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Crossbow

2020-01-14T03:23:48Z

2601:280:5B7F:85C4:68AC:2C28:F771:5FFE:

[[image:crossbow.jpg|thumb|300px|right|An Arbalast Crossbow with an iron prod. Note the iron stirrup ring on the front; which the user could use in this case to hold down with his foot when pulling back the draw string or mounting a gaffe lever to push the string back]]
{{topquote|'''I waste him with my crossbow!'''|Bob Herzog, ''[[Knights Of The Dinner Table]]''}}

The '''crossbow''' is named for its cross-shaped design, as it is basically a [[Bows and Arrows|bow]] (in technical terms, called a prod) on a stock that uses a locking trigger mechanism to hold and fire either an arrow (called a bolt or quarrel) or a small spherical stone or lead bullet (the latter usually being used for hunting). Bolts are arrows with a shorter shaft, and could range from being lighter than an average arrow to several times heavier. It operates on the same principle as the traditional bow in that a tough bowstring is pulled back to store potential energy in the bow, which upon release of the string, transfers it to a projectile.

While historians are unsure who first made the crossbow, the earliest known crossbows were found in [[China]] around 700 to 500 BCE. During the Warring States period, crossbows became a preferred ranged weapon of Chinese armies due to ease of use for conscripts and the use of crossbows certainly aided in the rise of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of Imperial China. The Greeks and Romans experimented with hand-held crossbows, but they never made extensive use of them, although they did make extensive use of ballista (basically a crossbow scaled up to the size of an artillery piece, and often shot stone instead of scaled up arrows). The [[Asians|Chinese]] of these times ,on the other hand, had crossbows of all types and shapes: from one-handed repeater crossbows, capable of launching dozens of (fairly weak, but often poisoned) arrows per minute, to absurdly heavy ones, designed to be pulled by legs, rather than arms, and launch arrows the size of small javelin, later with gunpowder-filled bombs on the heading at range, only rivaled by siege engines, though later they passed out in favor of multiple rocket launchers (yes, you read it right). Crossbows began to see widespread use in Europe around 1000 CE, at this time emerged crossbows with steel bow sections, more commonly called arbalasts.

The difference between a bow and a crossbow is that a bow's string needs to be pulled back and held by the user while aiming, while a crossbow has a mechanism that locks the bowstring in a readied state and only requires the user to operate the trigger to release the bolt upon sighting their target. The trigger mechanism evolved over time, as did aids for drawing the crossbow's string. The weight or size of the crossbow certainly had an effect on the mechanisms involved, as light crossbows could be reset by hand, but heavier version could end up using levers or crank-operated windlasses to pull back and cock the string, and tended to use more robust release mechanisms due to the increased stress involved.

In fantasy settings, technologically advanced races who don't (or in limitation) employ [[firearm]]s as their go-to weapon typically make heavy use of crossbows. It is also the ranged weapon of choice for richer and more experienced mercenaries.

For some reason in a lot of fantasy and medieval fiction it seems to be the preferred ranged weapon of whoever the bad guys are. Examples include A Song Of Ice and Fire (where it seems to be the favorite weapon of [[brundlepenis|King Joffrey]]), The Lord of the Rings ([[Ork|Uruk-Hai]] marksmen use crossbows) and different settings of DnD ([[Drow]] poisoned repeater crossbows). This may have something to do with crossbows being less relying on the wielder's strengths, stamina and personal skill, and thus regarded as "unfair" weapon compared to bow, it was at one point banned by the pope for use on Christians, although due to it's usefulness on the battlefield this was largely ignored.

The crossbow is also the favored ranged weapon of [[dwarves]] in most fantasy fiction, though in this case it may be more than just aesthetics; while it would be fitting for a race known for their technical expertise to use a more complex device, also keep in mind that dwarves would have a harder time using regular bows. A bow's power depends on its draw length, and having shorter arms, dwarves can't get as much power out of a bow. They also need a weapon that can be used more easily in confined spaces, which disqualifies longbows right away. What they do have going for them, though, is great strength, making a crossbow's high draw weight less of an issue for them.

==Use in warfare==
A major advantage of crossbows over regular bows is that because they're fired using a mechanism instead of depending on human strength to hold the bow in a ready-to-fire position, user fatigue is no longer such a huge factor Additionally, the heavier crossbows could generate more force than most humans thanks to the pulley systems used to cock the string, thus heavier bolts could be thrown, resulting in greater penetration of the target. Possibly its biggest advantage is that it was easier to train the use of a crossbow than bows since the weapon's operation is much less taxing.

Of course, the main drawback with crossbows is that they require a wider range of resources and skills to produce due to the mechanisms involved. Crossbows also generally have a lower rate of fire than bows. At best, a crossbowman can get off about eight shots a minute. More powerful arbalast crossbows that used windlasses could manage about three shots a minute, but could store more energy than a human could physically pull back with bare hands. For these reasons Crossbows excel in a siege situation where the ranges are long and you can duck into cover easily while you're reloading. And since sieges tended to be drawn-out affairs anyway, reload time wasn't as necessary.

That being said, despite crossbows being much more expensive than bows, they were much less demanding on user's skill and physique, meaning you can train as many crossbowmen as you have crossbows and replenish killed ones in just few months of training, while in order to train a bowmen you need to start with kids. So while a single bowman is much more effective than a single crossbowman, you can afford a half-dozen of crossbowmen for the cost of one bowman, and replace lost ones quickly as long as their weapon survives the battle. This is probably why they first took off in Warring States period China, where raising large conscript armies was the name of the game.

It should be noted that despite having much greater draw weights than contemporary bows (above 500 lbs in some cases), crossbows were not proportionally more powerful due to their very short draw length, translating into a much briefer energy transfer. More modern crossbows sometimes address this by using recurve bows, or even by using a bullpup configuration by turning the bow backwards and then pulling the string past the bow. Additionally, the reduced aerodynamic properties of crossbow bolts as compared to arrows mean that they very rapidly lose velocity after a relatively short distance, giving them great punch at short range but reduced effectiveness at longer ranges as compared to bows.

The fact that even relatively poorly trained men armed with crossbows could royally murder fully armored knights, made the crossbow one of the most hated pre-firearm weapons in the Europe, even more than the infamous flamberge. At some point it even came to the pope banning crossbows as unholy weapon not to be used on fellow Christians, but even then they remained popular among mercenaries, rich lords and Protestants. Proud knights could accept deaths from elite long/composite bowmen who like them were training from childhood, but not from some hastily drilled dirty peasant levies whose lord could afford few dozens of crossbows.

Crossbows are still occasionally used for military purposes; while a crossbow's bolts lack the stopping power of modern firearms, the bolts it fires are quieter than any "silenced" firearm and it can also be used for niche purposes such as launching grappling hooks or detonating tripwire-activated mines, and its lower projectile speed means it's much less likely to set off any worn explosives. While its comparatively lower ability to kill outright can be an issue you could use the same solution that the Indian Navy used for this problem and use Cyanide tipped bolts, or take the Rambo route and use bolts with explosive tips.

See Also: [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20#Crossbows are Underpowered in d20|Crossbows are Underpowered in d20]]

===Loading Mechanisms===
Because later crossbows were often too tough to simply pull back unaided, a number of devices were invented to allow the wielder to pull back the string. The device used usually depended upon the draw weight of the bow, as heavier bows would require more advanced devices that required more time to pull back.

*'''Gloves and Stirrup''': Generally leather or some other material, good quality gloves (or some tough callouses) can save one some finger or palm bleeding from trying to pull it by the old fashioned way. Talking from experience, if one is to do it this way, put your entire upper back and arms into it, and pull. Either user placed both feet on the bow's span on each side of the stock or in the stirrup ring attached to the crossbow head. Most commonly associated way of reloading in popular culture besides the Cranequin and Windlass. First appearance: 700 t0 500's BCE. Mechanical advantage: 1 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 150-300 lbs.
*'''Stirrup and Belt Hook''': Most crossbows you see have a stirrup ring towards the front end for putting your foot through to hold it steady. Combined with a belt worn around the waist with a hook attached to it, the wielder could use their whole body, rather than just their arms, to arm the crossbow. Could also use a belt-attached pulley configuration to lessen the strength to draw. First appearance: 1200's. Mechanical advantage: about 2 or 1 to 1 (depending on whether using pulley configuration). Maximum draw weight: 320-450 lbs.
*'''Goat's Foot Lever''': This was a fairly simple detachable metal lever that gave the user more leverage when pulling back the string. Composed of a rod attached to two curved prongs and two hinged hooks; it's shape had a resemblance to a goat's foot (obvious in the name). Mounts on two metal lugs on the body's sides near the trigger, two hooks pull drawstring back in one motion, place folded lever back on belt, load and then shoot. This could arm the crossbow in a single motion with the lever's curved prongs making the drawing force decrease as the spanning distance increases. Very common for field portable bows and mounted crossbowmen. First appearance: Between 1300's to 1400's. Mechanical Advantage: from 5 up to 30 to 1 (depending on how far the lever is pulled). Maximum draw weight: 550 lbs.
*'''Gaffe Lever''': a two piece wooden lever held by a hinge and attached to the stirrup ring via metal hook. User pushed down on the lever to push the drawstring into the trigger before removing. More associated with nobles for hunting or shooting clubs after the gunpowder weapons appeared in the 1500's during the Renaissance. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: up to 30 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 400 lbs.
*'''Lever-Action/Self Spanning''': Uses built in levers within the crossbow body. The user unlocks catch holding the hinge firm before folding open the half of the crossbow body to catch the drawstring on a latch before pulling back to the trigger to arm the crossbow. Besides the Scottish Reivers' latchet crossbow in the 1600's, two noted examples are the Martin Löffelholz's armbrust in the Codex Löffelholz and Da Vinci's Balestra Veloce in the Codex Atlanticus. Not as mainstream or well known due to transition to gunpowder weapons in the 1500's during the Renaissance. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: up to 25 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 220 - 300 lbs.
*'''Windlass''': Like the Cranequin, this was a winding device, but it also came with a bulky pulley system that was mounted to the back of the crossbow. As a result, this was a tremendously powerful pulling system at the expense of needing a lot of time to arm. Along with the Cranequin, this was one of the strongest crossbow loading methods. Contrary to popular culture, it was more often used for stationary battles like trench warfare or sieges though usage behind pavis shields on open battlefields wasn't unheard of. First appearance: 1400's. Mechanical advantage: ~160 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 1500 lbs+ (limited by time and bow strength).
*'''Cranequin''': This device used gears and a crank to wind up the bowstring, requiring multiple turns to pull it all the way back. Device slid onto lugs mounted on the stock and was removed before firing. Along with the Windlass, this was one of the strongest crossbow loading methods. Contrary to popular culture, it was more often used for stationary battles like trench warfare or sieges though usage on mounted crossbowmen with lighter crossbows and behinds pavis shields on open battlefields wasn't unheard of. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: ~600 or 840 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 2000 lbs+.

==Types of Crossbows==
As a general note, crossbows are not ballistas, despite their visual similarity. Unlike Crossbows which store energy in a set of arms which are bent back, Ballistas instead store energy in twisted rope that has a wooden beam pushed into it which is then twisted back farther before firing to store energy. That said, some ballistas are discussed here until a proper "siege" article is consolidated.

*'''Gastraphetes''': an early Greek crossbow, the Gastraphetes, or "belly bow", was cocked by resting the stomach on the bolt rest of the stock (which contained a sliding plank attached to the drawstring) and pushing down so that more energy can be stored then an archer could provide. The Gastraphetes worked slightly different from the classic crossbow, in that its arrow slot was two-piece, with the sliding inner plank attached to the rope. Thus, rather than drawing back the crossbow, you readied it by slamming it into the ground until the trigger catches onto a latch. While impressive, it was restricted to hip fire,was fired with a button-like trigger, and was more of a large siege weapon.

* '''Polybolos''': also known as a repeating ballista, the Polybolos is more of a big cross bow since the arms are fixed to the "stock" and don't twist around to fire it. The repeating ballista was fired by turning a wheel connected to a chain back to cock it, the turning it the other way to load it again from a hopper on top of the stock.

* '''Chinese "Nu" crossbow''': unlike the European crossbow, which had a power stroke (drawing span) of about 7 inches; used a rolling nut latch held in place by a long horizontal lever-like trigger in the middle of the stock; and used prods (bow pieces) made from simple wood, composite, and later with metal; the Chinese crossbow had a power stroke of about 21 inches; used a complicated two-piece vertical trigger at the very back of the stock held together by tension and two pins at the very end of the stock on a pistol grip; and used wood or composite prods (often salvaged from recurve bows and constructed for conscripts to use en mass instead of drilling archery skills into them). Thus, due to the longer power stroke via the trigger being placed further back, the bolts fired by the Chinese bows (usually with draw weights of 380 lbs) were launched at comparable speed to an average European windlass crossbow (with a draw weight of 1,500 lbs). However, the Chinese crossbows themselves were rather large, cumbersome, and had to be reloaded with just stirrup rings, belt hooks, and/or gloves.

* '''Chu-Ko-Nu''': Otherwise known as the Chinese repeating crossbow, this is one of the more common types of crossbow seen in fiction. The term "repeating crossbow" brings to mind some bastard combination of Assault rifle and crossbow, which it kinda is and is not. Without doubt, this thing could fire quickly; trained soldiers could loose ten bolts in fifteen seconds. However, because of the mechanism's design, the pumping action that pulled the string back also fired the bolt at the same time, so you could not pull the string back and then aim. Chu-ko-nu's were limited to hip fire giving you almost ork levels of accuracy in exchange for an appreciable volume of fire. Additionally because you were pulling the string back one handed, the bolts had a lot less penetration power than those of a regular crossbow. However, the bolts (which fell down onto the stock from a hopper mounted on top) were often poisoned to make up for that (as seen with the [[Drow]], who make use of the weapon extensively). While no matter how strong the poison on your bolt is, you're not gonna kill a man instantly with a scratch. However, on the battlefield causing enough pain to make a person go into shock is as good as killing them outright, and poison delivers the last one in spades. The downside was you had next to no luck piercing good quality armor or thick leather that the enemy is wearing while you're using it.

* '''Balestra Veloce/Löffelholz Armbrust lever-action crossbows''': First mentioned in Leonardo Da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus (1478 to 1519) and Martin Löffelholz's Codex Löffelholz (1505), both versions of the said design consisted of two wood and metal pieces on top of each other and hinged at the head that form the stock and body of the crossbow. By unlocking a latch on the stock, the user can then split open the stock to extend a sliding latch to catch the drawstring. Once the drawstring is caught, the stock is then closed; locking the stock back together and bringing the latch back into contact with the trigger on the lower half of the stock. Whether the German or Italian version came first is unclear. While firing and reloading more rapidly than the mainstream "goats foot lever" crossbows, it was not widely used due to possibly three reasons.
** First, the amount of fine craftsmanship and training to make it and use it meant that it was more of a special luxury weapon that only wealthy people could afford rather than a mass produced weapon for conscripts (the same reason why breech loading rifles existed since the 16th Century for noble hunters but didn't replace muzzle loading muskets in mass army use until the 1840's).
** Second, while quicker than the "goat's foot lever" crossbow, the draw weight is reduced to half of the 550 lbs of maximum draw weight that the latter can endure. This was likely to make the lever-action crossbow more easily rearmed without being too strong to cock with your hands.
** Third, the introduction of gunpowder weapons alongside the volley fire from massed Pike and Shot square formations in Europe at the same time that these lever-action designs were developed meant that crossbows already went obsolete the same way that heavy plate-armored cavalry and longbow archers did.

* '''Latch/Latchet Lever-action Crossbow''': A light lever action crossbow popular with Scottish border raiders called Reivers in the 1600's to 1700's, it worked with an internal metal lever folded from the top to push a sliding latch forward to secure the drawstring after unlocking the catch. The user then pushed the lever back into the body to arm the bow before loading and shooting. Popular to the Scottish in the region for home defense and raiding as they were small, easy to use, and took only 10 seconds to load. Their downside was their short range and being restricted to hip firing due to the trigger being a button on the top.

* '''Bed Crossbow''': A Chinese peculiarity, where multiple crossbows mounted on a static frame were combined to create an increased draw strength. A precursor to the compound crossbow.

*'''Bullet Crossbows''': Also referred to as pelletbows, stonebows, and ballesters, these were essentially the same as regular crossbows or similar to a slingshot in crossbow form, except they fired stone or lead shot instead of bolts. Usually used for recreational shooting and small game hunting.

*'''Crossbow pistol''': Small crossbows designed to be fired from one hand, with modernized versions commonly featuring a more modern pistol grip and trigger. While these did exist in the past, they were nowhere near as lethal as battlefield crossbows as the draw weights were far smaller.

*'''Arbalast''': As European armor improved with the development of steel plate crossbows with wooden bow sections were just not cutting the mustard anymore, as such they began making that part out of steel. This meant that the bow could store more energy and launch a projectile farther and faster, significantly improving armor penetration but it also increased the amount of energy required to draw it, often requiring various leavers and cranking mechanisms to reset it.

*'''Slurbow:''' A crossbow with a cover over its barrel and a small gap used to draw its string back. Arguably influenced by the pistol, the slurbow was mostly used for firing unfeathered quarrels or darts.

*'''Sauterelle''': The last apparition of a crossbow-like weapon in a modern battlefield for frontline work. In WWI, soldiers had a problem: all the artillery that existed was big and unable to drop explosives accurately into a trench, especially at close range. And on the other hand, thrown hand grenades had the precision but too limited range. As an interim solution the French invented the ''Sauterelle'' (grasshopper in French): basically a big crossbow built to lob grenades at around 150 yards distance. Worked decently enough but later in the war they were replaced by small, two-man team infantry mortars that were just as easy to move around and use but had three or four time the range and a better rate of fire.

*'''Compound Crossbow''': the modern version of the crossbow, which is basically a modern compound bow on a rifle stock. Many of these also come equipped with telescopic sights modified with cross-hairs that compensate for the effects of gravity, wind, elevation, and other factors that might affect a bolt's accuracy. They are primarily used for hunting, sport and (unusually) home defense in Britain since everything else has been banned. Also finds military (specifically special forces, not frontline grunts), espionage and law enforcement utility by being used to fire ziplines or grappling hooks, explosive, incendiary, poisoned or gas releasing projectiles, or simply well made darts for a silent kill.
{{MedievalWeaponry}}

Rocket

2020-01-14T03:15:41Z

2601:280:5B7F:85C4:68AC:2C28:F771:5FFE: /* A Brief History of Rockets */

Historically there have been many methods in which humanity has sought to cheat death. In China, the desire for immortality lead to the practice of alchemy. Needless to say, the Chinese did not find the source of eternal life, but their alchemical pursuits did discover one thing (among many others): gunpowder. Despite the modern name, "gunpowder", guns and firearms were only invented and used later. Rockets came first.

==The Physics of Rocketry==

The functioning and physics of rockets generally revolves around Newton's Third Law of Motion, commonly simplified as "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." All a rocket boils down to is a tube filled with something either very explosive (like, say, gunpowder) or something under pressure that wants to get out of the tube (like, say, steam or water). When you close one end of that tube, the contents will force their way out of the open end, causing a reaction that pushes the tube into the air. It ain't rocket sci— Wait a minute...

The ballistics of rockets work a little bit differently than those of, say, bullets or arrows. In a bullet, the propelling force comes from outside; the bullet is pushed by expanding gasses, but once it's left the gun there is nothing to continue moving it forwards and it will start to decelerate. Rockets, on the other hand, generally produce continuous but much weaker thrust for the first few seconds of their trajectory, leading to slower acceleration but generally longer time in flight.

==Rockets and Missiles==

Technically, rockets ''are'' missiles, as a missile is just a projectile-based weapon (an arrow or javelin can be classified as a missile, in a strict sense).

However, in modern parlance, the term "missile" is generally used to refer to guided projectiles. These weapons can steer themselves mid-flight, either automatically or with guidance from the shooter. This is in contrast to rockets, which are fired and the forces of gravity and inertia does the rest.

==A Brief History of Rockets==
*'''400-100 BCE:''' A prototypical rocket is developed in Greece. A Roman named Aulus Gellius writes of how the Greeks would entertain the people of the city of Tarentum with a wooden pigeon on a wire propelled by steam. Three hundred years later, Hero of Alexandria describes the Aeolipile: a metal ball on a water kettle. When the kettle is heated, the water turns into steam, goes up the pipes, and spins the ball around by escaping two L-shaped nozzles. While not rockets per se, they operate in the same manner through the usage of hot gas escaping in order to create movement. The Greeks never expanded on this concept beyond mere amusements, so these remain only as interesting footnotes in rocket history.

*'''1000s-1200s CE:''' At this point, the Chinese are believed to have invented the rocket proper, although not until 1232 is solid evidence established with records mentioning the Chinese attacking invading Mongols with "Arrows of flying fire". These "Fire arrows" were regular arrows with rockets attached or rockets with primitive warheads. Rockets also make an appearance in Europe around this time. Arabs wrote about rockets which the Mongols used to help capture Baghdad. The Arabs, in turn, used this rocket technology against the French during the Seventh Crusade.

*'''1300s CE:''' Around this time “Huolongjing,” a tactical black powder weapon primer, is written in China. Included are 10th-century fire arrows, rocket launchers, two-stage rockets, winged rockets, land mines, naval mines, their triggers, and several other weapons of the class. Notably, this book is the first to establish the design of a multi-stage rocket: the "fire-dragon issuing from the water"/''Huo Long Chu Shui''. The Fire Dragon is a tube set borne by rockets, with more rockets inside of it. When the booster rockets ignite mid-flight, their ignition launches the secondary rockets from the front. The Fire Dragon was used mostly by the Chinese Navy. However, the Koreans invented a type of Fire Arrow cart, known as the "Hwacha,” that could fire 100-200 fire arrows in quick succession (like those Russian Grad rocket trucks). Just a few dozen of these could be rapidly deployed to drive back any massed force, making them decisive defensive weapons.

*'''1400 CE:''' Military Rockets are used by Europe itself rather than Europeans simply getting rocketed by the Ottomans in the Middle East or at Constantinople. Then again, the Ottomans received the burny-end of early flamethrowers, so let’s call it even.

*'''1500s CE:''' The earliest experiments with multistage rockets in Europe are made. The Koreans use massed Hwacha barrages and rocket-firing cannon in their wars against Japan. Moving on.

*'''1600s CE:''' The "Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima" (''Great Art of Artillery, the First Part'', also known as ''The Complete Art of Artillery'') is printed in Amsterdam and used, naturally, as an Artillery manual. It includes instructions on the production and properties of Rockets; including multi-stage rockets, batteries, and rockets with wing stabilizers rather than the big sticks typically used until then.

*'''1700s CE:''' the first all-metal rockets are developed in India in the Kingdom of Mysore. The Mysore rockets were used very successfully against the British East India company (East India Company brief summary: think a cyberpunk mega corporation only more racist) and the British were surprised by what these rockets could do. Their all-metal design allowed more fuel meaning they had a lot more range (2 kilometers) then what the British had seen a rocket do, and so like any good British man, they stole a few and sent them back home so that they could learn how to make more.

*'''1800s CE:'''* The British invent the Congreve rocket from their study of the Mysore rockets. The Congreve was very effective for its day; while it lacked the same range as cannons it could be fired a great deal faster, was generally more mobile, and could carry variable payloads. Thanks to slower acceleration on launch rockets could carry incendiaries, airbursting warheads, or even solid heads designed to bounce through groups of close infantry. In 1844 William Hale came up with the Hale Rocket, a much more accurate version of the Congreve without the need of a stick to stabilize itself since it was able to spin itself like a rifled bullet.

*'''1900-early 1945s CE:'''* Now things get interesting. Up to now, humans only had experience with solid fuel rocket engines, mostly of gunpowder, but by the early 20th century the first liquid fuel rockets started to be developed and rocketry came back into the public eye with the establishment of numerous scientific and amateur research groups. Military rocketry had largely died off by the beginning of World War 1; everything a rocket could do a howitzer could do better since the design of shells had become much more advanced. Rockets saw some use during the Great War, primarily as an anti-zeppelin weapon; they could deliver a heavy incendiary payload but were light enough to mount on a plane. Over the course of the war, much research was done into rockets on both sides, with important implications in the postwar period. After the diktat of Versailles war though Germany found itself with a problem: their army was forbidden from possessing long-ranged artillery. Like good rules lawyers, they found a loophole and funded rocket research instead. As the Germans had learned in WW1, the best artillery barrage was short, sudden, and overwhelming- the speed with which rockets could be fired made them perfect for this. So they invented the ''Nebelwerfer'', which was basically a bunch of launch tubes strapped together that could fire a volley of rockets all at once. It worked really well, the only major disadvantage being the long reloading time of the weapon. When the Russians saw this, they were impressed and promptly developed their own cheaper, easier version and mass-produced their ''Katyusha'' launcher so they could put it everywhere they could think of. Every-fucking-where, from man-pulled sleds to the back of trucks, to atop of trains, to boats, to fixed emplacements; all in order to rain explosive death down on top of anything in front of them. As tanks became increasingly prevalent on the battlefields of the Second World War, rockets saw handheld use as well- a shoulder-launched rocket could carry a warhead big enough to crack a tank but still be light enough for infantry to carry, and this idea reached its conclusion in the American Bazooka and German Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons. Both sides developed a variety of anti-ship, anti-air and anti-building rockets, though Germany led the way in their use. The most famous rocket of the war was, of course, the German V2 ballistic missile, the first of its kind- though inaccurate, unreliable and incredibly expensive, it would provide the basis for basically every liquid-fuelled rocket or missile that came afterwards.

*'''Late 1945s-2000s CE:'''* As the fragmenting Allied powers snapped up every German rocket scientist they could in the aftermath of the War, missiles came to dominate the weapons and scientific systems of the future. The Germans had laid some groundwork for inertial navigation systems with a basic gyroscopic mechanism that kept their V2 rockets on course; and it took all of ten seconds after the war for everyone to realize such a rocket could be used to get something else than an explosive charge where it was needed without the need of a pilot inside the thing. Things like a big camera in space to <s>spy on your enemies</s> peacefully observe the weather and what happens on the other side of the world. As technology advanced the Space Race saw newer, larger and improved rockets put scientific probes into orbit and culminated with astronauts landing on the Moon, but also saw the same platforms used for the delivery of nuclear weapons. Missiles also came to dominate the atmosphere, becoming the standard weapon for aircraft the world over. Rockets and missiles are still ubiquitous for ground forces, and the Soviet Rocket-Propelled Grenade launchers are an international symbol of asymmetrical warfare. In addition, new missile guidance systems began to emerge in co-evolution with countermeasure systems; infrared-guided missiles can be defeated by flares and smoke, leading to the development of wire-guided missiles, which can be blocked by reactive armor or active protection systems, leading to more creative warhead designs such as the mortar-like firing arc of the FGM-148 Javelin or the use of tandem warheads to make an opening for the real warhead.

*'''Looking Ahead:''' Unlike firearms which have the Railgun of Damocles hanging over their future, Rockets and Missiles always seem to stick around in how we picture future wars thanks to their various advantages over guns, effectiveness in the vacuum of space and general non-military applications. Rockets as vehicles are still being developed, with SpaceX trying to create cheap reusable rockets capable of landing vertically so that they can deliver large payloads of material to distant worlds.

==Rockets in fantasy==
Rockets are fairly common in fantasy works, but only as a means of launching fireworks rather than as a combat weapon. Even in settings with gunpowder weapons, the somewhat spotty history of rocket weaponry in wide usage means that they seldom get more than a passing mention. Asian-themed settings may tend to feature them more heavily, for obvious reasons, but guns will always be king.

Rockets make an appearance in [[The Lord of The Rings]], albeit as fireworks rather than weapons of war.

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

Crossbow

2020-01-14T03:14:58Z

2601:280:5B7F:85C4:68AC:2C28:F771:5FFE: /* Types of Crossbows */

[[image:crossbow.jpg|thumb|300px|right|An Arbalast Crossbow with an iron prod. Note the iron stirrup ring on the front; which the user could use in this case to hold down with his foot when pulling back the draw string or mounting a gaffe lever to push the string back]]
{{topquote|'''I waste him with my crossbow!'''|Bob Herzog, ''[[Knights Of The Dinner Table]]''}}

The '''crossbow''' is named for its cross-shaped design, as it is basically a [[Bows and Arrows|bow]] (in technical terms, called a prod) on a stock that uses a locking trigger mechanism to hold and fire either an arrow (called a bolt or quarrel) or a small spherical stone or lead bullet (the latter usually being used for hunting). Bolts are arrows with a shorter shaft, and could range from being lighter than an average arrow to several times heavier. It operates on the same principle as the traditional bow in that a tough bowstring is pulled back to store potential energy in the bow, which upon release of the string, transfers it to a projectile.

While historians are unsure who first made the crossbow, the earliest known crossbows were found in [[China]] around 700 to 500 BCE. During the Warring States period, crossbows became a preferred ranged weapon of Chinese armies due to ease of use for conscripts and the use of crossbows certainly aided in the rise of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of Imperial China. The Greeks and Romans experimented with hand-held crossbows, but they never made extensive use of them, although they did make extensive use of ballista (basically a crossbow scaled up to the size of an artillery piece, and often shot stone instead of scaled up arrows). The [[Asians|Chinese]] of these times ,on the other hand, had crossbows of all types and shapes: from one-handed repeater crossbows, capable of launching dozens of (fairly weak, but often poisoned) arrows per minute, to absurdly heavy ones, designed to be pulled by legs, rather than arms, and launch arrows the size of small javelin, later with gunpowder-filled bombs on the heading at range, only rivaled by siege engines, though later they passed out in favor of multiple rocket launchers (yes, you read it right). Crossbows began to see widespread use in Europe around 1000 CE, at this time emerged crossbows with steel bow sections, more commonly called arbalasts.

The difference between a bow and a crossbow is that a bow's string needs to be pulled back and held by the user while aiming, while a crossbow has a mechanism that locks the bowstring in a readied state and only requires the user to operate the trigger to release the bolt upon sighting their target. The trigger mechanism evolved over time, as did aids for drawing the crossbow's string. The weight or size of the crossbow certainly had an effect on the mechanisms involved, as light crossbows could be reset by hand, but heavier version could end up using levers or crank-operated windlasses to pull back and cock the string, and tended to use more robust release mechanisms due to the increased stress involved.

In fantasy settings, technologically advanced races who don't (or in limitation) employ [[firearm]]s as their go-to weapon typically make heavy use of crossbows. It is also the ranged weapon of choice for richer and more experienced mercenaries.

For some reason in a lot of fantasy and medieval fiction it seems to be the preferred ranged weapon of whoever the bad guys are. Examples include A Song Of Ice and Fire (where it seems to be the favorite weapon of [[brundlepenis|King Joffrey]]), The Lord of the Rings ([[Ork|Uruk-Hai]] marksmen use crossbows) and different settings of DnD ([[Drow]] poisoned repeater crossbows). This may have something to do with crossbows being less relying on the wielder's strengths, stamina and personal skill, and thus regarded as "unfair" weapon compared to bow, it was at one point banned by the pope for use on Christians, although due to it's usefulness on the battlefield this was largely ignored.

The crossbow is also the favored ranged weapon of [[dwarves]] in most fantasy fiction, though in this case it may be more than just aesthetics; while it would be fitting for a race known for their technical expertise to use a more complex device, also keep in mind that dwarves would have a harder time using regular bows. A bow's power depends on its draw length, and having shorter arms, dwarves can't get as much power out of a bow. They also need a weapon that can be used more easily in confined spaces, which disqualifies longbows right away. What they do have going for them, though, is great strength, making a crossbow's high draw weight less of an issue for them.

==Use in warfare==
A major advantage of crossbows over regular bows is that because they're fired using a mechanism instead of depending on human strength to hold the bow in a ready-to-fire position, user fatigue is no longer such a huge factor Additionally, the heavier crossbows could generate more force than most humans thanks to the pulley systems used to cock the string, thus heavier bolts could be thrown, resulting in greater penetration of the target. Possibly its biggest advantage is that it was easier to train the use of a crossbow than bows since the weapon's operation is much less taxing.

Of course, the main drawback with crossbows is that they require a wider range of resources and skills to produce due to the mechanisms involved. Crossbows also generally have a lower rate of fire than bows. At best, a crossbowman can get off about eight shots a minute. More powerful arbalast crossbows that used windlasses could manage about three shots a minute, but could store more energy than a human could physically pull back with bare hands. For these reasons Crossbows excel in a siege situation where the ranges are long and you can duck into cover easily while you're reloading. And since sieges tended to be drawn-out affairs anyway, reload time wasn't as necessary.

That being said, despite crossbows being much more expensive than bows, they were much less demanding on user's skill and physique, meaning you can train as many crossbowmen as you have crossbows and replenish killed ones in just few months of training, while in order to train a bowmen you need to start with kids. So while a single bowman is much more effective than a single crossbowman, you can afford a half-dozen of crossbowmen for the cost of one bowman, and replace lost ones quickly as long as their weapon survives the battle. This is probably why they first took off in Warring States period China, where raising large conscript armies was the name of the game.

It should be noted that despite having much greater draw weights than contemporary bows (above 500 lbs in some cases), crossbows were not proportionally more powerful due to their very short draw length, translating into a much briefer energy transfer. More modern crossbows sometimes address this by using recurve bows, or even by using a bullpup configuration by turning the bow backwards and then pulling the string past the bow. Additionally, the reduced aerodynamic properties of crossbow bolts as compared to arrows mean that they very rapidly lose velocity after a relatively short distance, giving them great punch at short range but reduced effectiveness at longer ranges as compared to bows.

The fact that even relatively poorly trained men armed with crossbows could royally murder fully armored knights, made the crossbow one of the most hated pre-firearm weapons in the Europe, even more than the infamous flamberge. At some point it even came to the pope banning crossbows as unholy weapon not to be used on fellow Christians, but even then they remained popular among mercenaries, rich lords and Protestants. Proud knights could accept deaths from elite long/composite bowmen who like them were training from childhood, but not from some hastily drilled dirty peasant levies whose lord could afford few dozens of crossbows.

Crossbows are still occasionally used for military purposes; while a crossbow's bolts lack the stopping power of modern firearms, the bolts it fires are quieter than any "silenced" firearm and it can also be used for niche purposes such as launching grappling hooks or detonating tripwire-activated mines, and its lower projectile speed means it's much less likely to set off any worn explosives. While its comparatively lower ability to kill outright can be an issue you could use the same solution that the Indian Navy used for this problem and use Cyanide tipped bolts, or take the Rambo route and use bolts with explosive tips.

See Also: [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20#Crossbows are Underpowered in d20|Crossbows are Underpowered in d20]]

===Loading Mechanisms===
Because later crossbows were often too tough to simply pull back unaided, a number of devices were invented to allow the wielder to pull back the string. The device used usually depended upon the draw weight of the bow, as heavier bows would require more advanced devices that required more time to pull back.

*'''Gloves and Stirrup''': Generally leather or some other material, good quality gloves (or some tough callouses) can save one some finger or palm bleeding from trying to pull it by the old fashioned way. Talking from experience, if one is to do it this way, put your entire upper back and arms into it, and pull. Either user placed both feet on the bow's span on each side of the stock or in the stirrup ring attached to the crossbow head. Most commonly associated way of reloading in popular culture besides the Cranequin and Windlass. First appearance: 700 t0 500's BCE. Mechanical advantage: 1 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 150-300 lbs.
*'''Stirrup and Belt Hook''': Most crossbows you see have a stirrup ring towards the front end for putting your foot through to hold it steady. Combined with a belt worn around the waist with a hook attached to it, the wielder could use their whole body, rather than just their arms, to arm the crossbow. Could also use a belt-attached pulley configuration to lessen the strength to draw. First appearance: 1200's. Mechanical advantage: about 2 or 1 to 1 (depending on whether using pulley configuration). Maximum draw weight: 320-450 lbs.
*'''Goat's Foot Lever''': This was a fairly simple detachable metal lever that gave the user more leverage when pulling back the string. Composed of a rod attached to two curved prongs and two hinged hooks; it's shape had a resemblance to a goat's foot (obvious in the name). Mounts on two metal lugs on the body's sides near the trigger, two hooks pull drawstring back in one motion, place folded lever back on belt, load and then shoot. This could arm the crossbow in a single motion with the lever's curved prongs making the drawing force decrease as the spanning distance increases. Very common for field portable bows and mounted crossbowmen. First appearance: Between 1300's to 1400's. Mechanical Advantage: from 5 up to 30 to 1 (depending on how far the lever is pulled). Maximum draw weight: 550 lbs.
*'''Gaffe Lever''': a two piece wooden lever held by a hinge and attached to the stirrup ring via metal hook. User pushed down on the lever to push the drawstring into the trigger before removing. More associated with nobles for hunting or shooting clubs after the gunpowder weapons appeared in the 1500's during the Renaissance. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: up to 30 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 400 lbs.
*'''Lever-Action/Self Spanning''': Uses built in levers within the crossbow body. The user unlocks catch holding the hinge firm before folding open the half of the crossbow body to catch the drawstring on a latch before pulling back to the trigger to arm the crossbow. Besides the Scottish Border Reivers' latchet crossbow in the 1600's, two noted examples are the Martin Löffelholz's armbrust in the Codex Löffelholz and Da Vinci's Balestra Veloce in the Codex Atlanticus. Not as mainstream or well known due to transition to gunpowder weapons in the 1500's during the Renaissance. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: up to 25 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 220 - 300 lbs.
*'''Windlass''': Like the Cranequin, this was a winding device, but it also came with a bulky pulley system that was mounted to the back of the crossbow. As a result, this was a tremendously powerful pulling system at the expense of needing a lot of time to arm. Along with the Cranequin, this was one of the strongest crossbow loading methods. Contrary to popular culture, it was more often used for stationary battles like trench warfare or sieges though usage behind pavis shields on open battlefields wasn't unheard of. First appearance: 1400's. Mechanical advantage: ~160 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 1500 lbs+ (limited by time and bow strength).
*'''Cranequin''': This device used gears and a crank to wind up the bowstring, requiring multiple turns to pull it all the way back. Device slid onto lugs mounted on the stock and was removed before firing. Along with the Windlass, this was one of the strongest crossbow loading methods. Contrary to popular culture, it was more often used for stationary battles like trench warfare or sieges though usage on mounted crossbowmen with lighter crossbows and behinds pavis shields on open battlefields wasn't unheard of. First appearance: 1500's. Mechanical advantage: ~600 or 840 to 1. Maximum draw weight: 2000 lbs+.

==Types of Crossbows==
As a general note, crossbows are not ballistas, despite their visual similarity. Unlike Crossbows which store energy in a set of arms which are bent back, Ballistas instead store energy in twisted rope that has a wooden beam pushed into it which is then twisted back farther before firing to store energy. That said, some ballistas are discussed here until a proper "siege" article is consolidated.

*'''Gastraphetes''': an early Greek crossbow, the Gastraphetes, or "belly bow", was cocked by resting the stomach on the bolt rest of the stock (which contained a sliding plank attached to the drawstring) and pushing down so that more energy can be stored then an archer could provide. The Gastraphetes worked slightly different from the classic crossbow, in that its arrow slot was two-piece, with the sliding inner plank attached to the rope. Thus, rather than drawing back the crossbow, you readied it by slamming it into the ground until the trigger catches onto a latch. While impressive, it was restricted to hip fire,was fired with a button-like trigger, and was more of a large siege weapon.

* '''Polybolos''': also known as a repeating ballista, the Polybolos is more of a big cross bow since the arms are fixed to the "stock" and don't twist around to fire it. The repeating ballista was fired by turning a wheel connected to a chain back to cock it, the turning it the other way to load it again from a hopper on top of the stock.

* '''Chinese "Nu" crossbow''': unlike the European crossbow, which had a power stroke (drawing span) of about 7 inches; used a rolling nut latch held in place by a long horizontal lever-like trigger in the middle of the stock; and used prods (bow pieces) made from simple wood, composite, and later with metal; the Chinese crossbow had a power stroke of about 21 inches; used a complicated two-piece vertical trigger at the very back of the stock held together by tension and two pins at the very end of the stock on a pistol grip; and used wood or composite prods (often salvaged from recurve bows and constructed for conscripts to use en mass instead of drilling archery skills into them). Thus, due to the longer power stroke via the trigger being placed further back, the bolts fired by the Chinese bows (usually with draw weights of 380 lbs) were launched at comparable speed to an average European windlass crossbow (with a draw weight of 1,500 lbs). However, the Chinese crossbows themselves were rather large, cumbersome, and had to be reloaded with just stirrup rings, belt hooks, and/or gloves.

* '''Chu-Ko-Nu''': Otherwise known as the Chinese repeating crossbow, this is one of the more common types of crossbow seen in fiction. The term "repeating crossbow" brings to mind some bastard combination of Assault rifle and crossbow, which it kinda is and is not. Without doubt, this thing could fire quickly; trained soldiers could loose ten bolts in fifteen seconds. However, because of the mechanism's design, the pumping action that pulled the string back also fired the bolt at the same time, so you could not pull the string back and then aim. Chu-ko-nu's were limited to hip fire giving you almost ork levels of accuracy in exchange for an appreciable volume of fire. Additionally because you were pulling the string back one handed, the bolts had a lot less penetration power than those of a regular crossbow. However, the bolts (which fell down onto the stock from a hopper mounted on top) were often poisoned to make up for that (as seen with the [[Drow]], who make use of the weapon extensively). While no matter how strong the poison on your bolt is, you're not gonna kill a man instantly with a scratch. However, on the battlefield causing enough pain to make a person go into shock is as good as killing them outright, and poison delivers the last one in spades. The downside was you had next to no luck piercing good quality armor or thick leather that the enemy is wearing while you're using it.

* '''Balestra Veloce/Löffelholz Armbrust lever-action crossbows''': First mentioned in Leonardo Da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus (1478 to 1519) and Martin Löffelholz's Codex Löffelholz (1505), both versions of the said design consisted of two wood and metal pieces on top of each other and hinged at the head that form the stock and body of the crossbow. By unlocking a latch on the stock, the user can then split open the stock to extend a sliding latch to catch the drawstring. Once the drawstring is caught, the stock is then closed; locking the stock back together and bringing the latch back into contact with the trigger on the lower half of the stock. Whether the German or Italian version came first is unclear. While firing and reloading more rapidly than the mainstream "goats foot lever" crossbows, it was not widely used due to possibly three reasons.
** First, the amount of fine craftsmanship and training to make it and use it meant that it was more of a special luxury weapon that only wealthy people could afford rather than a mass produced weapon for conscripts (the same reason why breech loading rifles existed since the 16th Century for noble hunters but didn't replace muzzle loading muskets in mass army use until the 1840's).
** Second, while quicker than the "goat's foot lever" crossbow, the draw weight is reduced to half of the 550 lbs of maximum draw weight that the latter can endure. This was likely to make the lever-action crossbow more easily rearmed without being too strong to cock with your hands.
** Third, the introduction of gunpowder weapons alongside the volley fire from massed Pike and Shot square formations in Europe at the same time that these lever-action designs were developed meant that crossbows already went obsolete the same way that heavy plate-armored cavalry and longbow archers did.

* '''Latch/Latchet Lever-action Crossbow''': A light lever action crossbow popular with Scottish border raiders called Border Reivers in the 1600's to 1700's, it worked with an internal metal lever folded from the top to push a sliding latch forward to secure the drawstring after unlocking the catch. The user then pushed the lever back into the body to arm the bow before loading and shooting. Popular to the Scottish in the region for home defense and raiding as they were small, easy to use, and took only 10 seconds to load. Their downside was their short range and being restricted to hip firing due to the trigger being a button on the top.

* '''Bed Crossbow''': A Chinese peculiarity, where multiple crossbows mounted on a static frame were combined to create an increased draw strength. A precursor to the compound crossbow.

*'''Bullet Crossbows''': Also referred to as pelletbows, stonebows, and ballesters, these were essentially the same as regular crossbows or similar to a slingshot in crossbow form, except they fired stone or lead shot instead of bolts. Usually used for recreational shooting and small game hunting.

*'''Crossbow pistol''': Small crossbows designed to be fired from one hand, with modernized versions commonly featuring a more modern pistol grip and trigger. While these did exist in the past, they were nowhere near as lethal as battlefield crossbows as the draw weights were far smaller.

*'''Arbalast''': As European armor improved with the development of steel plate crossbows with wooden bow sections were just not cutting the mustard anymore, as such they began making that part out of steel. This meant that the bow could store more energy and launch a projectile farther and faster, significantly improving armor penetration but it also increased the amount of energy required to draw it, often requiring various leavers and cranking mechanisms to reset it.

*'''Slurbow:''' A crossbow with a cover over its barrel and a small gap used to draw its string back. Arguably influenced by the pistol, the slurbow was mostly used for firing unfeathered quarrels or darts.

*'''Sauterelle''': The last apparition of a crossbow-like weapon in a modern battlefield for frontline work. In WWI, soldiers had a problem: all the artillery that existed was big and unable to drop explosives accurately into a trench, especially at close range. And on the other hand, thrown hand grenades had the precision but too limited range. As an interim solution the French invented the ''Sauterelle'' (grasshopper in French): basically a big crossbow built to lob grenades at around 150 yards distance. Worked decently enough but later in the war they were replaced by small, two-man team infantry mortars that were just as easy to move around and use but had three or four time the range and a better rate of fire.

*'''Compound Crossbow''': the modern version of the crossbow, which is basically a modern compound bow on a rifle stock. Many of these also come equipped with telescopic sights modified with cross-hairs that compensate for the effects of gravity, wind, elevation, and other factors that might affect a bolt's accuracy. They are primarily used for hunting, sport and (unusually) home defense in Britain since everything else has been banned. Also finds military (specifically special forces, not frontline grunts), espionage and law enforcement utility by being used to fire ziplines or grappling hooks, explosive, incendiary, poisoned or gas releasing projectiles, or simply well made darts for a silent kill.
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