From: Joerg Baumgartner (rq4@sartar.toppoint.de)
Date: Sat 05 Feb 1994 - 18:36:38 EET
Joerg (a sports archer) speaking
Eric Rowe writes:
> David says in response to Newton's arrow dodging complaint...
>>What's the problem, dodging arrows, or dodging if you do something else in
>>the round? I don't conceptually se a problem with either.
> I have a big problem with dodging arrows. Sure, maybe at longer ranges
> you have time to notice something coming and shield cover your vitals, but
> the old rules effectively covered that. Most people I know can't even
> dodge nerf arrows, let alone the real thing. Are Gloranthan arrows
> slower than regular ones?
Attempting to shield cover your vitals when noticing the arrow is an
exercise in futility if the archer was within effective range. A flying
arrow is hard to see even for people who try to follow its flight, and
prepared for it. Nothing but a critical scan would warrant this.
On point blank range, dodging an arrow loosened in your direction is
physically impossible, you can't get the acceleration.
Evading an archer in point blanc range notching an arrow on his string,
drawing out the bow and loosening the arrow on the other hand is quite
possible. This gives you plenty of time (one combat action) to prepare
for some evasive action. Provided you have the time, and can divert full
attention to the archer.
The same applies to longer ranges within effective range. The farther
away, the more important is the sound of the loosened arrow, especially
from a bow with recurve (most composite bows). There will always be the
sound of a string plucked, like softly playing a guitar.
An adjacent archer's shot can't be dodged, but can perfectly well be
parried by pushing the bow off into a random direction. Bad luck if you
happen to stand in that direction, though.
>>Remember, RQ combat is stylized; real combats aren't just two people
>>standing there trading whacks at each other.
> This has little to do with one's ability to dodge high velocity missles.
I wouldn't count the arrow as a high velocity missile. A thirty metres
shot takes about 0.25 seconds to reach its target.
Imagine the target area as a tunnel about an archery target wide and
following a ballistic parable. If you want to avoid getting hit, all
you have to do is leave this tunnel, and you're comparatively secure.
In fact, if the archer's skill is low, you stand a greater risk of
being hit if you successfully dodge a missed shot because the target
area is more random than for a specialist archer.
In any case, if dodging a missile, the target _must_ dodge when the
missile is fired, to be away when the missile reaches the point it was
aimed at (intended or missed). Dodging a miss might actually endanger
the target.
Note that archers with combat or hunting experience are likely to predict an
evasive action and will lose less chance of success for shooting at a moving
target than archers fresh from the practise ground, whatever their skill may
be.
-- Joerg Baumgartner rq4@sartar.toppoint.de 0,,
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