This might be a better question for /k/ but I'm wondering what would be a better configuration for a battery powered mechanical crossbow?
1. The bow is placed vertically and a magazine of bolts set on the side or have it in it's normal horizontal configuration.
After much consideration I figure the bow doesn't need to be very long accounting for futuristic smart materials for the bow and string to get the needed tension to make the bolts deadly but which configuration would be better overall?
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Horizontal is generally used so it gravity feeds rather than using a spring or similar mechanical device to push the bolts into position on the crossbow (often with something to arrest the next-to-most-recent-bolt from faling into the mechanism before the current bolt has fired).
The real trouble is figuring out where to put sights on a crossbow - guns tend to feed from the bottom or sides so sights can go on top, but with a top feeding system you can't put them on top, but with a side feeding system and a vertically aligned bow you still can't have sights on top of it.
Of course, if you're motorising the pulling mechanism of a crossbow I'd suggest ignoring the cross part of the bow in favor of something like this CD gun design:
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Should get a faster firing rate with something like that, as you just spin up and push bolts into contact with the spinny bit.
To be honest with you, a "battery powered mechanical crossbow" is just a gun. You're just swapping gunpowder with a technobabble string and motors at this point. You're actively pursuing a worse alternative here. It would be easier to get a large gun and strap bow-like cosmetics over it, then call it "crossbow" when people ask.
Angled magazine, to allow for regular sights with a internal polybolos style feed mechanism or a spanning bar connected airsoft style partial gear. You would still need a substantial motor/battery to account for anything remotely powerful, let's say at least 100lbs at 12 inches. 6-10 inch bolts. Single stack magazine to allow for standard two-fun military bolt fleching to remain undamaged.
you mean something like this:
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It's not a replacement for guns. I'm operating under the assumption that bolts can do things like carry certain payloads like explosives and chemicals.
They are not the main fighting weapons but compliment a force of people with guns who also have axes and short swords on them to help them fight various monsters.
>I'm operating under the assumption that bolts can do things like carry certain payloads like explosives and chemicals.
so you want slower missiles?
It's not meant to be a rapid fire weapon (although I guess I could have a rapid fire version). The bolts are mainy their to pierce the bodies of various monsters and either explode after a set time or unload various poisons into them to help in the fight
the thing is you're working with a setting that includes:
>futuristic smart materials
so you'll have to come for an explanation as to why use explosive/poison bolts instead of missiles or semi-auto guns
I don't understand why that is hard to understand. Is firebombing a whole city your first choice of action for every problem?
if it's crawling with monsters then yes, also RPGs can be use in small targets (tank sized) without destroying the city
besides, you still haven't explained why anyone in a futuristic setting would use crossbows to kill monsters instead of superior alternatives
it's not even hard, just say that they need to capture them alive or mostly intact for reaserch or some bs like that
This is really stupid. You don't need rocket launchers and tanks for everything because leveling buildings is not always a good idea. A crossbow bolt with explosives comparable to a grenade will probably do better in close quarters then an RPG because most of the fighting takes place inside of a massive city structure.
But sure, I guess since future is involved all problems are solved by using CIWS and MOABs.
No no, your right. We should tie horses up to the front of the jeep and ride into town firing revolvers and playing Flight of the Valkyries on an organ.
If the car breaks down in the middle of bumsfucksville that may not be a bad idea.
if you can use an explosive bolt then why can't you use an RPG with a similar payload, the main difference is that the rpg travels faster and has more reach meaning you don't even have to be that close to the mosnter and subsequent explotion
if you can take the mosters in very closed quarters with explosives to somehow small to fit in and rpg then they're not that threatening and any armed citizen should be able to do kill them themselves.
Because I can get several uses out of the weapon system that I can't with a rocket launcher. If I don't need explosive bolts then regular ones will do just fine. If I have poisons designed to kill the monster then I use that if I have to.
You sound like you'd be a blast to play with because you'd constantly be bitching that a fantasy setting doesn't fight the way people do in the real world.
forgot something, if rpg are still to big, we have full auto shotguns and explosive shells so why not use those
You're being very obtuse.
The purpose of doing this was to have something that was different from guns and to provide a party with a way to use weapons in a strategic manner.
Guns shoot bullets. There's only so much you can do with bullets. No, there are grenade shotgun shells in this setting but bolts that can stick into stuff and be set to detonate at the user's whim and liking are.
Just like the way shotguns come in buckshot or solid slugs to provide different types of damage dealing (damage in a cone versus damage in a straight line) the crossbow gives you options.
This is part of some modifications to how guns work in DND.
you asked about what configuration for a battery powered crossbow would be better so i asume you want this setting to be believable if so the you should be ready to answer simple questions like these, people use this kind of weapons in the real world not because they look cool but because they are the best for the job at hand if you are going for a futuristic setting then you need to anser why the fuck are you using inferior tools to those we have in the current age. if you don't care about your setting making sense and just want it to be cool then why the fuck matters how the crossbow works?
I thought I answered the question but sure I'll do it again and add more details.
The mechanical crossbow is dsigned to have some tactical flexibility, explosive bolts are not it's main use and is part of the way people tend to fight monsters in a large city setting where the desire is to reduce as much collateral damage as possible so no, they don't whip out rpgs, tanks, and moabs just to kill a few monsters.
what kind of monster are you fighting?
If you can't take them out with a .50 cal, the amount of explosive you can stick on a crossbow bolt isn't gonna do anything to them.
If you need to poison them for some reason, you need more dakka. It's cheaper to shoot something twice than it is to design and fabricate some bizarre crossbow
If you want to limit collateral damage, get marksmen and bear traps. Hell, a net hanging from the ceiling will be more effective than a crossbow
I'm sorry I'm not catering to your specific brand of autism but monsters range various mutated animals (feral mutant dogs that get a taste for human meat to giant rats) to pic related and since it's a DND setting various forms of undead and flesh golems are a common sight as well.
Why have a magazine on a slow fire weapon?
The mag will have lots of issues with feeding since crossbow bolts are not as simple as boolets.
Their not designed for the same rate of fire as a guns so they don't need to load as fast as one.
Then don't give them one.
A side mounted quiver would be more reliable and cheaper.
Okay, then why the fuck does it matter how this crossbow works? Seriously, which of your players at your table (which probably don't exist desu) is gonna need to know the mechanical complexities of this crossbow but won't bitch about using a shortsword in a world of RPGs? Why do you need to know how this works if it doesn't matter and it's fantasy? Why even make this thread?
Why are you getting mad?
>projecting this hard
The inital question was primarily for my own optics however you come in and drop your autism in saying I should just do this and that because your autism demands all settings act that way. I guess saying futuristic materials triggered you in some way. I don't know but if you're looking to score internet points here's a check for 10,000 (you)
It's the future, everybody stop being so retarded.
Magazine on the body of the crossbow, toward the front. Spring-loaded or whatever. Your mechanism pulls the string, the magazine shunts a bolt into a barrel or slot of some kind, then you pull the trigger to kill the thing. You could even skip the string if you wanted to do some kind of mini-railgun bit with magnets that take some arbitrary amount of time to calibrate between shots.
If you're putting this much thought into a crossbow, you're ignoring much more important parts of your world.
ITT: people that are ignorant about history.
Tension weapons with an explosive payload have existed since World War I if not earlier.
the amount of parts involved in this thing sound like so much of a hassle you might as well use a bow instead
Why does a missile have to be big enough to immolate a city? Look up the gyrojet. Or the more recent oicw grenade launcher.
What people are objecting to is your solution. "Battery-powered crossbow" is like "gasoline-powered horse-drawn carriage". You've got two conflicting and redundant power sources. Rule of cool, sure... but then why bother asking us about verisimilitude?
IRL spetsnaz did sometimes use a crossbow (hand-powered) on missions with exotic requirements. Like, back in the 60s.
For the mission you're envisioning, I'd give them a low velocity GL. Or, if you can cook up a reason why that's a bad idea (maybe some monsters can cook off traditional propellants from a distance) then a normal bow or spring loaded crossbow is best.
All that applies to mini missiles as well. A proven technology that's better in pretty much every way, except in rare situations where chemical propellants are somehow useless.
You keep seeing "missile" and thinking that people are talking about a particular size and type (shoulder-fired). I'm not surprised that you don't understand much about modern infantry weapons, but at least listen courteously as people who do understand them answer your question. /k/ will tell you the exact same thing.
>This is part of some modifications to how guns work in DND.
...and suddenly OP's ignorance has a name. All this makes sense now.
That man has an amazing laugh.