So I've created an "Archer-Mage" character in Daggerfall. Well, she's specialized in archery but she knows how to fight with short blades as well. So I've managed to get her a bow and plenty of arrows. Then a thought came to me: "Hey, I'm in a city. I've never tried bows before, so let's ramapage!" I equipped my bow and got ready to kill the first unfortunate citizten I see. I shot and nothing happens. I went closer to her, at the end, I was literally firing arrows up in her nostrils. Nothing. I checked my primary skills, archery was there, all right, even critical striking. My strength is 70, my agility and speed are decent enough as well(agility:60, speed:80, well around these numbers, at least). So, my question is: Have I screwed up my build or is archery that bad, in this game?

You can only kill civilians by swinging a melee weapon at them.

Though there are plenty other uses for archery, you know. When you don't plan to take Destruction, it can provide a needed ranged punch.

Archery is great in DF. You'll enjoy backstabbing critters when shooting arrows through doors :>

I noticed my character always gets destroyed instantly by nasty vampires with shock spells. One of the work-arounds for this is to levitate into the void and pepper them with arrows. Damn tedious though. I should look into finding some protection from that ridiculous shock spell.

Thanks for your replies. I actually tried archery out with guards in the meantime... well, it did not impress me. And I'm not the type of player who could manage being stealthy. So, yeah, I'm gonna forget about bows.
And another question: how the hell do I fire spells? I seem to recall that you do it with the left mouse button, but I tried it and it didn't work. This would be good to know, since I discovered that archery is not for me, and I should find something to kill the occasional zombie on low levels(am I the only one who noticed, if a dungeon has "laboratory" in it's name, there are always zombies and other types of undead there?)

If the spell is on an amulet; left mouse button.

If it's a spell you know, I think the default key is backspace. Read the control map in options.

You might be trying to use a spell (eg Shock) that has a range of touch. If so, you must be standing close to an enemy to fire it.

I'm annoyed. I tried everything: backspace, left mouse button, right mouse button, both mouse buttons together, pressing the button for recast, pressing the actual button to bring up the spellbook; nothing happened. There is nothing useful on the control screen, I tried searching the internet, nothing useful. I'm having a horrible thought that my game is bugged, and I will have to go thorough the installation process again... and lose all my save games, great. The game even chrashed, a minute ago: I was walking around, anoyed, tried to open a door, and BAM: error 2, blah blah - so even if it's not bugged, there's a chance that my saves just got corrupted.
By the way, I tried it even with a ranged spell. And tried with shock, as well, went up close to the first rat in Privateer's Hold(yeah, I made a new character, only for that) he was eating me while I was just standing there, trying to scorch him.
So, I don't really know what to do. Thanks for the help, anyway.

UPDATE: No help needed, now. I discovered that it's space. I should have guessed as much, oh well. And none of my saves are corrupted.

I'm playing an Argonian thief character right now in DF that uses a bow, and he tears them up with it. I'm not sure why it doesn't work for you, it sounds like you're doing it right.

Even if you had to re-install Daggerfall, you could just back-up your saves. You wouldn't have to lose them.

Holy [censored], you can do that? I'm an archer, and generally find the skill to be anything but useless, but I didn't know you could pierce doors.