Balance: fletching

“wooden arrows” are better than “heavy field point arrows” in every way, and require less skill to craft.
“Sharpened metal arrows” are even worse.
“field point arrows” do more damage than “heavy field point arrows”. This is counterintuitive.

I think this is a known issue, but if I am not mistaken, is at least partly due to an outdated mod/ redundant mod recipes.

Mmm… guess I coulda done a search prior. Makes sense as a mod conflict.

I would imagine its intentional. Field point arrows dont require scrap metal, just improvised points made from whatever is lying around, like nails rocks or bones. Wooden arrows need a hammer to shape scrap metal into an actual proper broadhead point. Sharpened metal arrows are just crudely fashioned petal rods they arent supposed to be strong, but theyre durable simple and cheap. The heavy field point vs field point issue makes more sense. it /Might/ be a balance thing since heavy arrows are more accurate and durable? but it does seem like an actual issue.

I suspect this is a mix of conflicting mod content and old vs new content, there may be something we want to fix in there.

If we have conflicting mod content, the mod should suppress the crafting recipes and items it’s replacing.
If we have conflicting “goodness” of items in mainline, they might need to be rebalanced against each other.

That’s because a field point arrow is designed to kill small game without splattering it all over the place (at least IRL). I mean, it’d be possible to shoot a rabbit or a squirrel with a broad head, but it’d make one hell of a mess of the meat.

I guess the question is, why is this even in the game, and has anyone ever crafted them?

I’ve crafted them, though attempting to hunt small game is still kind of an exercise in frustration due their fast run speed, wide panic-and-flee radius, and the terribly short range of most ranged weapons. (Seriously, I can’t reliably hit a guy standing at the far end of my Luxury RV with 7 in rifles, much less when we’re standing on either corner of a house.)
Small game is doable if you’re on a motorcycle, since you can catch them, but at that point you might as well just run them over.