I cant for the life of me find out what makes Ranger X arrows any better than other arrows for my Ranger-X bow

They flex less when fired - great, what does that mean and how does it help my SR3 troll archer?

Because The Ranger x Bow Deals STR+4M Damage.
Whereas the REGULAR BOW only deals Minimum STR+2M Damage.

The less flexing means they are more stable and retain more energy when fired, so they fly farther i guess.
Furthermore, a quick comparision shows the Ranger X Arrow to be more easy to conceal. And shows the Aroow to be lighter.
Is harder to get, slightly less legal to own and costs almost twice as much as the normal arrow.
And i am not sure, wether or not you can use the different arrow tips on ranger x arrows actually . .

The point is that there is no requirement to use Ranger-X arrows on a ranger X bow - but they are described as being better, and they can use the other munition arrowheads.

The only description is that the ranger x bow is COMMONLY used with the ranger x arrows. One can assume that it is required to use the ranger X arrows but nothing is specifically mentioned, nor is there any specific rules regarding said arrows.

Range bonus?
Damage bonus?
Less recoil?
Quicker to ready?
Required for weapon?

After all, the arrows cost almost TWICE the cost of normal arrows.

But they are 20% lighter and 33% easier to hide. (Conceal of 4 versus Conceal of 3 on regular arrow)
there is no recoilk using a bow.
there is, aside from STR or arrow heads, no damage bonus.
there is, aside from STR, no range bonus.
there is, aside from adept powers i think, no way to ready an bow/arrow quicker in SR3.
there is no requirement for people to use the ranger-x-arrows on the ranger-x-bow at all.
they could/should maybe have made it so that the ranger-x-bow only gets the STR+4M Damage when using the Ranger-X-Arrows on it.

It is simple, really...

The Ranger-X Arrows cost more because they need to be sturdier than normal arrows to function with the Ranger-X Bow. Simple. Can't use normal arrows (They are not sturdy enough and come apart if fired from the Ranger-X) and although you can use Ranger-X Arrows with a Normal Bow, why would you want to, because they still only inflict damage based upon the bow they are shot from.

Simple...

Think of an arorw in flight- viewed through a high speed camera. The shaft being flexible wobbles in flight, just normal and each such wobble would through the aim off minutely. A more ridged shaft would cut down on that BUT the usual item for that, iron, would make it too heavy to go anywhere except into your foot. so a shaft that's light, strong and inflexible would be more accurate.

His problem seems to be that there are no rules for this at all.
None saying the normal ones come apart fired from the Ranger-X-Bow and none for more Range/Accuracy for Ranger-X-Arrows fired from a Ranger-X-Bow.

Basically this.

Considering how the bow and arrows are presented in the equipment list it can be assumed that only ranger-x arrows works with the ranger-x bow and that they are required - but it is never actually written in the rules.

It would have been nice if they had just written it that way but the description they have added to said arrows in their own section of Cannon Companion implies that they are better than normal arrows - very much like you describe the different kind of arrowheads that actually DO give some kind of bonus on the very same page.

I would say that if you use standard arrows, then damage would be as same rating normal bow since the arrows cannot make use of the power of the bow (dumb, but easy fix)

yea, a good and simple fix - and In my case im having a maxed out large troll so an image of Corporal Detrius isnt far behind so I'd assume that the arrows NEED reinforcing to handle the extreme draw strength of the bow in question.

With Ex-Explosive Ranger X arrows (cost about 70Y per arrow) im doing 16M damage up to 600 meters.

As i said, i am not actually sure wether or not one can use the different arrow heads with Ranger-X-Arrows at all . .

As far as I can see you can as arrowhead costs are added to the arrow in questions and there is nothing under the Ranger X arrows saying that they cannot have the same options as regular arrows.

Well, aside from the Arrows being one Entry, then comes the other stuff, then comes the Ranger-X-Bow and then comes the Ranger-X-Arrow with it's own entry without any sub-entries for Arrow-Heads . . The Canon Companion Page 13 Table being my point of reference here, but i guess one could rule it both ways.

Demonstration of 16M damage: http://youtu.be/jIi4Fe6jRHo

When staged up to Deadly damage

Though not raw the fluff makes the adjusted strength for range rather than the minimum bow strength make more sense. Hence Ranger ex bow and arrows hitting harder and traveling further

I have always ruled you want the bonuses from Ranger ex you use Ranger Ex arrows.

But I also have house rules for grenade arrows as custom jobs so...

Trying to use logic when dealing with SR rules only leads to madness.

Magical Bows punching through Tanks and shit!

Thankfully SR3 is actually more balanced when it comes to bows.

It is? O.o
16M Damage, and, technically, you CAN apply Dikote for the +1/+1 so 17S Damage . . And only normal barrier rating, instead of rating x2 . .

No, Dikote only gives +1 power to things like bullets and arrows.

Besides, the cost of ONE arrow would go up to 1070Y.

In SR4 you have one linear power progression where you have a troll that without a problem can get about 10 to 11P AP0 or so with an arrow and a panther assault cannon doing 10P -4AP.

In SR3 we have 16M vs panther assault cannon 18D.

The bow requires 4 extra successes to reach the same damage grade (d) and THEN extra successes to reach the same damage rating (18). The TN in SR4 is a flat out 5 against Armor+BOD-AP. In SR4 if we go with regular armor layering (form fitting 4/2+Long coat 4/2 (2/1)) becomes 6/3 so we dont get any negative modifiers (we assume we have a troll with quickness 6). So we remove 6 points from the Target Number and get 12 (18-6). The troll have a max body of 12+1 for dermal armor.

We need to roll double six on two dice to stage down a panther assault cannon ONE step - you will need 6 successes to remove the damage completely. Compare that to BOD12 troll against TN5 and EACH success removes one box of damage in SR4.

The bow is far less deadly in SR3. It is powerful in the right hands but not as powerful as in SR4 due to how the damage systems is set up.

From my Experience, The bow in SR3 (I had a Troll Bow Character) was FAR more deadly than the other characters wielding firearms. Yes, even the guy with the Panther Assault Canon. Why? Because you could carry a bow FAR more discretly than the Panther Assault Canon. And the Bow/Arrows were Far easier to acquire too...

Probably Annecdotal, though.

Dikote says it can be applied to any bladed weapon, to achieve the +1/+1 right? O.o

Yes, but an arrowhead does not count as a bladed weapon - It is treated as bullet/distance weapon so you 'only' get +1 power.

Well, yea, it can - I guess it also depends on the game and what kind of character one plays. For me it is a secondary weapon on an adept s no fancy range modifier gear or smartlink which makes it somewhat less overpowered (He is a sneaky troll and those big clunky SR3 smart goggles are a hassle to put on and they are kinda obvious).


The panther assault cannon has one big bonus though - It can fire twice in a combat round.