(TL;DR near the end)
Some additional ideas to prevent crossbow form just becoming another reskinned, different-stat “bow”.
Below, I purposely don’t mention and class or class-level, because I think it is artificial and should really be replaced by a skill-attribute based system.
Bows
- have higher attribute requirements (e.g. strength to pull, perception to aim, intelligence to compute trajectory and lead target)
- performance more skill dependent (performance increases more when the archer is more skilled. i.e. same bow in 2 hearthlings of different skills can vary a lot in effectiveness)
- reloading/rewinding + aiming done as one single action. (which is why bows are usually faster?). reload/rewind is strength dependent (hearthling vs strength of bow: affects speed, also damage potential, up to the bow’s strength limit), aiming affects delay before firing.
- how much the bow can be rewinded affects the damage/range. bow’s have a minimum strength to use and a maximum strength it can “store”. depending on the archer’s stats, the resultant range/damage will also vary.
- higher tier bows have better “performance coefficients” wrt to user skills, stats.
- performance starts out so-so in the hands of an untrained archer (worse than crossbow in untrained hands)
- but a master archer can usually outperform the most trained crossbow users
CrossBows
- usually have lower attribute requirements (e.g. have alternate way of rewinding and holding a shot)
- performance less skill dependent. i.e. range/damage etc simialr regardless of hearthling’s stats and skills.
- using it has distinct stages which are:
- rewinding : higher strength -> faster. have min strength requirement. mechanical versions with gearworks can lower the strength requirements.
- reloading : higher dexterity -> faster
- aiming : this is the only part more dependent on attribute/skill. By right it should affect accuracy, but in the event the game engine has no concept of “miss”, this should affect the “time required to aim” followe by a guarantee hit. i.e. hearthling with higher attribute/skill takes less time to aim.
- firing : followed by actual projectile flight and damage, which is mostly dependent on the crossbow stats (hearthling stats/skills don’t affect this).
- unlike bows, crossbows may have additional mechanical parts which may affect some performance (regardless of user skills). e.g:
- rewinding crank and gearworks that lowers the strength required to use it
- auto-reloader that eliminates the time required for the “reloading” stage totally until all the bolts in the “magazine” is used up. Then a longer reload is required to fill up/change the magazine.
- auto/pre-rewinder (auto uses some other stored energy other than the hearthling’s to quicky rewind. pre-rewinder add multiple rewinds (e.g. using multiple strings, to be released one by one) in a single long stage (usually before combat) but allows faster rate of fire without further rewinding until the stored pre-rewinds are exhausted.
- scope/sights that reduces aiming time.
Summary (TL;DR):
- Crossbows can be used effectively from the start without any training.
- Bows require training to be used effectively.
- Bow performance (damage, range, attack/sec): increases in a balanced manner and higher rate with user skill and attributes.
- Crossbow performance: damage and range have very little variance for a particular crossbow type. attacks/sec increases with some attributes and skills.
- Bows usually have higher attacks/sec (no separate rewinding stage), with some exceptions (e.g. autoloading/rewinding crossbow)
- Crossbows in general have less effective range than bows, but more consistent damage independent of user skill. (i.e. I am thinking that crossbows may have higher “strength” but it only uses the “straight” part of a trajectory, which is why it has generally high damage but shorter range and as a result easier to use. whereas a master archer can make use of a fully trajectory range to hit something effectively)
- More effective to arm untrained hearthlings (esp temporary militia) with crossbows than bows, but “highest-tier” range are still master bowmen after enduring long, rigorous training.
- Bow types are mostly similar in size (ranging from shortbow to longbow) and all operate similarly (require similar attributes/skills, just at different levels and have similar performance coefficents, just different levels)
- Crossbow types can vary from palm size to siege-weapon class ballista. The methods of rewinding/reloading can vary greatly, and it can take in more mechanical add-ons which can affect its performance/behavior.
ok. run out of time. please add more ideas 