Regular Bolts change to give crossbowman proper choice

[Bjord]

I like the idea, and Nics third option

I would do one change tho, It seems to me that steel bolts would be a lot more heavy than normal bolts, even if there were more.
Saying this, maybe all arrows should be wieght reversed.

Steel is a derivative of the element iron, which is what I assume regular bolts are composed of, thus making steel bolts, with a lower percentage of carbon and higher density, lighter than regular bolts.

No sources, just my vague recollection of elementary science class.

[Angellore]

I personally would never take regular bolts either, the main reason is that I have +3 Steel bolts and they make every xbow much better.

And that's the whole point. I would love to have some valid choice between different bolts as crossbowman. Taking regular bolts means, you will resign from damage. You are losing quite a lot here, since crossbow is all about damage. That's why I want to see some proper compensation for that.

[Grumpy_Nic]

So I've used the Heavy Xbow yesterday and in my opinion it rocks. One of the most important things that seperates it from the Arbalest:
When you shoot an enemy you do not expect him to die in 1 shot, but you are happy if it still works! With the arbalest I always hope, during each shot that I 1 shot people but it hardly works.

The faster reload time is so great! It saved my ass a couple of times, I was able do dodge some couches and reload the xbow before the cav came back at me (works ofc not for arabian). With 13 bolts I still managed to get to the end of the rounds (if I survived) with 2 bolts or so left. It is tempting to shoot a lot more because the possibility is there but if you choose your targets carefully it will work out. Its also great vs. HA if you have a little cover, when you have no chance with the arba to reload, the heavy xbow has good chances to be ready in time.

1 thing I had problems with is to adapt to the slower missile speed, missed quite some shots because of that. But thats just a question of time.

So overall, I'm a big fan of the Heavy Xbow.

[Shaksie]

Angel I think this is a very good idea, bolts are completely useless when compared to Steel Bolts and it would indeed be nice to see some more variation. That being said, a new bolt type which is specialised in some way could be a valid contribution.

[Lichen]

Give regular bolts 10 cut damage. Then there would be a much better reason to use something other than steel bolts.

[Robert]

I like that idea as well - cut or peirce dmg just like arrows are now.

[Jarlek]

Just gonna pop in to say this:

Regular bolts (and regular arrows) should always be 0 bonus damage.

They are the regular, run-of-the-mill ammunition that all the others are supposed to be relative to. Worse bolts (or arrows) should give a penalty to damage (e.g. -2) and better bolts (or arrows) should give a bonus to damage (e.g. +2).

It just makes sense.