Not true. No matter the answer, it'll only differ by a factor of 10.

~J

You want to stand at 60m and let me shoot my 10g arrows at you? My arrows weigh not much more than my average ballpoint pens. But they sure make nice holes in the target board.

Being an avid archer, I've had several opportunities to buy arrows.

Arrows that are anything more than total crap need to be custom made. (At minimum, this means cuttnig to the right length, for aluminum / carbon fiber arrows.)

Cheap arows are ~$40 a dozen,
most arrows are ~$60 a dozen (this is what mine cost),
high-quality competition-grade arrows cost $80-$120 or so a dozen, or MORE.

What would a Shadowrunner use? I think it's safe to say that the shadowrunner, because he has TIME constraints on his firing (as opposed to the olympic or competition shooter) will not benefit significantly from the uber-expensive $10-each arrows, but will still spring for the mid-range arrows. (BTW, $60/dozen is about what most custom wooden / traditional handmade arrows cost, too -- a reflection of the effort that goes into them.)

I think it's safe to say that arrows fit for a runner would be of the ~$5/arrow variety... and I think I read once that 1 nuyen was about 4 or 5 current US dollars... (forget where I read this, tho ... I think it may have been Raygun's site discussing gun prices )

So, I think that 1-2 per arrow is about what you'd pay. 10 is Right Out, to steal from Monty Python.

Edit: Runners might actually bew more likelly to use the more expensive (~$10/each) carbon fiber arrows: they have smaller diameter than aluminum, and have much better penetration (in hay bales and other targets) than the other types. When you consider most runners would be shooting at armor ... penetration is good

Also edit: yeah, what toturi said.

Of course, any archer that is shooting at COMBAT targets more than 20-40 meters is either godlike (if they hit) or unlikely to hit anything... most bowhunters (who have the element of surprise ) do most oftheir shooting from 20-25 yards. Or so I've read. Though, partly that's so that they can ensure a clean kill...

DOH! Yes, I realized that some time later that I had made a slight miscalculation.

Better than using some given rate of what nuyen is supposed to be compared to the current USD is to look at the prices that already exist and comparing those to Real World prices. This way, 1 nuyen comes out much closer to 1 USD. Otherwise you'd be facing $10,000 NODs in the 2060s, or $10 common pistol cartridges each, no Light Pistols under the $1,500 mark and no Assault Rifles under the $3,500 mark. The H&K G36 with dual optic sights only costs ~$1,350 to US LE agencies.

So at least insofar as firearms, ammunition and armor is concerned, 1 nuyen = 1 USD (2003) is much closer. Which is why I still think 10 nuyen = 1 Arrow is more sensible than 1 nuyen = 1 Arrow. The latter would also mean that Arrows would be half the price of Regular firearm ammunition (!!!) and you could get 20 Arrows for the price of one disk of music.

I'm more concerned with them making holes in body armor and human bodies. Shadowrun would have us believe that a very strong guy with a bow can penetrate more armor than Light Pistols, and an Ork could easily penetrate more with it than most rifle shots. You want to fire that arrow through one of these at 60 meters?

A blatant lie (from whoever claims that it's proven). Common military kevlar helmets aren't supposed to stop anything bigger than 9x19 FMJs, and even that could easily kill you. At a direct angle, at close range, a 5.56x45 FMJ will penetrate any god damn helmet. Check here for examples: Note that not one of these protects more than level III-A: Won't stop a .44 Magnum FMJ, doesn't stand a god damn chance against any rifle rounds (assault or otherwise).

Ie "Isn't most of military body armor just designed to [...]"? If that's what you're asking, then yes. Since pistols aren't very commonly used in actual warfare, and (assault) rifles tend to penetrate most armor anyway, most (though certainly not all) military armor is designed to protect against shrapnel.

Body armor used by police is another thing entirely: The average SWAT team faces far less grenades and far more handguns. And because the most used standard for determining the protection offered by body armor is the NIJ classification, even military armor is almost always rated to protect against certain types of firearm/bullet threats.

Is that what you were asking?