Mod: Conceptual Balance Mod 1.6

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by Psycho

4) MA Agartha got crossbows - seems unthematic, they are living in caverns.

Actually, this makes more sense than boulder throwing. The crossbow is a compact ranged weapon capable of being fired from one hand and used as a shoot-and-discard weapon for moderate distances. The crossbow saw extensive and preferential use historically by otherwise melee troops because you didn't have to load it before hand, and could quickly drop it after firing to grab your melee weapon. (see accounts of the crusades, for example).

Not needing to be drawn meant it could be used in confined spaces, including inside castle interior spaces (which, let me tell you, aren't any bigger than tunnels most of the time).

So the use of a crossbow by cave dwellers is perfectly sensible, although underground they should tend to prefer more powerful or more compact crossbows with less accuracy over long distances. Joining the surface world could easily have taught them to reload in combat (greater distances involved), volley fire, and the essential aspect of long range accuracy.

edit: Dropped an 'h', stopped making sense