Difference between revisions of "Neolithic Weapons"

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The short bow is a very light, single-shot ranged weapon in RimWorld which deals a moderate amount of damage per shot; slightly longer time between shots; slightly shorter range and moderate accuracy.

Obtaining

Short bows can be crafted at a [[]], [[]] or [[]]. They require , Expression error: Unexpected < operator. of work, and a [[]] skill of .

Alternatively, short bows can be purchased from neolithic war merchants and orbital combat suppliers, tribal and outlander faction bases, and obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Archer	92.27%	Poor	50-180%

You also start with two short bows in the Lost Tribe scenario.

Analysis

Short bows are one of the easiest ranged weapons to create, so are an important item for the Lost Tribe and Naked Brutality scenarios. A crafting spot can be created almost anywhere, instantly, and wood is typically not hard to find. Any ranged weapon at all allows you to safely hunt animals; even 0% manhunter animals will retaliate in melee combat, but not at range. Any weapon at all also gives a basic defense against hostile wildlife and raiders.

As they are so cheap, they aren't great as actual weapons. Short bows have the 3rd lowest DPS of all player-craftable ranged weapons in the game, ahead of only the pila and incendiary launcher. Other weaknesses include low accuracy and inability to stagger humans, something all other neolithic options can do. The short bow is best suited for close-quarters engagements due to its high close accuracy and slow projectile velocity.

Naturally, a short bow will be significantly overshadowed in terms of combat performance by even the most basic of firearms such as autopistols and revolvers. Two short bows are roughly equal to one of the aforementioned firearms. New Tribes also begin with the recurve bow researched, offering an immediate upgrade, assuming someone has a Crafting skill of 5 or more. Replacing the short bow with better ranged options should thus be your second priority, only after making sure everyone has a weapon of any kind.

Stats

Against an unarmored human, a short bow can kill with 4 hits to the torso, 3 hits to the head or neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 3 hits; and cripple or destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 6 hits (~28.35 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Overall, the short bow is best paired with a careful shooter until level 9, and with a trigger-happy shooter beyond that point.

Attack table

Neolithic Weapons (Error: Page has no Property:Image) Neolithic Weapons	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
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^{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.}

Short bow vs. comparable weapons

This section goes over how well the short bow fares against comparable weapons (similar value, tech level or similar characteristics) in 1 vs. 1 combat.

Methodology

All testing is semi-automated which allows for large sample sizes to be gathered per set of results with ease
All pawns have a skill level of 8 in shooting
No pawns have any traits that affect combat performance
All pawns are of 18 years of age and completely healthy
Pawns are divided by walls to prevent stray shots from skewing results in any way
Weather conditions are kept clear and no cover is used

Results in the tables below are the percentages of battles that short bows either won or tied against the weapon listed in the first column of said tables, with a sample size of 2,000 battles per result. Higher percentages are better.

Unarmored

For the unarmored testing, all pawns wore normal quality plainleather pants and plainleather button-down shirts.

Short bow vs.	3	7	12	18	25	32	40
Recurve bow	38.85%	31.25%	25.70%	22.75%	-	-	-
Pila	82.20%	77.60%	66.05%	64.50%	-	-	-

Flak armor

For the flak armor testing, all pawns wore normal quality steel simple helmets, flak jackets, flak vests, plainleather button-down shirts and flak pants.

Short bow vs.	3	7	12	18	25	32	40
Recurve bow	36.60%	31.75%	20.75%	22.80%	-	-	-
Pila	90.15%	84.80%	74.65%	72.60%	-	-	-

Marine armor

For the marine armor testing, all pawns wore normal quality marine helmets, marine armor, plainleather button-down shirts and plainleather pants.

Short bow vs.	3	7	12	18	25	32	40
Recurve bow	34.60%	25.50%	20.70%	18.85%	-	-	-
Pila	89.75%	83.45%	71.80%	70.85%	-	-	-

Graphs

The graphs assume a normal quality short bow against an adult human that's out in the open in clear weather. For DPS, projectile speed has also been factored into the equation, with the weighting based on the base amount of attacks that it'll take to put the aforementioned target into pain shock.

Version history

0.3.410 - Added

Weapons

Melee | Neolithic: Breach axe • Club • Ikwa • Knife (Jade) • Spear

Medieval: Gladius • Longsword • Mace • Axe • Warhammer

Ultra: Eltex staff • Monosword (Persona) • Plasmasword (Persona) • Zeushammer (Persona)

Improvised: Beer • Elephant tusk • Thrumbo horn • Wood

Ranged | Neolithic: Greatbow • Pila • Recurve bow • Short bow • Flamebow

Industrial: Assault rifle • Autopistol • Bolt-action rifle • Chain shotgun • Heavy SMG • Launcher (EMP, Incendiary, Smoke, Toxbomb ) • LMG • Machine pistol • Minigun • Pump shotgun • Revolver • Sniper rifle

Spacer: Charge lance • Charge rifle

Consumables: Doomsday rocket launcher • Triple rocket launcher

Throwables: EMP grenades • Frag grenades • Molotov cocktails • Tox grenades

Mechanoid: Heavy charge blaster • Inferno cannon • Needle gun • Thump cannon • Beam graser • Charge blaster turret • Hellsphere cannon • Mini-flameblaster • Mini-shotgun • Slugthrower • Spiner • Toxic needle gun

Structures: Autocannon • Mini-turret gun • Mortar (Weapon) • Uranium slug cannon • Auto-mortar • Inferno cannon (Turret) • Light charge blaster • Mini-slugger • Tactical turret gun

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 and Expression error: Unexpected < operator. 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

The greatbow is 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. Due to the research required, crafting greatbows usually not a great idea. However, a greatbow obtained from other means, such as a quest, event, or by trade, can be useful in the early game.

As a weapon, the greatbow dominates all ranged weapons for its tech level. For a bow, it has great accuracy and range. While the AP is worse than even a short bow, the damage easily makes up for it. 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. It's worth noting that the greatbow has a longer warmup than cooldown, which is reversed for the other two bows. This synergizes well with Aiming Time reductions.

Compared to a recurve bow of the same quality, the greatbow has overall better damage and range. A recurve bow one or two quality levels above can have better DPS at the short-medium range though.
Compared to autopistols and revolvers, the greatbow is more accurate from a distance, and has higher max range. However, both handguns outdamage the greatbow up close.
The greatbow is actually very similar in role to the bolt-action rifle, just with worse stats. A bolt-action rifle has better DPS, range, long-range accuracy as a greatbow of the same quality.

The main issue of this weapon is the research required - greatbows are a dead-end project, and greatbows themselves are quickly outclassed by guns that can be looted and crafted early. Therefore, actually doing the research is often a waste of time. Should you find or craft a particularly high quality greatbow, however, it might remain competitive in the early game. The main advantage of greatbows is their cost, not using any components or steel that could be otherwise spent on other options.