Thursday, 24th April 2014, 21:05 by Siegurt
Slings don't get a shield penalty (That's the advantage they have, since they do less damage than bows)
For ranged weapons it goes something like this:
Longbows: Best damage at the top end, Special brand for arrow ammo causes critters to blink (which is ok for keeping things at range, but not otherwise all that special)
Crossbows: Best untrained damage, doesn't get as much benefit from training (ends up being about the same as slings damage wise) Special bolt brand is piercing, which lets you hit a row of critters. Also a very good choice, but better (imho) for a melee backup (And way to kill summoners/smiters/tormetors/buffers in the back of a pack) than it is as a primary weapon, certainly serviceable as one though.
Slings: Don't have a penalty from shields (they are one-handed) less damage than bows/crossbows, but can use stones as ammo (with half the damage of sling bullets) Special brand is explosion, does damage to everything adjacent to the target, ignores evasion, but always destroys the ammo, probably the least useful of the 'special' brands. Probably the easiest to pick up ammo and use to kill stuff early game (crossbows do more damage early game, but finding ammo sucks, stones are very common, bolts are not)
Throwing: All thrown weapons have no penalty from shields, and always fire in exactly 1.0 AUT. If you're large (Troll/Ogre), throwing large rocks does excellent damage with very little training (but doesn't increase much with training) not quite as good as a well-trained longbow, but probably about as good as a well trained crossbow or sling, Javelins are a step down (but usable by everyone) tomahawks are a step down from there (decent for knocking hps off a critter you're going to melee) throwing darts and stones does insignificant damage outside of the first few levels. Blowguns also use the throwing skill, and while they don't do damage directly they inflict all kinds of nasty status effects, you can bypass an orc warrior's armour and poison them to death, a few shots of curare will slow and do loads of poison damage to anything that can be poisoned, and needles of confusion, paralysis, and sleep are all excellent for well-trained stabbers who have a highly enchanted blowgun.
All of the damage-doing weapons have the brands of the launcher overriden by the brand of the ammo *except* velocity, which by itself does less damage than freezing/frost but *stacks with* branded ammo (so you get the benefits from both)
You also get a larger bonus from your launcher's damage bonus, if you have enough strength (Where "enough" tops out at around 15 for a +9 launcher)
Shields impose a significant speed penalty on bows and crossbows. (The degree to which it slows your firing down depends on the shield, 50% for bucklers, 100% for regular shields, and 150% for large shields, this penalty can be halved by raising your shield to 27. Don't do this, instead use a ranged weapon without a shield.)
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