Poll: Bow or Crossbow

[ShadowofaAirmen]

I would have to go with the CrossBow..shure the Bow could fire longer and when ya think about it probly can get more shoots off then a CrossBow b4 the guy got to you but it lacks the Armor Punching power of a Bolt. rather hit them and no it punched threw that 80lb's of Plate they got on lol.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Crossbows and bows? Your fists don't need reloding!

OT: Crossbow, mainly due to the accuracy that a bow has compared to a crossbow.

 

[MintyNinja]

Dragon Age:

Bow = Dexterity
Crossbow = Strength

You decide.

 

[RN7]

Crossbow. I don't care if its hard to re-arm. I shot one once. I successfully nailed a rabbit, through its head into a tree. The crossbow flew from my hands, into a nearby beehive. Those damned bees chased me and my friends for nearly 2 miles.

It was one of the most awesome days of my life. Because I could run. And my friend couldn't. Enough said.

 

[child of lileth]

Regular bow, if it depended on what I'd use. It takes more patience and skill, but it could be faster in some situations. It kinda depends though.

 

[Aulleas123]

Now here's another question I'd ask you lovers of bows, would you use an older style short bow, an eastern style composite bow, or an English longbow?

Definitely a Welsh longbow. Composite bows are nice until the glue melts away in the rain and the weapon disintegrates.

Right, it was Welsh, my b.

 

[martin's a madman]

I'm fairly certain crossbows had longer range than longbows. It's a pretty simple principle; the bolts are lighter, and fired with more force, and therefore should go farther.
A balistae is just a giant crossbow. There isn't a super-longbow however. Also you forgot to mention factors like the fact that crossbows have better armor-penetration.
You pretty much got the quality V quantity thing backwards. Crossbow shots are generally more effective all around, but they take significantly more time to load and fire.
Real men use polearms anyways.

Crossbow bolts generally do not go further. But it depends on the type of conventional bow and Crossbow being compared.

Arrows are made to achieve greater lift.

So they can say suspended in air longer than a bolt, which is why they can generally go further. (In relation to speed of the bolt and speed of the arrow)

 

[Billion Backs]

Depends on how many crossbowmen you have against the number of bowmen.

If it's not something silly like 100 to 1, and something closer like 40 to 25, then I'd probably choose bowmen. If the difference is 100% or more, I'd think about it... But it also depends on a LOT of factors).

First of all, we must agree on what kind of crossbow/bow are being wielded. Are we talking something suitably medieval like regular wooden bows and crossbows? Or are we talking about modern light metal super-tuned bows and crossbows with laser sights (I actually know a person who owns a sports bow with laser sight -_-). Either way it would be unfair to compare something of medieval quality against something of 21st century quality.

So, uh, with that rant out of the way...

Ya'll have to consider that bows have many advantages over crossbows, but crossbows are easier to use. Some of the advantages of bows include improved mobility compared to crossbow, lighter or better distributed weight, potentially really fast attack speed - bows are the medieval equivalent of a machine gun if held in a well trained hand that can release an arrow a second or similar numbers compared to maybe 1 arrow every 3-4 seconds (or slower, if you consider the bigger kind of crossbows. So it's probably between 5 and 10 seconds), and so on.

Bows have about the same range as crossbows, bows are lighter than crossbows, bows can potentially be shot on the move, although I imagine it would make them way less effective, bows can be rearmed almost instantly even on the run - and crossbows would require much longer, even in the smaller models where one doesn't need to use levers...

Woah rant.

And crossbows are cooler.

 

[nightwolf667]

Oh and crossbows, and with the exception of those giant overpowered mounted crossbows, could not pierce any but light armor.

Um, you do know that crossbows just like bows pierce everything right? That includes kevlar and the ceramic plates in kevlar armor. They could be used with efficiency against chainmail, plate, wood, bone, anything really. It takes quite a bit to stop an arrow. They are one of the most effective weapons ever developed by man, especially since they can be, when compared to a bow, incredibly easy to use. That's why crossbows are still available to special forces units today, special operators can requisition them for field operations. It's one of the few ways you can reliably take someone down without making any noise whatsoever.

So, yes, I'd take a bunch of people (with minimal training on how to use the damn thing) with crossbows over a few trained archers. They're easy to use and an effective weapon. Nuff said.

Bows though get style points.

 

[p3t3r]

actually a NFL quarter back is more accurate then an Olympic archer so ya...

 

[Adventurer2626]

I prefer the bow as I feel it adds more to the artistry of combat (as in they're kickass) and hard to beat as guerilla weapons (in pre-gunpowder medieval times).

 

[feather240]

I'd rather have a shield.

"Heh" That's kinda funny.

If they can pierce plate armor I don't think a shield will be too helpful, plus they can flank.

 

[The Bum]

I'm fairly certain crossbows had longer range than longbows. It's a pretty simple principle; the bolts are lighter, and fired with more force, and therefore should go farther.
A balistae is just a giant crossbow. There isn't a super-longbow however. Also you forgot to mention factors like the fact that crossbows have better armor-penetration.
You pretty much got the quality V quantity thing backwards. Crossbow shots are generally more effective all around, but they take significantly more time to load and fire.
Real men use polearms anyways.

CROSBOWS WITH LONGER RANGE?! HA! you my frend should go look up the battel of angincourt (porably spelled wrong!) the english long bowmen pwned the french crossbowmen and KNIGHTS

them longbows whent through that fancy armour like paper

 

[Plurralbles]

in the middle ages english longbowmen kicked crossbowmen ass.

 

[The Bum]

Now here's another question I'd ask you lovers of bows, would you use an older style short bow, an eastern style composite bow, or an English longbow?[/quote]


Long bow just cause i know it'll take down pretty much anything in my way

 

[Brad Shepard]

Bow, a faster rate of fire and can be far stronger then a crossbow

Case and point is the Yumi Bow.

 

[Plurralbles]

Now here's another question I'd ask you lovers of bows, would you use an older style short bow, an eastern style composite bow, or an English longbow?

Long bow just cause i know it'll take down pretty much anything in my way[/quote]

if you're going to complicate things, longbow onfoot, but I'd prefer to be short and mounted(haha)

 

[CargoHold]

I'd rather have a bunch of wildly firing crossbows than a small group of archers. The fact of the matter is that you can only take down one enemy at most with one arrow, and if you're getting swamped, you'd be better off with more crossbows, even if a few miss.

Bows are okay if you have immolation arrow at level 20, though.