The Bow is a weapon in the first two Call of Juarez games, with differences in gameplay between the two installments.
Mechanics[]
The basic elements of a bow are a pair of curved elastic limbs, traditionally made from wood, connected by a string. By pulling the string backwards the archer exerts compressive force on the string-facing section, or belly, of the limbs as well as placing the outer section, or back, under tension. While the string is held, this stores the energy later released in putting the arrow to flight. The force required to hold the string stationary at full draw is often used to express the power of a bow, and is known as its draw weight. Other things being equal, a higher draw weight means a more powerful bow, which is able to project arrows heavier, faster, or a greater distance.
In bows drawn and held by hand, the maximum draw weight is determined by the strength of the archer. The maximum distance the string could be displaced and thus the longest arrow that could be loosed from it, a bow’s draw length, is determined by the size of the archer. For bows drawn and held mechanically, the maximum draw weight was a matter of engineering The mechanical force required to draw the string was mainly limited by the time required to do so.
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood[]
The bow is a quick shot, usually instant kill restricted to Thomas McCall (in singleplayer). In multiplayer, the Native
class uses a single bow, making him one of the deadliest classes especially at long range. Running River and his tribe, and some of the Navajo and Comanche use this weapon commonly.
Call of Juarez[]
Only Billy uses the bow, however the corpses of Apache Renegades in He Shall Flee from the Iron Weapon will have bows lying by them. In the first game the bow has much different approach at combat, encouraged for stealth mainly by the fact of the bullet time effect when pulling back the string and loading the arrow, usually with a second mouse button. This mode allows for precise aiming at the target but does not last for long, most of the time the first mouse button is used to fire (as is the default setting) however it can be changed in the controls.
Trivia[]
- The bow is one of the few weapons in Call of Juarez that isn't used against the player.
- In Call of Juarez, Billy holds the bow vertically. Thomas meanwhile, holds the bow at an angle, which is a more comfortable position, and not as awkward a feel as holding it vertically.
- Strangely in Bound in Blood, the bow has a weapon condition similar to the firearms. The Rusty bow has a rotten limb, and arrow, with rust accumulating on the arrow. The regular Bow looks similar to the bow from Call of Juarez. The Prime bow looks the same, but with tribal markings on the limbs. The Superb bow has a mahogany finish with the tribal markings.