Mini-crossbow

The mini-crossbow is a wrist-mounted weapon that utilizes the pistol skill.

Background
It was specifically developed for espionage work and accepts a range of dart types (normal, tranquilizer or flare) that can be changed depending upon the mission requirements.

Game item
The crossbow is one of the weapons Paul offers to the player at the start of the game. If you don't pick it up there, an NSF troop outside the Statue of Liberty has it. Otherwise it can be found throughout the game on enemies, in crates and lockers, or simply lying on the ground.

The crossbow is extremely useful when you're trying to avoid killing enemies, as it's the only ranged weapon which can knock them out. Do note that it takes a while for the enemy to succumb to the effects of the tranquilizer, and during that time he could decide to open fire or turn on the alarm if alarm consoles are present. So plan ahead.

A fact often overlooked by many players is that the mini-crossbow does a lot of damage - as much as the sniper rifle when using normal or flare darts. It is completely silent by default and can be scoped and the modest accuracy increased both with accuracy mods and range mods. It will never be as good as the sniper rifle (at the very least because darts drop in flight) but it can be an effective replacement for it until you find the silencer mod. Because of the large damage and the fact that darts are re-usable the crossbow is great at breaking down all kinds of weak doors.

The crossbow can also be used for exploiting some AI behaviors. Hiding then shooting enemies from a distance will provoke them into attacking you, at the same time not triggering friendly AI to attack you if they didn't see you do it. Result: enemy runs into group of friendly AI and (hopefully) is killed. Shooting an enemy in the arm will usually do enough damage to the limb to make him drop the weapon. Shooting dart at a wall will make a sound, which will cause all AI to rotate towards it, letting you slip by them unnoticed or take them out. The dart can be later retrieved.

Mini-kusza