The glowing bolt in the crossbow - what the...?

[Przemek]

Hi!

I was searching for an answer to this, but couldn't find anything... so here goes: why is the bolt in the crossbow glowing? :|

Thanks in advance for replies or linking me to an answer

 

[short recoil]

Electrically heated.
If you notice when he puts the bolt in there is a spark and noise of metal vibrating from the current.
The battery looks like its near the front of the stock.
I have no idea why it needs heated bolts...suppose it adds a little more destructive power and it could be used as an icendary weapon e.t.c

 

[Reginald]

I did always wonder why it didn't set fire to wooden crates and the like... it would have been good to have some sort of weapon to easily burn through things.

EDIT: Grenade I guess.... Well, it still would have been a nice feature.

 

[Crowbar 15]

Perhaps it cools instantly on impact? Or whilst in mid air?

 

[Shodan]

Mabye its just so you can see it, when it is in mid flight.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Perhaps it cools instantly on impact? Or whilst in mid air?

Or perhaps it's an instantly cool effect?

 

[Axyon]

I assume it just gives it some character - rather than just being a windup and fire crossbow, it's made into a more interesting variant.

 

[subtlesnake]

Mabye its just so you can see it, when it is in mid flight.

I think this is it.

 

[Murray_H]

Yeah, a tracer use seems likely. Also the simile 'like a hot knife through butter' comes to mind, especially in relation to pinning things to walls

 

[Beerdude26]

And it f***ing burns like hell if you don't die by it. ^-^

 

[ríomhaire]

my theories on croosbow
1: The heating of the bolt causes blood clots on the victom
2: the electric current produces a magnetic field which breaks Combine soldiers iner-workings
3: the heating couses damage to a much wider area than just the spot that was hit

 

[No-live 2]

my theories on croosbow
1: The heating of the bolt causes blood clots on the victom
2: the electric current produces a magnetic field which breaks Combine soldiers iner-workings
3: the heating couses damage to a much wider area than just the spot that was hit

You are thinking to wide ranged, do you think valve actually thought about that?
I bet they just made it glow to look "Cool"

 

[Reginald]

You are thinking to wide ranged, do you think valve actually thought about that?
I bet they just made it glow to look "Cool"

I wouldn't count on it. Were the Combine made to just be a cool enemy?

OK, bad example, but Valve think about everything they do. I'm sure there is some reasoning behind it, even if it doesn't really matter to the player.

 

[Direwolf]

Yeah, I do have to say that the Valve designers have a rather flattering reputation for thinking through everything.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Hi!

I was searching for an answer to this, but couldn't find anything... so here goes: why is the bolt in the crossbow glowing? :|

Thanks in advance for replies or linking me to an answer

I always fought that the bolt is magnetically accelerated, as I never see the cross-string move to propel it (it looks like the string is never used if you focus on the animation)

 

[Arathiel]

if it was really hot, it would instantly cauterize its own wound, limiting the damage. something sharp and jagged would do a lot more damage than something hot.

 

[Asknoone]

I don't care, it looks awesome

 

[Dracarys]

Possibly half 'heat does more damage,' and half the 'hey, cool! I impaled the guy with a red-hot piece of rebar!' factor. Both are good reasons. Also, the string thingie IS used, just very fast. It'd take a magnet far too large to hold (and one that would also attract all metal in a huge radius, if unshielded) to accelerate the bolt that much.

 

[SystemShock2]

if it is because of heating, it would be cool if it lit the enemy on fire after it got hit

 

[Fliko]

It also makes it easier to pick up a small beam, and use it for ammo. Instead of running your way across a City to find some bolts.

 

[alan8325]

This reminds me of the time my neighbor's golf cart short circuited somewhere. They were driving down their driveway when all of a sudden the golf cart stopped and they were unable to get it moving again. Every once in a while there were some sparks coming out the bottom, so when I looked down there one of the suspension springs was glowing bright orange. Must be a pretty big battery on that crossbow too.

 

[Flyingdebris]

the combine manufacture very good batteries

however i will have to say that although valve thinks lots of things through, they really don't due much research or thinking when it comes to weapons.

soo without further ado... CHOO CHOO here comes the naysaying nerdy realism express CHOO CHOO

A piece of rebar from a crossbow would fly all of maybe 30 feet while damaging the string and being generally inaccurate. Considering that the gun seems primarily made of wood and scrap, i'm surprised the thing doesn't shatter in gordon's hands. Also heating up a solid piece of metal the length of a forearm and half an inch thick would require more juice than most batteries can handle.

an mp7 wouldn't mount a nade launcher. if they added one it'd be wierd but fine. but there isn't one. the nades are flung out in an ackward unrealisticly short range manner from some magic invisible place that doesn't need manual reloading.

a spas 12 shotty doesn't have 2 barrels to shoot at the same time, the underslung tube is for holding shells, not shooting them. In fact, unless you tie two shotties together you will never be able to do a double blast with a pump action. The only shotguns that can double blast are the breach loading double barreled vareity .

the magnum is fine, only thing is that in hl2 it has no speedloader, yet is still reloaded as if it had one.

sniper rifles would NEVER have bright visible lasers for everyone to see. the whole point of snipers is to stay hidden.

So i will have to say that as much as valve thoroughly thinks through things like characters and story, their knowledge of guns and ballistics is woefully lacking

 

[gabriel]

i think a flaming hot bolt would do much more damage and cause much more pain than a regular one. thats why it's hot. well, and because it looks cool.

 

[MarcoPollo]

It wouldnt cause more dammage but it would penetrate more easily.

 

[trizzm]

which means more damage.

 

[MarcoPollo]

.....damn you and my contradictive post!
/runsaway without reponse to that statement

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

I think it's a rail gun....or at least adds some rail properties to burn and disrupt electronics like people here have already said. It sounds and acts like a rail gun as well.

http://www.powerlabs.org/railgun.htm

Check out the movies at my link to see what I mean.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

So i will have to say that as much as valve thoroughly thinks through things like characters and story, their knowledge of guns and ballistics is woefully lacking

I think you'll find that Valve's (and most other developers) approach to this can be summed up thusly:

Realism < Fun

I think it's a rail gun....or at least adds some rail properties

Railguns aren't fired by a high-tension wire.

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

Click the link you jerk....the crossbow have some rail properties...the guys in my link actually built one of their own!

 

[Flyingdebris]

think you'll find that Valve's (and most other developers) approach to this can be summed up thusly:

Realism < Fun

ahh true, however i get my Fun, from my Realism

 

[TheSmJ]

Click the link you jerk....the crossbow have some rail properties...the guys in my link actually built one of their own!

But the bolt isn't propelled by magnetisim. Therefore it's not a rail gun by any means.

And if the bolt was heated by electricity, once fired it wouldn't have any current flow to disrupt electronics using a magnetic field.

Other than looking cool, heating the bolt has no useful effect.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Click the link you jerk....the crossbow have some rail properties...the guys in my link actually built one of their own!

Refer to me as a "jerk" again, and you'll be on a one-way trip to Ban City, chief.

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

Well did you watch the rail gun demonstration or not Captain Dramatic?

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

I've read the powerlabs pages many times while doing research on railguns.
I don't see any common element with the HL2 crossbow.
You could combine the two, using the crossbow mechanism to fire a bolt as the primary accelerator stage in a railgun, but you'd be carrying a 4 foot long crossbow and a bag of capacitors on your back while towing a trailer full of batteries.

 

[alan8325]

I think the idea of heating the bolt, story-wise, is that it would more easily penetrate combine body armor. Other than that it is just to look cool.

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

I've read the powerlabs pages many times while doing research on railguns.
I don't see any common element with the HL2 crossbow.
You could combine the two, using the crossbow mechanism to fire a bolt as the primary accelerator stage in a railgun, but you'd be carrying a 4 foot long crossbow and a bag of capacitors on your back while towing a trailer full of batteries.

Well it's the future. We already have magically reloading grenade launchers on a SMG that shoot out spinning nades, a SPAS that shoots from it's resevoir and tiny batteries whose power can strengthen armor durability.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

That's irrelevant - a railgun operates by firing a projectile between two parallel metal rails when a charge is passed across them. The HL2 crossbow fires by means of a high-tension wire.

 

[Wesisapie]

pi mu ro you need to get down off your high horse and talk to people as equals rather than as underlings

 

[15357]

By heating the projectile fired, you can actually see the projectile's movement, allowing you to correct your aim.

at least thats what i think it is,..

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

pi mu ro you need to get down off your high horse and talk to people as equals rather than as underlings

Strangely enough, I have this aversion to being called a Jerk when I disagree with someone.