Vapourware Archery Progression Models

[DJOGamer PT]

Kinda related to this thread I made some months ago

So I was revising the Archery Skill Tree and started wondering about if it wouldn't be better change the intensity Skill progression affects the PC and NPC's

Quick explanation on the skill: since the project is an ARPG the archery skill pretty much functions like in Mount & Blade; the higher it is the better is the player's accuracy with bows/crossbows/firearms - which is represented in-game by how "closed" the crosshair is

I was using Model B like we see in the image below (the ring represent the crosshair)
So the player starts with a really bad accuracy (the "Untrained"/No Skill rank, which is the outermost ring) and slowly over the course of 5 Skill levels improves his accuracy to Level 1 (the innermost ring)
But as you can see despite increasing the values of the improvements each Skill Level brings (the x1.25 & etc below each Level), the rewards themselves get increasingly weaker as you need to reduce the crosshair more and more to get actually substancial changes to the player's accuracy (as we can see the in B model, there is little difference between Levels 1 and 2)

So I made 3 other models to see the differences in growth and post them here to gauge people's reaction to each one

Model C has only 3 levels and starts off with a ridiculously low accuracy - this way each one of these levels becomes highly important (this is the topic I talked about in the mentioned thread)

Model D is the one I am more partial to at the moment
The Untrained accuracy is high enough to make bows (useless used at close range) but isn't as high as any of the others, and it's improvements are pretty good

Also one thing to note about these 2 models is how the higher their levels are the more drastic the their improvements are (i.e. the earlier skills levels are the most "useless")
This is something I really appreciate and have tried to do for other skills

Finally Model A is unique
Like B it has 5 Levels to attain but unlike any other Model it doesn't have a Untrained level
That's because in Model A if the character doesn't have any point on this Skill than he simply can't use any long range weaponry
Also while it's rewards are more meaningful than B, like the latter it still suffers towards it's final level despite the increased values

 

[hello friend]

With weapons as slow as bows and crossbows, having a big enough "circle of failure" is frustrating enough to just pick another weapon. If you want bows to be fun to use, it would be better to have accuracy drop off depending on distance, with higher skill levels cancelling out distance penalties. Not sure how feasible it is calculation-wise. So at a range of say 10 meters only an untrained individual would even have a chance of missing, and even they would be capable of hitting the target half the time.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

The system you describe is compatible with the one I want to make
So the question still remains (and it wasn't even answered in the first place)

Of those 4 models to the Archey progression and improvements on the characters, which one do you think is the most rewarding~?
Vote please...

 

[hello friend]

Gotta be D or C. I think D.

 

[Wunderbar]

Only accuracy? That's kinda lame.

Would've been better if upgrading archery skill reduced stamina consumption, increased nocking speed, and speeded up crosshair shrink while you hold string nocked.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Would've been better if upgrading archery skill reduced stamina consumption

The strength attribute does that

increased nocking speed

Dexterity

speeded up crosshair shrink while you hold string nocked.

Can put that in the skill as well

But the question here is specifically about between these 4 models which one you think has the best progression for the skillt?[/QUOTE]

 

[J1M]

Have you ever visited an archery range and shot a bow? Might help you with this design.

For example, the challenges a new shooter faces are things like:
Notching speed
Aiming quickly
Holding the pose for any length of time
Breath control

I don't like your approach here because hitting is random at all but the highest level, but that isn't how archery works. A novice can hit a target if not rushed or tired.

I think you might want to consider things like weapon sway and draw speed instead of random spread.