Greatbow

The greatbow is a moderately heavy, single-shot ranged weapon which deals a slightly higher amount of damage per shot; slightly longer time between shots; slightly longer range and high overall accuracy.

Acquisition

Great bows can be manufactured at any smithy once the greatbow research has been completed; from 60 Wood and 9,000 ticks (2.5 mins) of work. A crafting level of at least 6 is required.

Great bows can also be purchased from neolithic war merchants and orbital combat suppliers, or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Heavy Archer	42.22%	Normal	50-180%
Archer Chief	93.25%	Normal	100%

Analysis

Greatbows are the most powerful neolithic-tier ranged weapon, but they are rapidly outclassed by even early guns of the same quality.

The greatbow dominates the recurve bow in terms of damage and range, and handily beats all other weapons available to a New Tribe. Accuracy, especially in short-medium range, is very good, and it can stagger up to humans and megaspiders. Its armor penetration is even worse than a shortbow, but the overall damage more than makes up for it. It's worth noting that the greatbow has a longer warmup than cooldown, which is reversed for the other two.

The greatbow makes a good general purpose weapon, good in both offense and support, though is weaker at point-blank range. As a hunting weapon, it is nearly on par with a bolt-action rifle. Compared to pistols, Greatbows have more range and more accurate at a distance, while remaining decent in close combat. However, early firearms are roughly equal in actual combat, dealing much more damage when closer. As even Tribal starts will loot firearms to replace it, actually researching them is mostly a waste of time. Should you find or craft a particularly high quality greatbow, it might remain competitive in the early game.

Against an unarmored human, a greatbow can kill with 3 hits to the torso, 2 hits to the head or neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 2 hits; and destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 4 hits (~18.6 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Attack table

Ranged

Greatbow			Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Quality	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Awful	15.3	13.5%	52%	68%	60%	40%	4.37	2.27	2.97	2.62	1.75	52
Poor	17	15%	58.5%	76.5%	67.5%	45%	4.86	2.87	3.74	3.3	2.19	78
Normal	17	15%	65%	85%	75%	50%	4.86	3.16	4.13	3.65	2.43	104
Good	17	15%	71.5%	93.5%	82.5%	55%	4.86	3.5	4.57	4.03	2.67	130
Excellent	17	15%	78%	100%	90%	60%	4.86	3.79	4.86	4.37	2.92	156
Masterwork	21.25	18.75%	87.75%	100%	100%	67.5%	6.08	5.35	6.08	6.08	4.13	260
Legendary	25.5	22.5%	97.5%	100%	100%	75%	7.29	7.14	7.29	7.29	5.47	520

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality. Values shown in Red indicate the weapon is out of range at the reference point for this range band.
The value is provided due to the interpolated nature of accuracy between range points.}

Melee

Feature	Toggle
Attacks

Greatbow			Limb (Blunt)					Limb (Poke)					Human: Left & right fist (Blunt)					HP	Value
Quality	DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	HP	Value
Awful	3.98	11.6%	7.2	2s	10.4%	3.6	12.5%	7.2	2s	10.4%	3.6	12.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 37.5%	100	52
Poor	4.08	11.85%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	25%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	25%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 25%	100	78
Normal	4.4	12.75%	9	2s	13%	4.5	37.5%	9	2s	13%	4.5	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	104
Good	4.74	13.73%	9.9	2s	14.3%	4.95	37.5%	9.9	2s	14.3%	4.95	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	130
Excellent	5.08	14.7%	10.8	2s	15.6%	5.4	37.5%	10.8	2s	15.6%	5.4	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	156
Masterwork	5.92	17.14%	13.05	2s	18.85%	6.53	37.5%	13.05	2s	18.85%	6.53	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	260
Legendary	6.59	19.09%	14.85	2s	21.45%	7.43	37.5%	14.85	2s	21.45%	7.43	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	520

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.}

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder if the weapon is wielded by some other than a baseline human.
↑ Chance for attack to be selected, assuming the weapon is wielded by a baseline human. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

Version history

0.3.410 - Added
At some point between Beta 18 and 1.2 it was nerfed. Accuracy was decreased from Touch accuracy was changed from 93% to 65%, range was decreased from 32 to 30 and damage from 18 to 17. It was also increased in weight from 1.2 to 3.0.

Weapons