tModLoader Longbows Mod - Testers and Spriter(s) welcome.

[Sacridfire]

When playing an RPG my favorite class is generally an Archer. Not your rapid fire, blot out the sun type that is prevalent in games today. The kind that takes their time lining up a shot to do critical damage, basically a sniper using a bow.
Sadly Terraria goes for the rapid fire route and I just can't really bring myself to play the game as an archer. So I did the obvious thing and started working on a mod.

The goal of Longbows is to bring the Marksman/Sniper archetype of Archers to Terraria and making sure they are relevant instead of just a gimmicky class to appease a minority. I'm looking at you throwing weapons.

All longbows have a set use time of 60. This means you should be firing 1 arrow every second. To make up for the slower speed, longbows have a higher base critical chance and will have roughly 2-3.5x more base damage. They also have autofiring. Because nobody should ever be subjected to click spamming.

The mod is now available for download. Download through the mod browser or click this link

Feedback is welcome. Just keep in mind that this is my first attempt at modding, so the things I can actually do are very limited.

All implemented longbows should be doing at least as much dps as their vanilla bow/repeater equivalent. Please let me know if any of the longbows are weaker than intended.

Currently there is a Longbow for every primary type of metal. Alternate metals are coming soon. I will attempt to added variants for dropped bows later on.

Spoiler: Longbows

Wooden Longbow - 15 wood @Workbench
Copper Longbow - 10 Copper Bars @Anvil
Iron Longbow - 10 Iron Bars @Anvil
Silver Longbow - 12 Silver Bars, 1 White String @Anvil
Gold Longbow - 12 Gold Bars, 1 White String @Anvil
Demon Longbow - 15 Demonite Bars, 1 White String @Anvil
Tendon Longbow - 15 Crimtane Bars, 1 White String @Anvil
Molten Wrath - 20 Hellstone Bars, 1 White String @Anvil
Cobalt Longbow - 15 Cobalt Bars, 1 White String @Mythril Anvil
Mythril Longbow - 15 Mythril Bars, 1 White String @Mythril Anvil
Adamantite Longbow - 18 Adamantite Bars, 1 White String @Mythril Anvil
Elven Longbow(temp name) - 15 Hallowed Bars, 1 White String @Mythril Anvil
Chlorophyte Longbow - 18 Chlorophyte Bars, 1 White String @Mythril Anvil
Shroomite Longbow - 18 Shroomite Bars, 1 White String @Mythril Anvil

Spoiler: Accessories

Siege Quiver - +50% Arrow Damage, +20% Ranged Crit, -15% Movement Speed. [Recipe] Sniper's Quiver, Ranger Emblem, Improved Fletching @Tinkerer's Workshop
Sniper's Quiver - +25% Arrow Damage, +10% Ranged Crit. [Recipe] Magic Quiver, Sniper Scope @Tinkerer's Workshop
Improved Fletching - Increased Arrow Speed, +5% Arrow Damage, +5% Ranged Crit. [Recipe] 10 Feathers, 20 Souls of Flight @Mythril Anvil
Mythril Arrowheads - Increased Arrow Speed, +10% Arrow Damage. [Recipe] 15 Mythril(Orichalcum) Bars, 5 Souls of Might @Mythril Anvil
[Coming Soon]Arrow Enhancement Kit - Massively increased Arrow Speed, +15% Arrow Damage, +5% Ranged Crit. [Recipe] Improved Fletching, Mythril Arrowheads, 30 Pearlwood @Tinkerer's Workshop

Accessories don't currently increase arrow speed.

Spoiler: To do List

Forum Post
-Images
-Make post look pretty

Mod
-Accessories to increase crit and damage of bows. Possibly at the expense of attack speed.
-Custom Arrows (In Progress)
-Attempt to make decent looking Sprites (Priority)
-Figure out a way to add longbow variants of dropped bows. Possibly a Pulse Bow variant as well.

Acquire Assistance
-Looking for balance/bug testers
-Accepting pity assistance from my failed attempts at making Sprites.

Spoiler: Changelog

v0.3 Added some accessories
v0.2 Increased the damage of all longbows
v0.1 created

 

[Pawlick]

Sounds amazing. I love playing snipy-archers as well!
I can help you with balancing in a week or two I think. If you need help, of course.

 

[LaBonez(ggg)]

The mod isn't half bad, though the new arrows don't work.

 

[Sacridfire]

Sounds amazing. I love playing snipy-archers as well!
I can help you with balancing in a week or two I think. If you need help, of course.

Balancing help would be great. I'm looking for feedback on how well they perform compared to standard bows and whether or not they are worth crafting for the material cost. I just picked up FF14 so it might be a couple days, but I do plan on buffing pretty much every longbow as they are pretty weak right now.

The mod isn't half bad, though the new arrows don't work.

Those arrows are from when I was planning on giving the hallowed longbow the effect of transforming wooden arrows into special arrows. I couldn't get it to work right so I made the arrows an item and set the hallowed longbow to only fire them. When the mod went from just a single bow to a full set of longbows I put them on hold. I just kept forgetting to remove them.

Edit: DPS was much lower than I thought it was. I'm going to put out a new version today since it would be difficult to use the mod otherwise.

 

[Shadowheart]

One of the biggest issues I have found with bows vs. guns is that velocity and accuracy with the ammunition, and usefulness of armor penetration/etc.

For example, a lot of mods add armor penetration items or upgrades to the shark tooth necklace? This only serves to make guns rapid rate of fire better. And with bullets being faster traveling and a lot more accurate, the rate of fire actually adds up to insane levels of dps/etc. And with special bullets like exploding bullets, ichor to LOWER DEFENSE MORE, or homing bullets? Bows just never stood a chance, core game or with mods.

So - my suggestion would be make a trinket that increases the velocity, reduces the arc, and increases the knockback of bows/arrows -significantly-. Im not talking +15% velocity/-15% less arcing, I mean like +50-75% velocity, -80 to -100% arc and like +25% knockback (To make up for the slower firing speed). If not a trinket, then perhaps more arrow options that just dont CARE about gravity like the jester arrows and just travel quickly on there own. Maybe it like a "Goggles of True Strikes" that can combine later with Ranger Emblem and Destroyer's Emblem for a +damage/+crit/+knockback/+velocity/-gravity emblem for late-game? "Visage Of The Hunter".

Also, due to the slower rate of fire, special arrows should have more "umph" when they do hit compared to bullets. A lot higher damage, bigger aoe explosions + burning combined, more piercing of armor + more piercing enemies, slows/chills on hit combined with frostburn, or maybe they leave a cloud of poison gas behind that deals damage over time to things walking threw it and applies Venom. Seeking arrows that when they hit an enemy mark them so they are visable and makes consecutive hits do more damage, so on.

 

[Sacridfire]

One of the biggest issues I have found with bows vs. guns is that velocity and accuracy with the ammunition, and usefulness of armor penetration/etc.

For example, a lot of mods add armor penetration items or upgrades to the shark tooth necklace? This only serves to make guns rapid rate of fire better. And with bullets being faster traveling and a lot more accurate, the rate of fire actually adds up to insane levels of dps/etc. And with special bullets like exploding bullets, ichor to LOWER DEFENSE MORE, or homing bullets? Bows just never stood a chance, core game or with mods.

So - my suggestion would be make a trinket that increases the velocity, reduces the arc, and increases the knockback of bows/arrows -significantly-. Im not talking +15% velocity/-15% less arcing, I mean like +50-75% velocity, -80 to -100% arc and like +25% knockback (To make up for the slower firing speed). If not a trinket, then perhaps more arrow options that just dont CARE about gravity like the jester arrows and just travel quickly on there own. Maybe it like a "Goggles of True Strikes" that can combine later with Ranger Emblem and Destroyer's Emblem for a +damage/+crit/+knockback/+velocity/-gravity emblem for late-game? "Visage Of The Hunter".

Also, due to the slower rate of fire, special arrows should have more "umph" when they do hit compared to bullets. A lot higher damage, bigger aoe explosions + burning combined, more piercing of armor + more piercing enemies, slows/chills on hit combined with frostburn, or maybe they leave a cloud of poison gas behind that deals damage over time to things walking threw it and applies Venom. Seeking arrows that when they hit an enemy mark them so they are visable and makes consecutive hits do more damage, so on.

I just finished a balance pass to buff longbows that puts them somewhere between bows and guns, and I plan to buff them more later on depending on how the planned accessories turn out. Most of their damage should be coming from their high critical chance allowing consistent crits while stacking raw damage accessories.

Eventually I want to give them their own arrows exclusive to longbows with high velocity on par with guns and almost no arcing. Ideally it will have either extremely high damage or increased armor penetration.

I have a few accessories planned that are made from the magic quiver and provide bonuses to arrow bonuses rather than generic ranged bonuses that would help to bring them up to par with guns.

TL;DR High base values, new arrow and accessories should let them compete with guns.

Edit: Testing out an accessory and figured i would mention this. With a magic quiver, the new accessory and shroomite armor the shroomite longbow does 640 damage with a 70% crit chance.

 

[Pawlick]

Maybe you should change their names to "... greatbow" and make it possible for them to shoot only some fancy great arrows?
Longbows sound more snipy though.

 

[Sacridfire]

Maybe you should change their names to "... greatbow" and make it possible for them to shoot only some fancy great arrows?
Longbows sound more snipy though.

That was actually what it was originally, but I decided on longbows. Greatbows in fantasy games tend to be massive and extremely detailed. A typical fantasy greatbow just doesn't fit all that well into a sprite without investing a lot of time into each individual bow.

 

[Sacridfire]

Added in a list of planned accessories to the OP. Once I learn how to add arrow velocity to accessories I will add them to the mod.

 

[four plus four]

To do List
Forum Post
-Images

Definitely need images here, since I have no idea whether the sprites are good or not.

-Items/Recipes List

It appears you have that now.

-Make post look pretty

Only zee pertiest of posts shall be remembered!

Overall, interested, even though in games I tend to go more of the route of "Melee attack fast guy", or "Strong mage guy", or even "Fast attack mage guy"
Even though in Terraria I also do enjoy summoner, I near never go ranged.

 

[Sacridfire]

Definitely need images here, since I have no idea whether the sprites are good or not.

It appears you have that now.

Only zee pertiest of posts shall be remembered!

Overall, interested, even though in games I tend to go more of the route of "Melee attack fast guy", or "Strong mage guy", or even "Fast attack mage guy"
Even though in Terraria I also do enjoy summoner, I near never go ranged.

Spoiler Alert: The sprites are terribad. I've only gotten around to making sprites for the NYI accessories and 2 of the bow. The rest of them are just an oversized letter D. I'm pretty much terrible at any form of art, so it takes me a while to do that sort of thing.

 

[Khaelis]

Word of advice, you need alternate ore recipes for some of your accessories. Currently with your to-do list if you have Orichalcum in a world, you can't craft the "Mythril Arrowheads" accessory.

 

[Sacridfire]

Word of advice, you need alternate ore recipes for some of your accessories. Currently with your to-do list if you have Orichalcum in a world, you can't craft the "Mythril Arrowheads" accessory.

Right, alternate ores are a thing. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[four plus four]

Spoiler Alert: The sprites are terribad. I've only gotten around to making sprites for the NYI accessories and 2 of the bow. The rest of them are just an oversized letter D. I'm pretty much terrible at any form of art, so it takes me a while to do that sort of thing.

I'd still like clarity in the post to know what they look like. Not to brag(is totally to brag), but I think my sprites are pretty good. It's not too hard to sprite. Or maybe I just have a knack for art.

 

[Muteness]

I like the idea of having a variant of weapons that focus on accuracy and foresight over just holding down the button and roughly sweeping the mouse towards what you're killing.

If it's not too much trouble I'd like to put in a request for considering a variety of different fire rates and additional effects, shorter/longer use time in exchange for effects like Influx Waver, perhaps something like the Daybreak, just a way of giving these bows some character but maintaining competitive damage. I feel there's currently a gap in the ranged weapon choices, one that could be fulfilled with more twists on the Sniper Rifle. I'm sure there are a whole bunch of creative ways to do something like this, stacking expiring debuffs, having a player buff that's dependant on consecutive hits, each round of firing uses up 20 arrows to give players more incentive.

 

[Sacridfire]

I like the idea of having a variant of weapons that focus on accuracy and foresight over just holding down the button and roughly sweeping the mouse towards what you're killing.

If it's not too much trouble I'd like to put in a request for considering a variety of different fire rates and additional effects, shorter/longer use time in exchange for effects like Influx Waver, perhaps something like the Daybreak, just a way of giving these bows some character but maintaining competitive damage. I feel there's currently a gap in the ranged weapon choices, one that could be fulfilled with more twists on the Sniper Rifle. I'm sure there are a whole bunch of creative ways to do something like this, stacking expiring debuffs, having a player buff that's dependant on consecutive hits, each round of firing uses up 20 arrows to give players more incentive.

To start with I don't plan on doing much more than simple custom arrows. However in the future I would love to add in bows with unique effects like that. I just have to work up to it.

I really can't seem to figure out how to make accessories grant increased arrow speed. So for now I'm just going to bump up the speed on the bows themselves.

I'd still like clarity in the post to know what they look like. Not to brag(is totally to brag), but I think my sprites are pretty good. It's not too hard to sprite. Or maybe I just have a knack for art.

I'll definitely post the sprites in the OP when I make them, but for now the sprites consist of this. I wasn't kidding when I said they are a just a giant letter.

 

[four plus four]

I'll definitely post the sprites in the OP when I make them, but for now the sprites consist of this. I wasn't kidding when I said they are a just a giant letter.

Your Piskel is private, so I can't check it out.

 

[Sacridfire]

I'd still like clarity in the post to know what they look like. Not to brag(is totally to brag), but I think my sprites are pretty good. It's not too hard to sprite. Or maybe I just have a knack for art.

Your Piskel is private, so I can't check it out.

Helps if I set it to public.
Here is my gallery

Sprites are at the top of my list of things to do. Should have simple versions done soon-ish if FF14 doesn't eat me.

 

[Pawlick]

The accessories are too OP. They can like double your DPS, making other classes than ranger look amazingly weak.

 

[Sacridfire]

The accessories are too OP. They can like double your DPS, making other classes than ranger look amazingly weak.

They are a bit OP atm, but bows until tsunami and phantasm are by far the weakest weapon type, they need quite a bit of a buff to bring them up.

The testing I did with them put the Phantasm about on par with the SDMG.
The Shroomite Longbow is still doing less than a Megashark even with the accessories.

I did change the recipe for the sniper quiver though. It now requires the sniper scope to make, requiring you to kill the golem and farm the hardmode dungeon.

Considering making the fletching require ectoplasm instead of souls to craft.