[MUD-Dev] Longbows and such.

[Cynbe ru Taren]

A few random comments:

Longbows indeed take much more skill.  There was a reason
for the prizes offered skillful peasant archers at fairs. :)

They also have a much higher rate of fire.  Depending
on the era, reloading crossbows could range from merely
slow and awkward to truly awful, sometimes requiring
say dismounting from horseback...

The effectiveness of longbows (of either the
symmetric English or assymetric Japanese styles)
against armor should not be underestimated,
especially when using chisel-point arrows intended
for armor.

Someone commented on bullets tending to push aside
organs and blood vessels: Not true of typical
hunting-style bladed arrows, which is why arrows
are often more lethal than bullets, even though
having less "stopping power".  (Of course, you
can dum-dum the bullets...)

Things no pacifist has any business knowing :)

 Cynbe