Meteoric Iron Arrows

[sir_pudding]

Has anybody worked out what the effects of making Dungeon Fantasy meteoric iron arrows has on the cost, weight, and performance of arrows. Yes I know I can do this with A Deadly Spring, I'm just wondering if anybody has already done the work.

Edit:
What I want is a best fit that applies reasonable to normal bows in the ST 12-22 range that is just a CF, weight multiple, and a modifier to damage and range. I don't want to have to tell a player to use TDS to figure it out!

[Flyndaran]

Detailed (semi)realistic rules with DF seems an odd combination.

When using the spreadsheet, I like to make the arrows and bow to fit the specific character.
In general though, iron is not a very good arrow material. Though it is dense so it would help cut down on wind resistance for giants' weapons.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Detailed (semi)realistic rules with DF seems an odd combination.

The problem is that no simplified rules actually exist as far as can tell. The rules in DF1 apply to metal parts of weapons, not to making a wooden shaft metal.

When using the spreadsheet, I like to make the arrows and bow to fit the specific character.

I'm not going to expect players to do that.

I just want to distill it down to CF x, weight *y, Damage -n/die and range x fraction p. That's all. I could use TDS to figure out these numbers myself (by making iron arrows for a few typical bows, averaging the results, and figuring out what the best fit for the above factors are and then combining the meteoric iron CF with the resulting CF.

I'm asking if somebody has already done this.

EDIT: It doesn't have to be especially accurate, it just needs to be reasonably consistent.

[Anthony]

There is no standard way to do what you're asking. You could create meteoric iron arrows with the same dimensions as regular arrows, but they'd be at least ten times as heavy and would have very poor performance. If you want to make them lighter weight, you'll probably need hollow cylinders to avoid unmanageably thin and flexible arrows, and that's not really a TL 3-4 technology.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Anthony

There is no standard way to do what you're asking.

Why can't there be? For that matter, why isn't there already?

You could create meteoric iron arrows with the same dimensions as regular arrows, but they'd be at least ten times as heavy and would have very poor performance.

Sure, but what would that poor performance be in game terms?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Why can't there be? For that matter, why isn't there already?
Sure, but what would that poor performance be in game terms?

Anthony appears to be asuming solid iron arrows and you're not contradicting him so that's why there's no standard way to do it. Nobody in the hsitorical Real world ever used solid iron arrows.

If you're just using a Meteoric Iron head then there are no mods except the normal one to CF.

If you are trying to use solid iron arrows I'd estimate a a weight per arrow of 1 to 2 lbs (density of iron c. 8 compared to woods as light as ash at 0.5) which implies an optimum draw weight for the bow of 500-1000 lbs.

Trying to use that massive an arrow for a bow of 60 to 150lbs and I'd end up saying that it is strongly likely to induce mechanical failure of the bow as it tries to overcome the excessive inertia.

If it doesn't bust you're still only getting 1/4th velocity with your 16x as heavy arrow/. That will be no more than 50 ft/second. If your arrow wasn't sharp it wouldn't penetrate bare flesh at all.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Has anybody worked out what the effects of making Dungeon Fantasy meteoric iron arrows has on the cost, weight, and performance of arrows.

Wait. DF meteoric iron arrows are ALL iron? Are you sure?

[ErhnamDJ]

It would probably be easier to do this some other way. Maybe have the wooden part break away in flight?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Anthony appears to be asuming solid iron arrows and you're not contradicting him so that's why there's no standard way to do it. Nobody in the hsitorical Real world ever used solid iron arrows.

Nobody in the historical Real world ever cast Missile Shield either.

If you're just using a Meteoric Iron head then there are no mods except the normal one to CF.

Except, at least according to Kromm, that means that they don't actually do anything, as far as can tell.

Trying to use that massive an arrow for a bow of 60 to 150lbs and I'd end up saying that it is strongly likely to induce mechanical failure of the bow as it tries to overcome the excessive inertia.

If it doesn't bust you're still only getting 1/4th velocity with your 16x as heavy arrow/. That will be no more than 50 ft/second. If your arrow wasn't sharp it wouldn't penetrate bare flesh at all.

So meteoric iron just doesn't work for missiles other than sling bullets and the like? That would also work.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Wait. DF meteoric iron arrows are ALL iron? Are you sure?

As written, only the head is iron, but then as written that doesn't seem to actually do anything. Maybe it works on Steelwraith, I guess. It doesn't do anything to Missile Shield, Sheild, or Armor, as far as I can tell.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Wait. DF meteoric iron arrows are ALL iron? Are you sure?

DF says 'any metal weapon' for what it applies to. It is not obvious that a metal tip on a wooden shaft qualifies.

In any case, the recommended solution is to just use meteoric iron sling bullets.