Animation of Archery

[Dave]

I don't normally like critiquing the artwork of units, because I'm a coder, not an artist, but there is one thing I think could be improved...

When our archers pull back their bowstrings, I don't think it looks convincing that they are drawing the bowstrings very far. When one shoots a bow, especially a powerful bow like a longbow, one draws the string very far back, so far back that the wood of the bow bends back as well.

Longbows were so hard to pull back that very few men could use one. They had ranges of hundreds of metres.

Would it be possible for the animation of units like the Elvish Archer, Elvish Ranger, etc, to be changed so that they draw their bowstrings back further, and the bows themselves are bent back?

David

[Kamahawk]

Longbows were so hard to pull back that very few men could use one. They had ranges of hundreds of metres.

The archers aren shooting hundreds of meters there are always shooting one hex (however far that is).

Would it be possible for the animation of units like the Elvish Archer, Elvish Ranger, etc, to be changed so that they draw their bowstrings back further, and the bows themselves are bent back?

This would make the Human Bow/Longbowmen pics I'm supposed to working on conciderably harder ...

[Dave]

Longbows were so hard to pull back that very few men could use one. They had ranges of hundreds of metres.

The archers aren shooting hundreds of meters there are always shooting one hex (however far that is).

Considering a typical footman can move 5 hexes in 4 hours, it is quite a distance, but it might include some quantity of movement partially into the hex before they attack, and so forth.

But, regardless of the distance one was shooting, they would always want to draw the bowstring very far back, so that the arrows would fly fast, maximizing chance of hitting, and maximizing damage on impact.

David

[yawningdog]

The other day I was looking for some facts to use as arguments in favor of guns in wesnoth* and found this rather interesting page: http://www.teemings.com/issue04/medieval.html

It talks about all sorts of medieval weaponry, and bows are given special attention. Some quotes:

"most arrows were made the length of the archer’s arm"

"Usually, the bow was approximately six feet long"

"Archers rarely wore more armour than a padded or studded leather vest"

"Contrary to rumour, the archers actually aimed for a specific person, not just in the general direction of the enemy. A qualified archer was expected to shoot twenty-four arrows at a man-sized target from two hundred yards and hit with every one!"

"With longer arrows, it had to be pulled past the jaw."

"An expert could draw, aim and fire in nearly one action (...). The key word is expert. It took over a decade to master the longbow".

* This has no relevance at all for the current discussion, it's just intended to drive methinks crazy

[methinks]

The other day I was looking for some facts to use as arguments in favor of guns in wesnoth*
(...)
* This has no relevance at all for the current discussion, it's just intended to drive methinks crazy

You, you, you... YOU EVIL YAWNINGDOG

I will show you guns... now... lemme find 'em... and, and, and...
AND I WILL... I WILL TELL YOU GUNS ARE EVIL!

Now, I think Dave has a point here.