Simetrical
Recruit
As a fan of realistic combat, I think that there are a few flaws with the innovative and interesting combat model of Horse&Blade. Personally, I would keep the main ideas of offense/defense intact, but modified like so:
1) Different weapons would have different abilities to parry. Currently it's more of an all-or-nothing deal. Basically, the weight of a weapon, the strength and skill of its wielder, and the number of hands the wielder is using would be opposed to the strength and skill of the blocker and the number of hands he's using when blocking. This would mean that you would have trouble blocking a greataxe with a rapier, as it should be, but you could block a rapier with a dagger, also as it should be.
2) Anyone holding a shield would automatically use it to defend himself, whether or not he's actually using the block button. Instead, the block button would be used for a weapon parry all the time. If someone with a shield manually parries a weapon, the weapon would be parried by the weapon rather than by the shield. See point 5 for more on shields, however.
3) Anyone holding a thrust would effectively create a small wall in front of them. As long as they stay pointed toward an oncoming enemy, the enemy would have to parry their weapon or be unable to proceed past it. Usually, this would be a very simple matter, but cavalry would have great difficulty with this—the rider would be unable to parry a blow aimed at his horse's chest. He would have to ride around, or just attack the defender with a longer weapon. Anyone charging into a readied thrust would deal damage to themselves proportionate to their speed unless they parried it, but they would also knock aside the weapon and perhaps even knock over its wielder. Releasing the thrust would deal damage if not parried, but still maintain the wall. Again, this would mainly give polearms an advantage against cavalry.
4) Crouching. In addition to the obvious effect of being a smaller target for archery, anyone crouching with a polearm readied for a thrust would plant it. Planted weapons would be harder to knock aside, and the wielder wouldn't get knocked back if someone charged into the pike.
5) Shield functionality versus melee weapons would be changed. Rather than being absolute protection against the front, shields would provide only a percentage chance of blocking a blow. Normally, this chance would be very high, somewhere in the high 90s against a single assailant, although it would decrease somewhat as additional enemies attacked. The main decrease would be when making an attack—shields would still provide protection then, but a lot less, depending on Agility and shield skill. The protection drop would be reduced during a defensive attack (see point 7).
6) Shield functionality versus ranged weapons would be changed. The shield would provide percentage protection depending basically on its size alone. Again, this would decrease a great deal during an attack, but it wouldn't decrease at all during a defensive attack.
7) If the player holds down both the block and attack buttons at once while wielding a shield, he makes a defensive attack. This reduces the loss of shield protection during an attack, or eliminates it for ranged weapons, but the player's attack is substantially slowed.
Minimum ranges. Any weapon with significant reach (i.e., not a dagger, basically) would have some kind of minimum range, most often proportionate to its reach. Anyone within minimum range would be shoved (opposed Strength/Agility check to see if the shover succeeds) instead of attacked normally. This would disrupt the defender's attacks much like a normal attack would, so people wouldn't be subject to an instant death sentence just for having a greatsword equipped when someone is right next to them.
9) Point 8 applies only partially to weapons with especially long reaches (spears and up). These weapons' minimum range would be larger than the maximum shoving range. Enemies at longer range than the shoving range but shorter than minimum could only be slashed and hacked for low damage, rather than thrusting with the tip. The longer the weapon, the more cumbersome this attack, so that pikes and long lances are worthless once the enemy gets within reach.
Well, that was long-winded, but there's still a fair bit more to come. I can't go without my M&B fix. I doubt these will be implemented, but I always have liked making worthless suggestion lists.
-Simetrical
1) Different weapons would have different abilities to parry. Currently it's more of an all-or-nothing deal. Basically, the weight of a weapon, the strength and skill of its wielder, and the number of hands the wielder is using would be opposed to the strength and skill of the blocker and the number of hands he's using when blocking. This would mean that you would have trouble blocking a greataxe with a rapier, as it should be, but you could block a rapier with a dagger, also as it should be.
2) Anyone holding a shield would automatically use it to defend himself, whether or not he's actually using the block button. Instead, the block button would be used for a weapon parry all the time. If someone with a shield manually parries a weapon, the weapon would be parried by the weapon rather than by the shield. See point 5 for more on shields, however.
3) Anyone holding a thrust would effectively create a small wall in front of them. As long as they stay pointed toward an oncoming enemy, the enemy would have to parry their weapon or be unable to proceed past it. Usually, this would be a very simple matter, but cavalry would have great difficulty with this—the rider would be unable to parry a blow aimed at his horse's chest. He would have to ride around, or just attack the defender with a longer weapon. Anyone charging into a readied thrust would deal damage to themselves proportionate to their speed unless they parried it, but they would also knock aside the weapon and perhaps even knock over its wielder. Releasing the thrust would deal damage if not parried, but still maintain the wall. Again, this would mainly give polearms an advantage against cavalry.
4) Crouching. In addition to the obvious effect of being a smaller target for archery, anyone crouching with a polearm readied for a thrust would plant it. Planted weapons would be harder to knock aside, and the wielder wouldn't get knocked back if someone charged into the pike.
5) Shield functionality versus melee weapons would be changed. Rather than being absolute protection against the front, shields would provide only a percentage chance of blocking a blow. Normally, this chance would be very high, somewhere in the high 90s against a single assailant, although it would decrease somewhat as additional enemies attacked. The main decrease would be when making an attack—shields would still provide protection then, but a lot less, depending on Agility and shield skill. The protection drop would be reduced during a defensive attack (see point 7).
6) Shield functionality versus ranged weapons would be changed. The shield would provide percentage protection depending basically on its size alone. Again, this would decrease a great deal during an attack, but it wouldn't decrease at all during a defensive attack.
7) If the player holds down both the block and attack buttons at once while wielding a shield, he makes a defensive attack. This reduces the loss of shield protection during an attack, or eliminates it for ranged weapons, but the player's attack is substantially slowed.
Minimum ranges. Any weapon with significant reach (i.e., not a dagger, basically) would have some kind of minimum range, most often proportionate to its reach. Anyone within minimum range would be shoved (opposed Strength/Agility check to see if the shover succeeds) instead of attacked normally. This would disrupt the defender's attacks much like a normal attack would, so people wouldn't be subject to an instant death sentence just for having a greatsword equipped when someone is right next to them.9) Point 8 applies only partially to weapons with especially long reaches (spears and up). These weapons' minimum range would be larger than the maximum shoving range. Enemies at longer range than the shoving range but shorter than minimum could only be slashed and hacked for low damage, rather than thrusting with the tip. The longer the weapon, the more cumbersome this attack, so that pikes and long lances are worthless once the enemy gets within reach.
Well, that was long-winded, but there's still a fair bit more to come. I can't go without my M&B fix.
I doubt these will be implemented, but I always have liked making worthless suggestion lists.-Simetrical
