@User
I have taken a short break from the forums to do a little research on my own regarding ranged weapons, namely, slings and bows.
The way I did it was to play several test games to prove or disprove my own theories, and in many cases, I have found my views to be simply dead wrong. I believe it is a matter of courtesy to check my statements for errors before putting them in the forum so as not to mislead others who are looking for answers here. My deepest apologies to all and sundry if I have not always done so.
As this thread is solely on slings, I have put my analysis of bows together with this thread for easy reference and comparison. I refer new members to Stilgar’s post for a better understanding of bows. My sincere thanks to Stilgar, Ned, Astafas, User, Mabrook and Sojourner for making me realize the errors of my ways and pointing me in the right direction.
Slight general spoilers ahead.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
On to the topic proper, since bullets are considered as blunt weapons, they are very useful against skeletons and golems, especially admanantite. I can verify User’s findings that the Sling of Everard´s ghost bullets can destroy adamantite golems and there is the sling or Arvoreen +4 that gives +4 on damage and THACO. In the later stages of the game I found Jaheira use slings with about 20+ damage each hit while attacking twice per round (imagine a grandmaster with slings and 4 attacks per round).
What puzzled me most was the little, if at all, damage that the A. golem was taking from the Sling of Everad, at about 2 hp per hit. SLOW! IIRC, strength neither influences arrow damage nor does it influence ranged weapon THACO. The fact is that you need a +3 weapon just to hit it. Then I found out that the damage is seemingly useless not because he has resistance but will only take a maximum of 2 damage per hit, even from ghost bullets. Crit hits can double that to 4 damage. So User’s strategy above means that you basically need as many people hitting it as possible (with ranged weapons). If going solo, like what I did for BUN BUN, you can have her firing from behind a small door, take a shower, come back, and the A golem is still standing LOL!
On a side note, I discovered that the Everad Sling gave strength bonuses that adds damage. I saw a Baldurdash patch that corrected this, so up to here, I am still not sure whether it should have this bonus. Any ideas?
Related to the strenght attribute above is dexterity; I have found that the manual is incomplete and at best inaccurate, so the findings below are updated. I have no qualms about people correcting me here – since that’s a good way to learn – and with that in mind, I have put my following calculations below for transparency; any corrections will be welcome since they will be useful.
Determination of THACO on dexterity in usage of ranged weapons:
dex 0 = -20
dex 1 = -6
dex 2 = -4
dex 3 = -3
dex 4 = -2
dex 5 = -1
dex 6-15 = no bonus
dex 16 = +1
dex 17-18 = +2
dex 19-20 = +3
dex 21-23 = +4
dex 24-25 = +5
GRAND MASTERY: At this level the character receives a +2 to hit and +3 to damage with the selected weapon. He also gains an extra 1/2 attack per round with the selected weapon. He gains a -1 to speed factor with the selected weapon.
Before moving onto bows and archers in detail, I have to mention that, while I am not sure if it is the best way to go, grandmastery in the sling is not the worst thing that can happen to an archer, although that is an admittedly unlikely scenario.
Advantages of an archer using slings: -
Multiple attacks per round.
He could use sling of seeking and get strength bonuses to damage, in addition to normal archer bonuses, magic bonuses, and grand mastery bonuses.
He could also use the Sling of Everard and get +5 weapon attacks
Use a shield in the off hand (and that is what the off-hand is for, stupid me!).
That may not be the best choice, but my view is that no one could use a sling (or bow) better than an archer, and it might be good to have him use the Sling of Everard against A. golems and the like.
*+1 to hit and +1 to damage with any missile weapon for every three levels. This results in +5 to hit/+5 damage at level 15.
* Archers can get Grand Mastery (5 *****) in Missile Weapons.
* Called Shot is not very useful, IMHO.
So, an archer with the Sling of Avoreen, for example, and bullets + 2, without haste and bracers of archery, would achieve the following damage at lvl 18:-
5/2 attacks(ie 2 ½ attacks) @
= bullet damage (1d4+3) = 4-7 damage
+ 4 weapon bonus damage = 8-11 damage
+ 7 from archer bonus = 15-18 damage
+ 3 from grandmastery = 18-21 damage
-----------------------------------------------------------
resulting in 5/2 x 18-21 = 45-52.5 damage
With the Everad Sling, his performance will be:
5/2 attacks(ie 2 ½ attacks) @
= bullet damage (1d4+3) = 4-7 damage
+ 5 weapon bonus damage = 9- 12 damage
+ 7 from archer bonus = 16-19 damage
+ 3 from grandmastery = 19-22 damage
-----------------------------------------------------------
resulting in 5/2 x 19-22 = 47- 55 damage
This is based on my belief that the two slings above are the best to be found in the game.
I have niggling doubts as to whether bullets get strength bonuses, but I was unable to confirm this during testing, so I stand corrected on the above calculation. It is of mainly theoretical value, of course.
There is a problem however; I tried an archer using a sling in one of my test games. The archer as the ultimate "ranged weapon god" can only become grandmaster with crossbows, shortbows and longbows - using slings he is restricted to ** like a normal ranger – archers cannot have 5 ***** in slings. Bug? Well - IMHO slings as weapons are just as ranged as crossbows or bows ... go figure!
Conclusion on slings:
It is fair at this stage to say that for a Sorc, Cleric and/or Mage characters, I will use slings, simply because for ranged weapons, there is no other choice. For my conclusion, in gameplay terms, slings will always be inferior to bows, that is, attacks per round, damage, strength bonuses, grandmastery, etc. The sling is somewhat underrated and misunderstood by the developers despite the fact that they are formidable weapons.
And YES, Sling of Everad does appear to be the best sling, from my academic calculations above.
Lastly, I can now say with certainty that an extra ranged attack is almost always preferable to 1 more damage per hit. This is something I found out during game play testing and henceforth, I will always choose the ranged weapon that can give me the most attacks. (Tuigan comes to mind, special thanks to Ned).