An attempt at canon-based observation: I think the Noisemaker Arrow is all metal. A painted metal tube (note that there is no wood grain texture like the other wooden shafts). The "fletching" is metal, as well as the cone-shaped tip (folded over, crimped, and held with tiny rivets). Layered under the sound of the crackling is a sound of something spinning and gently scraping. I think it's supposed to suggest an unwinding spring driving the crackling mechanism. The fact that it's reusable suggests to me that it's rewindable.
Fanon (completely dismissable fun): I think a way to wind it up is to use the "fletching" as a key, like the key of a wind-up toy. I think the tip of the arrow is part of the shaft, and before it was folded into a cone, just beneath it is where the spring mechanism is anchored at that end. I think the spring mechanism could be similar to the balsa wood, hand-thrown aeroplane toys, with the wound-up rubberband driving mechanism attached to both ends, to allow for better winding and unwinding, and faster unwinding due to the added tautness of being stretched between two anchors. To really push the fanon speculation, the fletching may be pulled back from the shaft to uncatch it from notches at the end of the shaft, which keep the fletching/winding-key static under tension when it's set in place. While uncatched, the winding key may be twisted to wind up the spring. Finally, the fletching may have a small and simple button/catch/lever, which could be pressed just before loosing the arrow from the drawn bow, freeing the fletching end anchor of the spring mechanism to spin once the tip impacts and the insides shift forward as another simple switch. No ideas, yet, on the in-flight sound or rings of light, beside the real world reason to give major clues to the player that it was a Noisemaker he/she fired, and that it's noisy--warning! And no decent ideas on what is popping and crackling if it's not beads of blackpowder getting ignited by a scraping piece of flint on steel insides of the shaft. The ignition of each bead of powder would have to be isolated from the others to prevent one large BANG! Although, the spring-driven spinning of the scraping flint could cause it to move slowly along the length of the shaft like an auger, to ignite a bead of material, with multiple uses required to move the spinning scraper from one end to the other.
Ehcmier 01:07, 21 May 2008 (UTC)Ehcmier
I think you're right, Jason! Indeed I see no wood like texture like with the other arrows. Instead all is solid and it sound reasonable if there is a mechanism inside. This will also explain the fact that it is "indestructible" and I really don't think that it is hallow wooden tube with noisemaking mechanism. We are not entirely certain about this and I haven't written that the shaft is metal so I'll leave it for now. The T3 Noisemaker however is a normal arrow with a noisemaking head.
Dan7 09:41, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
And I think the T3 Noisemaker resembles the T1 manual art picture, doesn't it (if I remember correctly....)?
Ehcmier 10:10, 21 May 2008 (UTC)Ehcmier
Not entirely incorrect, but the noisemaker in the manual image has a sharp arrowhead at the end. By the way, are these your own scans of the manual? And would you say this isn't a weaopn, but a tool? (I'm inclined to go by FPS convention and say that everything witha a default number key is a weapon.)
Larris 23:40, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
The little pics of the T1/G manual art, with the creme-coloured background, are derived by me from the scans Beleg posted up from his Deutsch strategy guide. Dan can tell you about the T3 art he's been adding here.
Yeah, the noise-making parts alone of the T3 noisemaker and the T1 manual art seem similar, at least in silhouette.
Hard to say what's tool and what's weapon. The Noisemakers seem more tool than weapon. I think they have an F-key assignment because all the arrows do. Curiously, when I've screwed around and shot a T3 noisemaker at a City Watchman, he grunted in pain upon its impact, so I shot him with a couple more.
Ehcmier 23:53, 22 May 2008 (UTC)Ehcmier
Sounds reasonable as they don't actually cause any damage. A tool category then.
(It seems that Jason posted simultaneously with me at this point)
I asked Digital Nightfall about posting concept art from The Circle. He responded: "Sure, no problem. Much of that artwork was a gift to TTLG, but I have no problem with others posting it." So I guess T3 images are from the developers, since I see some of them posted around magazine articles as well. I try not to post exact copies of the pictures without editing them a bit.
Dan7 00:08, 23 May 2008 (UTC)