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How piercing shots work
MayLith: How exactly do piercing shots work?
- How much killing power is soaked up by one monster before another can be hit?
- The question under the 'm' key seems to indicate that you turn it on once and then it stays on. Is that true?
- Are there any negative aspects to this ability?
NeilStevens: A pierce acts like a second shot fired from the point of impact of the first shot, and is completely independent of the first shot. Originally the ability was a ricochet, but I changed it to piercing because the directional control seems more useful.
The damage of each shot works the same as the previous, and is rolled independently.
They work by having a certain chance to get re-fired (based on archery and mastery) on a hit, if the arrow/bolt/shot doesn't break/disappear. Then it's fired from the point of impact in the same direction out that it came in from.
MayLith: So once you turn it on, it stays on?
NeilSteven: Yes, it stays on until you turn it back off.
SimonSorc: As for bad effects, sometimes you don't want to shoot a pet or wake up more than one super-nasty monster at a time. Or you don't want your arrow to be in deep lava or on the other side impassable terrain; good arrows can be scarce.
By the way. Is the arrow tested for breaking twice? What if it breaks the first time, does it still pierce to the second monster?
NeilStevens: It's tied to sling/bow/crossbow mastery, not a class-specific hack. And as I said just above, they get "a certain chance to get re-fired (based on archery and mastery) on a hit, if the arrow/bolt/shot doesn't break/disappear."
Acquiring the piercing shots ability
ZizzoTheInfinite: There are three skills that affect piercing shots:
- (Sling|Bow|Crossbow)-mastery: Must be ≥26 to activate piercing shots.
- Archery: Determines the probability that your shot will pierce each monster — S+45 percent.
- Combat: Determines the maximum number of monsters your shot can pierce through — (S/10)-1, with a minimum of zero. Note that this means piercing shots will have no effect if your Combat skill is less than 20, since your shots will be able to pierce at most zero monsters.
Skill or ability?
ZasVid: "Archers gain it at clvl ?" ? Wasn't it "Your piercing shot actually pierce something once you have skill level 25 at relevant archery submastery"?
MayLith: I wrote that in hopes that someone more knowledgeable (such as you, ZasVid) might come along and complete and/or correct it. Anyway, it doesn't happen automatically... you have to turn it on (see above.)
NeilStevens: Anyway, this whole discussion really belongs in a Piercing Shots spoiler page, which gets linked from each skill page, where the skill level that grants it is given.
MayLith: I thought about that. I didn't initially make a separate page for Piercing Shots because it is not a bought ability. AFAIK, it's only available to archers (or at least Archery-skilled folk; I'm not sure about that distinction.) If it's available to Archery-skilled folk in general, then we have not two but three kinds of abilities (birth, bought, and "inherited", for lack of a better term.) Ack. Thoughts welcome.
NeilStevens: Every hobbit gets access to sling-mastery, so it is not limited to archers. That's your key misunderstanding. Piercing shots pre-date abilities, and should probably be made an ability, but they are skill-based, not class-based.
A confusing phrase regarding piercing activation
MayLith: Lastly, I think that question you are asked should be modified to "Allow shots to pierce? (y/n)" or something similar.
ZizzoTheInfinite has a patch which clarifies the the piercing shots activation prompt.