# Bow Hunter Profession should have option of compound bow or crossbow

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [January 2, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182 "2016-01-02T06:34:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/1 "2016-01-02T06:34:18Z")

</div>

Just as the title says, I think that the Bow hunter Profession should have the choice between a crossbow or a compound bow; the same way that someone who picks the melee weapon training trait gets to choose which style they want.

I’ve always preferred the Crossbow to the compound bow, but sadly, the only way to start with a crossbow is to choose the…ambushed start and the hardened survivor profession I think it is.

I feel like I can’t be the only person who would like to start with a crossbow, instead of only being able to build one once it’s become obsolete.

Anyone agree or have any thoughts?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 6:59am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/2 "2016-01-02T06:59:01Z")

</div>

I think choices are always a good thing. But I don’t think the current system will allow you to choose loadout equipment for a profession. What you COULD do however, is copy the existing Bow Hunter Profession, rename it to X-Bow Hunter Profession and swap out the bow for an x-bow. Or maybe Bow Hunter (Crossbow), so they would appear right by one another. Then you’d be able to choose at character creation which one you prefer.

Tack this onto the bottom of your profession.json. Don’t forget the comma seperating the entries:

`
    {
        "type": "profession",
        "ident": "crossbow_hunter",
        "name": "Crossbow Hunter",
        "description": "Ever since you were a child you loved hunting, and you soon took a liking to the challenge of hunting with a crossbow. Why, if the world ended there's nothing you'd want at your side more than your trusty crossbow. So when it did, you made sure to bring it along.",
        "points": 2,
        "skills": [
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "archery"
            }
        ],
        "items": {
            "both": [
                "army_top",
                "knit_scarf",
                "socks",
                "boots_steel",
                "pants_cargo",
                "jacket_flannel",
                "crossbow",
                "bolt_metal",
                "knife_hunting",
                "hat_hunting",
                "quiver"
            ],
            "male": [
                "boxer_shorts"
            ],
            "female": [
                "sports_bra",
                "boxer_shorts"
            ]
        }
    }`

I don’t know anything about bows, hopefully that quiver will work with bolts…oh yeah I need to add bolts instead of arrows. one sec.

edit: ok, it’s got bolts now. How do metal bolts compare to carbon fiber arrows? I’ll leave the balance up to you. All the relevant entries are in data/json/items/archery.json

edit2: If you’re feeling perfectionisty, you could add xbow\_hunter to the infected, burning\_building and wilderness scenarios in data\json\scenarios\scenarios.json. It wouldn’t be a hard thing to turn this into a simple mod.

edit3: Since the list isn’t sorted alphabetically, I changed the name to Crossbow Hunter. Also fixed the description to reflect the choice of crossbow.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 7:05am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/3 "2016-01-02T07:05:45Z")

</div>

Well… My experience with altering a game is limited to when I modified my health/stamina/mana level-up rate in skyrim, so here’s hoping.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 7:11am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/4 "2016-01-02T07:11:13Z")

</div>

It’s not tough to change a json file for this game, just look at the surrounding entries, notice the placement of brackets{}, those always come in pairs. The file begins and ends with[] and all entries are seperated with a comma. Be sure not to leave a trailing comma at the end and you’re golden.  
If you mess it up, the worst you will do is see some pink text when you load your world, which will tell you where you messed up most of the time. It never hurts to backup your save though, just in case. Or better yet, test it on a new world first.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 7:15am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/5 "2016-01-02T07:15:38Z")

</div>

Can Someone recommend a good program to use to modify my JSON file? Right now I cant even figure out how to view it except to drag the .json to my firefox address bar.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 7:29am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/6 "2016-01-02T07:29:45Z")

</div>

json are text files. You COULD open them in wordpad/notepad(yuck) or you could get a very nice free text editor like notepad++, which will highlight those brackets and give you subtle assistance in figuring out the layout.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/7 "2016-01-02T14:49:41Z")

</div>

Seems to have worked just fine. for some reason though, the ‘bow hunter with crossbow’ didnt show up right next to the original ‘bow hunter’. it was actually as far down the list as it could be while still staying in the 2 point range.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/8 "2016-01-02T14:59:09Z")

</div>

hmm. I suppose it’s dependent on when it gets loaded from the json rather than its alphabet position. I bet its stored as an unsorted list straight out of the json and then divied up by point cost for the creation menu. If you want it to be next to it, try moving it above/below the existing bow\_hunter profession in the professions.json, that will probably work.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/9 "2016-01-02T15:11:34Z")

</div>

any advice on how to have xbow hunter included in the wilderness start?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/10 "2016-01-02T15:27:40Z")

</div>

I tacked this onto my first post after teh fact, you probably didn’t see it.

> edit2: If you're feeling perfectionisty, you could add xbow\_hunter to the infected, burning\_building and wilderness scenarios in data\json\scenarios\scenarios.json.

Each scenario has a list of included professions, surrounded by quotes and separated by commas as usual. So you need to add “xbow\_hunter” to the wilderness list. bow\_hunter is also in infected and burning\_building scenario, may want to add it there as well. Watch for those trailing commas and have fun 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/11 "2016-01-02T16:06:55Z")

</div>

thankee much, gonna work on that now.

EDIT: worked like a charm… I suppose this probably WOULD be a decent mod to include.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/12 "2016-01-02T16:15:17Z")

</div>

It could go in the base game I think. How does the metal bolts/ xbow combo compare to the compbow /carbonfiber arrows combo? Should it cost more, the same or less for the crossbow?

Edit: I will totally pr this, all the work is already done, just need to get the opinion of a playtester 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/13 "2016-01-02T17:03:06Z")

</div>

so far, in my playthrough with twice as fast and strong zombies, it seems balanced well enough. it’s easier to make bolts than arrows due to not needing fletching or arrowheads, and you can use a bayonet with the crossbow, but you also cant fire 5 times with a crossbow before the enemy gets in melee range like with a compound bow.

all in all, I’m satisfied with it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/14 "2016-01-02T17:06:52Z")

</div>

Ok, I’ll make the pr as is then, we shall see what happens.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/15 "2016-01-02T17:22:25Z")

</div>

> [@Malkeus](#):
>
> Ok, I’ll make the pr as is then, we shall see what happens.

Thanks for the help!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/16 "2016-01-02T17:30:13Z")

</div>

No problem, it gave me a good reason to dip my toes in the git-pool. It’s slow going, but I’m working towards a goal.

PR is [up](https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/14688). I had more trouble getting my fork of the repository synced than I had with the rest of it. I tried using 'smart’git to synchronize, and failed miserably. Had to go back to git bash, which ironically, I understand better.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/17 "2016-01-02T18:22:37Z")

</div>

[quote=“Malkeus, post:16, topic:11182”]No problem, it gave me a good reason to dip my toes in the git-pool. It’s slow going, but I’m working towards a goal.

PR is [up](https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/14688). I had more trouble getting my fork of the repository synced than I had with the rest of it. I tried using 'smart’git to synchronize, and failed miserably. Had to go back to git bash, which ironically, I understand better.[/quote]

…oro?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/18 "2016-01-02T19:07:31Z")

</div>

Is that some weird post cell-phone texting speak? Are you a teenager? is this room shrinking? Oh god the voices…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/19 "2016-01-02T19:28:01Z")

</div>

> [@Malkeus](#):
>
> Is that some weird post cell-phone texting speak? Are you a teenager? is this room shrinking? Oh god the voices…

its the sound Kenshin\* makes sometimes when he’s NOT being a kickass swordsman and generally conveys confusion, befuddlement or a general lack of understanding.

I have no understanding whatsoever of most of the post preceding the ‘…oro?’ comment; hence the ‘…oro?’ comment 😛

\*Rurouni Kenshin/samurai X. Anime that was usually pretty good even if the main characters tended to be too overpowered to actually have much of any challenge.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182/20 "2016-01-02T19:42:54Z")

</div>

Ah ic. Well, cataclysm is an open source project right? And the source is hosted on [github.com](http://github.com). Anyone can make a copy of the repository for their own use (a fork) then make changes to their copy and submit them to the mainline version via a Pull Request or PR.  
It has what was to me a brick wall for a learning curve in order to keep my repository up to date with the mainline…I thought I’d smashed my head into it sufficiently to break through, but today I was proven wrong and spent an annoying 30 minutes trying to fix it so I could submit a change that took 2 minutes to make…Worth it though, I figured more things out.

[Next page](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bow-hunter-profession-should-have-option-of-compound-bow-or-crossbow/11182.md?page=2)