In the concept art for FO4, there is a picture of somebody wielding a crossbow. What's the general consensus in regard to bows/crossbows in Fallout? I don't know how I feel, really. I know that I do not want to see bows in any form, except perhaps a simplistic wooden crafted one if there are some more tribal faction such as the legion. Crossbows, I mean I guess..? I'm kinda iffy on the whole thing. What does the public think?

I'm not a huge fan of Bows, to be honest. Though in the Tribal post-apocalyptic setting, it's strange they aren't around.

Crossbows, on the other hand....I do love me some crossbows. Even the Morrowind "Automatically look down to reload" Crossbows.

Well bows are a simple-weapon and in a post-apocalypse filled with tribal raiders i am actually surprised we have never seen them present...but im fine either way

I wouldn't mind personally. But what skill would they fall under?

I'm always for more options in weapon variety, but I don't feel like we are going to get those in this game. They said there is going to be something like 50 base weapons, divide that between guns, energy weapons, melee, and unarmed. that doesn't leave vary much space for bows or crossbows.

I'd love to see them. They'd be great for stealth encounters. Also useful if we get different arrows/bolts (explosive, poison, electric, etc.).

Hopefully this is the case. Simplistic bows would make sense, but are not essential. And I can do without crossbows as well. It just doesn't seem Fallout, whatever that means.

Since skills --> perks now, archaic weapons perk or just simply bows and fold both types into it. Assuming it will even be a thing.

Crossbows would be interesting since historically, they were used to punch through thick armor. A low tech solution to the Power Armor "problem"?

Having shot bows and crossbows regularly all through my life, I'm getting sick of all the attention theyre are getting recently. Quite frankly, bows svck, they do nowhere near as much damage as even small caliber bullets and are not silent, I would compare the sound to a high power pellet rifle or subsonic 22 round. They do look cool though so there's that

The advantage is, you can make them out of simple materials. Same for the ammo..... But, it's not like ammo isn't plentiful in the last couple FO games......

I'd love to see crossbows. If you can recover bolts, they would be a feasible alternative to melee combat when one runs out of ammunition. As for a bow, I'm not sure. It would make sense to see some primitive survivors using bows to hunt animals as long as they're far enough away from the populated areas of boston. However, after a nuclear apocalypse, it wouldn't really be hard to find ammo or guns laying around considering the US population is now less than the number of soldiers we had before the bombs dropped (thus implying theres plenty of ammo to go around).

Homemade bows would make more sense in a post apocalyptic setting. The Legion should've had them in NV.

We stopped using bows, swords, and armor because guns were far superior to them. You've seen the amount of innovation and engineering it takes to make armor practical again, Power Armor. I've already described a whole paragraph of why, I'd rather not type it again or search for it.

I'm really going to miss my Holorifle, but on topic, I would be down for a stealthy type character with a custom bow with unique arrow variations. He would look in no way like Hawkeye from the Avengers...

Todd Howard said over 50 base weapons and over 700 customizations... so who knows.

I love archery and I'd love to see bows in-game, though making them a competitive weapon at mid or high levels would seriously make me quirk my eyebrow (a reaction that Bethesda is very fond of eliciting from me, it seems). From a practical perspective it makes sense that they should be there--easier to build, maintain, and keep stocked with ammo than a gun, and practical enough for hunting and basic defense. Plus they already have a decent archery system they could port from Skyrim (yes, the bows themselves svcked, but the animations and what not are all there). Plus, since this is Fallout, I think a nuclear arrowhead would be about the most awesome thing ever; it's exactly the over-the-top tongue-in-cheek sort of thing that makes the franchise awesome.

But do I actually suspect we'll get bows? No, I do not. Why go to all the work of implementing a weapon class that will probably be invalidated by level 5 or so? Maybe, if we're lucky, modders will get them into the game later on.

A lack of ammo to most who may hunt in the wasteland might make using arrows more alluring, since you can retrieve and make arrows fairly simply.

I wouldn't assume everyone has read all your posts before.

Well if archery was included in Fallout, I would prefer it remain a maximum of two weapons (crossbow and bow) and not have its own skill or anything.

the only advantege a crosbow would have is that u have a always loaded shot like a gun but after the first shot ur screwed i mean in skyrim u can just run away when the enomy charges u but the enomy would have guns since its fallout i mean mybe bows could come into play but sincfe its fallout and not skyrim by that i mean i dont think ther gona give the bows fake damage just so they can be usefull

I guess if you can't find ammo... Also you had throwing spears in Fallout New Vegas so I don't see why bows wouldn't fit. Also the Dart Gun in Fallout 3 was more or less a crossbow.

So I don't have a problem with them, not sure if I would use bows a whole lot, but I wouldn't mind seeing them.

Well, I wouldn't recommend bringing a bow/crossbow to a gun fight. Especially if your opponents have long guns. A bow/cbow could conceivably have better range than the typical pistol.... but, pistols are going to have you on everything else. (well, ok, the 'nuclear arrow' would be downright devastating...... but, I suspect those would be rare. )

May as well use a gun for that matter.

That, and I would hazard a guess that Powered Armor is made of sterner stuff than what was available a couple hundred years previously.

suprised crossbows are not in fallout lore, come on they are simple to make and maintain unlike guns which need machined parts a crossbow can be made by anyone who knows tention and how to poor iron.