[quote=@Crispy Octopus]
<Snipped quote by Willy Vereb>

[@Darkspleen]Just ban clip and magazine fed weapons.  Chu-ko-nu were useless at anything but extremely short range and were only ever used storming keeps.  They have abysmal armor penetration.  For a crossbow to be remotely useful against even lightly armored troops it needs a draw weight heavy enough that a magazine is only a hindrance when it is drawn.
[/quote]I feel it's kind of redundant to ban magazine fed crossbows, too. Chu-ko-nu weren't useless, they just aren't used the same as other crossbows. Their design also had lot of inefficiencies that could've been streamlined if they became more widespread, I suppose.
Anyways, what I wanted to say is that magazine fed weapons aren't really much better than loading the next round by hand, it adds convenience and better portability. Also they aren't really overtaking an archer in terms of effectiveness.

Lastly, being afraid of somewhat higher rate of fire is an ahistorical concern. Ancient battlefield weapons couldn't afford to spew thousands of ammunition per hour or anything crazy like that. Neither doctrines of the time had much to build on increased rate of fire. It was convenient but not a game changer. In case of repeating crossbows as you said rate of fire came at the cost of power. You needed relatively light draw weight to make it feasible which of course made the weapon weaker.