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DE Heavy Crossbows Foot?

BastileanBastilean Registered Users Posts: 1,387
in General Discussion
I was looking at the Dark Elf list and most of their missiles are very short ranged. Should they have a heavy repeater crossbow variant that shoots ~200 range?

I know we have never had 'heavy' ranged weapons between bows and bolt throwers, but there is no reason not to have a 'heavy repeater crossbow'.


This is just some fun art from a darkest art style game... there are tons of art concepts with heavy xbows out there. A heavy crossbow is just a larger than regular crossbow.

If CA did make a heavy xbow foot elf, would they use the Scourge Runner style Xbow or something that looks more like a Larger Repeater Xbow? Range ~160 anti-large? Did you think it was odd when CA introduced the Scourge Runner style? It's pretty unique in the list and has it's own style.

Would the new unit be a group of shades called the Scourge Runners?


If they stuck with repeater bows, would it fire semi-auto two shots or four shots? Would it fire almost automatic like a Ratling Gun? Would it have snipe?

What would you want in the design if GW and CA made a def heavy xbow?
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Comments

  • BitsToByteOnBitsToByteOn Registered Users Posts: 127
    I hope they don't. The armour-penetration more than makes up for the lack of range.
    Flag · 3Like
  • ItharusItharus Senior Member Registered Users Posts: 10,731
    It's called Shades. You can buff them into 200 range.

    DE crossbows are heavy by default... the bloody things are high damage AP.
    Flag · 4Like
  • yolordmcswagyolordmcswag Registered Users Posts: 3,438
    The implementation of dark elf crossbows was always very strange in this game. On the TT they did not have better armour penetration than regular crossbows. They traded actual power and range for a higher rate of fire, yet in this game their power is somehow higher?
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  • ZekerathZekerath Registered Users Posts: 488
    yolordmcswag said:

    The implementation of dark elf crossbows was always very strange in this game. On the TT they did not have better armour penetration than regular crossbows. They traded actual power and range for a higher rate of fire, yet in this game their power is somehow higher?

    How armor piercing is handled in TW is different than in TT, sure, but repeater crossbows did have armor piercing trait, but I don't recall if basic crossbow had that?
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  • BastileanBastilean Registered Users Posts: 1,387
    Well, the power is not higher per projectile, but the penetration certainly is. Same for aserai spears.

    First time I saw how '+1 armor penetration' was used I was aghast, but it creates more unique faction identities. I am not going to go so far as to say it's better... it creates a lot of weird (arguably unnecessary) problems, but it is certainly interesting and shakes things up which is good for faction identity.
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  • yolordmcswagyolordmcswag Registered Users Posts: 3,438
    Zekerath said:

    yolordmcswag said:

    The implementation of dark elf crossbows was always very strange in this game. On the TT they did not have better armour penetration than regular crossbows. They traded actual power and range for a higher rate of fire, yet in this game their power is somehow higher?

    How armor piercing is handled in TW is different than in TT, sure, but repeater crossbows did have armor piercing trait, but I don't recall if basic crossbow had that?
    Basic crossbows had strength 4, which aplied a -1 penalty to armour saves. Repeater crossbows were strength 3 armour piercing, which also provides a -1 penalty to armour saves. So regular crossbows did better against toughness and equally against armour, which is why repeater crossbows have more amrour piercing is BS.
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  • mightygloinmightygloin Karaz-a-KarakRegistered Users Posts: 3,818
    edited December 2020
    yolordmcswag said:

    The implementation of dark elf crossbows was always very strange in this game. On the TT they did not have better armour penetration than regular crossbows.

    They did.



    Their implementation is near perfect.
    Post edited by mightygloin on
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  • yolordmcswagyolordmcswag Registered Users Posts: 3,438
    edited December 2020
    mightygloin said:

    yolordmcswag said:

    The implementation of dark elf crossbows was always very strange in this game. On the TT they did not have better armour penetration than regular crossbows.

    They did.



    Their implementation is near perfect.
    Yes, they had the "armour piercing" special rule, which applied a -1 penalty to armour saves. Regular and dwarf crossbows had strength 4, which also provides a -1 penalty to armour saves. So the S3 repeater crossbows did not have better armour penetration than the S4 regular crossbows.
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  • yolordmcswagyolordmcswag Registered Users Posts: 3,438



    Flag · 2Like
  • ZekerathZekerath Registered Users Posts: 488
    yolordmcswag said:

    Zekerath said:

    yolordmcswag said:

    The implementation of dark elf crossbows was always very strange in this game. On the TT they did not have better armour penetration than regular crossbows. They traded actual power and range for a higher rate of fire, yet in this game their power is somehow higher?

    How armor piercing is handled in TW is different than in TT, sure, but repeater crossbows did have armor piercing trait, but I don't recall if basic crossbow had that?
    Basic crossbows had strength 4, which aplied a -1 penalty to armour saves. Repeater crossbows were strength 3 armour piercing, which also provides a -1 penalty to armour saves. So regular crossbows did better against toughness and equally against armour, which is why repeater crossbows have more amrour piercing is BS.
    Fair enough about the TT rules.
    CA probably just wanted to differentiate the units a bit more, in and out of the race, to highlight their strengths and weaknesses. As this thread shows, it's easy to look at dark elves and assume their crossbows should have shorter range but armour piercing.
    And still, Empire crossbowmen do more damage against lightly armoured units and at longer range than darkshards, though there are also other factors to take into consideration of unit balance.
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  • mightygloinmightygloin Karaz-a-KarakRegistered Users Posts: 3,818
    yolordmcswag said:




    I thought it was -2, now i see your point. They probably just differentiated them with shorter range and better AP as mentioned which made them way better than regular crossbows given how AP missiles are counter to everything in this game.
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  • endurendur Registered Users Posts: 3,921
    The Dark Elves didn't use heavy crossbows. They used light, fast firing crossbows. Humans and Dwarfs used heavy crossbows, though.

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