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Rope Arrow Concept


Springheel

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Anyway, the rope is pretty short and elastic now, so all your calulations are off.

 

How is that? For the rope, I used the data for the lightest mountain climbing ropes available using today's technology. If people in our setting could make a climable rope that was stronger and lighter than that, they would have to have some otherworldy material.

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Well, that sounds as if it even would work in real life. :) So the arrow just needs some little vents on the outside for the drill. A pressurized gas or some chemicals would be best, because this could be embedded inside the arrow itself, with the tip has a small part that can move, which will kick the gas chamber when the arrow impacts so the chemical reaction starts.

Chemistry for reloading and reusing the arrow. Pressurized gas would not be reusable and that's not what we want, eh, Oddity? ;)

Gerhard

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IT would work in real life, but it's too convoluted for game purposes.

I think the current arrow looks visually appealing with the spindle and rope visible, and if we say it's a short, light and elastic rope, we'll get away with it.

No one is goign to do your calulatons, Ishtvan. :wacko:

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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While in flight the arrow makes no more noise than any other arrow. And on impact it will probably create a small click and a hissing sound when the chemicals start working.

 

I don't know, the gas would have to escape fast enough to actually drill the arrow into the wood. It's really coming out more like an explosion than a slow hissing. But I guess for game purposes, having it "silenced" would be okay.

 

if we say it's a short, light and elastic rope, we'll get away witht it.

 

To me, that is no better than saying it's magic. :)

 

it's too convoluted for game purposes.

 

I agree that my idea is pretty convoluted, but we wouldn't have to show the player pulling the rope thru or anything, it could just kind've happen automatically. The first cable would probably be too thin to see anyway, so maybe we would just show the arrow go in [and play a cable unwinding sound from the bow while the arrow is in flight], then a small weight drops from it and a thick rope is pulled from your side up to the arrow ring and through until it drops down to exactly the right height (our thief is actually really good at measuring, cutting and tying on the fly :) ).

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Ooo! Ooo! (hand raised)

 

Or we can just make it magic like virtually every other arrow in the game. ;)

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None of the arrows in the game need be magic - see the crystal arrows thread for why.

I really like the spool and cord showing on it though, it really says 'rope arrow'

Couldn't we have that spindle, and what happens is that the end of the little cord you see poking out is tied to the thicker rope which you keep on the gound, and when the rope hits its target, the spinde starts spinning and winds the thin cord up again, pulling the thick rope up with it. THat also makes the process less convoluted, and automatic.

THick headed version -

post-51-1126726733_thumb.jpg

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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Perfect. That is almost exactly how I imagined it.

 

And since the thief's wieght is taken by the head you don't need a metal shaft. Stick on some nice spiral fletching and you are good to go. Certainly the heaviest arrow in the game, but also the most fun!

I want your brain... to make his heart... beat faster.

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The corkscrew head somehow burrows into the wood. This could be accomplished with an explosive charge, or a pressurized gas (steam) release that's vented in a way to rotate the arrow tip and drive it in.

 

Come on, Ish, someone with your physics background should know that this would never work in real life.

 

Steam? Where does enough steam come from to spin the head with enough force to drive it into the wood? Does the arrow have a boiler in it somewhere?

 

An explosive charge strong enough to drive the arrow-head into the wood would also blow the back of the arrow off. And even if you could manage that, an explosive charge wouldn't drive a drill far enough into wood to hold a man's weight. You need sustained pressure behind a drill to push it through wood...at least five to ten seconds of force (and that's for a fairly small screw, not something that would hold a man). After the moment of impact, an arrow has no way to generate that kind of force without also pushing itself -away- from the wood.

 

I'm liking the look of the concept now though. :)

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@Springheel:

 

It would be more of a rocket effect than a single explosion (although over the time scales we're talking about you wouldn't really be able to tell by looking at it). It wouldn't blow the shaft off because the release vents would not be pointing directly at the shaft. It woudn't push the tip away from the wood because the vents would be directed backwards, pushing the tip forward to the wood.

 

You've probably seen firecrackers that accidentally start spinning around on the ground when they go out of control. It would work like that, except directed. Also it doesn't really matter if it takes 5 seconds to drill something in with a power drill. This rocket mechanism could exert a lot more torque than the electric motor in the power drill and get the job done faster.

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You've probably seen firecrackers that accidentally start spinning around on the ground when they go out of control. It would work like that, except directed.

 

And you honestly think it would go deep enough into the wood that it could support the weight of a man? I trust your knowledge of the subject, so if you say so I'd have to accept it, but I'm extremely skeptical.

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Final arrow. THe final concept is that you tie your thicker rope to the thin cord on the spindle, it spools out when you shoot, and when the arrow reaches the target the wind up pressure from spooling out fills a spring with energy and makes it wind back in again, pulling the thick rope you've tied to it back up. Not perfect, but it's as good as is needed. We're not trying to win a nobel prize.

post-51-1126735714_thumb.jpg

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

character models site

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Now, with that beauty of a device, why shouldn't it be reusable? Rope arrows are just too damn enjoyable to become so limited. Just look at the outcry of them missing from T3 completely. I'd be willing to bet every Thief player loves getting to the top, crawling in a window or onto a beam, plucking it out, and thinking, "okay, where to next?"

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I like the concept. As for the physics it doesnt matter....there is no way a rope arrow would work because there is no way you could create a wooden arrow that would crack under a mans weight and even if it driled into the wood a single screw in a cheap wooden beam would never hold a full grown man

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