"I would say that a crossbow would work better for direct line of fire.

I would like to point out that a lot maby most bow ware fare was indirect fire by formations at enemy formations.
Indiredt fire. Works great for situations like above but when you got a singel archer and a singel target things change.
For indirect fire rate of fire would make more sence fvor direcdt fire your wanting acurcy and penetraion
"

"Make an automatic crossbow for yourself. Pretty good rate of fire but still powerful. Here's how:
http://www.vintageprojects.com/archery/crossbowfull-plans.pdf"