Mini-crossbow

"The mini-crossbow 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."

- description of Mini-Crossbow

The mini-crossbow is a wrist-mounted weapon that utilizes the Pistol Skill.

Background
By 2052, this is a seemingly low-tech weapon that is highly effective.

By 2072, the mini-crossbow probably evolved into the boltcaster.

Game item
The crossbow is one of the weapons Paul offers to the player at the start of the game. If it is not picked 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 for those avoiding 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, during that time they 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 more damage than expected - as much as the sniper rifle when using normal or flare darts. It is completely silent by default and can be scoped; additionally, its modest accuracy may be increased through accuracy mods and range mods. It will never be as useful as the sniper rifle (mostly because darts drop across distances) but it can be an effective replacement for it until a silencer mod is found. 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 (under 25% integrity).

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

Gallery
Mini-kusza