Wanna know something about the new archery system in sky : V - Skyrim

» Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:49 am

Well. It does reflect reality. Arrows have a limited range, MUCH shorter than guns. An arrow is a very large, high-drag projectile which slows down quickly in the air. Arrows quickly lose accuracy and penetration over range. I'm sure somebody will say "but english longbows!": those were used in an indirect fire role against formations. Sure, if you shot into the sky at a 30 degree angle the arrow would eventually land on that block of 500 guys out at a couple hundred meters, but that's basically using a stupidly powerful bow as field artillery and not what we have in the game which is precision marksmanship. And 80 meters is a pretty fair distance for a simple bow shooting a chunky armor-piercing arrow without any sights.

Though, even with a limited range being mostly realistic, I suspect the real motivating factor was to prevent "safe sniping". Hitting an actor with ranged attacks waaaaaaay outside their ability to perceive and having them unable to react you would just lead to different complaints.

My only suggestion to gamesas is that when using a bow the crosshair should turn red if you're aiming at something outside your range to actually hit. As it is, the only way to find your range is to waste a few arrows.

Unfortunately the worst part is that when sniping a target from a medium/long distance, the arrow flies right through them, but the impact alerts them and they start searching for you.

And @ the post above:
No the tweaks don't fix the "arrow passing through" bug, it only changes the trajectory of the arrow leaving the bow.

» Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:57 am

Yeah, thanks u guys, after searching and testing, I now can be sure it is a bug, arrows fly through targets without any damage incurred at medium to long range, whats wrong with this part of programming, Beth forget to test the mod b4 they import them? :down:

» Tue Dec 06, 2011 4:00 am

And I guess for the deer there is a radius of detection according to character's sneak skills, so the funny thing is that when u shoot at them outside this range, arrows don't kill them instead they fly through, but if u wanna move closer, the deer runs off, great experience! :brokencomputer:

» Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:25 am

Just want to add to the pile of people who notice this issue as well. I've tested this as well at long range targets, and ensured without a doubt that the path of my arrows went through my target. To those not claiming to have this issue, maybe they're not firing at distant enough targets.

» Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:10 am

Just want to add to the pile of people who notice this issue as well. I've tested this as well at long range targets, and ensured without a doubt that the path of my arrows went through my target. To those not claiming to have this issue, maybe they're not firing at distant enough targets.

well said

» Tue Dec 06, 2011 4:23 am

I would like some trajectory indicator to help people like me to shoot from far range. The higher your archery skill, the more accurate the indicator.

» Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:27 pm

According to my observations,the arrow takes a parabolic flight but the crosshair is off.The arrow hits a place above the crosshair when I shoot,and I have missed many arrows because of this.

» Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:37 am

Some hit at extreme range for me (max view distance), some miss; sometimes it looks like the arrow passes though without effect, but then on the next shot it'll hit just fine and I couldn't tell if it was a hit or not (mainly due to the range and running out of Stamina to hold Eagle Eye). I use the dirt kicking up to adjust aim rather than the arrow trace effect, as that seems to be more accurate.

» Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:49 am

Actually, scratch that above:

I had a rock solid and unwavering deer broadside at close to view distance and with me sneaking: arrows were passing through said deer and kicking up dirt behind it. I fired all over and around it too (in addition to about 40 dead on), making sure that there was no aiming error. The arrows blanketed the area where the deer stood and there was no effect at all, other than the arrows hitting the "phantom" and embedding in the ground.

This seems to jive with what others are saying.

» Tue Dec 06, 2011 7:41 am

I think is very correctable. The arrows seem to remain intact, properly strike surfaces, and even cause the proper alerts to enemies. They are just PASSING RIGHT THROUGH THEM! I'm trying to get the word out. This is NOT AN ISSUE OF AIMING. All the physics are there and rendered, just not the hit.

I agree, but I think (like someone else had mentioned), this is to prevent safe sniping. With the zoom feature, you could easily get outside the realm of detection of something like a giant, and just dial in the distance and pick them off. They probably had issues with their AI not detecting enemies outside a certain range, and this was their work around to remedy it.

Overall though, I'm very happy with the archery, and I always play a bowman. I love the more deadly arrows and not having to use 15 of them to take down a squirrel like in Oblivion. Also the sounds and the animation are amazing, and make it feel like I am really shooting a bow. Just today I noticed the little of detail of when you shoot something solid (like a tree) at close range, the arrow will actually twang and wobble realistically as it sticks into the object. Great stuff! They also bounce realistically off rocks when you miss shots. I guess my only complaints would be the range issue and locational damage, but overall I couldn't be much happier. Great job Bethesda!