Deflecting arrows skill - for future ranged weapons

[Mask]

I'm concerned about a lack of dodging. It would be preferable if characters could dive for cover, but I'd be fine with sidestepping.

Crossbows don't normally load that quickly (depending on the design and power of the crossbow), so they shouldn't be able to make up for it by rate of fire. If the harpoon guns are like ballista, then it should be able to take several people out in one shot.

What sort of thing is the harpoon gun meant to be?

[PnzrNorm]

+1 to Chris sharing his thoughts on the Arrow Defense skill

[Danzigsam]

Mythbusters did an "arrow catching" one if you're interested in the realism of it. I think it turned out to be just barely possible if the arrow is slow and you're really trying...

But anyway these are mythic ninja-style people. They should be able to deflect arrows... not EASILY (at least at first), but possibly.

[PnzrNorm]

Mythbusters did an "arrow catching" one if you're interested in the realism of it. I think it turned out to be just barely possible if the arrow is slow and you're really trying...

Why would anyone want to catch an arrow when they can just parry, deflect, or cut it in half with their blade?
I'm pretty sure that's why Ringed Sabres and Horse Choppers have thicker dimensions (i.e. the width of your face).

[Danzigsam]

Why would anyone want to catch an arrow when they can just parry, deflect, or cut it in half with their blade?
I'm pretty sure that's why Ringed Sabres and Horse Choppers have thicker dimensions (i.e. the width of your face).

Because free arrows.

Seems like the bigger, thicker blades would be less effective 'cause they're slower. Maybe they'd give a negative to the Arrow Deflection skill.

[PnzrNorm]

Seems like the bigger, thicker blades would be less effective 'cause they're slower. Maybe they'd give a negative to the Arrow Deflection skill.

I have to argue this simply because these weapons don't need to be fast in order to act as a shield rather than using the char's dexterity to deflect arrows.

It can be guesstimated that the cutting edge of a horse chopper is less than 20mm thick and the spine can by anywhere between 80mm - 300mm (this may vary depending on the grade of the weapon. Assuming the density of the weapon remains constant, a higher kg value means the volume of the weapon must also be higher with a mass:volume ratio of 1:1).
With little to no prior knowledge of the penetration parameters of different arrowhead materials, I'm willing to wager that only modern, synthetic arrowheads (and possibly obsidian) are capable of penetrating materials with the density of stone or steel.
Given that the entire blade of the weapon is comprised entirely of steel (assuming the char is smart enough to use this part to block/deflect an arrow), an arrowhead would have to strike almost orthogonal to the weapon's surface, and the weapon's width would have to be extremely thin (<~100mm) for the projectile to embed itself in the weapon, thus rendering the weapon useless at blocking arrows.
If anything, different classes of weapons should call for different char attributes in order to effectively defend against arrows, larger weapons requiring Strength and Endurance, and lighter ones requiring Dexterity and Perception.
While I'm on the topic of attributes, Warrior Spirit could be an input to a formula to produce a another value that determines how often the char will actively attempt to block arrows. Just food for thought as I haven't seen any speculation threads regarding Warrior Spirit yet.

Because free arrows.

I'm a believer than a percentage of all the arrows that miss their target are free arrows.
After all, they would just be stuck in whatever happens to be behind the target.

[Hatsune_Neko]

Mythbusters did an "arrow catching" one if you're interested in the realism of it. I think it turned out to be just barely possible if the arrow is slow and you're really trying...

But anyway these are mythic ninja-style people. They should be able to deflect arrows... not EASILY (at least at first), but possibly.

They did
and as it turns out deflecting arrows is a lot easier than it is to catch one. but even then. the guy that did it was over whelmed by just a couple people in a matter of seconds.
Maybe when perception is added then it would be a more likely skill, But if a Master IRL has issues with just a few, it should be more or less the same in Kenshi.

course i have never seen a game where arrows where ever done right either. like my character gets hit by 50 arrows during the fight, but some how is still alive. even though they make a porcupine jealous of the amount of quills sticking out of them.

But think it will be interesting to see what Chris has in mind for arrows. and how to dodge them.

[PnzrNorm]

course i have never seen a game where arrows where ever done right either. like my character gets hit by 50 arrows during the fight, but some how is still alive. even though they make a porcupine jealous of the amount of quills sticking out of them.

Xiahou Dun lost his left eye when he was a hit by a stray arrow during a battle against Lü Bu in the late 190s, and subsequently became known among the rank and file as "Blind Xiahou", which greatly irked him. His image as a one-eyed warrior was popularised by Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which he yanked the arrow fired by enemy general Cao Xing out of his eye and devoured his own eyeball to instil fear in his enemies

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiahou_Dun

[Danzigsam]

Xiahou Dun lost his left eye when he was a hit by a stray arrow during a battle against Lü Bu in the late 190s, and subsequently became known among the rank and file as "Blind Xiahou", which greatly irked him. His image as a one-eyed warrior was popularised by Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which he yanked the arrow fired by enemy general Cao Xing out of his eye and devoured his own eyeball to instil fear in his enemies

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiahou_Dun

Blah. But what if his eyeball was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted and he always wanted more?

If you want to think of Deflect Arrows as using your blade as a shield, then I can see your point, and I kinda like the concept, though I dunno how practical that would actually be. I was thinking more of knocking them out of the air with your sword, in which case you would want a smaller, lighter blade - which would give you another reason not to arm everyone with fragment axes.

[PnzrNorm]

There is so much art depicting Edo Period samurai cutting arrows out of the air with naginata as well as katana.
The size of a weapon shouldn't detract from the ability to deflect arrows as much (if at all) as the char's proficiency with their equipped weapon.

Perhaps there could be a "proficiency" factor ranging from 0 - 100% that represents the char's capability to use the equipped weapon in an advanced manner.
This value would drop a certain amount upon equipping another weapon of the same class (moreso when changing weapon class), and it would steadily rise as the char used the weapon.
The design behind this value could represent how "used to this weapon" is this char, as it takes a great deal of practice to fight with a 9kg weapon and then s/he would not be as well-versed upon swapping to the 13kg version (I.e. would not be exactly as deft after the change, and this could affect more than just deflecting arrows).

[cniht]

With regard to the harpoon, arrow, and bolt deflection. That's why shields were very useful in combat. Also the Japanese did employ the use of shields or barrier walls that individual troops could move as they advanced for such a purpose as projectile defense. I wouldn't mind seeing spears and shields added to Kenshi at some point in the future as an alternative combat style.

Remember the crossbow and longbow were directly invented and nurtured in combat in both Europe and Japan (longbow for Japan) to punch through all that armor the guys started wearing. It worked quite well too. Guns took over because of stopping power and the fact you didn't have to spend a crap load of time and money training people. Any mook could load, point, and fire a gun.

If Armor ever catches up to small arms as being able to negate their advantage on the field of battle, we'll totally go back to hand to hand melee combat. (Think power armor) Just the technology does not exist yet, mostly in the form of power storage, generation, and transfer systems. The external plating and exoskeleton is the easy part.