I recall reading a long time ago that crossbows took about 30 seconds to fire a single shot. This is true, isn't it? In Morrowind (and possibly Arena and/or Daggerfall - haven't played them) crossbows are very fast, moderately powered weapons. Does the game ever explain this? Are the c/bows in the TES universe different from the ones in real life?

I assume that it was never explained, hence why they excluded them from TESIV: If the crossbows were like the ones in MW, they would be unrealistic. If they were realistic, it'd be a contradiction to MW.

Just a theory, is any of what I said correct?

Reason TES IV couldn't have them is because of the time they had to release the game I think.

Apparently the reason there were no crossbows in Oblivion was because the devs wanted to get the bow/arrow physics as perfect as possible. (and of course as Gelron said, time restraints)

So maybe that idea is wrong, but that's not the point of this thread. I'm just wondering if the crossbows in MW are RL correct.

You ask if crossbows in a fictional world in a video game where elves, trolls, and other bat-crazy crap exists fire differently than ones in real life? :mellow:

I'm sure it's just a game mechanic. You'd LIKE to wait 30 seconds to shoot a crossbow??? :huh:

reload time for crossbows is extremely variable depedning on the model - the lightest, hand-loaded ones are rather fast - [censored] the crowwsbow, place the quarrel, aim and shoot. Or the chinese repaeating crossbow. It svcked in range and damage, but fired it's ten quarrels faster than a bow (when firing unaimed). On the other end of the spectrum you have the windlass and pulley crossbows which probably couldn't fire faster than one shot a minute or worse and was mostly a siege weapon.

it's a game mechanic, like stated, no one wants to wait around 10-20 seconds to load a heavy crossbow.

lighter crossbows can fire about the same speed as a bow, though unsure of the actual strength of the bolts. the signifigant advantage is the reaction/first shot, and ease of use/aiming.

the heavy crossbow which takes 20-30 seconds to load at best, were extremely powerful in penetration and very accurate even at longer distances than a long bow.

Or just factor in the fact that game time is faster than real time and it takes atleast 30 seconds of Morrowind time to fire even though only 2 seconds have gone by sitting at your desk.

Those devs are smarter than we think

Your language is deplorable :shakehead:

Well, the word for a crossbow with the bow under tension and the string pulled back and held by the relase mechanism (or a pistol/revolver with the hammer back and ready to drop) is unfortunately close to a familiar name for a certain part of the male anatomy - Charlie Oscar Charlie Kilo Echo Delta - and the forum's auto-censor reacted...

so what made you post that when otherwise his post was otherwise grammatically fine, valid and interesting...

Yeah i just saw a couple of cliffracers on the way from my house to the work today.

Extra facts just for fun: Rapid-fire (for x-bows), multiple shot crossbows were invented and in use in China from the 16th century to the late 19th century at least.

There is a website with 10 or twelve-shot version used by peasants to defend themselves.

Basically the bolts were stored in a magazine above the groove and would drop down as the previous bolt was released. You wound the blighter up once and the tension was sufficient until the entire magazine was emptied.

Short range only and wildly innaccurate.


Besides materials and physics in Tamriel are not necessarily exactly the same.

So it was basically a primitive Shotgun?

Chu Ko Nu

Someone never played Age of Empires...

Not a shotgun in action - the bolts dropped into the groove one after the other and each fired singly, but very quickly for any bow. Maybe a semi-automatic pistol? Likely slower though.

There was likely a spread-effect - but a shotgun fires hundreds of tiny bits simultaneously. I see the shotgun as a modern blunderbuss! The multi-shot crossbow fired sequentially. Might have been fun in-game though, as in: 'Hi little group of 12 goblins What - give you this box? Tell you what I will give you what is in it, ok? Ooh lookee 6 of you have holes in.'

Or: 'My - never seen a atronach looked like a hedgehog before.'

I was thinking that...

I read somewhere a longbow could fire 12 arrows to one crossbow bolt. (presumably european crossbows).

They were also supposed to be able to keep 6 shafts in the air at a time.

*Throws his bow out the window*

I want a crossbow!