# Volume of noise from Bows

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/volume-of-noise-from-bows/15822>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [January 31, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/volume-of-noise-from-bows/15822 "2018-01-31T00:52:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![darktoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@darktoes](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/darktoes)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/volume-of-noise-from-bows/15822/1 "2018-01-31T00:52:44Z")

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It’s also worth noting that bows are quite loud, though easily made fairly quiet. A stock compound or recurve (I don’t have any experience with longbows) is easily loud enough to hear across a street or some similar short-mid distance. I’d also expect crossbows to be fairly loud as well.

For full realism, it would probably be necessary to give them a noise of 15-20, then make a “silencing kit” from a plastic chunk or piece of fur that can make it much quieter.

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**Author:** ![redxlaser15](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/redxlaser15/32/1573_2.png) [@redxlaser15](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/redxlaser15)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/volume-of-noise-from-bows/15822/2 "2018-02-01T20:02:54Z")

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Wait, I thought bows were mostly silent IRL. I’m confused meow.

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**Author:** ![proxiehunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e68b1a/32.png) [@proxiehunter](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/proxiehunter)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/volume-of-noise-from-bows/15822/3 "2018-02-01T21:27:26Z")

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Here’s an example of a bow before and after silencing as well as _how_ to silence it.

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**Author:** ![darktoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@darktoes](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/darktoes)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/volume-of-noise-from-bows/15822/4 "2018-02-02T01:34:34Z")

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> [@Needful things part 2](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-part-2/14885/4):
>
> Wait, I thought bows were mostly silent IRL. I’m confused meow.

As you probably saw in the video, they really aren’t. There’s a fairly significant noise from the string slapping the limbs and the overall vibrations in the bow. Of course, they’re nowhere on par with most guns, but you could still easily hear one from across the street or something.

> [@Needful things part 2](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/needful-things-part-2/14885/5):
>
> Here’s an example of a bow before and after silencing as well as how to silence it.

At the risk of sounding like a snob, that’s a very cheap bow she’s using and, from what I’ve read, the most important part of silencing a recurve is adjusting the brace height to fit the bow. It’s entirely possible she did that off-screen though.

There are also things like limb dampeners you can get for recurves which apparently make a big difference, though I’ve never tried them.

There are other things to consider like the type of arrow rest in use and the poundage (power) of the bow. Since the entire bow vibrates during a shot, every part of it can contribute to the amount of noise made. Ideally, I’d like to see a “bow adjustment kit” consisting of a bow square, nocking pliers, some allen wrenches and some serving which could be used to “accurize” bows like the firearm repair/gunsmith kits, but that’s probably more work code-wise than it’s worth.

I’m also still mad that compounds are weaker than a homemade reflex recurve ingame.

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**Author:** ![BorkBorkGoesTheCode](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/borkborkgoesthecode/32/2343_2.png) [@BorkBorkGoesTheCode](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/BorkBorkGoesTheCode)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/volume-of-noise-from-bows/15822/5 "2018-02-08T14:50:58Z")

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It might be good to add a few gun sound effect thresholds between the 10 noise “plink!” and 150 noise “bang!” thresholds. Also bows and crossbows need their own sounds

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**Author:** ![darktoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@darktoes](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/darktoes)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/volume-of-noise-from-bows/15822/6 "2018-02-09T06:59:41Z")

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Bows would probably need a kind of twangy thunk, a soft thunk if silenced.  
Crossbows probably just a louder thunk.

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**Author:** ![DeWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@DeWolf](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/DeWolf)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/volume-of-noise-from-bows/15822/7 "2018-02-10T00:30:32Z")

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Perhaps make it depend on what kind of crossbow it is as well as more crossbow types.