Talk:Attica/@comment-112.200.170.40-20140415090846/@comment-65.162.45.213-20140416163504

Crossbows, when first introduced to the battlefield, where "outlawed"on the battlefield by the Catholic church because they where so much better versus armor as to be considered unsporting.

Crossbow bolts, even to modern day, travel at a rate of speed drastically higher than that of a comparable tech level hand drawn bow. Again, significantly more power.

Crossbows are often drawn with a winch mechanism(Arbalest that is mentioned above is a quintessential example). The reason for this is that their draw weight is, quite often, greater than any man can reasonably perform.

There might be a hundred reasons this weapon could be inferior to a bow(in game or the real world), but crossbows lacking in stopping power is not one of them.