The Crossbow

[Hedge-o-Matic]

I was just wondering, given the overhaul the Bastard Sword has recieved, if anyone else feels the crossbow is the unwanted stepchild of the Chaos world? I know for a fact that I avoid it like the plague. It's really cool, and the animations are excellent, as are the sounds. But against a 2k4 player's movement, the crossbow isn't worth the effort. Even the special arrows can't save it, since their areas of effect are so small, and can be passed through so quickly, or bypassed altogether far too easily.

Given the excellent melee system, how can the crossbow be made a viable weapon again? Or do I just really suck with it? Is it just me?

One thing I can think of would be to have a player hit by the crossbow suffer movement penelties. Sure, getting peppered by bullets hurts a lot, but crossbow bolts stick in you, and that's got to do something. For example, each bolt that hits could reduce your speed, dodge and jump distance by 10% per bolt for about 10 seconds each. Harsh? You bet, but the effectis one that no other weapon has. considering the difficulty in hitting with the crossbow, and the fact that every other weapon gets a better damage per second based on firing speed alone, this isn't unfair, I think. It would make the weapon excellent in CTF, as an anti-FC weapon. Even an armor-laden carrier would be slowed by a single bolt, but not so much that it was a one-shot solution. If the player is skilled, they can recover enough to forge on.

This, basically, would make crossbows excellent defensive weapons in team games, giving it a special place.

Another addition would be an EMP arrow. This does normal damage to vehicles, and lowers player's shield-based armor 10 more points than normal. Or, behaps these abilities could be added to the atandard arrow, since they aren't that extreme, and would give the slow-firing crossbow added kick without a damage boost.

While I'm usually not a fan of "change this weapon" threads, I really think that the crossbow is well done, and it's a shame to leave it behind. These changes are more than the plain power hike, and would need to be used properly for full effect. Given the slow speed of the crossbow compared to everything else, these small tweaks make it a weapon with a purpose.

[Zachariah]

I see the Xbow as more of a Skill based thing than something you can just jump into and Gib away with. Using the Xbow takes prectice and skill , and in the hands of the right player , you can rack up the Kills very efficiently.

[TKATK]

The only thing i would like to see about the Xbow is a bit of a speed boost for the arrow's...a real small bit

[jeditobe1]

The crossbow isnt meant so much for killing single people, as for using the charge up spread shot and taking out a whole room with the arrows of your choice. imo anyways. However, ive started using it quite a bit.

[Shadowstar]

If you think the crossbow isn't powerful, you haven't played crossbow arena with masterful bots. You will be cursing to high heaven at the end of that.

It's a good weapon. Just lead your targets and aim. It takes a different kind of skill to use it effectively than with the other weapons, but if you're good with it (and a little lucky) you can dominate.

[Kaboodles]

An uncharged single bolt can remove 55 hp from your target, and a headshot instantly kills an unshielded target at 100 hp. However, I find that it's too hard to target with to be of any use to me. I would like a compromise. Higher rate of fire and faster bolt speed with a much lower amount of damage would be better, in my opinion.

Also, the AWO charge-fire takes too long to charge, and the crossbow should automatically charge up a new one after the first one is released, so you don't have to keep clicking the alt-fire, but those are just my opinions.

[Shadowstar]

The crossbow isn't designed for long-range sniping, though it can actually work for that if you're skilled enough. To make effective use of it, think of it as a short to medium range sniper weapon. You'll get alot of use out of it in close-in fights. I think its fine the way it is. It was balanced a long time ago and is now one of the standard weapons we use to balance similar new weapons. If we change it, it will mean alot of rebalancing.

[neolith]

Everyone who doesn't believe in the power of the crossbow should try to fight a player like Corvus - he'll pin your head to the next wall within the blink of an eye.

[jeditobe1]

...and your arms.. and your legs...

[Kaboodles]

Wait...

The crossbow can't nail leg gibs to the wall!

Can they?

[jb]

Maybe some day we can get to pin other gibs on the wall.


And to be honest the Crossbow seems to be balanced well. There is a time and place you will want to use it....

[Rythmix]

HAHA... its funny this came up.. i was just talking with someone from beyondunreal forums, and i talked him into releasing his mod mutator as a stand alone mutator.. in his mod, he has a throwing axe that instakills and nails the karma ragdoll to the wall (clientside of course) and it looked so cool. so he made a stake gun mutator, does same thing but shoots wooden stakes at you and when they hit you, you are nailed to the wall literally, I was thinking how this could be cool for needler or crossbow!

here is link to movie:
http://home.btconnect.com/tiledecals/stake.WMV

and link to mutator:
http://rythmix.zclans.com/Stakeout-non-umod.zip

and link to the thread:
http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthre ... ost1673825

don't work in duel, but fun in other gametypes

[TKATK]

Ive wanted that since day1 i used the Xbow in UT2003...And i still want it to nail bodies to the wall(In painkiller nailing monsters to wall's with a huge stake was just TOO sweet)

[Shadowstar]

It can happen with the crossbow now, but its rare. We used to have a thread for people to post pics of ragdolls nailed to walls with the crossbow. As for gibs, I havent seen it happen aside from the head.