Bodkin / Composite Bow

[HighLord z0b]

Hi I've searched around the forums a lot looking for an answer and didn't find one so appologies if this has been asked before.

Does anyone know what's the difference between "quality_bodkin_arrow" and "composite_arrow" for missiles in the EDU? What do these tags effect? Maybe the arrow animations or something?

The "ap" in the Stat_pri is what makes longbowmen armor piercing I take it, not the "bodkin" tag.

[Mythic_Commodore]

It's just the projectile. Different projectiles have different definitions, to represent different weights and modes of firing.

[HighLord z0b]

Thanks,

So does that effect battle in any way? I only ask because there is "composite_arrow" and "elite_composite_arrow"

[Mythic_Commodore]

Glad to help. I don't think that it has any major affect on the battlefield, but I really don't know. Look in descr_projectiles.txt for more info.

[SSJPabs]

Aren't the bodkin arrows Armor Piercing while Composite bows aren't?

[HighLord z0b]

I think that's only because Longbowmen have "ap" (code for armour piercing) in their stat_pri.

It's actually one of the things that annoy me in this game, it wasn't just longbowmen who shot bodkins, virtually anyone using bows in warfare would have used bodkins, and certainly the superior composite bowmen would have used bodkins. In fact there's evidence that only the Mongols were using fire hardened bodkin heads, whilst Europe were using soft iron.

Which is one of the reasons I'm asking this question in the first place, I'm going to mod composite bow units to include the ap tag.

[Mythic_Commodore]

Yes, it is only because of the ap tag.

[Zombimode]

Each entry in the projectiles.txt has a value for accuracy.
Many mods (ie. Real Combat) utilise this to define different skill levels of missle units.
Say you want to have three tiers of missle units: low, trained and elite
You make add three projektile entry in the file, like arrow_low, arrow_trained etc. and give the appropriate accuracy value (lower means higher accuracy).
Then in the EDU you assing the according projektile type to the unit.

Higher accuracy means more arrows bolts etc actualy hit the target, so more chance of damage.

You may asked, why not just go with different attack values?
Well, two reasons:
1) Attack value determines how well an attack passes through the targets defenses. Higher attack value will result in a linear increase in causalties against all targest, I think. Higher accuracy just determines how many porektiles hit. While this will have an impact on dealt causalties as a whole, not every target is affected in the same way. A low attack high accuracy unit still wont do much against heavy armored target, but it will butcher light units.
2) It can model how important it is for a weapon to get a close range. A high attack low accuracy unit will much more devestating at close range. You cant model that with the attack value alone.

Edit: it has NOTHING to do with the ap tag.
You can slap ap on everything if you wish.

[JaM]

and btw, bodkinn were not that good against plate armor - they were developed against mail.