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Additional suggestions made by other players (and meself) throughout the post
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Horse skill Horse Temperament : governs how fast you regain control of a horse reacting to pain
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Battle skill Horse Switch : ability to switch horses mid-battle just like weapons from making use of the inventory chest on the battlefield. (Or allowing a 'base camp' with spare horses, guarded by X ammount of troops, which enemies could take over / steal etc.)
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Horse training Making use of already-existant tasks to train horses : example was the current tournament, however I personally think this may clash with the people who don't want horse training
* Horses in battle Don't disappear :
* Horses in battle Move around when rideless
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Horse breeding Building your own keep / stables : privately owned place to breed / raise / train your own horses.
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Horse skill Ability to equip different armor : As in title, although encumberance ought to be introduced before this is in effect.
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Horse customisation Naming your horse, choosing color of horses
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Horses in battle Active rearing in defence : Horses can be made to rear or just rear by themselves in defence. Anyone that comes too close directly in front would get hit by the hooves, however this should not do initial damage and should only be used as a defencive maneur.
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Horses in battle Physical laws on horses : Horses can be knocked down by another horse charging into the side, rather than both rearing. Removal of over-rearing which currently happens in the most unrealistic circumstanses.
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Horses graphics No bridles on : Horses currently are equipped with a head-collar, not bridle in game. Whereas its not that difficult to ride a horse with head-collar instead of the bridle, I'm pretty sure that bridles would have been used in most battles :
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Horses graphics Horses somewhat skinny : Whereas height-wise they seem to be ok (although an extra hand or two wouldn't hurt) horses are not too proportional in their length / width. Obviously different breeds are of different size, however the current body proportion is somewhat doubtful.
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Horse equipment Armor : Discussed in a few other threads, I'll just dump it here with the rest of the horse suggestions :
In other words, different slots for horses to wear armor, and different armor to equip in those slots.
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Horse equipment Saddles : Saddles would further improve the different playstyle by different players, by contributing to the AC over movement value. For example, a plain cloth saddle would be 0 AC, however since its thin and light, it would provide better control of the horse (in terms of maneurability or riding skill) whilst a heavy jousting wooden saddle, would increase AC, but since its large, bulky and the horse can't really feel the rider, the maneurability (or riding skill) would decrease.
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Horse physics encumberance : This would be really nessesary to balance out most of the above suggestions. Encumberance would basically distinguish the difference between AC and how maneurable / agile the horse (and the human) is. For example, a player who wants to equip really heavy weapons, armor, armor for horse etc. would be a sort of walking tank, but would not be very maneurable with or without the horse. Another player who doesnt wear anything (you know what I mean) and has an un-armored horse, would feel pain alot more, but he, and the horse, would be able to avoid the source of pain in the first place (if both know what they doing :
) This would affect all armor suggestions, all combat abilities (such as rearing) suggestion, all physics suggestions... heck almost all suggestions mentioned :
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Horse equipment personalised food Separate food box for horses, along with separate food (eg. grain for horse, cookie for j00)
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Horse in battle rider AI Dismounted footmen automatically mount the horse of their fallen foes. (Providing the horses stay after the rider is killed) - Same applies for tournaments (*automatically without being ordered to)
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Horse in battle Kicking out in defence Happens when the horse feels threatened from behind, and/or in some cases of experiencing pain. Knocks down the opponent dealing 0 damage (unless the kick lands in the head and the enemy is not wearing armor) since thats about as much pain as you will feel on short term.
* This can be included in reaction to pain, since a horse may turn on the spot and kick out at somebody attacking the side.. The disadvantage of this can obviously be that the horse will make itself vulnerable from the other side (if surrounded), and rider normally does not have control of :responce(s) to pain:
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Horse's Rider Leaning from saddle Can lean left / right / forward in the saddle (crouch can be forward, 2 additional keys for leaning left right?) to provide extra range, and / or cover / dodge from arrows when no shield equipped.
- If the rider is leaning forward during the charge, the rider is a smaller target for arrows. They would also be able to lean to the left to make their target smaller to cavalry archer's arrows which are shot from the right, and vise versa.
- Rider can lean out of the saddle left / right to increase the range of their swords. Obviously they are more vulnerable to melee from the side they are leaning on. Riders can lean forward to increase the range of their lance, but would not be able to look much to the left / right.
- Riders who are leaning left / right have a chance of being thrown off the horse, should the horse jump/spin in the opposite reaction, in regards to reaction from pain, should that be implimented.
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Horse Care Horseshoes / Blacksmiths Towns would each have a blacksmith. Each Blacksmith would be able to shoe the horse to improve its speed / maneurability etc. Possible advantages would be horse speed, maneurability, lower fall damage. Players would be able to buy more expencive shoes, however all shoes will eventually wear out to the same (basic) level. This would encourage people to re-visit blacksmiths, find a blacksmith who makes higher quality shoes, or simply not care :
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Horses AI Horse as a separate AI Kiggles explains this quite well
in this thread :
* Horses hit box Damage Horses have unrealistically low hit points
To add to that, I suggest implimenting head, neck, legs hitboxes for horses.
Also, separating the horse and rider hit-boxes, (or an equilavent) as discussed in
Tweaking hitboxes thread.
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EDIT - 13 APR 2006 Just a little 'glitch' I would say, units are able to 'punch' a horse to death.[/b]
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Horses hit box Damage cap Suggested a minimal and maximum "cap" on the ammount of damage a horse can take, depending on the damage type and weapon used. Some weapons and damage type such as blunt hits don't do much to horses in reality, and vice versa. The cap is NOT affected by the skill / speed of the character, HOWEVER the higher the skill / speed, the more chance there is for a higher damage score. For example:
- Sword / slashing : Min 3, Max 18 (less than average)
- Sword / stabbing : Min 15, Max 40 (more than average)
- Axe / slashing : Min 10, Max 38
- Spear / stabbing : Min 24, Max 60
- Spear / couched : Min 40, Max 999
- Poleaxe / Stabbing : Min 3, Max 20
- Poleaxe / slashing : Min 3, Max 25
- Poleaxe / couced : Min 40, Max 60 (since poleaxe slips to the side :)
- Knife / stab : Min 1, Max 15
- Knife / slash : Min 1, Max 10
- Arrow / stab : Min 1, Max 20
- Javelin / stab : Min 10, Max 35
- Throwing knifes : Min 1, Max 10
- Blunt attacks : Min 0, Max 5
- Armor and other attributes can obviously lower the minimal damage, with up to maximum of minus 10 to the damage taken.
Idea behind this, is that a high skill does not guarantee an unrealistic horse kill in a few hits, and an armored charger is not invincible against certain attacks. It also makes spears useful as a weapon for infantry against cavalry, and hitting a horse with a club would not eventually kill it etc. (All numbers are on a rough example basis)
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EDIT - 14 Apr 2006
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Horses movement in battle Reasoned rather than random movement Currently the horses will move around the battlefield when not mounted completely randomly. Whereas it does add to the whole battle effect, it would really enhance the practical part if the direction and movement of the horse had a reason. Proposed suggestions:
- Horses will attempt to stay close to their master (when dismounted)
- Horses whose rider has been killed will run away from a large group of people / fighting at random (as is currently the case)
- Horses will not run away, and may walk towards any single unit, if there are no other units / fights around
** This would not apply once/if ever horse training is implimented, therefore is a temporary/permanent suggestion respectively :
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EDIT - 19 Apr 2006
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Horse control Jumping out of saddle Possibly allow players to jump out of the saddle at any time (whether the horse is moving / standing still). This should be restricted by encumberance for obvious reasons :
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EDIT - 23 Apr 2006
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Riding Being knocked off the horse This would function as described below:
*** Restriction of riding skill is removed, meaning a player with any riding skill can ride a horse with any riding skill requirement.
*** Riding skill still provides a bonus to the speed / maneurability of the horse.
*** Riding skill now will provide a penalty to the speed / maneurability if the rider's skill is
below the horse's requred skill.
Falling off the horse, would be possible if the rider's skill is the same and/or below that of the horse's required skill, and when the player is hit. Simple model:
*** Rider skill < horse requirement, --> Rider falls off if they take 5-10 damage
*** Rider skill = horse requirement, --> Rider falls off if they take 25-30 damage
*** Rider skill > horse requirement, --> Rider falls off if they take 55+ damage
Using this system as an example, a player who has a riding skill of 1, and is riding a charger, would be knocked off easily with most hits. A player who has a riding skill of 3, and is riding a hunter, would take most hits encountered during combat, but would still be knocked off if they are hit hard enough with a heavy axe / headshot. The same player, who would have 4+ riding skill, and riding the same hunter, would stay on throughout almost any hit. However, there is still allways a chance to be knocked off if they are hit for over 55 damage, which would normally mean a direct couched lance from the enemy, or something very hard..
--- side note ---
Regular falling off, although still existing in reality, would be a good point of discussion when horses behave realistically - ie. jump backwards / react to pain / defend themselves / throw the rider off-balance etc. - and once the horse's calmness (as skill) could perhaps be improved on, and eventually which would still occur extremely rare, therefore there does not seem to be any points within discussion regarding that aspect at this time.
* Rider Skill Impact resistance - Each point of this skill gives a 3% chance of resisting the knock-down impact and gives +1 point to how much damage a player needs to take, in order to be knocked off. This would work in par with the above mentioned suggestion.
