Typical ST for a war bow?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

They are pulling them to full draw but they aren't holding them at full draw. You can't "aim" with them in the way that GURPS treats aiming.

There's little need to use Aim for barrage fire, is there?

I'm still confused though, do you treat it as a bow of the rated ST or not?

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

So there's no benefit to using an overstrength bow?

Not in open battle. You'd get tired too quickly. Perhaps in a siege where you have plenty of time between volleys.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Maybe I was thinking of values of "you" smaller than "King of England" who very well may have had 2-3 companies.

I'm highly unlikely to field any number of archers whatsoever. I thought you meant "the GM" and "imaginary archers in the gameworld".

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Not in open battle. You'd get tired too quickly. Perhaps in a siege where you have plenty of time between volleys.

So in a battle you use the stats of the weaker bow, but in a siege you use the rated ST? I'm confused.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

So in a battle you use the stats of the weaker bow, but in a siege you use the rated ST? I'm confused.

GURPS assumes that you are using a bow that is matched to your strength. The question is whether the English did this. It is possible that they trained with overstrength bows but went back to "normal" bows when in battle. When training, fatigue doesn't really matter. You stop when you get tired and over time you build up strength and endurance. Then the process starts again with a heavier bow. I'm inclined to think that an English archer constantly upgraded his bow to higher and higher strengths throughout his entire fighting life.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

So there's no benefit to using an overstrength bow?

Realistically, using an overstrength bow gives you a choice between reducing your draw length (which will result in lower range and damage than an appropriately chosen bow) or stressing yourself (reducing accuracy and number of reps that can be achieved). Based on weightlifting charts, where you can do 10 reps at 75% of your one rep max, most bows people actually use were probably significantly below the max they could theoretically draw.

[DouglasCole]

More to Sir Pudding's question, if you have a bow with a force of 100 that you draw to one yard, you have 50 units of energy in it (more or less).

If you take a bow with 50 units of force and draw to one yard, you have 25 units of energy in it.

If you take a bow with a force of 100 and draw it to 50 force and half a yard, you will only have 12.5 units of energy in it, since you will only be able to draw it half way.

So no, it's not as good as a lower power bow to full draw. Penetration will be reduced even at equal draw force.

[safisher]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

The template I posted above can make an archer that can use the heaviest bows on the Merry Rose at only -2 to skill (with the +4 for an area target; that gives a net skill of 16) and if he takes two quirks and uses those points (with the 8 points he has left from Advantages) to upgrade Fit to Very Fit only loses one extra FP at the end of battle; as a 75 point character. I don't think it's unreasonable for Henry VIII to have fielded a company of 75 point guys at all.

That's very reasonable. I like the build. Might could use Talent and make the benefit a leveled version of Strongbow, and/or a Special Exercises Perk for Arm Strength. In fact, a leveled Perk to ignore -1 in penalties for an over-strength bow would be most helpful. But yes, that approach could work really well.

[sir_pudding]

Purely game mechanically, no house rules, no speculation about bio-mechanics, what is the actual intent of the wording on Low-Tech p. 75? Obviously you suffer a -1 per point understrength and 1 FP per point at the end of the battle, but which ST do you use to determine damage and range?

[DouglasCole]

I may have wandered far afield, but I took up the overstrength bows question on my blog, giving credit to two ideas I found in this thread.

Sorry for the link dump, but I list it in case you don't follow my updates in the Gaming Ballistic update thread.