Ranged Weapons

From Cities

In Cities the important thing about ranged weapons is that you get many attacks before the monster does. Only things which do several attacks are mentioned on this page.

Contents 1 Summary of Bow Workings 2 Quick Reference Table 3 Full Info 3.1 Alignment Bows 3.2 Angry Bows 3.2.1 A bit put-out Bow 3.2.2 Annoyed Bow 3.2.3 Cross Bow 3.2.4 Angry Bow 3.2.5 Furious Bow 3.3 Arrow 3.4 BB 3.5 B.B. Gun 3.6 Boomerang 3.7 Bow 3.8 Cannon Ball 3.9 Caravel Cannon 3.10 Crow Bows 3.10.1 Crow Bow 3.10.2 Double Crow Bow 3.10.3 Tri-Crow Bow 3.10.4 Quad-Crow Bow 3.10.5 Murder Bow 3.11 Elf Arrow 3.12 Elf Bow 3.13 Long Bow 3.14 Mining Laser 3.15 Murder Bow 3.16 Phaser 3.17 Quarrel 3.18 Repeating Bow 3.19 Shell 3.20 Short Bow 3.21 Sling 3.22 Tank Gun 3.23 Tribble Gun 3.24 Wholly Inoffensive Bow

Summary of Bow Workings

A bow shots multiple arrows, but needs 1 AP per shot. It also requires one arrow per shot. It stops shooting when the target is dead, even if it could fire more often. With all bows except the Merz Bow, you recover all the arrows which have hit the target. The non-hitting arrows are destroyed or lost.

Quick Reference Table

Ammo

Name	Appropriate tool	Notes
Arrow	bow (long, short, merz, elemental, etc)	Base damage 2, to-hit -10%.
BB	BB-Gun, What d'you expect?
Elf Arrow	Elf Bow	Craftable, but no longer useful, as Elf Bows have been eliminated.
Stone	Sling	Base damage 2, to-hit -10%.
Cannon ball	Caravel Cannon	made from 10 bits of lead
Shell	Tank Gun	gathered at beaches
Quarrel	A bit put-out Bow	Base damage 2, to-hit -0%.

Bows

Name	Damage	Attacks	Mod to hit %	Alignment Bonus	Notes
A bit put-out Bow	1	10	0%	none	shoots quarrels
Alignment Bow	2	10	0%	Double vs. opposite alignment	Comes in Air, Dark, Earth, Fire, Neutral, Pure, Sewage, Shrimp, Spirit, and Water varieties.
BB-Gun	4	10	?	none	shoots BBs
Bow	2	10	0%	none	none
Crow Bow	2	5	-10%	none	none
Crow Bow (Double)	3	10	-20%	none	none
Crow Bow (Tri)	3	15	-30%	none	none
Crow Bow (Quad)	3	20	-40%	none	none
Elf Bow	??	??	??	unlikely	needs Elf Arrows. Unlikely to exist again, anytime soon.
Long Bow	4	5	+10%	none	none
Murder Bow	4	25	-50%	none	none
Repeating Bow	4	10	+10%	none	Higher break rate than other bows, but not too bad.
Short Bow	2	5	0%	none	none
Wholly Inoffensive Bow	4	10	0%	none	Arrows not returned

Other multi-attack weapons

Name	Damage	Attacks	Mod to hit %	Notes
Boomerang	5	3	-30%	untried
Caravel Cannon	500	1	+0%	fires Cannon Balls; requires Black Powder
Mining Laser	1	5	-15%	does 10x damage vs Asteroids
Phaser	8	10	+10%	needs Power Crystal to recharge when it breaks
Sling	2	8	+10%	fires Stones
Tank Gun	500	1	+0%	fires Shells

Full Info

Alignment Bows

2 base damage, 10x +0% to-hit.

Comes in Air, Dark, Earth, Fire, Ice, Neutral, Pure, Sewage, Shrimp, Spirit, and Water varieties. This weapon is aligned, and does extra damage (usually double) to its opposite alignment. This multiplies with the usual bonus if you are the opposite alignment of your target.

You may break an aligned bow to take you to its alignment shrine.

When you strike a monster with a Dark Bow, it makes the monster depressed, and more annoying. This aligns the monster with Goth, which is purple with black background. The monster's damage is quadrupled; because Goth is its own opposite, your damage with that Dark Bow is doubled.

The four basic alignment bows (Air, Earth, Fire and Water) can be created from a Bound Elemental and a normal Bow.

Angry Bows

Starts off as an "A bit put-out Bow" but can increase in power. Fires Quarrels. Breaks somewhere around 1 in 600 attacks, upgrades roughly 1 in 80 attacks.

A bit put-out Bow

1 damage. 10x +0% to hit. Breaks.

Randomly upgrades to become an Annoyed Bow.

Ah, this must be the item that shoots Quarrels. I've been waiting to hear about it ever since I learned that Quarrels count as weapons. I'm guessing it can be upgraded to a bona fide "Cross Bow" somehow. Random4518 10:36, 23 October 2006 (BST)

Appropriate to your name, it's a random chance based upon striking an opponent with it. It upgrades incrementally to Furious Bow, with the problem that it may break anywhere along the way. Doc Mackie 23:07, 30 March 2007 (BST)

Annoyed Bow

2 damage. 10x(?) +=10% to hit.

Got from killing a duck-billed creature. Creature health might be important like for Daemonic weapons. MrFoo 23:12, 11 November 2006 (GMT)

I got mine from attacking a snake, I think. Anyway it was in the northern part of the 'Kingdom where there are no duck-billed creatures. 206.83.202.35 23:39, 19 December 2006 (GMT)

Cross Bow

4 damage. x10. Seems to randomly upgrade when attacking monster.

Angry Bow

8 damage. x10. Seems to randomly upgrade when attacking monster. Awesome weapon. Breaks, of course.

Furious Bow

16 damage. x10. Breaks, of course, and does not upgrade further. A truly mind-bogglingly awesome weapon.

Arrow

2 damage. -10% to hit.

Requires water skills to make from a Pointy Stick and a Feather.

BB

Ammo for the BB-gun, made from 1 bit of Iron (1 AP)

B.B. Gun

4 damage. x10. Fires BBs. An excellent weapon, equivalent to an aligned Bow, Merz Bow, or Repeating Bow, but without the rarity, ammo loss, or break rate, respectively. Unfortunately, the ammo for this weapon is never found in the wild, and you must craft it yourself or purchase it from another player. Fortunately, BBs may be made from 1 Bit of Iron for 1AP.

Only available from Seb's Stuff, for 5000 GP. Does not drop from monsters.

Boomerang

5 damage, x3, -30%. If you miss on any of the three attacks, the item will either be lost (50%) or hit you on the head (50%), causing 20hp damage.
On any attack there is a very small chance (0.1%) that the boomerang will go BOOM! and do Glass Sword damage.

Bow

2 damage x10. + 0% to hit. Seems to be useless as a weapon without Arrows. Strangely.

Breaks. Might want to save it for desperate situations.

Cannon Ball

• Made from 20 bits of Lead. I'm guessing they're necessary to be able to use the cannons on a caravel. Syagrius 02:27, 7 April 2006 (BST)

The Volume Discount multiplier on making Cannon Balls is .7 per order of magnitude.

Caravel Cannon

500 damage. 0% BTH. Uses Cannon Balls. Requires 10 units of Black Powder. Given automatically when boarding a Caravel. Coln Green

Does your Damage Multiplier apply to the cannons? JohnnyRogers 20:01, 26 May 2006 (BST)

You have no idea Coln Green.

I think he means yes. -palindrome

Crow Bows

Based on the expected damage per attack, this table lists which crow bow is best for you depending on your base to-hit chance. The expected damage is calculated as the number of attacks multiplied by the damage of the weapon multiplied by the chance of hitting with the weapon (your damage multiplier is irrelevant to the calculation as it applies to all crow bows equally). -Stelio 14:20, 28 November 2006 (GMT)

Base to-hit chance	Best crow bow (per attack)
11% to 25%	Crow Bow
25% to 50%	Double Crow Bow
50% to 66%	Tri-Crow Bow
67% or higher	Murder Bow

Note that the above table is based on a single attacking action. Given that the crow bows have a variable number of attacks, using a higher level crow bow may use more AP and ammunition. Here is the table reworked in terms of benefit per AP spent. -Stelio 14:20, 28 November 2006 (GMT)

Base to-hit chance	Best crow bow (per AP)
11% to 40%	Crow Bow
40% to 118%	Double Crow Bow
119% or higher	Murder Bow

Crow Bow

2 damage. 5x -10% to hit.

Double Crow Bow

3 damage, 10x -20% to hit. Made from two Crow Bows for 10AP.

Tri-Crow Bow

3 damage, 15x -30% to hit. Made from a Crow Bow and a Double Crow Bow for 20AP.

Quad-Crow Bow

3 damage, 20x -40% to hit. Made from a Crow Bow and a Tri-Crow Bow for 30AP.

Murder Bow

4 damage, 25x -50% to hit. Made from a Crow Bow and a Quad-Crow Bow for 40AP.

I've just realised that this is another terrible pun. The collective noun for crows is a 'Murder'. Very good. *sigh*

Very good indeed. Whenever I don't get something like this I (sometimes mistakenly) assume it is just a sci-fi or fantasy reference to something I haven't seen.

Elf Arrow

Made from a Feather and a Hard and Pointy Stick. 3 damage.

Elf Bow

Has not been sighted since the last Fire Fly was slaughtered

Needed Elf Arrows to be able to use.

The last Elf Bow in existance was accidently broken today. A wake will be held in the near future. MrFoo 21:20, 6 October 2006 (BST)

Long Bow

4 damage. 5x +10% to hit. Wears out (eventually).

Broke within 5 uses for me. - Isambard 00:45, 18 May 2006 (BST)

Mining Laser

1 damage. 5x -15% to hit.

Available for 10000GP at Cmdr. Jameson Spares in Space. Does 10x damage against the various asteroids.

The multiplier has been halfed to x10. Plus, mine broke before it even got through it's first Very Large Asteroid. What a rip off. --Bubba_the_Shy 20:36, 9 November 2006 (GMT)

Unless the Great Lords just nerfed it, you just had bad luck. I've used a single mining laser for weeks before it broke. -- Thog 20:47, 9 November 2006 (GMT)

Murder Bow

(see under Crow Bows)

Phaser

8 base damage. 10x(base+10%) to hit. (90% to hit for me).

Doesn't use arrows, recharges with a Power Crystal only when it breaks. Sold for 20,000 GP at TANSTAAFL in Space.

Editorial Note: A freaking awesome weapon. Against an aligned opponent it does the same damage per AP as an elemental sword, but you get 10 whacks for every one your opponent gets.

Warning: breaks more often than normal weapons; about a 1 in 60 chance. When it breaks, it turns into a Broken Phaser, which may be repaired with a Power Crystal.

Quarrel

2 damage, +0% to hit. Dropped by Sisters. Also obtained by attacking Sisters with a Pointy Stick (losing the stick in the process). Used by the angry bows. Might also be used in the Totems Quest.

Repeating Bow

4 damage, 10 attacks, +10% to-hit. Very high break rate. Like the Long Bow, except with twice as many attacks, it can hypothetically do twice as much damage in one go -- excellent news if that means it will finish off your foe before it gets another chance to attack you.

These don't seem to break nearly as often. Can only be bought at Seb's? Snare 23:41, 17 September 2007 (BST)

They were altered a while back, when they often didn't get through a single set of attacks. Looks like it's time to re-evaluate them. PotatoEngineer 01:47, 18 September 2007 (BST)

Shell

Ammunition for the Tank Gun; can be fired for 500 base damage when the Tank is equipped (consuming the Shell). Picked up when gathering sand at Beaches; some also drop with the Tank.

Short Bow

2 damage. 5x +0% to hit.

Sling

2 damage, 8 attacks, +10% to-hit. Uses Stones as ammunition.

Is it possible to use alignment stones as ammo? -- Thog 18:39, 1 September 2006 (BST)

Is this where I might find my Arse? Dendrast 04:45, 16 November 2006 (GMT)

Tank Gun

Adds to your inventory when a tank is equipped - similar to a caravel cannon. Has 500 base damage and fires shells. No gunpowder is needed to fire shells. Unlike cannon balls, you do not get your shells back.

Tribble Gun

Oooooohhh, this is cool!

Created by casting a T.G. Spell. 10 damage, -30% to hit. One attack per Tribble you hold! This might have an upper limit, but I only had two Tribbles so I couldn't say. You lose a Tribble with each attack, which sticks in the monster. Tribbles are recovered when you kill the monster.

Crumbles to Dust after 3 minutes. Shows a counter, in seconds, while equipped.

Does it use 1 AP per attack? Random4518 04:08, 25 September 2006 (BST)

In the inventory it looks like a bow i.e (20 10x93%) so I assume it's one AP per attack. 20 is the maximum. I've got multiple effects going right now, but it looks like (-20%) instead of (-30%). (My base is 131%, I've got miss a bit less for +20% and it shows in my inventory list as 93%).

That would still make it -30%, then. Your total to-hit is 120% if your attack is 93%. PotatoEngineer 15:01, 26 April 2007 (BST)

Wholly Inoffensive Bow

4 damage. 10x (+0%) to hit. Was previously called Merz Bow.

Doesn't give you your arrows back (unlike other bows).