Short bows vs longbows in trunk (.15)

[tasonir]

So with the ranged combat reform, both shortbows and longbows reach min delay quickly (10 and 12), and shortbows fire at 5 aut vs longbows at 6 aut. Now longbows doing more damage makes up for this, but what's the general rule of thumb as to which is better? Would you consider using a shortbow all game long instead of a longbow (when you're not a spriggan)?

My take on it is that longbows are still generally better, although the gap between the two is smaller now. I'm less sure on what to do when I've found a shortbow of speed - Speed being an excellent brand, I think it might be worth more than a longbow of velocity, but it's hard to tell. I thought I'd come here and see what other trunk players have thought so far.

As an aside, speed stacks with all branded ammo like velocity does, correct? But you still can't mix two elemental brands, like a flaming bow + poison arrows? We need to enable players to be more like nessos!

[duvessa]

If I understand the code correctly: arrows have 7 base damage, so a shortbow is 10 base damage (full-LOS demon whip with 1 less base damage and two brands that is also 50 times easier to find), and a longbow is 13 base damage (full-LOS demon blade with 12 base delay and two brands that is also 50 times easier to find). Crossbows have 14 base damage (bastard sword with 5 more accuracy and 1 less base damage and two brands that is also 50 times easier to find). Stones and sling bullets have 2 and 4 base damage, respectively, so a sling with sling bullets is 6 base damage (a fucking short sword).

[tasonir]

So...base damage of slings goes from 2 -> 4, stones from 2 -> 3 damage, and sling bullets from 4 -> 6 (or maybe 5?) damage? Any reason why that couldn't be changed quickly?

In a follow up - seems like there isn't much point to high bow/crossbow skill anymore. I'm worshipping trog so I have nothing to spend exp on anyways, so I raised bows more, but you're generally not getting much for raising bows past 12 if I'm estimating this accurately.

[Lasty]

Short bows are probably pretty solid right now also if I'm doing the math right , since they only have three less base damage, but they fire 1/6th faster (and with only 10 skill):

  Code:

Short bow: 1 / 0.5 * (3 + 7) = 20
Long bow:  1 / 0.6 * (6 + 7) = 21.66


Or, to put it another way, what duvessa said.

Edit: and duvessa is right about the effective base damage for launchers being launcher base + ammo base.