Greatbow

The greatbow is a moderately heavy, single-shot ranged weapon which deals a slightly higher amount of damage per shot; slightly longer time between shots; slightly longer range and high overall accuracy.

Acquisition

Great bows can be manufactured at any smithy once the greatbow research has been completed; from 60 Wood and 9,000 ticks (2.5 mins) of work. A crafting level of at least 6 is required.

Great bows can also be purchased from neolithic war merchants and orbital combat suppliers, or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Heavy Archer	42.22%	Normal	50-180%
Archer Chief	93.25%	Normal	100%

Analysis

Greatbows are the most powerful pre-industrial ranged weapon. Roughly on par with weak firearms like autopistols and revolvers, it is rapidly outclassed by most other guns.

The greatbow dominates the recurve bow in terms of damage and range, and handily beats all ranged weapons available to a New Tribe. Accuracy, especially in short-medium range, is very good, and it can stagger up to humans and megaspiders. Its armor penetration is even worse than a shortbow, but the overall damage more than makes up for it. It's worth noting that the greatbow has a longer warmup than cooldown, which is reversed for the other two.

Compared to autopistols and revolvers, the greatbow has more range and is much more accurate at a distance, while both handguns outdamage it up close. The greatbow is actually very similar to a bolt-action rifle, just with worse stats. For the same quality, the greatbow has less maximum range, less long-range accuracy, and less DPS than the bolt-action at all ranges. They otherwise share similar niche (being better at long range combat).

The greatbow makes a good general purpose weapon for its tech level, good in both offense and support, though weaker at point-blank range. But, as even Tribal starts will loot firearms that can match and functionally replace it, actually researching them is often a waste of time. Should you find or craft a particularly high quality greatbow, it might remain competitive in the early game.

A masterwork greatbow beats an excellent (and lower) bolt-action rifle at any range, though its max range is still shorter.
Up close (12 tiles), a greatbow 1-2 quality levels higher beats a bolt action, e.g. good greatbow > normal bolt-action.
At medium (25 tile) range, an excellent greatbow is outdamaged by a poor bolt-action.

With the highest range before bolt action rifles and a relatively short cooldown, the greatbow is ideal for both preventing and escaping from hunted animals going manhunter. This is especially useful as the time when greatbows are still relevant is also when your hunters are most vulnerable. It still doesn't make it worth researching, but any otherwise available great bows are good choices until bolt-action rifles become available.

Stats

Against an unarmored human, a greatbow can kill with 3 hits to the torso, 2 hits to the head or neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 2 hits; and destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 4 hits (~18.6 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Attack table

Ranged

Greatbow			Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Quality	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Awful	15.3	13.5%	52%	68%	60%	40%	4.37	2.27	2.97	2.62	1.75	52
Poor	17	15%	58.5%	76.5%	67.5%	45%	4.86	2.87	3.74	3.3	2.19	78
Normal	17	15%	65%	85%	75%	50%	4.86	3.16	4.13	3.65	2.43	104
Good	17	15%	71.5%	93.5%	82.5%	55%	4.86	3.5	4.57	4.03	2.67	130
Excellent	17	15%	78%	100%	90%	60%	4.86	3.79	4.86	4.37	2.92	156
Masterwork	21.25	18.75%	87.75%	100%	100%	67.5%	6.08	5.35	6.08	6.08	4.13	260
Legendary	25.5	22.5%	97.5%	100%	100%	75%	7.29	7.14	7.29	7.29	5.47	520

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality. Values shown in Red indicate the weapon is out of range at the reference point for this range band. The value is provided due to the interpolated nature of accuracy between range points.}

Melee

Feature	Toggle
Attacks

Greatbow			Limb (Blunt)					Limb (Poke)					Human: Left & rigth fist (Blunt)					HP	Value
Quality	DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	HP	Value
Awful	3.98	11.6%	7.2	2s	10.4%	3.6	12.5%	7.2	2s	10.4%	3.6	12.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 37.5%	100	52
Poor	4.08	11.85%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	25%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	25%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 25%	100	78
Normal	4.4	12.75%	9	2s	13%	4.5	37.5%	9	2s	13%	4.5	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	104
Good	4.74	13.73%	9.9	2s	14.3%	4.95	37.5%	9.9	2s	14.3%	4.95	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	130
Excellent	5.08	14.7%	10.8	2s	15.6%	5.4	37.5%	10.8	2s	15.6%	5.4	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	156
Masterwork	5.92	17.14%	13.05	2s	18.85%	6.53	37.5%	13.05	2s	18.85%	6.53	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	260
Legendary	6.59	19.09%	14.85	2s	21.45%	7.43	37.5%	14.85	2s	21.45%	7.43	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	520

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.}

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder if the weapon is wielded by some other than a baseline human.
↑ Chance for attack to be selected, assuming the weapon is wielded by a baseline human. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

Version history

0.3.410 - Added
At some point between Beta 18 and 1.2 it was nerfed. Accuracy was decreased from Touch accuracy was changed from 93% to 65%, range was decreased from 32 to 30 and damage from 18 to 17. It was also increased in weight from 1.2 to 3.0.

Weapons