Longbows are called longbows for a reason, they shoot arrows long distances.
Crossbows take longer to load than bows, make more damage, but shoot shorter distance.

If i can one shot and decap dragons in the process i'm happy so a bit more power they should have.

Well strictly speaking, i'd say it's more a case of sacrificing range and rate of fire for accuracy and ease of use. I'm not so sure about power. If anything, I would've guessed an arrow shot from a bow would have more momentum behind it than a crossbow bolt.

If they stuck to this in an RPG, crossbows would be much more effective than bows when wielded by a low level character, but much less effective than bows when wielded by a character who is an expert archer. I have a feeling fans of crossbows wouldn't like this too much though.. and would want their weapon of choice to rival regular bows at any level.

To go historical and the likes, the Catholic church had them banned if you planned to attack your fellow Christians with them; simply because they were viewed as brutal and pretty lethal weapons in regards to power. Personally, I've put a bolt through my old church's front door at an archery day, a few years back with my own crossbow. So aye, I'd say they'd generally have more power than your usual bow. Would seem only natural.

^{Unless you are trying to snipe a dragon from a mile away range isnt a big factor.}

As far as I know the only way to increase the actual range of archery is to do an .ini edit. Should apply to both bows and crossbows.

With the maximum range and some time spent working out trajectory, I would guess that you can kill any target at any distance just as long as the target was loaded in and is within the arrows range (set by an .ini value).

Of course, it's not that clear cut, when you take into account some people may use faster arrows mod, which will of course adjust the natural trajectory slightly, and will probably make even longer distance shots possible.

Hi there Tinz3455. What' up?


Good point. I play as an archer but can't say I've been disappointed with bow's range. However, crossbows should bear some advantages and disadvantages over regular bows. I'm expecting higher damage but I wouldn't know about range. How do the two compare in real life? Plus, we can now craft bolts. Are arrows craftable too now?

The range has played a bad part from the release. It was outright stupid to watch your arrow go through a Dragon as he was flying at a distance. I quit playing with a Bow, until I got the game for the PC. Then I was able to change the ini files. It extended the distance at which bows would do damage without disturbing the trajectory.

I really enjoy seeing how far out I can hit a target. It is very satisfying to aim two body lengths above a Bandit and watch him fall. The range of a bow is based off of the weight. The only exception is the Supple Bow and maybe Ancient Nord Bows. I haven't tested the latter. Daedric will shoot further than any other. The Longbow fires the shortest distance. It will be interesting to see how far the Vanilla Crossbows shoot in relation to their weight.

The Crossbows will shoot bolts faster. That is the actual flight of the bolt. It will reload slower and do more damage. There is no Armor Rating on enemies. So like any other weapon, it will affect the HPs directly.

well,if your being historical about crossbows.
crossbows used in war i.e against armoured opponents were usually of a high drawweight,anywhere between 350-1000 lbs.
warbows like this could not be spanned without useing mechanical aids such as crannequins or a goats foot lever.

i have owned medaeval style war crossbows,the largest drawweight on one was close on 3000lbs which technically made it a wallbow,used mainley to shoot down on foes from a castle wall.

the more ordinary warbows were used primarily because their use could be taught to most soldiers in a matter of days,as opposed to say,the english longbow which took a lifetime of practise to use well.

a powerfull war crossbow can shoot a heavy bolt with an armour piercing head well over 100 yards with an almost flat trajectory and will pierce armour 99% of the time.
they are slow to load and cumbersome to carry but their power has vurtually no upper limit as human muscles are not used to span them.

contrast this to the most powerfull english longbow that ive seen used with any accuracy which was about a 250lb drawweight and the owner was the closest thing ive seen to an orc!
also crossbows can shoot things other than ordinary bolts,allsorts of exotic things that burn and go bang.. cheers

Increased range will be meaningless unless they sort out the draw distance.

Technically, the longbow shoulld be the most powerful as in real life it has the heaviest draw. The distance that some of the bows can be fired is a little low.

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that crossbows are kind of equivalent to shotguns. You take the extra damage while sacrificing range and loading times.

That said, I have never had a problem with the range of the bows in Skyrim. I've pulled of some incredible long-range shots in my time...

I hope they dont shoot one bolt per hour otherwise i am excited for them

Long bows reached an extreme range when used with indirect fire, that is a very curved trajectory. Since you trade range with accuracy you need to fire a volley of arrows and the target must be an amassed formation for maximum effectiveness.

Siege crossbows could fire at a 300-500 meters range (with little accuracy) while portable crossbows can reach 100m although maximum accuracy is confined to 20-30m. Note that some compound bows can shoot arrows at a higher velocity than a common crossbow (80-100m/s) but the bolt is usually heavier so it looses velocity at a slower pace, something to keep in mind when firing at long range