Bow vs Rifle

[Rager]

I really like bows because I feel it is tougher, but I don't feel like that toughness has a pay off. I just not sure why we would use a bow when a rifle just rewards you better.

Mind you if it was just for the toughness I could understand, but this is a game and risk vs reward should still be a factor right?

[Cybertox]

I started off with bow only, after like 20 hours of playtime switched to rifles and never looked back. Bows in general are in need of a big revamp.

[Rager]

Originally posted by Cybertox:

I started off with bow only, after like 20 hours of playtime switched to rifles and never looked back. Bows in general are in need of a big revamp.

I want to stick with Bows, Has the devs said anything about this? I would love to see how they feel about bows, and what type of feedback they are looking for making them better.

[Narf]

Bows have the way better bleed rate. Even a bad shot will cause enough bleeding to kill most animals sooner or later. Also the penetration power of the first bow is incredibly high compared to the early rifles. And lastly, bows don't alert half the map to your presence as the gun does. It will only spook animals about 30m around you and around 20m around the arrow impact point. The spooked animals also don't run very far.

And of course, but that is subjective: the bow is way more of a challenge to play with and thus more rewarding than "just shoot center scope" guns.

[saphire jinn]

i carry both, for long shots or in open space i use my .338 mag, and if its a deer up close in thick bush i will switch to the bow. it is a very quiet weapon and like Narf said, it does not alert half the map. its good to have both. the thrill of having to move so close silently is fun.

[Rager]

Thanks for the feedback, I did not know about the bleeding part. Also, thought it spooked just like a rifle. Guess I was wrong in thinking that.

[Lightshifty]

Originally posted by Rager:

Thanks for the feedback, I did not know about the bleeding part. Also, thought it spooked just like a rifle. Guess I was wrong in thinking that.

Animals bleed more if you don't use the polytips. And bows do spook, but it spooks a small area around 30m from where you fire and around 30m from wherever the arrow lands. Rifles spook around 200m but bullets don't spook animals when they hit the ground for some reason, that's why you can shoot at an animal over 200m and it just sits there like nothing happened. Hunting with a bow and callers is a lot easier, you can just camp in a tree with a field of 30 deer, call them over and take them down one at a time when the rest are over 30m away. With a rifle, you scare all of them away after the first shot. I do prefer the rifles though, I like getting up close to animals like you would with a bow but I use the 30-30, for me it's the best of both worlds.

[Zzabur]

Comparing to TH:classic, there is not much advantages to use bows toward rifles.

-Spook distance : On TH:classic, rifles spook about 4-500m around the gunshot, on CotW, above 200m, you can shoot with a RPG without spooking animals. On TH:classic, bows can be silent, even at 20m of your target, you can drop a full herd if you're stealthy enough, on CotW there is not much difference between bows and rifles, so really no point using bows there. Also if you don't get instant death (i saw a deer running with a bullet in the heart....), you'll spook the whole herd anyway.

-Bleeding : bows make your target bleed to death, unlike some bad flesh wounds from rifles. However, a decent hunter should not get much flesh wounds from rifles, or you should ask yourself if you're not firing too fast.

-Accuracy : this is really bad for bows, at 60m the offset will make you fail your shot even with skills, also the wind is much more efficient on arrows than bullets, so it will be much more difficult to aim properly with bows. Also you can't prone with bows (or you need a skill), and you got limited time to aim.

I am fond of bows on TH:classic, and use them a lot, but in CotW, i am very disappointed because there is really no point to use anything esle than rifles. You can use bows, handguns or shotguns for fun, but honestly, if you're looking for efficiency, focus on rifles.

[Narf]

Originally posted by Sʜɪғᴛʏ Ƭнє Rєɗ Acє:

Animals bleed more if you don't use the polytips.

Yeah but then you sacrifice penetration. Bows have both very good penetration and strong bleeding. On rifles you have either or. Since the question was "why should I use a bow over a rifle" that's a valid point, innit?

[Lightshifty]

Originally posted by Narf:

Originally posted by Sʜɪғᴛʏ Ƭнє Rєɗ Acє:

Animals bleed more if you don't use the polytips.

Yeah but then you sacrifice penetration.

The standard bullets have more penetration than polymer bullets at close range. Polymer tips only have more penetration than the standard somewhere after 150m. Bows are close ranged weapons, rifles that are used at close range properly as they should be (as in not using the long ranged polymer tips) will have very little if any difference in bleeding assuming you use the correct calibre for the species you are hunting.

[Narf]

Originally posted by Sʜɪғᴛʏ Ƭнє Rєɗ Acє:

Originally posted by Narf:

Yeah but then you sacrifice penetration.

The standard bullets have more penetration than polymer bullets at close range. Polymer tips only have more penetration than the standard somewhere after 150m. Bows are close ranged weapons, rifles that are used at close range properly as they should be (as in not using the long ranged polymer tips) will have very little if any difference in bleeding assuming you use the correct calibre for the species you are hunting.

One bow fits all. No need to carry around "the correct calibre for the species" (which you can't due to weight restrictions anyway), you just select the correct arrow and there you go. Strong bleeding, strong penetration (again, WAY better than anything you unlock in the rifle department for a while) and no integrity reduction.

[Lightshifty]

Originally posted by Narf:

One bow fits all. No need to carry around "the correct calibre for the species"

I wasn't arguing against that. I was talking about the bleeding with bows and rifles, for which there is no difference. I was simply pointing out that the myth is untrue. Bows will cause bleeding whether you want them to or not, rifles will cause bleeding if that's what you are after you just to know how to use the weapon. The people that complain that they only get low bleed rates with rifles just do not know what they are doing. They will be shooting polymer tips at a close target or aiming badly or perhaps both at the same time.

Originally posted by Narf:

you just select the correct arrow and there you go. Strong bleeding, strong penetration (again, WAY better than anything you unlock in the rifle department for a while) and no integrity reduction.

I have to disagree on that one. The time it takes to unlock all arrow types would have been more than enough time to unlock a rifle that gives no integrity reduction. And besides, the .243 ranger rifle which you start out with using the free ammo is much better than the starter bow with the starter ammo. Sure, both may get 100% integrity bonus as any shot will eventually kill an animal in this game, they always eventually bleed out in this game. But the .243 will drop any animal in 1 shot instantly, or the top 3 biggest animals in 5-10 seconds after being hit. You won't do that with the starter bow with starting ammo, you will be tracking them for ages across the map until they eventually bleed out.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1093453228

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1093453154

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=909038998

[Narf]

Originally posted by Sʜɪғᴛʏ Ƭнє Rєɗ Acє:

Originally posted by Narf:

One bow fits all. No need to carry around "the correct calibre for the species"

The people that complain that they only get low bleed rates with rifles just do not know what they are doing.

I have never gotten bleed-outs even with standard ammo on pure muscle shots with a rifle, but I have with the bow. Maybe just bad luck, but that's my experience.

Originally posted by Sʜɪғᴛʏ Ƭнє Rєɗ Acє:

Originally posted by Narf:

you just select the correct arrow and there you go. Strong bleeding, strong penetration (again, WAY better than anything you unlock in the rifle department for a while) and no integrity reduction.

I have to disagree on that one. The time it takes to unlock all arrow types would have been more than enough time to unlock a rifle that gives no integrity reduction. And besides, the .243 ranger rifle which you start out with using the free ammo is much better than the starter bow with the starter ammo. Sure, both may get 100% integrity bonus as any shot will eventually kill an animal in this game, they always eventually bleed out in this game.

1) Animals can stop bleeding. I've tracked several animals which eventually stopped bleeding sooner or later and went about to do their animal things and I had to shoot them again to get the kill. So that's not true.
2) I've been able to use the 420g arrows from the moment I started using the bow. Maybe they were behind a lvl boundary, but I definitely ran the 420g the very second I started using the bow. So at least they could not have been behind a bow points limiter.

[Lightshifty]

Originally posted by Narf:

1) Animals can stop bleeding. I've tracked several animals which eventually stopped bleeding sooner or later and went about to do their animal things and I had to shoot them again to get the kill. So that's not true.
2) I've been able to use the 420g arrows from the moment I started using the bow. Maybe they were behind a lvl boundary, but I definitely ran the 420g the very second I started using the bow. So at least they could not have been behind a bow points limiter.

1) Animals do not stop bleeding, they bleed until they die, even from shooting them in the foot. This really needs to be changed in the game. You probably made a mistake with your tracking or (perhaps) expereinced a glitch.

2) My point exactly. But remember you said:

Originally posted by Narf:

you just select the correct arrow and there you go. Strong bleeding, strong penetration (again, WAY better than anything you unlock in the rifle department for a while) and no integrity reduction.

Which is untrue, it is not WAY better, but is infact inferior to the free starting ammo for rifles. Just saying.

[Zzabur]

Agree with Shifty :

-Animals do bleed to death when hit by an arrow, that's the same mechanism in classic and CotW. I agree also this is not really realistic for some locations, i have a few screenshots on TH:classic with deers that bled to death with an arrow in the ear. Animals should bleed more with an arrow, but not to death if it's minor location.

-About bullets, also agree, I am using soft point at short range, because they hit harder. At long range i use polymer because they lose less penetration, and i guess a more linear trajectory.

-Also about rifles, remember you can insta-switch ammos (which is totally unrealistic^^), you don't need to reload your rifle for the change to be effective....

[Peacemonger]

From my experience bow only spooks animals in a 50m range compared to the 200m of a gun. Generally I would only recommend using the bow if willing to invest heavily into the bow perk.
Also I rarely ever use it above a range of 20m.

A good hit in the shoulders usually pierces through the blades, lungs and spine, making it unrivaled in stopping power though.

For me the bow is the one weapon I always bring along. Only foxes are a pain to hunt with it.