PlugNPlay

In regards to DF, i can recommend this mod: http://www.bay12foru...p?topic=98196.0 Comes with a nice Tileset, a lot of additional features, performance optimizations as well as multiple utilities that improve your gaming experience. It won't help you with the learning curve though .

The workaround was found pretty quickly: Plan a wall where the "invisible wall" is. Then you can walk through, even after removing the planned wall. Hopefully it won't be necessary after the restart .

It's a little offtopic, but i was wondering how much the actual bow skill affects accuracy? Can maybe someone with a high archery skill, switch to a bow he hasn't used before and test that a little?

Do they really break less often? I remember that the wiki wasn't sure either, but i can't seem to find the page i'm refering to. They do take less damage when shot though. But i too feel that loosing / breaking is superior to not having to re-improve them that often. I guess i will stick to maple nevertheless, because they provide more fletching skill per arrow.

These are really good tips, thanks for sharing them.

I imagine fighting with a sword against a mob. All of a sudden i get a message "your sword can't be used until you fondle it for some seconds, and please stand still while doing that". Might not be the best comparison, because you aren't in immediate danger but often enough you already pulled aggro when it pops up, so it at least is annoying and forces you to rummage through your inventory in an unsuitable moment. Yeah why not get every skill to 99 because it is a good training in something else anyway. The whole "this is good for training x" argument only shows how useless the current archery mechanic actually is. I want to enjoy it, not use it to train something else. And i want to enjoy it from 0 skill to 99 not from 60 and above. So i shouldn't archer in forests and i can't in mines. Good that there aren't a lot of forests in Wurm... The point is, that you have to search for your arrows after nearly each and every fight. That and the rest of the cons should be compensated somehow in my opinion.

Reading through your replies is very interesting. That seems to be one of the biggest points for archery, but at the same time feels like a bug to me. I can sign that without a question. The question isn't "is it realistic?" it is "should it be like this? Let me gather the pros and cons of archery as i see it: Pro: - Ignores creature variations (slow or champ doesn't matter - bug/bad coding ?) - You wont get any damage at all (if you don't run into other mobs while keeping your distance, if you don't fall down somewhere while keeping your distance and if you can keep your distance in the first place (there are a lot of obstacles for players in wurm and not so many for mobs)) Con: - You have to keep a certain distance to your target (can be quite problematic, depending on your target and your travel speed and the area you are in) - Requires Arrows (A lot of time is lost due to crafting+imping or money lost due to buying) (Not even counting the time to get the skills to a good enough level) - If you haven't an endless supply of free arrows, you have to get them back after you have fired them (from the corpse and the area you were fighting in - depending on how long you fought, this can consume a good amount of time and additional aggressive mobs in the area won't make it easier). - Arrows can break completely, even when at 0 damage when fired - Bow Strings break without a warning (leaving you with a useless bow until newly strung) - Can't be used in mines - Requires very high skill and equipment ql to reach competitive damage and speed values - Very hard to estimate the correct distance needed for a Longbow (i don't count spyglasses, because as far as i know they can't be crafted by players atm) - Gaining a height advantage is a lot more tedious than for melee (due to the necessary distance) If i missed something, feel free to post it.

I don't doubt that a better ql arrow will do more dmg. But is it ok if a crappy sword does the same or more damage than a top quality arrow?

I tried hunting arrows. Took about 18 hits. It would be nice if the hunting arrows would be better against unprotected targets. But i think they only do less damage and maybe miss a bit less. While testing with war arrows i didn't miss more though. Or at least i didn't notice it .

So you say if i get my skills for bows and two handed swords to about 70+ and use better equipment, the tests would be different? I doubt that, after reading some of the other replies.

Thats exactly my point. I bet if i had about the same skills for the two handed sword, which i had for the bow, the results would be even more extreme.

I'm nearly able to kill a spider with those low sword and fighting skills and the two handed sword, but it takes forever to kill it with the bow and better skills. As soon as i shoot at it, it comes for me. And if it is impossible for the spider to reach me because of water for example, it runs away. If in the open without a safe place to retreat, it just wouldn't be possible for me with the bow. Don't get me wrong, the run away behaviour is good, but close range fighters don't even have to deal with that problem at all (in addition to the above mentioned higher damage).

The sword i used wasn't really better ql wise, but performed massively better damage wise...

The last time i tried to kill an aggressive creature with a bow, it had reached me after about 2-3 arrows fired. I wouldn't call that staying at range...

I had the oportunity to make some tests yesterday, and was a little surprised about the outcome. Basically i tried to compare the performance of a medium bow with a two handed sword. Test Subjects: -Fat adolescend Calfs Weapons: - War arrows (34ql) and a medium Bow (40ql) at 10 tiles distance without height difference - Two Handed Sword (37ql) Skills: - Archery 34, Medium Bows 20 - Two Handed Swords 5, Normal Fighting 5, Fighting 5 Results: - About 11 arrow hits until test subject died - About 4 sword hits until test subject died Conclusion: What is wrong with archery? Compared to the Sword and keeping the skills in mind, it should take about two arrow hits instead of 11 to kill a calf. As you may have noticed, i really just started to use a two handed sword there, or close range weaponry at all. And i was very surprised of the damage output of the sword. I really would like to use bows, but as it stands now, there seems to be no point in it besides maybe as a support weapon. And why do bows take no damage when being used? Is there even anything else in Wurm that doesn't take damage when being used? In my opinion archery needs some serious love! What do you guys think about it?