Bronk the Raven
Recruit
I like the idea of stances, and the variation they add to animations, and thus the physics-based combat system. A couple quick thoughts on current stance system before detailing my suggestion:
I'm still not completely used to the way they are currently implemented; the way they affect attack speed sort of mimics the need for footwork I already got used to using in Warband to increase swing speed and thus damage: stepping into the direction of the swing just before swinging gives the bonus.
The main difference is the timing. In Warband, not only is the rhythm of attacking and blocking different, you could move in the direction of the swing after you released the swing. In Bannerlord, you must move before you wind up to get the best attack. Potentially a couple seconds of difference, everything else equal. This would feel more natural if the walk/run toggle key wasn't an on/off switch but a press and hold kind of toggle. Just add that in addition for best results, and bada bing bada boom I can walk or zoom and swing at a dude all the more naturally with what you already coded.
Here's the actual suggestion, spent a few minutes searching and couldn't find a thread with this already:
For EVERY melee weapon, allow pressing "X" to toggle, similar to how it is used with throwing weapons, swing animations. For best results, change the stats to reflect what might be the result of using the weapon differently in these new animations. Generally, there would be 2 dichotomies to switch between: slow, big swings vs tight, quick swings. The difference in speed and damage shouldn't be too dramatic. The main issue is the change in animation, thus where your attack line is and your chance of landing a hit.
For example, with a spear, pressing "X" would choke up the hands to the tip; weapon reach would be greatly reduced, but thrust damage and speed would be greatly increased. This allows spears to be used in close-combat, in ways they actually were. This would benefit AI and players alike. The main dichotomy here is slower and longer reach vs quicker and shorter reach; damage could stay the same, but imo it makes sense to increase damage on the choked position because you have more control of the point in aiming (irl).
Another example: press "X" wielding a spiked one-handed axe and it simply flips the axe such that the spike is facing out, blade facing in. Here the main dichotomy is damage type: cut vs pierce; swing speed and range should stay the same.
Another example: a polearm like the menavlion would switch between broad, wide swinging attacks and tighter attacks with a smaller radius. The only difference concerning speed would be the difference in time it takes to complete the swing animation; the actual swing speed could stay the same, so the wide swings only take longer because that's a farther distance to swing. But the damage for the tighter attacks should probably be slightly reduced to balance the DPS of the weapon.
I'm begging the devs to do this. From where I'm sitting, it looks like you have the foundation to do this, it's just a matter of getting the new animations in place and balancing the numbers. This would help so much with attacks not getting caught on friendlies, countering armor, attacks not wall-whiffing... generally it just adds flexibility to the combat. I think this should be for SP and MP.
And yes, I drew inspiration from Stars Wars Jedi Academy ?
I'm still not completely used to the way they are currently implemented; the way they affect attack speed sort of mimics the need for footwork I already got used to using in Warband to increase swing speed and thus damage: stepping into the direction of the swing just before swinging gives the bonus.
The main difference is the timing. In Warband, not only is the rhythm of attacking and blocking different, you could move in the direction of the swing after you released the swing. In Bannerlord, you must move before you wind up to get the best attack. Potentially a couple seconds of difference, everything else equal. This would feel more natural if the walk/run toggle key wasn't an on/off switch but a press and hold kind of toggle. Just add that in addition for best results, and bada bing bada boom I can walk or zoom and swing at a dude all the more naturally with what you already coded.
Here's the actual suggestion, spent a few minutes searching and couldn't find a thread with this already:
For EVERY melee weapon, allow pressing "X" to toggle, similar to how it is used with throwing weapons, swing animations. For best results, change the stats to reflect what might be the result of using the weapon differently in these new animations. Generally, there would be 2 dichotomies to switch between: slow, big swings vs tight, quick swings. The difference in speed and damage shouldn't be too dramatic. The main issue is the change in animation, thus where your attack line is and your chance of landing a hit.
For example, with a spear, pressing "X" would choke up the hands to the tip; weapon reach would be greatly reduced, but thrust damage and speed would be greatly increased. This allows spears to be used in close-combat, in ways they actually were. This would benefit AI and players alike. The main dichotomy here is slower and longer reach vs quicker and shorter reach; damage could stay the same, but imo it makes sense to increase damage on the choked position because you have more control of the point in aiming (irl).
Another example: press "X" wielding a spiked one-handed axe and it simply flips the axe such that the spike is facing out, blade facing in. Here the main dichotomy is damage type: cut vs pierce; swing speed and range should stay the same.
Another example: a polearm like the menavlion would switch between broad, wide swinging attacks and tighter attacks with a smaller radius. The only difference concerning speed would be the difference in time it takes to complete the swing animation; the actual swing speed could stay the same, so the wide swings only take longer because that's a farther distance to swing. But the damage for the tighter attacks should probably be slightly reduced to balance the DPS of the weapon.
I'm begging the devs to do this. From where I'm sitting, it looks like you have the foundation to do this, it's just a matter of getting the new animations in place and balancing the numbers. This would help so much with attacks not getting caught on friendlies, countering armor, attacks not wall-whiffing... generally it just adds flexibility to the combat. I think this should be for SP and MP.
And yes, I drew inspiration from Stars Wars Jedi Academy ?