Introduction:
Bannerlord is not only a strategic game, but also one in which you must fight against 1 or more opponents using your own character.
So the heart of this game, what makes it fun but also satisfying, is deeply tied to the combat system.
The current combat system is SIMPLY INTUITIVE and INTUITIVELY SIMPLE.
1) Do you want to attack from the right? move the mouse to the right and hold the attack button to load the shot and finally release.
2) Do you want to parry an attack coming from the left? move the mouse to the left and press the button to block.
3) Do you want to perform a lunge? move the mouse back and hold the attack button to load the shot, then release.
No unnecessarily spectacular animations (for honor), no rigidity given by the search for a realism (historical also) that leads to a bulky combat system that is not based on the player's ability to be reactive and to react intuitively, but which focuses on using a series of "historical poses" which due to the long duration of the animations and the too many variety of angles from which to attack to execute them, entails a slowness which, also linked to being forced to stand on "tracks" and to coping with only one enemy at a time, makes the game not really enjoyable but should have been. (kingdom come deliverance)
If you are looking for historical realism, you need to focus on VR and the use of control systems linked to it, certainly not a joypad or mouse + keyboard.
Before getting to the heart of the matter, let's briefly summarize the combat mechanics and how they develop the entire combat (and movement) system
1) 4-way movement
2) jump
3) crouch
4) 3 directional attacks + lunge
5) directional block (3 + 1).
6) feint
These 6 game mechanics can be combined, such as the 3 and 1 which involve crouching walking.
In order to have a combat system that reflects the idea of:
easy to understand, difficult to master (not even so much given the intuitive nature of the commands you'll read in a moment)
I thought of DEEPENING some of these mechanics, maintaining the same commands.
PREMISE(X,Y,Z):
X) I will talk about mechanics that do not have recovery times chosen arbitrarily or not related to physical laws and that do not prevent, during their execution, the use of other mechanics such as those of attack.
The duration of the animations (or the number) will depend on variables such as:
- moment of inertia of the weapon with respect to the fulcrum (PG axis or shoulder, depends on the choices of the developers) (depends on the mass distribution of the weapon)
-from the twisting moment(R^F) (depends on the strength of the pg)
-maximum rotational speed (what this value must depend on must be decided by the developers ... but one could opt for proportionality with the force parameter and(optiona) inversely proportional to half the total area of the weapon used. )
That is, with the same attack, a heavy weapon with a large moment of inertia, such as a mace, at constant torque, will mean a longer time to reach the maximum speed and therefore a given position with respect to the use of the same move with a weapon as light as a knife, as you will have different angular accelerations (less for the bat and greater for the knife).
Then the time it takes to complete the animation depends on the kinetic energy that has accumulated during the previous phase of the animation, which must be dissipated with an opposite twisting moment (which is the act of stopping the rotation of the weapon).
In this way, with a single type of animation by type of weapon, you can have endless types of animations depending on the various parameters such as strength of the pg, weight of the weapon and its shape.
Y) at the most they modify the effects such as: energy released, direction of the shot(these variations with respect to the duration and type of the basic animation depend on the choices of the developers)
Z) these mechanics can therefore be combined with each other and combined with the mechanics already present (directional attack, lunge, parade with shield, directional parade, kick)
END OF THE PREMISE.
NEW 3 MECHANICS
1) SMALL DODGE and DASH (conditioned)
They should add a button that allows for short changes of movement speed in very short time intervals (clicks).
Let me be clear, not too large movements, or somersaults.
button:dash button
2 modes:
-A) hold down(DASH): run faster than usual (but you should introduce some sort of stamina, so it's up to the developers to make that choice.
maybe this stamina only concerns the speed of movement and not the number of attacks or the quality of the same.
So the problem of not wanting to introduce it would be solved
the amount of stamina could be related to the endurance parameter
-B) tap it(STEP-DODGE): go to this link to see the mechanics in detail:
NON-SPAMABLE DIRECTIONAL STEP-DODGE
Utilities (NON-SPAMABLE DIRECTIONAL STEP-DODGE):
- to approach in a sudden way
- to dodge backwards out of the reach of a weapon
- dodge a spear lunge laterally
THIS VERY IMPORTANT NOTE APPLIES TO ALL 3 MECHANICS
the difference between the two modes(A and B), in practical terms, consists in the different release time of the button (or the time it is held down) which causes the action to be carried out.
If we set for the B mode that the key hold duration should be 10 frames, if the game runs at 60 frames / s, then those 10 frames correspond to 1/6 of a second.
If you release the button, since pressing it, in less than 1/6 of a second, then you will use mode B.
If you go further, you will use the A mode.
[This method is used in smash bros for high jump and low jump. It is very intuitive, easy to learn if the number of frames is not very low (from 6 upwards) and allows you to use the same button to make two different things but involving the same action.]
Theoretically you could set various ranges of frames to have different modes of the same action (the mode number goes as n + 1 where n is the number of different frames settings).
if we set n = 3, choosing the 3 frames in which to form the three intervals, for example frames 3, 10 and 20, we will have 4 mechanics (or modes) for the same button that will develop in this way:
ex: ex: from 1 to 3 frames-> action A, from 3 to 10 frames -> action B, from 10 to 20-> action C, over 20-> action D
action or mode, a game mechanic in short.
Clearly too many ranges of frames and too many actions or modes would result in both a too high number of frames and therefore it would take too long to carry out the actions that require many button holding frames, vice versa in the case of a few frames per action would result in the difficulty of being able to really select the action you want to choose.
BUT in our case only 1 value is enough, then 2 modes, which we have called A and B.
END NOTE
2)FAST SHORT JUMP and NORMAL JUMP
The use of the fast short jump would allow you to dodge strokes that point "almost to the feet" and would be useful in the case of a fight in an area with a difference in height (such as steps or walls of different heights)
button: jump button
2 modes:
-A) held down(NORMAL JUMP): the jump is full, with its endlags due to the weight of the equipment and the athleticism of the warrior.
-B) tap it (FAST SHORT JUMP): the jump is lower and faster and it results not only to have much less end lag, but it does not interrupt the directional block, nor the attack.
Utility:
if the enemy is on the ground and we on a low wall at a height of about one meter but we must / still want to engage him in combat, we can avoid some of his movements moved at the height of the legs without suffering the strong end lag of the normal jump and therefore being able to counterattack in some way.
Ditto in the case of fighting on stairs or inclined planes.
3)QUICK CROUCHING and NORMAL CROUCHING
button:crouching button
2 modes:
-A) held down(NORMAL CROUCHING): allows you to acocate and stay crouched.
-B) tap it(QUICK CROUCHING): it allows a quick squatting and relative raising, as if you were going down to dodge.
For the two modes it is only a matter of establishing the number of frames for the activation of the tap mode (from 1 to X frames) which, once exceeded, make what was going to be a fast crouching, a total crouching (same method for fast and not fast jumping modes).
utility:
-If used during a side shot it allows you to lower yourself slightly during this step / dodge.
- in the backward dodging angle the body can be moved backwards to move the head and neck hurtbox slightly further back and lower.
- in the frontal click it can allow you to dodge any high slashes while advancing, you have a greater end lag if you don't use the lunge.
moreover, if you do not attack and hit with your own weight, you get a similar effect to kicking, so neither of you suffers a real penalty other than moving in the direction of the shot of both subjects.
If used with a raised shield, you end up further away.
If during the use of this mechanic and specifically in the crouching frontal shot you also use the skip, then you sling it on the enemy with your whole body dragging it to the ground with it (a grip).
This catch does not happen only if the enemy is parrying.
- standing still, it allows you to dodge waving blows towards the head.
Bannerlord is not only a strategic game, but also one in which you must fight against 1 or more opponents using your own character.
So the heart of this game, what makes it fun but also satisfying, is deeply tied to the combat system.
The current combat system is SIMPLY INTUITIVE and INTUITIVELY SIMPLE.
1) Do you want to attack from the right? move the mouse to the right and hold the attack button to load the shot and finally release.
2) Do you want to parry an attack coming from the left? move the mouse to the left and press the button to block.
3) Do you want to perform a lunge? move the mouse back and hold the attack button to load the shot, then release.
No unnecessarily spectacular animations (for honor), no rigidity given by the search for a realism (historical also) that leads to a bulky combat system that is not based on the player's ability to be reactive and to react intuitively, but which focuses on using a series of "historical poses" which due to the long duration of the animations and the too many variety of angles from which to attack to execute them, entails a slowness which, also linked to being forced to stand on "tracks" and to coping with only one enemy at a time, makes the game not really enjoyable but should have been. (kingdom come deliverance)
If you are looking for historical realism, you need to focus on VR and the use of control systems linked to it, certainly not a joypad or mouse + keyboard.
Before getting to the heart of the matter, let's briefly summarize the combat mechanics and how they develop the entire combat (and movement) system
1) 4-way movement
2) jump
3) crouch
4) 3 directional attacks + lunge
5) directional block (3 + 1).
6) feint
These 6 game mechanics can be combined, such as the 3 and 1 which involve crouching walking.
In order to have a combat system that reflects the idea of:
easy to understand, difficult to master (not even so much given the intuitive nature of the commands you'll read in a moment)
I thought of DEEPENING some of these mechanics, maintaining the same commands.
PREMISE(X,Y,Z):
X) I will talk about mechanics that do not have recovery times chosen arbitrarily or not related to physical laws and that do not prevent, during their execution, the use of other mechanics such as those of attack.
The duration of the animations (or the number) will depend on variables such as:
- moment of inertia of the weapon with respect to the fulcrum (PG axis or shoulder, depends on the choices of the developers) (depends on the mass distribution of the weapon)
-from the twisting moment(R^F) (depends on the strength of the pg)
-maximum rotational speed (what this value must depend on must be decided by the developers ... but one could opt for proportionality with the force parameter and(optiona) inversely proportional to half the total area of the weapon used. )
That is, with the same attack, a heavy weapon with a large moment of inertia, such as a mace, at constant torque, will mean a longer time to reach the maximum speed and therefore a given position with respect to the use of the same move with a weapon as light as a knife, as you will have different angular accelerations (less for the bat and greater for the knife).
Then the time it takes to complete the animation depends on the kinetic energy that has accumulated during the previous phase of the animation, which must be dissipated with an opposite twisting moment (which is the act of stopping the rotation of the weapon).
In this way, with a single type of animation by type of weapon, you can have endless types of animations depending on the various parameters such as strength of the pg, weight of the weapon and its shape.
Y) at the most they modify the effects such as: energy released, direction of the shot(these variations with respect to the duration and type of the basic animation depend on the choices of the developers)
Z) these mechanics can therefore be combined with each other and combined with the mechanics already present (directional attack, lunge, parade with shield, directional parade, kick)
END OF THE PREMISE.
NEW 3 MECHANICS
1) SMALL DODGE and DASH (conditioned)
They should add a button that allows for short changes of movement speed in very short time intervals (clicks).
Let me be clear, not too large movements, or somersaults.
button:dash button
2 modes:
-A) hold down(DASH): run faster than usual (but you should introduce some sort of stamina, so it's up to the developers to make that choice.
maybe this stamina only concerns the speed of movement and not the number of attacks or the quality of the same.
So the problem of not wanting to introduce it would be solved
the amount of stamina could be related to the endurance parameter
-B) tap it(STEP-DODGE): go to this link to see the mechanics in detail:
NON-SPAMABLE DIRECTIONAL STEP-DODGE
Utilities (NON-SPAMABLE DIRECTIONAL STEP-DODGE):
- to approach in a sudden way
- to dodge backwards out of the reach of a weapon
- dodge a spear lunge laterally
THIS VERY IMPORTANT NOTE APPLIES TO ALL 3 MECHANICS
the difference between the two modes(A and B), in practical terms, consists in the different release time of the button (or the time it is held down) which causes the action to be carried out.
If we set for the B mode that the key hold duration should be 10 frames, if the game runs at 60 frames / s, then those 10 frames correspond to 1/6 of a second.
If you release the button, since pressing it, in less than 1/6 of a second, then you will use mode B.
If you go further, you will use the A mode.
[This method is used in smash bros for high jump and low jump. It is very intuitive, easy to learn if the number of frames is not very low (from 6 upwards) and allows you to use the same button to make two different things but involving the same action.]
Theoretically you could set various ranges of frames to have different modes of the same action (the mode number goes as n + 1 where n is the number of different frames settings).
if we set n = 3, choosing the 3 frames in which to form the three intervals, for example frames 3, 10 and 20, we will have 4 mechanics (or modes) for the same button that will develop in this way:
ex: ex: from 1 to 3 frames-> action A, from 3 to 10 frames -> action B, from 10 to 20-> action C, over 20-> action D
action or mode, a game mechanic in short.
Clearly too many ranges of frames and too many actions or modes would result in both a too high number of frames and therefore it would take too long to carry out the actions that require many button holding frames, vice versa in the case of a few frames per action would result in the difficulty of being able to really select the action you want to choose.
BUT in our case only 1 value is enough, then 2 modes, which we have called A and B.
END NOTE
2)FAST SHORT JUMP and NORMAL JUMP
The use of the fast short jump would allow you to dodge strokes that point "almost to the feet" and would be useful in the case of a fight in an area with a difference in height (such as steps or walls of different heights)
button: jump button
2 modes:
-A) held down(NORMAL JUMP): the jump is full, with its endlags due to the weight of the equipment and the athleticism of the warrior.
-B) tap it (FAST SHORT JUMP): the jump is lower and faster and it results not only to have much less end lag, but it does not interrupt the directional block, nor the attack.
Utility:
if the enemy is on the ground and we on a low wall at a height of about one meter but we must / still want to engage him in combat, we can avoid some of his movements moved at the height of the legs without suffering the strong end lag of the normal jump and therefore being able to counterattack in some way.
Ditto in the case of fighting on stairs or inclined planes.
3)QUICK CROUCHING and NORMAL CROUCHING
button:crouching button
2 modes:
-A) held down(NORMAL CROUCHING): allows you to acocate and stay crouched.
-B) tap it(QUICK CROUCHING): it allows a quick squatting and relative raising, as if you were going down to dodge.
For the two modes it is only a matter of establishing the number of frames for the activation of the tap mode (from 1 to X frames) which, once exceeded, make what was going to be a fast crouching, a total crouching (same method for fast and not fast jumping modes).
utility:
-If used during a side shot it allows you to lower yourself slightly during this step / dodge.
- in the backward dodging angle the body can be moved backwards to move the head and neck hurtbox slightly further back and lower.
- in the frontal click it can allow you to dodge any high slashes while advancing, you have a greater end lag if you don't use the lunge.
moreover, if you do not attack and hit with your own weight, you get a similar effect to kicking, so neither of you suffers a real penalty other than moving in the direction of the shot of both subjects.
If used with a raised shield, you end up further away.
If during the use of this mechanic and specifically in the crouching frontal shot you also use the skip, then you sling it on the enemy with your whole body dragging it to the ground with it (a grip).
This catch does not happen only if the enemy is parrying.
- standing still, it allows you to dodge waving blows towards the head.
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