Beat the hell out of the atlatl with the nerf bat

[RenechCDDA]

Summary

Balance "Nerf atlatls, a lot."

Purpose of change

While looking into #77767 I realized that the atlatl was stupidly, STUPIDLY accurate. Not only could it outshoot modern bows by an order of magnitude, but it also threw heavier, more damaging projectiles further. It was completely nuts.

Describe the solution

Nerf the hell out of it.

Range was approximated by the virtue of "I googled it" and "Less than a bow, because it's throwing a much heavier projectile"

Accuracy nerfing came from figures in Comparing Atlatls and Bows: Accuracy and Learning Curve by John C Whittaker

Critical damages lowered to be more reasonable, constant damage scaling applied in line with bow projectiles. The damage effectiveness of the steel-tipped atlatl spears is essentially the same for crits, and increased for non-crits. Wooden spears are no longer rods from god.

Describe alternatives you've considered

This is not technology that is very much embedded in the local culture, so it could probably just be removed entirely/relegated to book-learning instead of autolearn. I live in the states, and I vaguely know what an Atlatl is, but if you asked me to put one together I could definitely not do so. (I definitely could not put a bow together either, but cultural osmosis provides a basis of understanding of how to figure it out!)

Testing

Loads without error

Additional context

Excerpts from the cited article:

"In other words, Bassett’s atlatl scores were close to the level of adequate archery at hunting ranges for an atlatl. On the other hand, this data also shows that a mediocre archer can outshoot the best of atlatlists, even at short range. In fact, most atlatlists, including many who practice a lot (Whittaker and Kamp 2006), fail to approach the accuracy or consistency of Bassett.

The disparity between archer and atlatlist increases with distance. [...] Competitive archers expected to hit the target (smaller than the ISAC target) with almost all shots at all distances; champions could hit it every time. High scores would have about 30 percent gold hits. I have participated in atlatl competitions at 30 to 40 m. Few of us practice much at those ranges, so the comparison is perhaps not entirely fair, but I can say with confidence that no atlatlist I know would expect all hits on an ISAC target at those ranges, let alone at 60 yards"

[ampersand55]

When I played around with the atlatl, I didn't find it that accurate. At throwing skill 3, its only accurate to about 3 squares between you and a regular zombie with precise aim, which takes 960 moves carrying the spears with a golf bag, currently the best item to carry them in.

I found that the best strategy for using the atlatl was to lock on to a zombie 8-9 squares away, then wait and build up your aim until they were 2-3 squares between you and the zombie to throw the spear. Then you'd have to run away and start over again.

The max range is ridiculous though.