From my point the system/calculation formula should work
in a exponential way. ( in a very specific curbe )
en.wikipedia.org
The step ups - of armour value effectiveness should be more steep.
10 value - decent armor , 20 - x4 that 10 , 30 x3 that 20 , 60 x12 that 30 or something. Upper tier armour should be very good = tank soldier.
Damage reduction for each specific bracket - to simulate - the effects of the expected tier.
Mitigation -
* slow speed in running for the very armoured & heavy soldier. ( we already have this )
* slower arm speed for the armoured troop- meaning the speed of arm swings decreases - do to the weight of overall armour. This way nibble and less armored soldiers can swing faster on average.
Cut damage only to be done - on cloth/gambeson and leather - mail and small plates receive not cut damage. ( 0 ) .
( And when i say cloth/leather - i mean cloth/leather body parts - not cloth general armour. )
All weapons do blunt damage ( even sword, arrows ) . All weapons will impact the majority of there blunt damage by there actual weight plus some specific value - as an addition - to balance some specifics.
Knives can only do cut damage as they have no mass or very little of.
New meshes for different body parts - with armours values and hit-boxes.
Head , eyes , face , neck , shoulders, upper arm, lower arm , body, groin, upper leg, lower leg. ( maybe arm pit )
Each hit-box will have armour attributed/matched to it.
Aim is to hit the less protected body parts - you see a face open - that is a kill shot [ or very damaging ] . You hit neck that has no mail or protection - kill shot.
Stamina system - that is very easy to refill for Player & NPC soldiers.
All actions on battlefield drain stamina - you move - you drain stamina, you stop - you get it back very fast 4 seconds. You swing arm - you drain stamina.
IF stamina is low/or zero = all actions are 60% slower. Just small respite that could be achieved by the player or NPC soldiers - gets back full stamina.
All stamina has 20% percent of being ignored. Even if you play with 0% stamina - you still can move a bit faster sometimes or swing at full speed.
Athletics perk - increase also the stamina bar.
All armours mapped on the mesh of the body part. Armour will no longer be visual & value but also have a function more close to there material.
Each armour will have a priority of damage type that NPC can do Ex: it someone has an opponent with open face + less armour legs + uncoverd neck + mail armour in the rest. It will prioriteze to hit the less armoured parts in the fight.
Damage to HP - has effect in stamina and speed. If injured [ HP at 30% ] you have less stamina.
Bleeding to HP : cut damage & pierce [ to a lesser extend pierce] but not Blunt - will bleed overtime. There will be an initial cut damage at the point of hit + some value manifesting that will be in the next minutes. [ like poison damage in RPG's ] . Soldiers will collapse on the battle field do to bleeding at some point.
AI to priorities Defence. The aim of the AI soldier is to not get hit. Fight will be longer and hits/swings will be less that now . Most of the fight will be shield blocking or running away . Shield up action - drains stamina. Swing action drain stamina more , the most . Poke/stab action will be more efficient from stamina. The fights will conclude when a soldier loses it stamina - gets sluggish - will will start to get hit. The worst stamina drain action is to move a lot and swing. The best stamina actions is to stay in one-place and block. Soldier fighting each other will approximate the other stamina.
Both system of what is already and a better/new systems should run in parallel . Meaning the code should ask question : old system or new system. That way it can be implemented for some armours and be WIP.
The Bannerlord system is an abstraction ( and more complex that warband ) but there could be improvements . If Taleworld does not want to do it in the Base game - maybe a DLC can be created - meaning a system that is more realistic and a way to getting it to the game - as a side project.
Arrows - should have different type of Pierce ( b ) - that works against cloth/gambeson , leather - the best. Mail - medium. ( An armour can be gamberson/padding + mail = combination on a body part , that add both values ) . And
very little effect against plate. As many plate armour actualy are
small plates for body + mail for the hands -> if hands or legs are hit by an arrow then damage is done. That way arrows are still effective at some extend but need to be hit with accuracy. NPC archers will priorities if distance is small - to hit specific body parts if not - just to hit something - body most likely.
[ Normal Pierce for Spears & Javelins and Sword Point - to be named = Stab damage / and new Damage called Pierce (b) - but to remain as Pierce Damage naming to be for Arrows / Crossbow bolt / Ballista Bolts / Couch Lance . Some entry level arrows = to be Stab based on arrow head and some higher level Spears /Javelin to be Pierce . ] [ Transition should be Cut -> Stab -> Pierce -> Blunt and each armour material to have some prevalence to some type . Gambeson & Leather is good against blunt but not against pierce. Mail and Brigandine/Scale is not so good againt Blunt but good againt pierce and cut. ]
Shield on Back should act as very very very high armour. So this way you can use in one in-hand shield + back shield to make you character and companions - immune to most arrows. That way crossbows troops/pavise ones can not be killed from the back - and will be in turtle mode. most of the time. There reload animation should also do a twist/circle in place. Meaning when they refill the crossbow they will do it with the backs to the enemy direction.
