Crossbow's......... Really that effective ?

[SimuLord]

It takes skill to use making it only useful for the person who has extreme training in it.

I thought one of the big pros to the crossbow was the fact that it could be given to people with little to no training and have them point it and pull the trigger thus killing whoever is directly in front of them. Sure you're not gonna be an expert marksman with it without experience and practice, but that goes for pretty much any weapon, even guns.

Regardless though, I don't know where you get this idea that crossbows are overhyped, most games and movies I've seen treat them as they are, a projectile weapon with often more force than a normal bow, but with a slower firing rate.

The X-bow was the first great social equalizer on the battlefield. An untrained peasant could take down a noble knight with one well-aimed shot, and all of a sudden a lifetime of military training wasn't worth much, at least not when compared to the soldiers of antiquity.

The Pope even tried to have crossbows banned and threatened to excommunicate any ruler who used them in his armies because it was considered a sin against God to engage in such social leveling. The crossbow could be seen as the first democratizing influence to hit society since the ancient Athenians and the first small baby step on the road to the modern world.

I'd say that's a pretty significant weapon!

 

[Tom the Feeble]

its better than a bat...

 

[CJ1145]

Almost in all genre's of gaming and movies the crossbow is considered the most deadliest weapon in the mediums stock, It makes sense since a Crossbow is just really really cool but to think of it hard a crossbow shouldn't really be considered the best out of the given lot since as a weapon it's pretty damn useless if you don't know how to use it.

It has to be made out of the right material.

Which is generally easy enough to find.

The arrow ammo is not the easiest to carry around nor the best to manufacture.

Compared to what? Arrows? Yeah, because arrows are pointed sticks, not that hard to make.

Many factors such as weather conditions can effect the efficany of the weapon.

Weather effects how my guitar sounds, but I still prefer it over a trumpet.

It takes skill to use making it only useful for the person who has extreme training in it.

Hold up, hold up. Do you even know why crossbows were used? Because they were so easy to learn to use. Archers took years of training to get the hang of their bows, but crossbowmen took a month at most.

It has a higher chance of backfire then any other ranger weapon.

Ranger weapon? I didn't realize we'd entered Dungeons and Dragons. When paired up with period-accurate guns, crossbows are far more reliable actually.

Some mediums made sense out of it such as Killzone 2 with rocket like power to blot hostiles into walls then blow them up, but overall if you compare the cross bow to the gun the gun is just better.

Then that's not a crossbow. It's a rocket launcher that looks suspiciously like a crossbow.

So why does the Crossbow still get alot of hype and love ?

 

[WaywardHaymaker]

Why crossbows? Why not?

I've seen games with guns featuring swords, and even then the sheer bad-assery of that weapon makes it seem less of "Why do you have that?" and more of "Why don't you?"

I assume that you mean in video games. But you know, that's just it: They're video games. I could have a flaming pair of scissors that doubled as chopsticks while riding my Shambling Devouring Fanged Weredragon Skeleton across a lake of kittens avoiding paintings of walking tables with Mac Computers on them and I wouldn't ask how this was possible (Granted I would ask how in God's name the developer thought of that, but then I would just commence enjoying myself).

 

[Trivun]

See, in the Middle Ages the English army (yes, I'm a patriot, though with this government I'm unsure why...) was the greatest army in Europe. And that is because every one of our soldiers was trained, from childhood (by law), to use longbows and crossbows. We would use longbows on an open battlefield (and the English prowess with the longbow was so good that we managed to defeat an overwhelmingly outnumbering French army at Agincourt, and that victory was mainly down to the fact we shot half the buggers before they could get up close and personal...) and crossbows in tight spaces, like when fighting indoors (such as in a castle). Crossbows were designed specifically for use indoors, you see, as a quick and easily handled weapon that you can use in a tight space (unlike the longbow, and more long-range than a sword).

So the crossbow was one of the two deadliest weapons used by the best army of the time. So that is why the crossbow is so awesome .

 

[mrF00bar]

Are you comparing guns to crossbows? Seriously! I got a thread idea. Let's compare nukes to catapults.

You said it all.

Here's a Bow I can carry and fire with one hand, leaving my free hand for stuff like, oh I don't know... A GUN!?

Also this.

I have used both a Bow and Crossbow before and like OP said you do need training in how to use and maintain them both. Overall if you want a silent take down use a crossbow if you cant get your hands on a silenced gun. I think it would cause a lot more fear and panic if the prime minister was taken down by a arrow/bolt instead of a bullet. That would be a real like lol moment.

 

[Red Pawn]

Ah, the crossbow. A pitiless, elegant killing machine.
The Bender of the Fifteenth Century.

 

[SsilverR]

**snip**

it would kinda make sense in some stealth situations because even though you can silence the pistol, you can't silence the bullet .. a bullet makes sounds as it breaches the sound barrier and anyone who can identify and is close enough to hear this sound will be aware of the situation

crossbows are practically silent, they're accurate and they can hit any vital organ including the brain, and more importantly the medulla oblongata (it's basically the stem of the brain .. you get hit there and it's over for you ... chances of surviving a shot to the head if this thing is still intact is actually quite high)

so in theory it makes alot of sense to use these as distance stealth weapons ... problems are it's wide and quite easy to notice ... maybe if they were modified awesomely .. still the same power and effect (maybe more) but using all new sorts of metal and stuff

 

[Jepix]

It takes skill to use making it only useful for the person who has extreme training in it.

I thought one of the big pros to the crossbow was the fact that it could be given to people with little to no training and have them point it and pull the trigger thus killing whoever is directly in front of them. Sure you're not gonna be an expert marksman with it without experience and practice, but that goes for pretty much any weapon, even guns.

Regardless though, I don't know where you get this idea that crossbows are overhyped, most games and movies I've seen treat them as they are, a projectile weapon with often more force than a normal bow, but with a slower firing rate.

You pretty much just nailed it on the head, except for fire rate. I believe that they were faster than firing a traditional bow. It was another of the advantages of the crossbow when giving it to green soldiers. The disadvantage was that they couldn't cover the same distance as a regular bow.

I just want to point out that I have a hard time seeing a medieval army that used "green" soldiers. More or less every respectable army during the middle ages uppholded a tradition of long training, even for crossbow-archers, which for the record were supperior in defending possitions like towers and fortresses.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

It has to be made out of the right material.

The arrow ammo is not the easiest to carry around nor the best to manufacture.

Many factors such as weather conditions can effect the efficany of the weapon.

It takes skill to use making it only useful for the person who has extreme training in it.

Those are true for most weapons. Anyone who is unskilled with a weapon won't be able to use it effectively. You think arrows were convenient to carry around? Crossbow bolts were roughly the same size.

 

[Revolutionary]

Only the gas powered automatic type.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Effective? no. Fun? HELL YAH

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

It takes skill to use making it only useful for the person who has extreme training in it.

I thought one of the big pros to the crossbow was the fact that it could be given to people with little to no training and have them point it and pull the trigger thus killing whoever is directly in front of them. Sure you're not gonna be an expert marksman with it without experience and practice, but that goes for pretty much any weapon, even guns.

Regardless though, I don't know where you get this idea that crossbows are overhyped, most games and movies I've seen treat them as they are, a projectile weapon with often more force than a normal bow, but with a slower firing rate.

this person is correct. Crossbows require LITTLE training to use effectively.

 

[fletch_talon]

It takes skill to use making it only useful for the person who has extreme training in it.

I thought one of the big pros to the crossbow was the fact that it could be given to people with little to no training and have them point it and pull the trigger thus killing whoever is directly in front of them. Sure you're not gonna be an expert marksman with it without experience and practice, but that goes for pretty much any weapon, even guns.

Regardless though, I don't know where you get this idea that crossbows are overhyped, most games and movies I've seen treat them as they are, a projectile weapon with often more force than a normal bow, but with a slower firing rate.

You pretty much just nailed it on the head, except for fire rate. I believe that they were faster than firing a traditional bow. It was another of the advantages of the crossbow when giving it to green soldiers. The disadvantage was that they couldn't cover the same distance as a regular bow.

I just want to point out that I have a hard time seeing a medieval army that used "green" soldiers. More or less every respectable army during the middle ages uppholded a tradition of long training, even for crossbow-archers, which for the record were supperior in defending possitions like towers and fortresses.

I'm pretty sure we're talking about instances like when peasantry needed to form a militia. Or even if there was a large enough war, if all the able bodied men had to be called to arms, they wouldn't all be trained in the use of weapons.

 

[halfeclipse]

Because their easy to use, able to go through bulletproof jackets fairly easy, and very very quiet. Granted you have the problem with rate of fire but that was solved at least by the year 4 BC by whatever unknown Chinese fellow came up with repeating crossbow.

 

[thewerebuffalo]

Assuming you know how to use it, assuming you can do maintenance and actually hit a moving target with it, yes it makes an ideal sniper weapon because it doesn't make alot of noise. also it is useful for zombie killings. Though I'm pretty sure it won't puncture armor

 

[Nex-Falx]

It works better than a regular bow.

And it's "bolts" not "arrows"

Who cares about realism, they are cool!

Thank you quotees (, or "those that I quoted")

 

[ParticleBliss]

Crossbows are extremely lethal, and have this carnal feeling of "I just owned you with a 2,000 year old weapon". That explains the hype.

Remember, Special Forces units in Asia still use crossbows in combat.

 

[Souplex]

Because crossbows could easily penetrate platemail from a fair distance.

 

[kingpin44]

... i dont think the person who made this thread understands anything about crossbows. the reason they are so popular was the LACK of training needed to operate one successfully. and while a longbow can get a better range than a crossbow, a crossbows bolt weighs 2X or more than an arrow. this means that a crossbow can pierce heavier armors at longer distances. which is kinda nice when you have knights in battle plate charging down on you.