fishingbear
Recruit
I'm bored at work so I figured I'd make a list of the things I'd like to see in the combat engine. Some of these ideas are my own, some of them are borrowed from others here. I've tried to focus on things that are both widely useful and don't change the overall feel of combat too much. These would probably take a lot of work to implement, so I'd like to present them more as just brainstorming than actual fully-formed suggestions.
** Counterattack after parrying **
If you bring your weapon up to parry an attack at the split second before the attack lands, you throw the attacker "off balance" for a short period of time (dependant on their strength, maybe?), allowing you to make an effective counterattack. I think this was Eird-Way's idea. Different weapons would have different counterattack stats: some would be more forgiving in how quickly you have to parry to get the counterattack, some would throw the attacker off balance for longer, some would have give bonus damage when counterattacking. Other variables are possible.
** Shield Bash **
When your shield is in the defensive position, tapping the right mouse button again (or maybe just hitting the left mouse button while still holding the right?) would let you thrust your shield forward (very small reach), doing a small amount of bludgeoning damage, dependant on shield stats and possibly your "shield" skill. The downside is that you would leave yourself open for a split second, or maybe the arc around you that the shield covers would be reduced for a short period of time.
** Picking up and dropping weapons **
Pretty straightforward. Similar to how you can use mounts left by dead combatants. This would either require unarmed fighting or some sort of default weapon (rusty butterknife?) for when you have no main weapon available to equip. I must admit I've never tried going into combat unequipped, so I don't know if this is already addressed. This idea is here mostly to help implement the next two.
** Disarm **
If you force an opponent to change his parrying stance, by switching your strike direction in mid-strike or by any other means, and then immediately attack, you are given a chance, determined by your relative strength and by weapon stats (both attacker and defender's weapon) to disarm the defender. This is like a reverse to the counterattack idea: if your attack comes from an "unexpected" direction, the defender may lose his grip and his weapon.
** Sunder Weapon **
We can already do this to shields, why not apply it to weapons used to parry with? The weapons master skill could be given extra use, by making it work like the shield skill currently works (but for weapons). Like Disarm, this would necessitate giving combatants options when they lose their weapon.
** Sunder Armor **
Similar to above. Some of those medieval weapons could cut huge holes in weaker armor types. Perhaps a fraction of damage absorbed by armor would reduce its quality. Certain weapons would be better at tearing apart armor than others (fighting axes were good at that, I believe). This would probably call for an "armor" skill similar to the shield skill.
** Variable knockback **
If you take damage less than a certain amount, or less than your strength, you have a chance to resist the knockback effect (I believe this is from Armagan). On the flip side, if you take damage above a certain threshold, maybe any damage 2x your strength, or damage from certain weapons that specialize in knockback like the maul or warhammer, you have a chance to be knocked back for longer, or possibly immobilized for a split second (brought to your knees?).
** Relative momentum **
Warrider damage and couched lance damage are currently calculated based on your absolute momentum. Changing this to relative momentum would get rid of those strange occurances when you barely "touche" your lance to another rider's back, and he dies in a bloody heap. Could be more trouble than it's worth in terms of programming.
** Unique Weapon Properties **
One thing that was stated in an earlier post was that the team was looking at trying to differentiate weapons in terms of various tradeoffs instead of just increasing the cost for increased damage. Many of the above suggestions present opportunities for more specialized weapons. Similar to how axes currently have a bonus against shields.
New players shouldn't notice much different in the fighting mechanics with these changes (although this does assume that directional attacks are added in), but more experienced players would experience a lot more subtlety and have more options in combat. A significant downside is trying to teach the combat AI how to use all these tricks against you.
** Counterattack after parrying **
If you bring your weapon up to parry an attack at the split second before the attack lands, you throw the attacker "off balance" for a short period of time (dependant on their strength, maybe?), allowing you to make an effective counterattack. I think this was Eird-Way's idea. Different weapons would have different counterattack stats: some would be more forgiving in how quickly you have to parry to get the counterattack, some would throw the attacker off balance for longer, some would have give bonus damage when counterattacking. Other variables are possible.
** Shield Bash **
When your shield is in the defensive position, tapping the right mouse button again (or maybe just hitting the left mouse button while still holding the right?) would let you thrust your shield forward (very small reach), doing a small amount of bludgeoning damage, dependant on shield stats and possibly your "shield" skill. The downside is that you would leave yourself open for a split second, or maybe the arc around you that the shield covers would be reduced for a short period of time.
** Picking up and dropping weapons **
Pretty straightforward. Similar to how you can use mounts left by dead combatants. This would either require unarmed fighting or some sort of default weapon (rusty butterknife?) for when you have no main weapon available to equip. I must admit I've never tried going into combat unequipped, so I don't know if this is already addressed. This idea is here mostly to help implement the next two.
** Disarm **
If you force an opponent to change his parrying stance, by switching your strike direction in mid-strike or by any other means, and then immediately attack, you are given a chance, determined by your relative strength and by weapon stats (both attacker and defender's weapon) to disarm the defender. This is like a reverse to the counterattack idea: if your attack comes from an "unexpected" direction, the defender may lose his grip and his weapon.
** Sunder Weapon **
We can already do this to shields, why not apply it to weapons used to parry with? The weapons master skill could be given extra use, by making it work like the shield skill currently works (but for weapons). Like Disarm, this would necessitate giving combatants options when they lose their weapon.
** Sunder Armor **
Similar to above. Some of those medieval weapons could cut huge holes in weaker armor types. Perhaps a fraction of damage absorbed by armor would reduce its quality. Certain weapons would be better at tearing apart armor than others (fighting axes were good at that, I believe). This would probably call for an "armor" skill similar to the shield skill.
** Variable knockback **
If you take damage less than a certain amount, or less than your strength, you have a chance to resist the knockback effect (I believe this is from Armagan). On the flip side, if you take damage above a certain threshold, maybe any damage 2x your strength, or damage from certain weapons that specialize in knockback like the maul or warhammer, you have a chance to be knocked back for longer, or possibly immobilized for a split second (brought to your knees?).
** Relative momentum **
Warrider damage and couched lance damage are currently calculated based on your absolute momentum. Changing this to relative momentum would get rid of those strange occurances when you barely "touche" your lance to another rider's back, and he dies in a bloody heap. Could be more trouble than it's worth in terms of programming.
** Unique Weapon Properties **
One thing that was stated in an earlier post was that the team was looking at trying to differentiate weapons in terms of various tradeoffs instead of just increasing the cost for increased damage. Many of the above suggestions present opportunities for more specialized weapons. Similar to how axes currently have a bonus against shields.
New players shouldn't notice much different in the fighting mechanics with these changes (although this does assume that directional attacks are added in), but more experienced players would experience a lot more subtlety and have more options in combat. A significant downside is trying to teach the combat AI how to use all these tricks against you.
