Historical Inaccuracy: Crossbows

[lipk]

Where do the Orcs get their corssbows and slurbows from, anyway? No-one else seems to use them.

Higher level units of the Cavalryman and Fencer line actually use crossbows.

[Ivir_Baggins]

I can accept that. However, slurbows are described as being stolen. Since no-one else uses them, who makes them?

[lipk]

Obviously, nobody else uses slurbows because the orcs stole all of them.

[Drakefriend]

Again, the "the discriptions are written by an biased Wesnothian"/"Orcs are more advance than commonly believed" approach might help. "What, they have super-powerul crossbows? These savages could not possibly have invented them! They must be stolen!".
Somehow, I got this conviction through this thread.
By the way, the German translation (which sometimes has diverging flavor texts) actually has the orcs invent the slurbow (called "Kharrash", said to mean hammer).

[maredi316]

the orc's crossbow can be somewhat accurate, as some crossbows of medieval times were used to assassinate targets, and these were hand-loaded, which means they can simply pull the bow. The modern military crossbow is also hand loaded(with some assistance of the wheel if it is compound). It still loads slower than the longbow, but it is about 1 bolt per 1.5-2 arrows. With the brute force of the ors, these odds can be reduced to 1 bolt per 1-1.25 arrows I guess, which is the ratio they fire compared to human and elvish archers. One problem is that these medieval crossbows for assassination were used like the muffled pistol of today, which means they are obsolete after 15-20 meters. I guess the orcs brute power plays here as well, in the capability to utilize crossbows with higher draw power.
One thing I would like to question is, how drake glider get marksman?

[HomerJ]

One thing I would like to question is, how drake glider get marksman?

"Eyes of the Hawk!"
would be my best guess:

Spoiler:

Greetz
HomerJ

[Xalzar]

One thing I would like to question is, how drake glider get marksman?

"Eyes of the Hawk!"
would be my best guess:

This, or the fact that they attack their enemies from above and can aim precisely without the obstruction of heavy armour.

In other words, they have all the possibility to choose their target (they have the greatest visibility on the battlefield) and the said target can do little to avoid an aerial attack.

End of OT, here we are speaking of crossbows I guess.

[Crow_T]

OT HomerJ wow you just knocked some dust off of my brain- Strength of a bear bear bear Speed of a puma...