Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Icelander
In design for GURPS
Yes, I understand that a Baker Rifle is cheaper at a $100 vs. the Composite Crossbow $900, but that's at least partially due to the mass production of firearms at TL 5. An early musket competing with crossbows at TL4 doesn't have those advantages and will cost almost as much as the crossbow.
|
AS I understand it, the adoption of early gunpowder weapons had more to do with politics that inherent superiority (this is 1500-16XX era, so TL 4). The advantage was that governments could control who had them more easily, because there were fewer gunsmiths around than people who knew how to make bows/crossbows, and few people could make significant quantities of powder on their own, while arrows/bolts are trivially easy for a person with the right skills to make.