use them to soften up approaching enemies. But which is best?

As a HuWz with 0 skill, with 7 str and 11 dex, fighting an iguana, I got the following results in fsim.

hand xbow = longbow = javelins > greatsling (sling bullets) > shortbow = greatsling (stones) = hunting sling (sling bullets) > hunting sling (stones) = tomahawks

So it appears a hand xbow, javelins, or a shortbow are your best bets among the ranged weapons commonly found in the early dungeon.

Blowguns, of course, are far and away the best, but don't fsim well.

However really what's going to be determining which you use, is going to be availability, it's not as if there's a plethora of launchers and ammo and javelins for you to choose from on D:1. Also you skipped the better crossbows (Which have more availability than longbows in any case)

Also a consideration, using thrown weapons (javelins, tomahawks, thrown stones) doesn't require weapon swapping so you'll typically get more shots in.

[Berder]

Increasing the stats to 16 str and 12 dex, the numbers don't change very much. With the increased stats, javelins pull slightly ahead of the others listed, about 10% better than hand xbow/longbow (2.0 AvEffDam instead of 1.8). The other relationships remain the same.

javelins (2.0 AvEffDam)
hand xbow = longbow (1.8)
greatsling (sling bullets) (1.7)
shortbow = greatsling (stones) = hunting sling (sling bullets) (1.3)
hunting sling (stones) (0.9)
tomahawks (0.8)

What surprises me most here is how bad unskilled tomahawks are. Better to use that hunting sling.

Then, with those same stats, giving 4.0 Fighting skill causes the longbow to pull ahead of the hand xbow, almost equal to javelins, but the other relationships are the same.

[bcadren]

As a HuFi with 16 str and 12 dex, the numbers don't change very much. With the increased stats, javelins pull slightly ahead of the others listed, about 10% better than hand xbow/longbow (2.0 AvEffDam instead of 1.8). The other relationships remain the same.

javelins (2.0 AvEffDam)
hand xbow = longbow (1.8)
greatsling (sling bullets) (1.7)
shortbow = greatsling (stones) = hunting sling (sling bullets) (1.3)
hunting sling (stones) (0.9)
tomahawks (0.8)

What surprises me most here is how bad unskilled tomahawks are. Better to use that hunting sling.

Let me just show you by normal numbers available to a regular player; rather than fsim; it should be enough to tell some things;
Weakest to strongest (by pure damage); throwing's delay is the same across all weapons.

• Stone - 2 Base Dam - 1.0 Base Delay - 0.5 Min Delay
• Tomahawk - 6 Base Dam - 1.0 Base Delay - 0.5 Min Delay
• Hunting Sling - 7 Base Dam (Stone) - 9 Base Dam (Bullet) - 1.2 Base Delay - 0.6 Min Delay
• Short Bow - 9 Base Dam - 1.3 Base Delay - 0.6 Min Delay
• Javelin - 10 Base Dam - 1.0 Base Delay - 0.5 Min Delay
• Great Sling - 10 Base Dam (Stone) - 12 Base Dam (Bullet) - 1.4 Base Delay - 0.7 Min Delay
• Hand Crossbow - 12 Base Dam - 1.5 Base Delay - 1.0 Min Delay
• Long Bow - 15 Base Dam - 1.7 Base Delay - 0.7 Min Delay
• Arbalest - 18 Base Dam - 1.9 Base Delay - 1.0 Min Delay
• Large Rock - 20 Base Dam - 1.0 Base Delay - 0.5 Min Delay
• Triple Crossbow - 22 Base Dam - 2.3 Base Delay - 1.0 Min Delay

[Yes, of course Tomahawks are weaker than Slings.]

[mps]

However really what's going to be determining which you use, is going to be availability, it's not as if there's a plethora of launchers and ammo and javelins for you to choose from on D:1. Also you skipped the better crossbows (Which have more availability than longbows in any case)

Also a consideration, using thrown weapons (javelins, tomahawks, thrown stones) doesn't require weapon swapping so you'll typically get more shots in.

Meant to hit quote. It's worth remembering that you frequently have a choice between more than one of the options considered in the OP and it's not obvious a priori which is best, so this information is actually useful. But indeed, throwing things is good.

[yesno]

for me availability usually dictates hunting sling + stones, which is good enough, and by the time i've found something better it doesn't make a very big difference anymore

[Berder]

Also you skipped the better crossbows (Which have more availability than longbows in any case)

After testing: an arbalest is best of all, better than javelins.

[bcadren]

After testing: an arbalest is best of all, better than javelins.

Arbalest is also much slower than Javelins.

[Berder]

The number fsim generates, AvEffDam, accounts for attack speed.

[Bloax]

AvEffDam is the average damage multiplied by the accuracy percentage multiplied by average attacks per round.