A question I have been meaning to seek an answer to for a long time of playing this game; there are so many arrow types available (especially with mods like OOO), is the only real difference their damage points, or does one arrow type work best against one creature/NPC whereas arrow type x works better against y and so-on.

Here I am specifically talking about non-enchanted arrows.

I have had a good look around and there are plenty of articles about archery, tactics etc which I would have thought would have mentioned this but I thought after a fruitless search I'd simply ask the question.

Thank you,

Martin

Not sure about mods that may change this, but there really isn't any benefit between arrow material besides some creatures being immune to those flagged as "normal weapon type". And of course base damage.

Don't know about OOO, as I don't use it. For vanilla however, the type of arrow does not affect its performance except for damage. Simply looks and damage.


For RP purposes, I incorporate quite a few imaginary tweaks. Buffy's quiver is limited to a fairly realistic capacity of 25. She carries another quiver load in her magic bag of holding and even more arrows for resupply in her mare's magic saddlebags. She carries 2 types of arrows:
1. Broadheads. These are good for soft targets and tear flesh very well.
2. Armor piercing. These are magically hardened, slender arrowheads designed for piercing armor. We pretend they are enchanted with disintegrate armor magic as well.

And of course, she wears either no gloves or fingerless ones so she can easily select the right kind of arrow from her quiver based on the subtle differences in shaft length and fletching. She also uses bowstrings of silk, as they are very strong and resist moisture and stretching well. She doesn't know which end of a sword is the pointy end, but she does know her arrows and bows.
:foodndrink:

My master marksman chooses arrows, depending on the target. Humans get perfect amber or perfect madness, or daedric. Poison, if used at all, is applied depending on the enemy.

It mostly depends on the attack power of the arrow. As far as "resiting normal weapon types," you don't need to have both bow and arrow to attack these types of foes. Just one or the other. Example,
Another factor you might consider is how heavy each arrow is and its attack damage. My characters usually consider using lighter arrows even though they may have slightly less damage rating, because they can carry more of them. Example, you can carry twice as many silver arrows compared to dwermer arrows (each ways 0.1 and 0.2 per arrow respectively).